A multi-country comparative study of the perceived police disciplinary environments

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 338-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanja Kutnjak Ivković ◽  
Maria Haberfeld ◽  
Wook Kang ◽  
Robert Peacock ◽  
Adri Sauerman
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Police Misconduct ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Organizational Variables ◽  
Police Agencies ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Police Integrity

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test an aspect of the theory of police integrity by exploring the perceived disciplinary threat made by police agencies in Croatia, South Africa, South Korea, and the USA. Design/methodology/approach – A police integrity survey was used to assess perceptions of the expected discipline meted out by police agencies in four countries. Samples of police officers from Croatia, South Africa, South Korea, and the USA evaluated 11 hypothetical scenarios describing various forms of police misconduct. Findings – Bi-variate analyses reveal considerable divergence of perceptions of disciplinary consequences across the four countries. The majority of the respondents in each country expected some discipline for every scenario, but dismissal was expected for very few scenarios. Multivariate models of perceptions of expected discipline show that the country effect remains strong in the majority of the scenarios even in the presence of numerous controls. Research limitations/implications – To accommodate the diversity of legal rules, answers providing disciplinary options were not identical across countries. Some of the samples are representative, while others are convenience samples. Practical implications – The results show that, controlling for societal integrity, organizational variables play a critical role in shaping the respondents’ perceptions of expected discipline. Teaching police officers official rules might be an effective tool toward attaining more accurate perceptions of expected discipline. Originality/value – Police integrity research is dominated by single-country studies; this paper provides an in-depth exploration of perceptions of expected discipline across four countries.

Police integrity in South Korea

2012 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanja Kutnjak Ivković ◽  
Wook Kang
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Police Misconduct ◽  
Excessive Force ◽  
Convenience Sample ◽  
Content Type ◽  
South Korean ◽  
Code Of Silence ◽  
Korean Police Officers ◽  
Police Integrity

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the contours of police integrity among Korean police officers a decade after police reform was started.Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected in 2009 at the Korean National Police University (KNPU) and the Police Comprehensive Academy (PCA). The questionnaires distributed to police officers contained 14 vignettes describing various forms of police misconduct. The sample consists of 329 police officers, mostly non‐supervisors, attending courses at the KNPU and PCA.FindingsResults indicate that the contours of police integrity vary across different forms of misconduct. Regardless of whether the respondents' views were measured through questions about misconduct seriousness, appropriate discipline, willingness to report, or knowledge about official rules, the findings suggest that Korean police officers perceived corruption as a serious form of police misconduct, while they considered the use of excessive force to be substantially less serious. In addition, a strong code of silence among the police was detected.Research limitations/implicationsThe study examines the contours of police integrity among a convenience sample of police officers from South Korea.Practical implicationsThe Korean police administrators interested in controlling police misconduct could utilize this methodology to explore the contours of the code of silence among the Korean police. The results of the study indicate that substantial focus should be put on changing police officer views about the use of excessive force and narrowing the code of silence in general.Social implicationsThe results show that the contours of police integrity among South Korean police officers clearly reflect the attitudes and views of the society at large toward corruption and use of excessive force. The lenient attitudes that South Korean police officers have expressed regarding the use of excessive force reflect both the historical attitudes and the lack of clarity of official rules. The strong code of silence is related to the insufficient protection for whistleblowers and the adherence to Confucianism among Korean citizens.Originality/valuePrior research predominantly measured police integrity as the opposite of police corruption in Western democracies and East European countries in transition. This research expands this by focusing on different forms of police misconduct. In addition, it explores integrity in an Asian democracy with the police agency undergoing extensive reform.

Does discipline fairness matter for the police code of silence? Answers from the US supervisors and line officers

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 354-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanja Kutnjak Ivković ◽  
Robert Peacock ◽  
Maria Haberfeld
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Police Misconduct ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Code Of Silence ◽  
Police Supervisors ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Willingness To Report ◽  
Police Integrity ◽  
Line Officers

Purpose – Following the theoretical model of reporting and disciplinary fairness developed by Kutnjak Ivković and Klockars (1998), the purpose of this paper is to use a survey of US police officers to explore empirically the contours of the code of silence and the potential relation between the code and perceptions of disciplinary fairness. Design/methodology/approach – In 2013-2014, a police integrity survey was used to measure the contours of police integrity among 604 police officers from 11 police agencies located in the Midwest and on the East Coast of the USA. The questionnaire contains descriptions of 11 scenarios describing various forms of police misconduct, followed by seven questions measuring officer views of scenario seriousness, the appropriate and expected discipline, and willingness to report misconduct. Findings – The results point out that the code of silence varies greatly across the scenarios, both for supervisors and line officers. While the supervisor code and the line officer code differ substantially, they are the most similar for the scenarios evaluated as the most serious. Compared to the respondents who evaluated expected discipline as fair, the respondents who evaluated it as too harsh were more likely to say that they would adhere to the code. On the other hand, compared to the respondents who evaluated discipline as fair, the respondents who evaluate the expected discipline as too lenient were as likely to adhere to the code. Research limitations/implications – The data were collected online, resulting in a lower response rates those typical of traditional paper surveys. Practical implications – The results of the research allow police supervisors interested in the controlling the code of silence to assess where the code is the weakest and easiest to break. Furthermore, the findings suggest to the supervisors who want to curtail the code that the strategy of meting out discipline perceived by line officers as too harsh will potentially only strengthen the code. Originality/value – Whereas the study of the code of silence has started several decades ago, empirical studies exploring the relation between the code of silence and perceptions of disciplinary fairness are rare.

