Exploring Whistleblowing in Law Enforcement

• In Event: Roundtable: Policing

Abstract

Whistleblowing is a mechanism by which illegal or corrupt activity is reported. Whistleblowing in law enforcement is an important accountability mechanism. Police officers can blow the whistle on a variety of law enforcement interactions to include interactions with civilians, other officers, and the law enforcement agency. The “code of silence” has been cited as a challenge to whistleblowing in law enforcement. However, there has been no study that has reviewed the experiences of officers who have broken that code of silence and blown the whistle. This empirical study aims to address this gap by reviewing a dataset of over 300 incidences related to whistleblowing in law enforcement. Officers of various ranks blew the whistle on a range of misconduct to include beatings, harassment, dishonesty, excessive force, fraud, and other types of illegal behaviors. This study explores these experiences in detail. This study also presents ideas for future areas of study related to whistleblowing in law enforcement.

Authors

• Sara T. Thompson, Rutgers University-Newark

• Jason R. Silver, Rutgers University-Newark