POLICE CORRUPTION ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 14
Causesof Police Corruption and its Implications on Police Accountability,Integrity, Service Delivery, and Public Trust: An AnnotatedBibliography
Causesof Police Corruption and its Implications on Police Accountability,Integrity, Service Delivery, and Public Trust: An AnnotatedBibliography
Agbiboa,D. E. (2015). Protectors or Predators? The Embedded Problem of PoliceCorruption and Deviance in Nigeria. Administration& Society,47 (3): 244–81.
Inthis article, author Daniel Agbiboa, a DoctoralScholar at the University of Oxford, Department of InternationalDevelopment, reviews how corruption has become a tolerable subculturein Nigeria, as well as, how the police are no longer the once trustedmorality guardians. As a social scientist, the author observes thatpolice corruption has become an explicable and acceptable actespecially after the country went through different dictatorialregimes. The author claims that the security and the well-being ofthe community is no longer the priority of the security officers, astheir primary concern has become wealth creation through dubiousmeans. Agbiboa(2015)notes that police corruption in Nigeria has become rooted in everyaspect of the police force such that diminishing corruption, as wellas, its effects has become a thorn for the Nigerian’s government.The article looks at the history of corruption and explicates thatmilitary and colonial administrative strategies inculcated a policyof corruption by compulsion. The article supports the findings ofStan Crowder and Brent Turvey in their article “EthicalIssues in Police Administration.”This article is relevant to this study because it highlight some ofthe causes of police corruption. The author is a social scientistwith extensive experience on matters touching on police forceshence, his article is credible to furthering the study. Moreover, thearticle examines the correlation between police corruption andreduced accountability and integrity.
Crowder,S. & Turvey, B. (2013). Ethical Issues in Police Administration.EthicalJustice:103-146.
Thearticle by Stan Crowder, a retired military police and Brent Turvey,aforensic scientist and criminal profiler,discusses the ethical issues affecting police administration with amajor focus on corruption. The authors define “the control andoperation of law enforcement agencies, and the subsequent dischargeof policies that keep the peace, increase public safety, and preventcrime,” (Crowder and Turvey, 2013). The law of public trust issupposed to ensure public safety thus, it is a vital aspect inmaking operational decisions. In addition, the authors assert thataccountability is required when it comes to making lawful decisionsrelated to the termination of law enforcement personnel, discipline,retention, management, as well as, hiring. The article coincides withProtectorsor Predators? The Embedded Problem of Police Corruption and Deviancein Nigeriaand Theinfluence of corruption: a South African case.The article supports the premise of the study as it points out thatcorruption is one of the primary ethical issues in policeadministration especially when it comes to human resources and lawenforcement command. Apart from that, the article discussestransparency, accountability, and integrity issues related to policeadministration. The article regards corruption as the mostchallenging issue for police officers bearing in mind it entailslegal and human rights violations.
Hickman,M. J., Piquero, A. R., Powell, Z. A., & Greene, J. (2016).Expanding the measurement of police integrity. Policing:An International Journal of Police Strategies &Management, 39(2),246-267.
Inthis article, authors MatthewJ. Hickman, Alex R. Piquero, ZacharyA. Powell and Jack Greene, criminology experts from topuniversities in the US discussthe willingness of police officers to report their colleagues in caseof misconduct. Over 499 police officers from Philadelphia wereinterviewed in a survey with an aim of establishing theirmethodological approach in reporting fellow officers. The study foundout that the willingness to report fellow officers varied from onedistrict to another and from one officer to another. Moreover, thearticle shows that incentives, the creation of a conduciveenvironment where integrity, leadership, and ethics can thrive, andrationalization of corruption can greatly reduce corruption. Thearticle supports the findings of JoongyeupLee,JenniferGibbs andHyunseokJang in their articleTheinfluence of the national government on confidence in the police: Afocus on corruption,especially in the reduction of corruption.Moreover, the article supports Jonathan Jackson, Asif Muhammad, BenBradford, and Muhammad Zakria findings in their article Corruptionand Police Legitimacy in Lahore, Pakistanthat corruption thrives in environments with poor leadership andintegrity. This article is relevant in this study because failure byofficers to report their colleagues who engage in corruptioncontributes to massive corruption in the police force. Theresearchers observe that most officers were less likely to reporttheir colleagues who conduct themselves unethically because they feelthat it is an act of betrayal. In addition, unethical acts such ascorruption have been normalized. It is therefore difficult forcorrupt officers to face the justice system because of poor reportingmechanisms in most forces.
