Dr Eva Tsahuridu, Ms Evie Belcher
1Police Registration and Services Board, Melbourne, Australia
The presentation describes research on police misconduct based on analysis of 43 Victoria Police Registration Services Board dismissal review decisions. Elucidating why police commit serious discipline offences is a crucial task for police research to inform leadership and culture development, as well as ethics and decision-making training across law enforcement organisations. This research explored what the decision-makers – the officers who were charged with misconduct – perceived as the factors that influenced their behaviour, as well as neutralisations they used to justify it. The study offers insight into the impact of stress, PTSD, mental health, alcoholism and relationship problems on officers’ decision-making, as well as broader organisational factors such as culture, peer relationships and leadership. The theoretical lens of Skyes and Matza’s (1957) on techniques of neutralization such as denial of responsibility, denial of injury, denial of victims, appeal to higher loyalties, and condemnation of condemners was used. Neutralizations reduce feelings of responsibility or anxiety for unethical behaviour and were identified in their verbalisations and techniques officers used to defend, justify and explain their misconduct. The exploration illustrates how individual and organisational elements interact and how unethical acts can be done by good people. The findings provide guidance for improving ethical and professional standards among policing agencies and develops implications for practice in relation to support, education and training, and continuous professional development to promote the integrity of the criminal justice system, well-being of society and legitimacy and trust of police.
Biography:
Eva Tsahuridu, PhD
Eva is an internationally recognised expert who has been researching, educating and advising on culture, leadership, ethics, governance and professional standards for over two decades. Previously, Eva held executive academic roles in Australian and European Universities serving as director of undergraduate and postgraduate programs. Her academic bibliography is extensive including edited books, journal articles, book chapters and conference papers.
Evie Belcher
Evie is in her fourth year of Bachelor Arts/Laws (Honours) at Monash University. Evie has completed a major in Criminology, during which she undertook a research internship at the Police Registration Services Board.