DCAF REGIONAL TRAINING ON RESEARCHING POLICE CORRUPTION
WORKSHOP 1: THEORIES AND POLICIES
AND
WORKSHOP 2: RESEARCHING POLICE CORRUPTION
BELGRADE, SERBIA, 14 TO 16 APRIL 2013
THIS EVENT IS HOSTED BY THE BELGRADE CENTRE FOR SECURITY POLICY (BCSP)
DAY ONE, 14.04.2013
09:00 – 09:45 |SESSION 1.1: INTRODUCTION
Welcome, introductions of participants and speakers and presentation of the workshop
objectives. Introduction of key terms and some key concepts.
Speakers: Franziska Klopfer, Project Coordinator, DCAF; Alexander Stoyanov, Director of
Research, Center for the Study of Democracy
09:45 – 11:00 |SESSION 1.2: PREVENTING POLICE CORRUPTION: ANTI-CORRUPTION
APPROACHES AND STRATEGIES
The different types and causes of police corruption have resulted in different overall
approaches (strategies and tactics) in tackling police corruption. What drives these anticorruption approaches? Does it matter whether the push comes from within a given country or
is essentially required (imposed?) from an outside agency such as the EU? This section will
present a critical analysis with the example of the police anti-corruption model in Belgium.
Speakers: Dirk Verstraete, Detective Superintendent, General Police Inspectorate, Belgium
11:00 – 11:30 |COFFEE BREAK
11:30 – 13:00 |SESSION 1.3: POLICE ANTI-CORRUPTION INSTITUTIONS: ORGANISATION AND
MODUS OPERANDI
This session will introduce the general organisation, goals, underlining rationale and
instruments to the variety of institutions used to tackle police corruption. This includes internal
affairs units, complaints commissions, and independent corruption investigation units. It will
explain the inter-connections between human rights and police anti-corruption, audits and
Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF)
P.O.Box 1360  rue de Chantepoulet 11  CH-1211 Geneva 1  Switzerland  tel. +41 22 741 77 00  fax + 41 22 741 77 05  info@dcaf.ch  www.dcaf.ch
monitoring of professional standards and corrupt behaviour, between human resource
management and police anti-corruption (e.g. vetting of new recruits, or disciplinary sanctions of
officers); and administrative vs. penal approaches in tackling corruption. It will also provide a
basic overview of the different instruments that anti-corruption may use, including wiretaps,
under-cover officers, integrity tests, and operational or IT-based anti-corruption measures and
solutions.
Speakers: Dirk Verstraete; Tihomir Bezlov, Senior Fellow, Security Program Center for the
Study of Democracy
13:00 – 14:00 |LUNCH
14:00 – 15:30 |SESSION 1.4: EVALUATING ANTI-CORRUPTION POLICIES AND INSTITUTIONS
This will be a general introduction to how professional impact assessments, policy evaluations,
and feasibility studies are made in the EU. It will present standard methodologies by which
evaluations and assessments are made. It may present the general guidelines used by the
European Commission to undertake such evaluations. Examples will be provided from policy
evaluations or institutional assessments of police forces, relevant European institutions
(Europol, Frontex). The main goal will be breadth, rather than depth – i.e. to show what needs
be done, what are the general approaches, and what methods can and should be used.
Speaker: Drago Kos, former Chairman of the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption in
Slovenia, former Chairman of the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption
(GRECO) ; Alexander Stoyanov
15:30 – 16:00 |COFFEE BREAK
16:00 – 17:00 |SESSION 1.5: ADVOCATING FOR CHANGE – THE ROLE OF NGOS, IOS, THE
MEDIA AND CITIZENS IN COUNTERING CORRUPTION
This session will provide an overview of several things aiming to suggest ways in which primarily
NGOs and IOs may be more effective in stimulating change. This will include very brief
overviews of:
(1) The role of the EU – as a major IO player - in countering corruption (inc. the EU-anticorruption package; conditionality in EU accession negotiations; the role of Europol - for
instance in assessing the threat).
(2) Brief discussion of the possible ways in which NGOs may be involved in stimulating
change by monitoring corruption (e.g. by surveying the general population; assisting the police
with analysis [with surveys of police officers; legal analysis, international comparative analysis];
or working with advocacy organisations for introduction of a complaint system and an
independent commission that oversees the processing and investigations of complaints (this is
one of the intersections of human rights and corruption – the police officers may abuse their
office by unlawfully arresting a citizen or by extorting a bribe from the citizen – either way there
is a need for a complaints system).
2
(3) In the final part of the session, at least two concrete case-studies of NGO activities in
researching (police) corruption and raising consciousness will be presented analysed and
assessed.
Speakers: Tobias Bock, Project Officer, International Defence and Security Programme,
Transparency International UK; N.N., Transparency International, Serbia (tbc);
17:00 – 18:15 |SESSION 1.6 RESEARCH PAPERS AND PROJECTS – INTRODUCTION
This session will focus on developing ideas for research projects on police corruption that the
participants could undertake in the future. Participants are invited to come up with ideas for
research projects. The ideas will be discussed in groups and with the facilitators.
