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Exploring Gender Differences in the Australian Context: Organizational and Cultural Dimensions of Ethical Attitudes

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Exploring Police Integrity

Abstract

A growing body of literature suggests that police agencies should aim to increase the number of female officers to positively influence police culture and reduce the occurrence of behavior-related problems. However, not all studies conclude that female officers are more ethical or less likely to attract public complaints than male officers. This chapter reviews the history of women in police and evidence, both from the field and from surveys, that suggests gender differences in ethical behavior. It then presents analysis of primary data on Australian officers’ ethical attitudes across eleven scenarios. These recent Australian data highlight current gender differences across key integrity constructs are somewhat less pronounced than expected. However, there are differences in the ways male and female officers view themselves in relation to the (perceived) normative culture, and differences in how organizational and cultural perceptions impact their willingness to report the infractions. The results are discussed in terms of the context of women in police and enhancing their experience in policing.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The differences in means by supervisory status (main effect) are not reported as these were not of interest.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia

    Louse E. Porter & Tim Prenzler

Authors
  1. Louse E. Porter
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  2. Tim Prenzler
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Correspondence to Louse E. Porter .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    Sanja Kutnjak Ivković

  2. John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA

    M. R. Haberfeld

Scenarios

Scenarios

Number

Label

Scenario

1

Gratuities

A police officer is widely liked in the community. Local business owners regularly show their appreciation for his attention by giving him gifts of food, cigarettes, and other items of small value

2

Omits-warrant

A police officer is aware that there is an arrest warrant for a long time friend of his. Although he sees his friend frequently over a period of more than a week and warns his friend of its existence, he does not arrest him or pass on information about his friend’s whereabouts to other police

3

Theft

A police officer discovers a burglary of a hardware store. The display cases are smashed and many items have obviously been taken. While searching the store, he takes an expensive pocket knife and slips it into his pocket. He reports that the knife has been stolen during the burglary

4

Shooting

An officer, who was severely beaten by a person resisting arrest, has just returned to duty. On patrol, the officer approaches a person standing in a dimly lit alley. Suddenly, the person throws a gym bag at the officer and begins to run away. The officer fatally shoots the person, striking him in the back. It was later determined that the person was unarmed

5

Leave/errands

A police officer is scheduled to work during coming holidays. The supervisor offers to give him these days off, if he agrees to run some personal errands for the supervisor. Evaluate the SUPERVISOR’S behavior

6

Force-punch

In responding with her male partner to a fight in a bar, a young, female officer receives a black eye from one of the male combatants. The man is arrested, handcuffed, and, as he is led into the cells, the male member of the team punches him very hard in the kidney area saying, “hurts, doesn’t it”

7

Rudeness

A police officer stops a motorist for speeding. As the officer approaches the vehicle, the driver yells, “What the hell are you stopping me for?” The officer replies, “Because today is ‘Arrest an Arsehole Day’”

8

Omits-DUI

At 2 A.M. a police officer, who is on duty, is driving his patrol car on a deserted road. He sees a vehicle that has been driven off the road and is stuck in a ditch. He approaches the vehicle and observes that the driver is not hurt but is obviously intoxicated. He also finds that the driver is a police officer. Instead of reporting this accident and offense he transports the driver to his home

9

Discount for referral

A police officer has a private arrangement with a local Smash Repairer to refer the owners of cars damaged in accidents to the shop. In exchange for each referral, he receives a payment of 5% of the repair bill from the shop owner

10

Evidence

A police officer arrests two drug dealers involved in a street fight. One has a large quantity of heroin on his person. In order to charge them both with serious offences, the officer falsely reports that the heroin was found on both men

11

Omits-force

A police sergeant, without intervening, watches officers under his supervision repeatedly strike and kick a man arrested for child abuse. The man has previous child abuse arrests. Evaluate the SERGEANT’S behavior

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Porter, L.E., Prenzler, T. (2019). Exploring Gender Differences in the Australian Context: Organizational and Cultural Dimensions of Ethical Attitudes. In: Kutnjak Ivković, S., Haberfeld, M.R. (eds) Exploring Police Integrity. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29065-8_12

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