The police code of silence and different paths towards democratic policing

Abstract

We study the contours of the code of silence among the police in two Eastern-European countries (the Czech Republic (CR) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)). These two countries have experienced relatively recent, but dramatically different paths towards democratisation of the police. We surveyed 604 Czech police officers and 451 officers in BiH regarding their willingness to report misconduct and expectations about the willingness of fellow officers to report misconduct. The results indicate that, although the code of silence is present among supervisors and line officers in both countries, the code is stronger among line officers than among supervisors. In addition, it appears that officers and supervisors in both countries have a good grasp of the extent of protection the code will actually provide. We also report that the code is more homogeneous among the line officers and supervisors in BiH than in the CR, and that tolerance of the use of excessive force is stronger in Bi than in the CR. Both of these findings may be explained by the recent war in BiH that created unique challenges for democratisation of the police.