NCJ Number
183267
Date Published
1999
Length
22 pages
Annotation
The guiding hypothesis of this study is that illegal practices of police personnel are socially prescribed and patterned through the informal "code" rather than being a function of individual aberration or personal inadequacies of individual officers.
Abstract
The traditional ethnographic technique of using an informant familiar with the "code" and its related practices supplied the empirical data for this study. Data from a single informant do not meet the stringent scientific criteria of reliability for the purpose of applying the conclusions from this case to police agencies in general. The author assumes that subsequent research will establish whether the empirical data constitute a unique episode or a general phenomenon; however, the decision to enrich the literature with this study in spite of its methodological deficiencies was believed to be justified, inasmuch as a search through the professional literature showed no empirical accounts that deal directly with deviant police officers. The findings are presented under the topics of the code and its practices, the police recruit's initiation into the code clique, sanctions for preservation of the code, and difficulties involved in breaking the code. The study shows the social genesis of the code, which is the breeding ground for individual unlawful police behavior. It demonstrates that in the particular department from which the empirical data were drawn, deviancy among officers is a reflection of values that are habitually practiced and accepted within the police community. 38 notes