Police perceptions and the norming of institutional corruption

This paper discusses the phenomenon of corruption in major urban police departments in the United States and explores the tendency in most to tolerate corruption at damaging levels. It presents a model of the “normed corruption” dynamic and posits that corruption much like other organizational problems such as police shootings, auto chases, abuse of sick time, etc., can be controlled administratively with strong leadership and consistent effort. The paper also discusses long and short term approaches to corruption management in police agencies.