Typology of police misconduct

Speaker:
Dr Louise Porter
Research Fellow, Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Policing and Security, Griffith University

Abstract:
This paper explores the multivariate nature of police misconduct in order to identify a descriptive model of the features of behaviour that could potentially inform approaches to prevention. Fifty cases were coded from law reports to extract personal and behavioural variables. These were analysed descriptively to obtain frequencies and then statistically to explore the relationships between the variables. A three-way model similar to Punch’s (2000) definition incorporating Police Crime, Noble Cause Misconduct and Corruption was identified, with Police Crime being the most frequent. This typically involved Constables committing proactive single criminal offences alone for personal gain. The findings are discussed in terms of explanations for the behaviour and also prevention strategies, such as increasing police accountability, (awareness of) consequences and transformational leadership.