The purpose of this study is to examine the degree to which the predictors of police officers’ adherence to the code of silence vary across different levels of corruption seriousness. This paper extends prior research by comparing organizational- and individual-level factors across a spectrum of corruption scenarios.
The authors used survey data from 448 police officers in Croatia. Respondents were presented with five hypothetical scenarios representing varying seriousness levels of police corruption, from relatively minor administrative violations (“white” police corruption) to serious criminal offenses (“black” police corruption). Separate binary logistic regression models were estimated for each scenario, using a consistent set of organizational and demographic predictors.
Perceptions that fellow officers would adhere to the code of silence were the strongest and most consistent predictors of officers’ own willingness to remain silent across all scenarios, regardless of their seriousness. Officers who viewed the corruption as serious were significantly less likely to remain silent in four of the five scenarios. Recognizing behavior as a policy violation and expecting dismissal were significant only in specific contexts. Supervisory status consistently predicted lower adherence to the code, while gender, tenure and assignment type showed limited or scenario-specific effects.
The code of silence varies across corruption seriousness. Police culture is critical for the code of silence. Perceptions of seriousness are negatively related to the code of silence. Supervisory status is negatively related to the code of silence.
This study offers a novel comparison of how organizational and individual-level factors influence officers’ adherence to the code of silence across varying levels of corruption seriousness – an area that has received limited empirical attention.
