Another blue brick in the wall: The silencing of police blame culture

• In Event: Police culture revisited: The implications for voice, silence, and other harmful outcomes

Abstract

Reforming the police is seen as a challenge. Mostly the recalcitrant police culture is advanced as a stumbling block to effective change in police organisations. Moreover, characteristics like police solidarity, shared sense of mission and loyalty are seen as core in the maintenance of the ‘blue wall’ of silence particularly when considering any police wrongdoing. While there is validity in this argument, it is suggested here that simply seeing culture as the only factor in the maintenance of organisational silence is limited. In other words, it is proposed that a range of other factors contribute to maintaining or strengthening the ‘silence’ in police organisations. Drawing on recent analysis of reports and inquiries into policing, it is purported that the emergence of blame cultures embedded into police organisations and those emanating from external sources have adverse organisational consequences and serve to re-enforce closed cultures and shut down channels of communication and openness. Rather than lead to learning opportunities, pathological structures of blames reinforce negative aspects of police organisational cultures. Furthermore, past endeavours that have sought to enhance accountability and create transparency in police do not seem to be working effectively to end or break this silence. Whether this is resolvable through different ways of attributing blame when police wrong-doing occurs are discussed. It is proposed that implementing better ways for officers to voice concerns in the midst of errors or when things go wrong would be a more effective solution in the longer term.

Author

• Denise Martin, Northumbria University