The code of silence and female police officers in Slovenia

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 387-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Branko Lobnikar ◽  
Kaja Prislan ◽  
Barbara Čuvan ◽  
Gorazd Meško
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Police Misconduct ◽  
Police Chiefs ◽  
Police Corruption ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Code Of Silence ◽  
Female Police Officers ◽  
Willingness To Report ◽  
Police Integrity

Purpose – For some time now, research conducted in the field of human behavior and criminology has pertained to the contemporary question as to whether there are any relevant differences between the genders regarding their integrity and opinions held and, if so, which of these lead to different behaviors. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether there are any gender differences in willingness to report police misconduct and if so, what is the nature of these differences. Design/methodology/approach – In spring 2011, the study was conducted on a representative sample of 408 frontline Slovenian police officers (87.3 percent were male and 12.7 percent were female). The assessment of the code of silence was conducted using the method developed by Klockars and Kutnjak Ivković (2004), and consisted of 14 hypothetical scenarios describing a range of various forms of police misconduct, from those that merely give the appearance of a conflict of interest, to incidents of bribery and theft. One of the questions explored in relation to the police code of silence was the police officer’s willingness to report misconduct. Findings – Authors discovered significant differences in 11 of the 14 analyzed cases on the willingness to report police misconduct. Interestingly, female police officers were less willing than their male colleagues to report different forms of police misconduct. Female police officers are less willing to report police corruption in seven cases e.g. shooting runaway suspect, supervisor abusing his/her power, excessive force – punching a suspect, falsification of evidence, supervisor not prevent beating a suspect, police officer take bribes, and doing nothing when juveniles paint graffiti. The results were further analyzed from the group dynamic in Slovenian police point of view. The survey findings could be useful for police chiefs, leaders, and managers who want to achieve the main objective of every modern police organization: to prevent corruption and increase social responsibility. Originality/value – The study analyzes, comprehensively and originally, whether the female police officers differ from their male colleagues in the level of police integrity and willingness to report the cases of police corruption and/or other forms of police misbehavior.

Organizational justice and officer “buy in” in American policing

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis P. Rosenbaum ◽  
William P. McCarty
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Organizational Justice ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
National Sample ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Four Dimensions ◽  
Police Organizations ◽  
Police Agencies ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Municipal Police

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the dimensions of organizational justice in police organizations and evaluate how they contribute to organizational commitment, job satisfaction and compliance with agency rules. Design/methodology/approach A survey of 15,236 sworn officers from a national sample of 88 agencies was used, as well as other agency- and community-level variables. Multi-level models assessed how four dimensions of organizational justice affected these outcomes. Findings More favorable perceptions of organizational justice were strongly related to increased commitment to the organization, job satisfaction and compliance with agency rules. Perceptions of organization-wide justice, leadership justice and diversity justice were especially important in predicting those outcome measures. Research limitations/implications While the sample of agencies was broad and diverse, it should not be considered representative of smaller municipal police departments and sheriff’s offices in the USA. Practical implications The findings suggest that “buy in” to reforms and police compliance with rules is much more likely when supervisors and leaders are fair, respectful, give officers input, provide growth opportunities and show concern for officers’ welfare. As such, agencies would benefit from leadership and leadership training that values the core principals of organizational justice. Originality/value The study provides clarity about how organizational justice is perceived by police officers, including women and officers of color, and provides an unprecedented test of organizational justice theory in diverse police agencies.

