Integrity problems: In the police organization; Police officer's perceptions reviewed

What do Dutch police officers think about the extent and acceptability of integrity violations? This paper concentrates on the views of police officers on deviant behaviour in the working place. The discussed integrity violations cover a wide spectrum; corruption (with gain for oneself or family and friends), fraud and theft, conflict of private and public interest (through gifts and assets, jobs and activities), improper use of violence towards citizens and suspects, improper (investigative) methods of policing, abuse and manipulation of information, discrimination and sexual harassment and waste and abuse of organizational resources. The data in this study is taken from the so-called Integrity Thermometer, a written questionnaire carried out in several Dutch police organizations between 1996 and 1999, whereby 3.125 respondents were interviewed. The results of this survey offer useful insights into a policy approach to deal with integrity violations in the organization. By combining the perceptions employees have: on the one hand the extent, and on the other hand the acceptability of unethical behaviour at the working place; a classification of integrity problems occurs indicating the seriousness of integrity violations. We distinguish four types of integrity problems, described by us as urgent problems, recurring problems, specific problems and non-problems. This typology of integrity problems does not only hold for the police organization, it can be useful for other organizations as well. Every type of integrity problem asks for its own policy. The management of the organization can use the views of the employees as a starting point for an integrity policy or to evaluate the integrity policy. In line with the views of employees we argue that the course of action needs to stress awareness, prevention, repression or monitoring. Besides presenting our results, the aim of our contribution is to discuss the worth of employees' perceptions for management, strategy and (integrity) policy.