Exploring the viability of an attitudes toward ethical behavior scale in understanding police integrity outcomes (original) (raw)
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Expanding the measurement of police integrity
Purpose -Klockars et al. use scenario methodology to measure perceived seriousness, level of discipline warranted, and willingness to report fellow officers engaged in various negative behaviors. These data are used to characterize the occupational culture of integrity in a given agency, relative to other agencies. What remains unclear is whether these agency-level findings mask important meso-and micro-level variation in the data (i.e. at the precinct/district and officer levels) that may contribute to a more complete understanding of an agency's culture of integrity. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach -This study replicates and extends Klockars et al.'s work using data from a survey administered to 499 Philadelphia police officers, with the goal of both validating their methodological approach and exploring the need for multi-level theory in the study of police integrity. In addition to comparing the results from Philadelphia to those obtained by Klockars et al., the authors test for differences across officer demographics, and explore variance in the willingness to report various behaviors at both the officer-and district-levels. Findings -Results indicate that bivariate relationships between officer-level demographics and willingness to report fellow officers are negated when controlling for theoretically relevant attitudinal variables such as cynicism and, consistent with Klockars et al., perceived seriousness of the underlying behavior. In addition, there is significant district-level variation in the average willingness to report fellow officers, and this variation can be explained by both organizational and environmental variables. On balance, the findings provide support for a multi-level approach to the study of police integrity. Originality/value -While the Klockars et al. approach addresses macro-level variation in police integrity, this study contributes important findings at the meso-and micro-levels.
2012
This exploratory comparative study compares how police officers belonging to two different cultures regard various types of police corruption, how severely they think transgressions should be punished, and how willing they are to report infractions. In order to measure police integrity and to identify the potential for police misconduct we applied the methodology developed in the United States by C.B. Klockars and his colleagues. The present quantitative analysis is based on survey data obtained from two convenience samples, consisting of American police officers who recently attended the Administrative Officer's course at the Southern Police Institute in the United States and Romanian police officers enrolled in or graduates of the Master's program at the Romanian Police Academy). Even if a potential for unethical behavior was detected in both groups under study, results show that Romanian police officers appear to have a higher level of tolerance toward police misconduct t...
Police officer integrity: a partial replication and extension
Policing: An International Journal, 2016
The purpose of this paper is to partially replicate and extend the work of Klockars et al. and others on police integrity by examining how individual, organizational, and ecological factors affect police supervisors’ perceptions of police misconduct and willingness to report fellow officers’ misconduct. Surveys containing 17 scenarios developed by Klockars et al. (2000, 2004, 2006) were administered to 553 ranking officers employed by municipal police departments, county sheriff’s departments, and constable agencies who were attending training at the Bill Blackwood Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas from June 1, 2009 to March 1, 2010. Results suggest individual and organizational factors affect supervisor willingness to blow the whistle on underling misconduct, although their effects varied by seriousness of the behavior.
ROMANIAN AND AMERICAN POLICE OFFICERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF PROFESSIONAL INTEGRITY AND ETHICAL BEHAVIOR
This exploratory comparative study compares how police officers belonging to two different cultures regard various types of police corruption, how severely they think transgressions should be punished, and how willing they are to report infractions. In order to measure police integrity and to identify the potential for police misconduct we applied the methodology developed in the United States by C.B. Klockars and his colleagues. The present quantitative analysis is based on survey data obtained from two convenience samples, consisting of American police officers who recently attended the Administrative Officer's course at the Southern Police Institute in the United States and Romanian police officers enrolled in or graduates of the Master's program at the Romanian Police Academy. Even if a potential for unethical behavior was detected in both groups under study, results show that Romanian police officers appear to have a higher level of tolerance toward police misconduct than their American counterparts.
Influence of Job Satisfaction and Codes of Ethics on Integrity among Police Officers
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2014
This study aims to investigate the impact of job satisfaction and code of ethics on the level of integrity among police officers at two district police departments in Shah Alam and Johor Bahru, using Theory of Planned Behavior and Theory of Organizational Citizenship Behavior. Data for the study is gathered using well-structured questionnaires distributed randomly to the police officers in the districts. Results from the study showed job satisfaction and codes of ethics have significant influence towards the level of integrity among police officers. The outcomes from this study will serve to complement the police officer's roles and responsibilities in achieving high levels of integrity.
Police ethics and integrity: Keeping the ‘blue code’ of silence
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This paper examines attitudes towards police ethics and integrity using the responses of police officers and support staff to some ethical dilemmas via an online questionnaire. The aim of the study was to explore potential connections between respondents’ beliefs about the seriousness or type of misdemeanour and their likelihood of reporting the behaviour. Using a series of scenarios, we explore professional ethics and integrity by analysing the evidence from our survey of around 1,500 police officers, police community support officers (PCSOs) and police support staff. Throughout, we aim to show which of the scenarios were considered the most ‘serious’, which are more likely to be reported, and offer some suggestions as to why the ‘blue code’ is significant. The findings suggest the persistence of a reluctance to report some misdemeanours; of the 10 scenarios created for the survey, there was a great deal of certainty around the reporting theft of cash, but respondents were less lik...
A psychometric evaluation of the integrity profile
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Integrity is an essential element of orderly co-existance and an important facet of professional policing. The objective of this study was to psychometrically evaluate the Integrity Profile 200 (IP 200), an instrument widely used in South Africa, to assess its utility as an integrity measure for use in the South African Police Service. Although the literature indicates that the constructs measured with the IP 200 are sound, an exploratory investigation in the South African Police Service reveals poor reliability and unacceptable inter-item correlations. This suggests poor factorial validity (model fit). Subsequently an exploratory factor analysis (N = 1457) was done to adapt the scale and improve the model fit. Four factors were extracted and analysed, and satisfactory psychometric properties were found for these factors, including the absence of race-based item bias. The factors are: (i) Integrity restricting orientation; (ii) Moral conscientiousness and accountability; (iii) Organisational/management integrity, and (iv) Lie scale. The results account for a significant deviation and simplification from the original instrument structure. It is recommended that the original IP 200 should not be used in this context but that the adapted scale be used.
Ethical orientations of state police recruits and one-year experienced officers
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The discussion includes why some types of misdemeanour seem more likely to be reported and the potential effects of a newly introduced formal Code of Ethics. In terms of differences between ranks and roles, and different responses from different services, the study suggests that the way police culture operates is significant and needs to be more widely addressed. The study used scenario based questionnaires to elicit views about the seriousness of certain police behaviours and to ask whether officers would report colleagues' misdemeanours. It develops a previous survey by one of the authors which conducted a similar survey published in 2005. Using the same questionnaire the new study examined a larger and more diverse sample of serving officers (n=520). This new study compares responses from police officers in UK three forces, geographically distributed across the country and have differing characteristics in terms of size, rurality, population density and policing priorities.