An empirical test of the influence of society at large on police integrity in a centralized police system

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 302-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanja Kutnjak Ivković ◽  
Irena Cajner Mraović ◽  
Krunoslav Borovec
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Empirical Test ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Fourth Dimension ◽  
Police Misconduct ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Analytical Strategies ◽  
Police System ◽  
Willingness To Report ◽  
Police Integrity

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test the theory of police integrity, particularly its fourth dimension, on a centralized police agency and to assess the degree to which levels of police integrity are related to the characteristics of the larger environment. Design/methodology/approach – In 2008, a stratified representative sample of 945 Croatian police officers from ten police administrations evaluated 11 hypothetical scenarios describing a range of various forms of police misconduct. The questionnaire measures officer views regarding scenario seriousness, appropriate and expected discipline, and willingness to report the misconduct. Findings – Bivariate analyses show that police officers’ evaluations of seriousness differed across categories of police administrations for more than one-half of the scenarios. Multivariate analyses reveal that, once organizational predictors are entered into the models, community characteristics remain significant predictors of seriousness evaluations for only a few scenarios. Research limitations/implications – The analytical strategies were limited by the number of police administrations in the country. Practical implications – The results indicate that levels of police integrity in large, centralized organizations vary across units and that the characteristics of the communities the police are a contributing factor to these differences. At the same time, organizational characteristics carry substantial weight. Originality/value – Prior studies of police integrity focussed on the organizational aspects (the first three dimensions of the theory); the present paper extends the literature to ascertain the importance of the larger environment and its characteristics for levels of police integrity (the fourth dimension of the police integrity theory).

Police integrity in South Africa: a tale of three police agency types

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 268-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanja Kutnjak Ivković ◽  
Adri Sauerman
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Police Agency ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Sample Group ◽  
Police Service ◽  
South African Police ◽  
Willingness To Report ◽  
Police Integrity

Purpose – Following the theory of police integrity, the purpose of this paper is to explore empirically the contours of police integrity in South Africa using survey of the three South African police agency types. Design/methodology/approach – During the period from 2010 to 2012, a police integrity survey was used to measure the contours of police integrity among 871 police officers across South Africa, covering all three police agency types. The questionnaire contains descriptions of 11 scenarios, covering different forms of police misconduct, followed by seven questions measuring officer views of scenario seriousness, the appropriate and expected discipline, and willingness to report the misconduct. Findings – The results show that the respondents from the three police agency types were about equally likely to recognize behaviors as rule-violating and, in most scenarios, evaluated these scenarios to be of the same level of seriousness. The contours of the code of silence were very similar as well. The authors found the largest and most systematic differences in the respondents’ perceptions of disciplinary environment, with the traffic respondents expecting harsher disciplinary environments than either the South African Police Service or metro police respondents. Research limitations/implications – Similar sample group sizes would have been preferred, although the current sample group proportions are certainly representative of a collective, agency size comparison. Practical implications – Although the respondents from the three police agency types expressed similar views of misconduct seriousness and their willingness to report, and were as likely to recognize these behaviors as rule-violating, their views depicted markedly different disciplinary environments. These results clearly support the critical importance of consistent enforcement of official rules. Originality/value – Whereas several integrity studies have explored the country’s national police service, empirical studies on the integrity of the other South African police agency types are non-existent.

Country ETF returns and volatility spillovers in emerging stock markets, Europe and USA

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 419-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Burhan F Yavas ◽  
Fahimeh Rezayat
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Stock Markets ◽  
Emerging Market ◽  
Equity Market ◽  
Credit Expansion ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Regulatory Policies ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Auto Regressive

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the linkages among equity exchange traded funds (ETF) returns and transmission of volatilities of the USA, Europe and key emerging countries’ stock markets. Standard & Poor’s 500 (spy) and iShares Europe are used to represent the USA and European stock markets, the emerging market part of the data set consists of daily returns of equity ETF representing broad equity market indices of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China); the mist countries (Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and Turkey) and South Africa and covers the period of February 3, 2012-February 28, 2014. Design/methodology/approach – The paper utilizes multi-variate auto-regressive moving-averages (MARMA) methodology to study equity market returns and spillovers. Second, generalized auto-regressive conditional heteroskadasticity (GARCH) modeling is employed to model volatility persistence and transmissions. Findings – The findings include the existence of significant co-movement of returns among all country ETFs; however, despite increasing interdependencies among the global stock markets there are still very good opportunities for diversification. For example, USA and Europe based investors may do well to ignore opportunities in each other’s markets but can realize diversification benefits by investing in ETFs representing China, South Africa and Turkey. As far as volatilities are concerned, the findings indicate that no ETF volatility is transmitted from the sample countries to USA, Brazil, China and South African stock markets. Also, US market volatility is transmitted to India, Russia, Mexico and Turkey while European volatility spills over to Mexico and South Korea. The presence of spillovers among stock markets’ return series and persistence of volatilities are useful to investors interested in diversifying their portfolios and to traders/fund managers who are interested in maximizing returns. Research limitations/implications – The implications include: first, investors should not only rely on current domestic news to guide their investment decisions, but also take into consideration international news for there are substantial spillovers. Second, given that volatilities can proxy for risk, there are lessons for both individual and institutional investors in terms of further examining pricing securities, hedging and other trading strategies as well as framing regulatory policies. Third, investors should be able to ride the financial cycle by following closely monetary policies of the FED and European Central Bank and resulting credit expansion or contraction since research indicates (and as corroborated in this study) equity prices are linked to VIX which is also correlated with capital flows and credit expansion and interest rates. Limitations include: first, the investigation could be expanded to include individual countries in Europe instead of using one Europe-wide ETF. As ETFs for other emerging markets become available it is also possible to include additional countries. Second, ETFs may not be the best vehicles for diversification. Originality/value – Methodology (MARMA and GARCH) is widely used for analyzing financial data. The use of BRIC and MIST countries and the interaction among them may be novel. Spillovers among emerging financial markets is a fairly new area. Typically, the authors see studies of spillovers from the developed countries to the developing ones. The data period is important since it covers both credit expansion and contraction (or the start of it) by the FED and is current.

