Elimination of Corruption in the WA (Western Australia) Police Force

WA (Western Australia) Police Force began their chapter in history of Australian Policing in 1829 when few constables were appointed to patrol Perth and Fremantle. The first woman police officer was appointed in 1917 for some specialised services until they were fully incorporated in 1970s (WA Police, 2011).

Today WA Police mans 2.5 million square kilometres which is the largest single jurisdiction (WA Police, 2011). Currently WA Police force is under a lot of scrutiny due to numerous corruption charges against the police officers. The public has a negative perception of police force and they no longer feel secure, neither do they trust the police force to keep them safe.

Issue – Corruption

Probable Causes of Corruption – Different things motivate different people. Some can motivate people to perform beyond expectations and some can lead astray from moral and ethical values.

When dealing with corruption, first question to ask or to clarify is what corruption is. NSW Research (2002) describes corruption anything from gaining materialistically by virtue of position (for eg. getting a special discount at stores) to engaging in ‘direct criminal activities’ (eg. selling drugs). Newburn (1999) believes that there is a thin line between the definition of ‘corrupt’ and ‘non-corrupt’ activities as at the end, it is an ethical problem. For common people, however, bribery generalises corruption.

Different researches and enquiry commissions have come up with different reasons as to why corruption prevails in the police force. We will look at some of the most probable causes which apply to WA Police.

Decision Making – Police officers have considerable decision making powers at their own discretion. This is true for low ranki...

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...at WA Police will try to achieve.

Consolidate Improvements – After a while it may seem that the change is successful, but it doesn’t takes long for the old methods to creep in. Therefore, although we should celebrate success, there cannot be slackness in the change process. New ways of evaluation and monitoring should be carried out to check the credibility of the success. Every effort should be made to find any chink in the new armour of cultural change and to repair it.

Institutionalize Change in Organisational Culture – One important question is when does the process end. The successful culmination of change process is when the objectives of that process become a part of the daily organisational culture. When the next generation of management takes over, the objectives should be a part of the whole organisation and not just a single process or department.