An Examination of Police Cynicism in Turkey and Its Impacts on Officers’ Perception of Corruption

An Examination of Police Cynicism in Turkey and Its Impacts on Officers’ Perception of Corruption Seyfullah Bucak, Ph.D. Department of Criminology, Law and Justice University of Illinois at Chicago Chicago, Illinois (2012) Dissertation Chairperson: Amie Schuck Corruption, in particular police corruption, has become a problem for societies and institutions for decades. Attempting to imagine a community without corruption is almost impossible. However, it is possible to see that corruption is much more endemic in some societies or groups than others; and while some officers become corrupt, others do not. Why corruption affects some people, institutions, or societies more than others is a question that should be answered. This study suggests that police officers become corrupt due to organizational culture and through socialization. Some individual characteristics may affect the level of vulnerability of officers to corruption. This study is aimed at examining the extent of cynicism among Turkish Police. Cynicism as a fundamental element of police subculture is considered an important factor influencing integrity and so corruption. The study, thus, also investigated how cynicism affects the perception of seriousness of corruption/integrity. This study utilized secondary data derived from the cross sectional survey of police officers in Turkey. The study findings revealed that cynicism is multidimensional and police officers displayed a high level of cynicism towards the majority of the cynicism items. In addition, cynicism is a significant predictor of perception of seriousness of corruption/integrity. Moreover, officers’ perception of corruption changed depending on certain demographic and organizational features of officers.