Crime‐based survey instrument for police integrity measurement

Abstract

Purpose

The common survey instrument for police integrity consists of case descriptions that are mainly concerned with corruption. However, the diversity in police criminal acts calls for a revision of this survey instrument. Based on cases of convicted police officers in Norway, this paper aims to propose a new survey.

Design/methodology/approach

Content analysis of 57 court cases in Norway was carried out.

Findings

Rather than focusing mainly on police corruption, a diversity of police criminal acts was identified in the content analysis.

Research limitations/implications

Court cases in other countries should be analysed to improve the proposed questionnaire in future iterations. Rather than measuring police integrity only in terms of corruption, future empirical studies of police integrity should focus on the variety of police criminal acts found in court cases.

Originality/value

The paper focusses on an empirically based survey instrument.

Citation

Gottschalk, P. (2010), "Crime‐based survey instrument for police integrity measurement", Policing: An International Journal, Vol. 33 No. 1, pp. 52-68. https://doi.org/10.1108/13639511011020593