Ultimately, new officers display acceptance of these principles by way of their dealings in the neighborhoods that they serve. The knowledge of work-related principles is an important issue in formative efficiency of officers, the height of job fulfillment, the value of police and community relations, and the triumphant achievement of organizational socialization (Engelson, 1998). Breaking the code of silence amongst officers in order to investigate corruption correctly would require infiltrating the organizational culture that has been established within police forces around the world, and I'm not sure that this would be so easy to do. Being part of the group is something that is part of the culture and ingrained in officers from the beginning. In part this is due to the essence of the job and in another part is just a faction of human bonding. The culture of being a police officer is filled with the idea that all officers must rely upon their colleagues for protection and support. This comradely must exist among this group in order for the function of their job to happen. It is when this tight net attitude goes too far then corruption occurs and things get overlooked.

Breaking the code of silence would be a good thing because corrupt behavior could be uncovered and dealt with in an appropriate manner, but disrupting this culture that has existed forever would have harmful effects as well. Officers would have to go against the culture in which they have...

Officers know that they rely tremendously on their fellow officers and that the closer the bond that they have with these other people the safer that they feel.
It is for these reasons that I don't feel that the code of silence will ever be broken. Due to the nature of the profession of being a police officer the organizational culture and human bonds are so very important. In order to circumvention these innate things the entire profession would be put into danger along with the community as a whole. Even though corruption is not right and should be a phenomenon that is dealt with, breaking the code in order to do so, just does not seem like a feasible way to do it. There are too many consequences that would occur because of this that would be detrimental in the end to make this a good idea. The best idea would be to come up with some other way to fight the corruption that occurs, without disrupting the very essence of the culture that has existed since the beginning of time.

Works Cited

Engelson, Wade. 1998, "The occupational socialization of police." Journal of California Law

Enforcement, viewed 10 November 2010,

"Ethics and the Police." n.d., viewed 10 November 2010,

"Human bonding." 2010, viewed 10 November 2010,

"Police Deviance & Ethics." 2005, viewed 10 November 2010,