Police Corruption and Misconduct from a Police Officer Perspective: from Identification to Discipline and Prevention

Abstract

Police officers possess differing opinions about forms of police misconduct and the best ways to discipline police officers who are corrupt. Some law enforcement officials believe that with the large amounts of discretionary power they are given, they are above the law. Through a secondary analysis of Carl Klockars police corruption dataset, results were presented to answer several hypotheses on police corruption, including how officers view it, and what the proper discipline should be for various corrupt practices. Contributions from this thesis will best be utilized to police departments who seek to improve the quality of their officers and other secondary personnel. Only through an understanding of the issues involved in police corruption can effective strategies be developed for the future success of law enforcement.