NCJ Number
183120
Date Published
1999
Length
31 pages
Annotation
This survey seeks to determine what police think of the disciplinary and complaints procedures within the Queensland Police Service (QPS) and to examine their responses to scenarios of unethical conduct by police officers.
Abstract
The paper focuses specifically on the results of surveys administered in 1995-1998 to First Year Constables after they had spent some time as operational police. There was an increase in respondents’ knowledge of the disciplinary and complaints process, how to deal with ethical problems and the Criminal Justice Commission’s role in investigating complaints. Knowledge of the role of the Ethical Standards Command, the informal resolution process and the appeals procedure in regard to discipline matters remained consistently low over all four surveys. Most respondents knew an officer who had been the subject of a complaint investigation, and they thought the QPS was fairer than the Criminal Justice Commission in conducting investigations. There was an increase over the 4 years in respondents’ perceived seriousness of the unethical conduct scenarios, willingness to report and perceived likelihood of detection. Respondents considered the QPS as a whole punitive rather than supportive. While they were increasingly prepared to report fellow officers for misconduct, many respondents remained concerned about the consequences of “whistleblowing.” Tables, figures, appendix, references