Jackson,J., M. Asif, B. Bradford, and M. Zakria. (2014). Corruption andPolice Legitimacy in Lahore, Pakistan. BritishJournal of Criminology, 54(6): 1067–1088.
JonathanJackson, Asif Muhammad, Ben Bradford, and Muhammad Zakria, experts inpublic administration, discuss the public perception about the policein Pakistan. According to their research findings, half of thepopulation in Pakistan had previously been compelled to offer a bribeto the police, which saw the general perception in the country regardthe police as the most corrupt organization. In an attempt to examineattitudes about police fairness and procedural justice, theresearchers surveyed citizens of Lahore. The study revealed thatthere was massive corruption among the police and most citizens hadexperienced police corruption in one way or another. Some of thefactors that defined the perception of the public towards the policeinclude the police action according to the rule of law and the policetendency to effectively control crime. This article is similar toAgbiboa’s article “TheEmbedded Problem of Police Corruption and Deviance in Nigeria”because they explore the root causes of police corruption. There aresome parallelisms between the two articles in terms of researchmethodology research, as well as, factors influencing publicperception towards the police. Furthermore, the authors assert thatreduced perceptions of legitimacy and mistrust in the police have aninfluence on police inefficiency and corruption.
Jonck, J. & Swanepoel,E. (2016). The influence of corruption: a South African case.Policing:An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management,39(1): 159 – 174.
PetronellaJonck(NationalSchool of Government, Pretoria, South Africa) and Eben Swanepoel(Psychology of Education, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein,South Africa) highlight how South African citizens have becomedisillusioned with the high levels of corruption in law enforcementagencies. The authors investigate how law enforcement corruptioninfluences public trust and service delivery satisfaction, often bycreating mistrust and gaps in service delivery. A survey wasconducted in all the nine provinces in South Africa in 2013 and 2014and data collected from victims of crime. The study found out thatpublic trust and service delivery satisfaction are statisticallyinfluenced by corruption. The survey involved 25,605 respondents whowere selected randomly. According to the authors, public trust isnecessary for any police force to function effectively and thereforegovernments should focus their efforts in restoring public trust inthe police. The findings of the article concur with findings fromProtectorsor Predators? The Embedded Problem of Police Corruption and Deviancein Nigeriaand Covenantswith Broken Swords: Corruption and Law Enforcement in Governance ofthe Commons.Thisarticle is relevant to this study because it provides valuableinsights on how law enforcement corruption affects service deliveryand public trust in the force.
Lee,J., Gibbs, J. and Jang, H. (2015). The influence of the nationalgovernment on confidence in the police: A focus on corruption.InternationalJournal of Law, Crime and Justice,43(4): 553–568.
Inthis article, authors JoongyeupLee,JenniferC. (GibbsSchool of Public Affairs, Pennsylvania State University) and HyunseokJang(Department of Police Administration, Kyonggi University), addressthe issue of public confidence in the police in relation to conceptssuch as corruption. Concepts such as confidence in government, aswell as, police issues are rarely covered in policing literaturethus, the authors’ findings provide a chance to critically evaluatewhy issues such as corruption suffice in the police forces. Thestudy identifies both the national and individual characteristicsthat define police confidence using a variety of data sources andmultilevel modeling. The study used corruption and homicide rates asthe two country variables to predict confidence in police.Furthermore, the discussions and conclusions in this article shedlight on some of the methodological limitations and previous findingson the same subject of study. The article coincides with PetronellaJonck and Eben Swanepoel article on Theinfluence of corruption: a South African Case.In this regards, the article shows that the public usually ratepolice effectiveness based on murder solving capabilities and fewcases of corruption in the forces. The article is relevant to thisstudy because it discusses how police corruption affects thecitizens’ confidence in police.
