Police Corruption, Deviance, Accountability and Reform in Policing

Abstract

In Police Corruption: Deviance, accountability and reform in policing, Maurice Punch characterizes corruption as ‘a given’ in the profession of policing. It is institutional, not simply individual, and manifests itself beyond individual and financial gain. The book seeks to illustrate that a distinct culture exists in policing which enables patterns of deviance and corruption in diverse forms. Integral to this culture is weakness, negligence, or collusiveness on the part of a police organization in preventing, deterring, and investigating offences committed by police. By presenting several case studies, often involving street officers, Punch explores reasons why police organizations that hold themselves out as accountable public agencies fail to deal with ‘bad apples’ and allow the entire orchard to spoil. Several questions arise. What were their sergeants doing? Why was an internal, disciplinary process not activated? What did fellow officers think? Why were no red flags waved? The book also addresses particular paths officers follow into deviance, what social arrangements they become involved in, how the officers justify the deviance, how, after scandal unfolds, police agencies are reformed (temporarily if not permanently), how external control of policing is exercised, and how accountability is arranged and exercised.