Ethics, Integrity and Police Misconduct: Analyzing Ethical Awareness, Standards and Action of Law Enforcement Officers in the United States

Abstract

The ethical behavior of public officials is critical to the performance of public agencies.

Yet, it is rarely the subject of quantitative research. This study contributes to our understanding of the norms followed by police officers regarding misconduct that are shaped among street-level bureaucrats who, regularly and without warning, confront important value choices. A complete investigation of police ethics would need to consider both the factors that contribute to unethical behavior as well as ethical behavior. The literature focuses on the former. This study focuses on those factors that contribute to unethical, as well as ethical behavior. This study examines one type of street-level bureaucrat, namely police officers, and their attitudes towards misconduct using existing data from police officers in thirty police agencies. The specific issue examined is whether a police officer's tendency to report peer misconduct is influenced primarily by attitudes regarding misconduct or individual characteristics, peer behavior, the nature of the misconduct, organizational characteristics. Using descriptive statistics and regression models, this study concludes that an officer's willingness to report misconduct is influenced by attitudes, as well as the nature of the misconduct.