Neumann,P. (2013). (Un) exceptional Violence(s) in Latin America. LatinAmerican Politics and Society,55 (1): 168–75.
AuthorPamela Neumann,aPhD Candidate in the Department of Sociology, University of Texas,reviewsa variety of published literature on violence in Latin America withmuch focus on its causes and progression. Neumann (2013) postulatesthat corruption of law enforcement officers has exacerbated theviolence mostly witnessed in the region. Furthermore, the articleillustrates that drug traffickers usually collaborate with thepolice, which shows why illegal activities are always on the rise inthe region. The author points out that violence against women hasincreased because police frequently use it as a conflict resolutionstrategy. In this case, hyper-masculine values make violenceacceptable. Moreover, there is a lot of impunity when it comes toviolence against women because most of the cases go unpunishedbecause of police corruption. The article is similar to Protectorsor Predators? The Embedded Problem of Police Corruption and Deviancein Nigeria,which illustrates the causes of police corruption and its effect onservice delivery. This article is relevant to this study because itshows how various ills in the society have been enhanced by policecorruption. Moreover, the article shows that police corruptiongreatly shrinks service delivery, violates human rights, andnegatively affects public safety.
Othman,R. et al. (2014). Influence of Job Satisfaction and Codes of Ethicson Integrity among Police Officers. Procedia- Social and Behavioral Sciences, 145:266-276.
Inthis article, authors Rohana Othman, Normah Omar,AsriAzam, Shafik Ibrahim,Wan Ahmad Farouq,NajlaRustam,Nooraslinda Abdul Aris, from Accountancy Research Institutes inMalaysia, investigate how the level of integrity among policeofficers is affected by job satisfaction and code of ethics. Theauthors used the theory of Organizational Citizenship behavior andPlanned Behavior to investigate the levels of integrity among policeofficers in the JohorBahru and the Shah Alam district policedepartments. Well-structured questionnaires were used to collect datafrom the police officers in the two districts and the police officersthat participated in this study were selected randomly. The findingsfrom this study revealed that the level of integrity among policeofficers was influenced in a great way by codes of ethics and jobsatisfaction. The findings from this study are aimed at helpingpolice officers to achieve high levels of integrity because theoutcomes complement the responsibilities and roles of policeofficers. Police officers with low levels of job satisfaction aremore likely to engage in corruption, other unethical acts while thecontent and level of enforcement of the code of ethics has asignificant influence on how the police officers conduct themselves.Articles that support the findings of Othman et al. (2014) includeTheinfluence of corruption: a South African Case,Covenantswith Broken Swords: Corruption and Law Enforcement in Governance ofthe Commons,and EthicalIssues in Police Administration.The article is significant to the study as it shows that policecorruption is a factor of reduced ethics and job satisfaction. Thus,it points out that leadership and the cultivation of a favorableenvironment where integrity and ethics can thrive greatly reducespolice corruption.
Quah,J. (2014). Curbing police corruption in Singapore: lessons forother Asian countries. AsianEducation and Development Studies,3(3): 186 – 222.
JonQuah, an anti-corruption consultant from Singapore, explains howSingapore as a country has been successful in dealing with theproblem of police corruption. The author highlights six lessons fromthe Singapore experience that otherAsian countries can emulate. The article describes some of thestrategies used by the Singapore government from 1959 after thePeople’s Action Party assumed office. Some of the strategies usedto prevent corruption in Singapore include providing training andeducation to officers, engagement of effective selection and hiringprocedures, cooperation with Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau,improving salaries and working conditions and reduction of corruptionopportunities through adoption of administrative measure. Thisarticle supports the findings in the article “Influenceof Job Satisfaction and Codes of Ethics on Integrity among PoliceOfficers” thatpolice job satisfaction can help reduce cases of police corruption.However, this article is more detailed when it comes to highlightingsome of the best practices of promoting integrity within the policeforce. It provides practical steps of how Singapore managed totransform its once corrupt police force into a model force. It isimperative to note that the article is overly essential to thepremise of the study as it shows that incentives, leadership, and afavorable working environment greatly reduces corruption. Moreover,by providing a real case, the author manages to provide a credibleand comprehensive evidence for supporting the premises of the study.
