How can we enhance police integrity? The authors surveyed over 3000 police officers from 30 U.S. police departments on how they would respond to typical scenarios where integrity is challenged. They studied three police agencies which scored highly on the integrity scale: Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina; Charleston, South Carolina; and St. Petersburg, Florida. The authors conclude that enhancing police integrity goes well beyond culling out bad apple police officers. Police administrators should focus on four aspects: organizational rulemaking; detecting, investigating and disciplining rule violations; circumscribing the informal code of silence that prohibits police from reporting the misconduct of their colleagues; and understanding the influence of public expectations and agency history.

Police misconduct is a topic of great concern worldwide. However, the causes of police corruption are remarkably different. Understanding the unique political, historical, legal, and economic institutions of a country is essential in identifying the potential for police misconduct.

The Contours of Police Integrity is the only book that examines police corruption and police integrity across cultures. Editors Carl B. Klockars, Sanja Kutnjak Ivkovich, and Maria Haberfeld begin with an introduction to the issues surrounding police integrity, followed by chapters that focus on the critical cultural, political, and historical conditions that influence police conduct in fourteen different countries. Based on the largest systematic survey of police integrity ever conducted, this innovative text illustrates how officers in different cultures regard various types of corruption, how severely they think transgressions should be punished, and how willing they are to come forward to report infractions.

Highlights include

• Essays written by top criminal justice academics in each country
• Survey information from nations as diverse as Austria, Croatia, England, Pakistan, Japan, and the United States
• The opinions of nearly 14,000 police officers worldwide
• An instrument for determining the potential for police misconduct

Designed as a supplemental text for police administration and management, ethics in criminal justice, comparative criminal justice, and comparative policing courses at both the graduate and undergraduate level, The Contours of Police Integrity is also an indispensable resource for regional policing institutes and police training academies.

How can we enhance police integrity? After surveying more than 3,000 police officers on how they would respond, the authors went on to study three police agencies which scored highly. The authors conclude that effective administration focuses on organizational rulemaking; detecting, investigating and disciplining rule violations; circumscribing the "code of silence" that prohibits police from reporting the misconduct of their colleagues; and understanding the influence of public expectations and agency history.

Police misconduct is a topic of great concern worldwide. However, the causes of police corruption are remarkably different. Understanding the unique political, historical, legal, and economic institutions of a country is essential in identifying the potential for police misconduct.

The Contours of Police Integrity is the only book that examines police corruption and police integrity across cultures. Editors Carl B. Klockars, Sanja Kutnjak Ivkovich, and Maria Haberfeld begin with an introduction to the issues surrounding police integrity, followed by chapters that focus on the critical cultural, political, and historical conditions that influence police conduct in fourteen different countries. Based on the largest systematic survey of police integrity ever conducted, this innovative text illustrates how officers in different cultures regard various types of corruption, how severely they think transgressions should be punished, and how willing they are to come forward to report infractions.

Highlights include

• Essays written by top criminal justice academics in each country
• Survey information from nations as diverse as Austria, Croatia, England, Pakistan, Japan, and the United States
• The opinions of nearly 14,000 police officers worldwide
• An instrument for determining the potential for police misconduct

Designed as a supplemental text for police administration and management, ethics in criminal justice, comparative criminal justice, and comparative policing courses at both the graduate and undergraduate level, The Contours of Police Integrity is also an indispensable resource for regional policing institutes and police training academies.

What is the best way to define the police? Why do we have police at all? In modern democracies like the United States and Great Britain, why is most policing done by employees of the state? What is the relationship between police and the law? What makes a good police officer? In addressing these questions, Klockars makes the reader look at the idea of police from a new perspective. First he explains how any definition of police must include the reality of coercive force--the fact that police officers everywhere have the right to "forcibly compel other people to do something." Next he describes the evolution of the police in the United States vis-a-vis the police in Great Britain. After exploring the role of the detective, he highlights the moral conflicts and issues of discretion that police officers face daily. Finally, Klockars examines what makes a good police officer. "An informative introductory resource. . . may prove valuable even to graduate students." --The Social Science Journal