Anti-Corruption Reforms in the Police: Current Strategies and Issues
| Date | 01 April 2002 |
| Author | Jon Moran |
| Published date | 01 April 2002 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X0207500206 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
JON MORAN
Centre for Criminology, Humanities
and
Social Sciences,
University
of
Glamorgan
ANTI-CORRUPTION REFORMS IN
THE POLICE: CURRENT
STRATEGIES AND ISSUES*
During the 1990s a number of high-profile corruption cases,
involving police officers engaging in serious criminal activity,
merged with wider debates on police integrity. This article
examines the anti-corruption strategies employed by the Met-
ropolitan Police and Merseyside Police. Some current risk
areas of corruption are examined and then the roles of dedi-
cated anti-corruption units, preventive measures and other
techniques are discussed. What appears qualitatively different
about the current approach of these two services is the internal
commitment which is reflected in the operations of a dedicated
anti-corruption unit, the development of preventive measures
and the recognition that a successful anti-corruption unit
should operate in a developing system of overall 'professional
standards'. The latter includes the development of a series of
managerial, organisational and procedural systems extending
throughout the organisation.
1. Introduction
Police corruption as a phenomenon has occurred regularly in the
police services of England and Wales. However, during the
1990s a number of high-profile corruption cases, involving
police officers engaging in serious criminal activity, merged with
wider debates on police integrity, particularly in the wake of the
MacPherson Report, presenting organisational and symbolic
problems to police services individually and generally.
These developments raise a number of important policy and
research questions relating to the genesis and control of corrup-
tion. First is the issue of how police corruption should be
conceptualised. This is relevant not only as an academic exercise
but also in setting the terms of reference for any strategy: the
definition of corruption will inform the limits of any strategy
pursued. Secondly, the question of what factors are associated
with police corruption is central, since an analysis of the struc-
tural or individual dynamics that fuel corrupt activity on the part
of police officers will also influence the strategy adopted to
The Police Journal, Volume 75 (2002) 137
control it. A third question centres on what strategies are being
adopted to control corruption, and a fourth is how effective these
strategies are. This article addresses these questions by reference
to general themes and the experiences of two relevant police
forces that have attempted to institute comprehensive anti-
corruption policies.
2. The Long Debate: Defining Police Corruption
On a broad level, police corruption is a form of organisational
deviance in the public sector. Indeed, corruption has become an
issue of increasing importance in terms of public sector policy,
as demonstrated by the number of anti-corruption reforms cur-
rently under way in local government, the NHS and the height-
ened role taken by District Audit, the National Audit Office and
other bodies in 'policing' corruption. Police and public sector
organisations demonstrate a number of elements in common.
These include the fact that the police, like other public sector
organisations, exercise allocative power (that is, they dispense
services or resources) in a quasi or non-market environment.
Police and public sector organisations also display a distinct
culture and ethos, part of this involving a marked culture of
professionalism.' Finally, in the police as in many public sector
organisations, corruption may be perceived as a signifier of crisis
within the profession/service as a whole. Fraud and corruption in
the NHS demonstrate how medical professionals can exercise
allocative power over financial and other resources in a context
of specific ethical and cultural traditions of professionalism,
often involving a low degree of supervision. Further, the current
publicity accorded to large frauds intertwines with symbolic
notions of the NHS 'in crisis'v' Corruption in local government
(at least amongst non-elected officials) and the Civil Service
occurs in a similar context.3
Nevertheless, police corruption also possesses qualitatively
different elements from those of corruption in other public sector
services. These are shaped by the special powers and responsibil-
ities of police officers, namely their roles as police officers, the
unique constitutional position of the police service in the UK, the
position of the police as reproducers of social and public order,
the symbolic role of the police as 'guardians' of the public, and
the position of the police service as an organisation of the
criminal justice system.
Whatever the context of police corruption, the precise defini-
tion of corruption remains an issue. Arguably, a substantial part
of the policy, academic, media, and civil society/pressure group
138 The Police Journal, Volume 75 (2002)
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