Police Officer Integrity: Factors Related to Police Supervisors¹ Willingness to Blow the Whistle

• In Event: Current Issues of Police Integrity

Abstract

This study partially replicates and extends the work of Klockars and colleagues 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 attending training at the Bill Blackwood Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas from June 1, 2009 to March 1, 2010 and employed by municipal police departments, county sheriff’s departments, and constable agencies. Results suggest that individual and organizational factors affect supervisor willingness to blow the whistle on underling misconduct, although their effects varied by seriousness of the behavior. The current project partially replicates and extends prior studies of factors affecting police integrity by 1) surveying supervisors, 2) measuring their willingness to whistle blow, and 3) including variables in statistical models that prior studies have not included.

Authors

• Hyeyoung Lim, University of Alabama at Birmingham

• John J. Sloan, University of Alabama at Birmingham