Riccio,V., Meirelles de Miranda, M. R., & Müller, A. (2013).Professionalizing the Amazonas military police throughtraining. PolicePractice and Research, 14(4),295-307.
VicenteRiccio, Marcio Rys Meirelles de Miranda, and Angelica Muller, expertsin sociology, analyzes a new professional education program in Brazilthat is specifically designed to train military police officers andidentify some of the major outcomes from the program. The authorsassert that the program came at the backdrop of an increasedinstances of power abuses and corruption among the police. Accordingto the authors, the image of the police forces in Brazil had beentainted by former authoritarian regimes. The article complements Theinfluence of corruption: a South African Case,and Curbingpolice Corruption In Singapore: Lessons For Other Asian Countriessince both emphasize on the need of training in enhancing the publicconfidence in police. However, this article puts a lot of emphasis onthe consequences of police corruption instead of only focusing on thecauses. Military officers that had gone through the new training wereinterviewed in this study and most of the police officers felt thatthe public did not know the non-coercive aspect of police service. Inthis article, the authors argue failure to hold the policeaccountable of their actions has enabled corruption to thrive thus,governments should engage the public in sanitizing the police forces.
Shim,H., Jo,Y., & Hoover,L. (2015). Police record-discretion as misconduct in South Korea.InternationalJournal of Law, Crime and Justice, 43(4):569–585.
AuthorsHee S. Shim (College of Criminal Justice, Sam Houston StateUniversity), YoungohJo, and LarryT. Hoover (Department of Criminal Justice, The College atBrockport, State University of New York), highlight howrecord-discretion has emerged as a major form of police corruption.The article points out that this form of corruption has largely beenignored by most surveys on police misconduct. The authors, experts incriminal justice, point out that there are other insidious forms ofpolice corruption that are normally given very little attention.Public confidence in the entire criminal justice system is affectedby record-discretion despite the fact that it gets low visibility.The authors examine the etiology of record-discretion amongdetectives using data from Korean police officers. The researchersfocused on officers with investigative assignments by studying theirperceptions of organizational correlates, as well as, individualofficer characteristics. The article coincides with the articleColombianPolice under Fire: Image, Corruption and Controlsespecially in illustrating the extent of corruption on policestability and public trust. Some of the most important predictors inthis study include rule effectiveness, media attention, prosecutorsupervision and investigator’s levels of expertise. The existenceof two cultures in police is supported by the fact that suchrelationships vary across different types of assignments. The articlesupports the premise of the study in highlighting the implications ofcorruption on public trust, police accountability and integrity, andpolice stability.
StinsonSr, P. M., Liederbach, J., Brewer Jr, S. L., Schmalzried, H. D.,Mathna, B. E., & Long, K. L. (2013). A study of drug-relatedpolice corruption arrests. Policing:An International Journal of Police Strategies &Management, 36(3),491-511.
Theauthors of this article are criminaljustice experts from various universities in the US, and providevaluable insights on drug related police corruption. They use aquantitative content analysis method of data collection to collectdata. They used 48 automated Google Alert queries to identifyarticles on drug related corruption as they examined the causalpathways between drug-related police corruption and arrests. Afteranalyzing 221 drug related cases of police officers from variouspolice agencies in the US, the researchers found out that cocaine wasthe most prevalent drug when it comes to drug related policecorruption. There is a need for police executives to come up witheffective strategies to address drug-related corruption in the policeforce. Articles that support the findings of Stinson et al. (2013)include (Un)exceptional Violence(s) in Latin America andEthicalIssues in Police Administration.This article provides very important insights on how the policecollaborate with drug traffickers and engage in illegal drugsbusiness within the force. Moreover, the article shows how illegalactivities enhance the development of police corruption.
