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Whistle-Blowing and the Code of Silence in Police Agencies: Policy and Structural Predictors

NCJ Number
233303
Journal
Crime & Delinquency Volume: 53 Issue: 4 Dated: October 2007 Pages: 605-632
Author(s)
Gary R. Rothwell; J. Norman Baldwin
Date Published
October 2007
Length
28 pages
Annotation
This article reports on whistle blowing by police.
Abstract
This article reports the findings from a study that investigates predictors of police willingness to blow the whistle and police frequency of blowing the whistle on seven forms of misconduct. It specifically investigates the capacity of nine policy and structural variables to predict whistle-blowing. The results indicate that two variables, a policy mandating the reporting of misconduct and supervisory status, surface as the most consistent predictors of whistle-blowing. Contrary to popular belief, the results also show that police are slightly less inclined than civilian public employees to subscribe to a code of silence. (Published Abstract)