NCJ Number
85084
Date Published
1981
Length
21 pages
Annotation
Police cynicism and the secrecy of the police subculture have contributed to the cyclical revelations of systemic police corruption in New York City, and until these factors are subverted, the cycle of corruption is likely to continue.
Abstract
Cynicism in police officers occurs when they can no longer embrace the meaning and ideals of policing and begin to rationalize self-serving and corrupt behavior as the norm. Police secrecy occurs when the police, upon encountering negative reactions to themselves from the public, retreat into a combative peer subculture that seeks to protect itself and its members from all external attacks, even those seeking to uproot police corruption. Police cynicism can be dealt with through a combination of training and supervisory counseling. While cynicism may be an expected consequence of officer interaction with human begins manifesting their darkest natures, it can be countered by a concerted effort to make officers aware of the forces pressing them toward cynicism and ways to counter it. A strong peer subculture that affirms the values of police professionalism in the face of the negative encounters of policing can also help counter the tendency for individual officers to become cynical. The degeneration of the police subculture to a secretive society that protects its corrupt members can be addressed by establishing professional police associations oriented toward a code of ethics and a stand against police corruption. When the police officer who uncovers corruption is more revered than the person who keeps the code of silence, then the battle against systemic corruption has been won. Twenty-four footnotes are listed.