Sundström,A. (2015). Covenants with broken swords: Corruption and lawenforcement in governance of the commons. GlobalEnvironmental Change: 253–262.
AkselSundström (Quality of Government Institute, Department of PoliticalScience, University of Gothenburg) provides a detailed analysis ofhow corruption hampers law enforcement in the governance of commons.The enforcement officers in South African fisheries wereconfidentially interviewed in this study and it emerged thatregulatory violations were being overlooked because the enforcementofficials were taking bribes. Furthermore, the study revealed themethods that the enforcement officers use to take bribes. Governingthe environment becomes a great challenge because of massivecorruption in state enforcement bodies. Officers receive bribes inform of food, friendship and money in exchange for information,overlooking arrests, and inadequate enforcement. Law enforcementofficers bribe judiciary clerks and judges, which makes it difficultto prosecute corrupt officers. This article works well with articleTheInfluence of the National Government on Confidence in the Police: AFocus on Corruptionbecause both articles highlight how police corruption affects thejustice system. However, this article goes ahead to highlight themethods used by the police to collect bribes while the other articleis too general. The article is critical to the study as it illustratethe causes of corruption, as well as, how it has been difficult formost agencies to eradicate corruption in the police force.
Tankebe,J. (2011). Explaining Police Support for the Use of Force andVigilante Violence. Policingand Society: An International Journal of Research and Policy,21 (2): 129–49.
DrJustice Tankebe,aUniversity Affiliated Lecturer and Fellow of Fitzwilliam College,examineshow widespread police corruption has affected citizen attitudestowards police practices. Police officers become cynical toward theability of the system to arrest and prosecute offenders when theyperceive that the criminal justice system is corrupt. Therefore,citizens end up feeling that the police officers cannot effectivelyfulfill their role when they resort to accepting bribes and usingexcessive force. The author assessed police officers in Ghana andfound out that the officers thought that there was nothing wrong inusing excessive force even if it is not allowed within the law. Thepolice force can only be committed to democratic values when itsleaders come up with measures that can improve organizationalcommitment within the force. Articles that support this articleinclude Colombianpolice under fire: image, corruption and controlsand TheInfluence of the National Government on Confidence in the Police: AFocus on Corruption.This article is relevant to this study because it suggests some ofthe strategies that leaders in the police can use to reduce levels ofcorruption in the police force. Moreover, it shows how policecorruption has hampered the effectiveness of police and the publictrust.
Väsquez,J. (2013). Colombian police under fire: image, corruption andcontrols: Policing:AnInternationalJournal of Police Strategies & Management,36(2): 399 – 420.
JuanCarlos Ruiz Väsquez, from the School of Political Science andGovernment, University of Rosario, discusses how the stability ofColombian police and public trust in the police has been affected bycorruption. The author evaluates the effectiveness of civilianoversight and public control to determine the level of policeindependence from other agencies, as well as, the level of impunityin the country. An observational approach, interviews and dataanalyses of surveys were used in this research. The study found outthat Colombians still appreciate their police force and corruption isa generalized phenomenon in the police force. The setting up ofinoffensive mechanisms of control has helped a great deal inmitigating corruption scandals. However, police corruption willcontinue to cause problems in the country because it is still aconcealed phenomenon. Failure to highlight corrupt practices in thepolice force encourages the officers to continue engaging in corruptacts because they feel that nothing will be done. It is important forthe media and police leaders to speak about corruption because itwill help in reducing corruption cases in the Colombian police force.ExplainingPolice Support for the Use of Force and Vigilante Violenceand AStudy Of Drug-Related Police Corruption Arrests SupportVäsquez(2013) findings in illustrating how corruption thrives in a maskedsituation. The article supports the foundation of the study as ithighlights the cultivation and development of corruption in policeforces.