Decoding the Code of Silence

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 172-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanja Kutnjak Ivković ◽  
Maki Haberfeld ◽  
Robert Peacock
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
East Coast ◽  
The United States ◽  
Police Misconduct ◽  
Code Of Silence ◽  
Police Agencies ◽  
Police Accountability ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Willingness To Report ◽  
Police Integrity

The code of silence—the informal prohibition of reporting misconduct by fellow police officers—has long been viewed as a serious obstacle in control of police misconduct and achievement of police accountability. The purpose of this article is to study the key correlates of police officers’ reluctance to report. Relying upon a theory of police integrity and the accompanying methodology to study the code, a police integrity survey was administered in 2013 and 2014 to measure the contours of police integrity among 604 police officers from 11 police agencies located in the Midwest and the East Coast of the United States. The questionnaire contains descriptions of 11 scenarios describing various forms of police misconduct, each followed by seven questions measuring officer views of scenario seriousness, the appropriate and expected discipline, and willingness to report misconduct. Multivariate analyses reveal that the key factor related to the police officers’ reluctance to report is the perception that the other officers would not report. The code is also negatively related to familiarity with the official rules, evaluation of misconduct as serious, and the expectation of harsher discipline. The methodology can be used either by the police agencies themselves or by the civilian oversights to assess the nature and extent of the code in the police agency.

Assessing university police officers’ uniforms and wearing experiences

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brooke Brandewie ◽  
Injoo Kim ◽  
Myoung-Ok Kim
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Uniform Design ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Specific Performance ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Emotional Aspects ◽  
Municipal Police ◽  
The University

Purpose This study aims to suggest opportunities for enhancing the police uniform design with consideration to the emotional and physical satisfaction of the wearers, by assessing the wearing experience. Design/methodology/approach University police officers at a University in the Midwestern region of the USA were surveyed to examine both psychological and emotional aspects including performance, comfort, professionalism and empowerment, as well as their satisfaction levels with fit, fabrics, aesthetics and functionality. Findings The study found that the wearing experience was poor, and not surprisingly, fabric satisfaction ranked the lowest of all factors. In regard to color, results showed that the uniforms should be in colors that are suitable to the university context, which in this case the wearers preferred the University athletic colors of black and red. It is easier to consider these colors, as they are a part of their organization and also enable the police to stand apart from municipal police, contrary to previous research demonstrating dark colors have negative connotations. Findings suggest that the university police uniform should have an athletic style with a regular fit, using specific performance fabrics that allow for stretch and breathability. Originality/value This study assesses the police uniform design and wearing experience and suggests design details to enhance how well officers physically perform in their role and also to inspire them to feel proud of their job and organization.

Cops and COVID: an examination of California officers' perceptions and experiences while policing during a pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
John Shjarback ◽  
Obed Magny
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Organizational Level ◽  
Sensitive Information ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Police Agencies ◽  
Police Executives

PurposeUsing online survey data from a sample of 440 police officers in California throughout May 2020, the current study collected time-sensitive information on officers' perceptions and departmental experiences in the wake of the pandemic. It examined officers' perceptions of agency responsivity as well as their perceptions of morale, stress and risk following agency responses and changes in policy patterns, service delivery innovations and other administrative challenges.Design/methodology/approachCOVID-19 had a tremendous impact on the law enforcement community, who continued to work and adapt in order to provide public safety. During the first few months of the pandemic, a number of national data collection efforts set out to understand what police agencies, at the organizational-level, were doing to address the crisis. Largely missing from these initial discussions were the perspectives of individual officers, particularly how they felt about their respective departments ensuring safety and balancing risk.FindingsResults from ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions found that the number of departmental changes made in the wake of COVID-19 that reduced police–public contact was associated with (1) increased levels of perceived agency responsivity to officer needs (i.e. balancing officer safety, taking active steps to maintain officers' mental health) and (2) reduced levels of perceived negative outlook (e.g. stress, low morale, danger/risk). Policy implications and the importance of police executives' decisions during crisis are discussed.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first, to the authors’ knowledge, to examine perceptions of policing during the pandemic from an individual officer point of view rather than an organizational standpoint.

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