NCJ Number
165551
Date Published
1995
Length
41 pages
Annotation
This report summarizes the findings from an Australian study that examined attitudes toward breaches of ethics among police officers and recruits.
Abstract
A total of 683 participants, including 530 males and 129 females, ranging from recruits to commissioned officers, were presented with 20 scenarios that described unethical behaviors. They were asked to indicate how serious they thought the violation was, as well as how serious they believed a "typical officer," an instructor, and the department would judge it to be. They were also asked what steps they would take to deal with the violation. On average, the respondents rated a "typical officer" as viewing problem ethical situations as least serious, followed by their personal views, and then by how an instructor would view situations, with the department viewed as perceiving the incidents most seriously. With almost all incidents, recruits rated the incidents as most serious; constables, senior constables, and sergeants rated the incidents as least serious, and the seriousness ratings of senior sergeants and commissioned officers fell midway between the two groups. Females showed consistently more serious judgments of the incidents and viewing the typical officer and instructor as being less scrupulous. Overall, the findings show the inverse relationship between the perceived seriousness of a behavior and its likelihood of occurrence, which has been noted previously. These data are consistent with the argument that a "slide" into corruption occurs among officers with longer periods in the police service. The findings show the need for formal training in ethics at all levels of the Police Service. 5 tables, 2 figures, and 18 references