In addition, this session will provide more information on the small research paper that
participants can write as part of the workshop project. Participants can ask questions and
discuss possible topics for their papers.
Facilitator: Franziska Klopfer with Alexander Stoyanov, Tihomir Bezlov and Sappho Xenakis,
Lecturer in Criminology, School of Law, Birkbeck, University of London;
DAY TWO, 15.04.2013
09:00 – 10:30 |SESSION 1.7: DEFINITIONS AND TYPOLOGIES
The purpose of this session is to introduce participants to the wide range of studies on police
corruption. Since the 1970s, the studies on police corruption have produced a number of
definitions and classifications trying to describe what police behaviour could be classified as
corruption. The participants will learn in a structured way what specific acts of corrupt
behaviour within the police are usually classified as ‘corruption’. They will learn to differentiate
between the different categories of crime, misdemeanours, administrative violations or other
types of illicit or improper behaviour that are considered expressions of ‘corruption’ and which
often fall under the remit of units or institutions that are responsible to counter police
corruption. Key terms used for analysing police corruption will be examined, including ‘grasseating’ and ‘meat-eating’, and ‘noble cause’. The best-known typology of police corruption, that
of Roebuck and Barker (as added to by Punch), will be critically examined.
Speakers: Leslie Holmes, FASSA (Prof.), University of Melbourne; Branko Lobnikar, Associate
Professor, Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security, University of Maribor; Tobias Bock
10:30 -11:00 |COFFEE BREAK
3
11:00 – 12:00 |SESSION 1.8: CAUSES 1: PSYCHO -SOCIAL AND CULTURAL EXPLANATIONS
This session will help participants understand the causal factors that can explain or analyse
police corruption. It will consider studies from across different countries and types of system,
and will explain the importance of social, economic, historic, institutional, organisational, or
other factors that can account for corrupt behaviour by police officers. It will also explain how
the concept of ‘police culture’ relates to the different types of corruption that are being
observed.
Speaker: Branko Lobnikar; Leslie Holmes; Tobias Bock
12:00 – 13:00 |SESSION 1.9: CAUSES 2: SYSTEMIC EXPLANATIONS
Having considered in the previous session explanations of corruption that focus on the
individual or the specifics of particular cultures and sub-cultures, this session will consider
explanations that relate primarily to the economic system, social structure, and political and
legal systems of different countries. As in the previous session, there will be consideration of
both general factors, and factors that are more specifically related to the police.
Speakers: Leslie Holmes; Branko Lobnikar; Tobias Bock
13:00 – 14:00 |LUNCH
14:00 – 15:30 |SESSION 2.1: RESEARCH APPROACHES – A GENERAL INTRODUCTION
How do we research a problem like corruption, given its clandestine nature? Why are official
statistics (legal, economic) problematic when analysing corruption? The various kinds of survey
– perceptual, attitudinal and experiential – will be examined, and the advantages and
drawbacks of each elaborated. What is meant by survey triangulation? The mixed methods
approach – and the methods that are particularly suited to finding out about police corruption
– will be considered.
Speakers: Sappho Xenakis; Leslie Holmes
15:30 – 16:00 |COFFEE BREAK
16:00 – 17:30 |SESSION 2.2: SURVEYS (1) – DESIGN; GENERAL CORRUPTION SURVEYS
This session will be a general introduction to corruption and crime victimisation surveys. The
purpose will be to introduce participants to the main international and European surveys
currently in place. There will be a detailed discussion of the questionnaires used, the types of
questions, sequencing of questions, scaling of responses, and the logic behind all this. The
session will also consider how to select respondents, how to elicit their responses (e.g. face-toface, telephone), the differences between perceptions, attitudes and experience, and the
analysis of these surveys.
Speakers: Jan van Dijk, Professor in Victimology, Tilburg Law School, Tilburg University; Sappho
Xenakis
4
Day 3, 16.04.2013
09:00 – 10:30 |SESSION 2.3: SURVEYS (2) - POLICE SPECIFIC SURVEYS
Conducting surveys within the police itself can be an alternative way to measure attitudes or
even actual levels of corruption. Such surveys could be used to examine different aspects of
corrupt police behaviour. There are three important issues that need to be considered: (1)
sampling (2) questionnaire design and (3) conducting/administering the survey. The session will
examine each of these aspects by providing plentiful examples from past surveys.
Speakers: Alexander Stoyanov; Leslie Holmes
10:30 – 11:00 |COFFEE BREAK
11:00 – 12:00 |SESSION 2.4: SURVEYS (3): CONDUCTING SPECIALISED AND
INTERNATIONAL /COMPARATIVE SURVEYS
The purpose of this session is to present additional survey instruments. For instance, Delphi
Survey is one possible method that will be examined. Another issue that could be considered
are the complexities arising from conducting international surveys. For instance if a
comparative Western Balkans study or survey of police forces is to be conducted, what
potential issues may arise (legal, institutional, and organisational differences; cultural
differences; ethical issues; potential dangers)?
Speakers: Leslie Holmes; Alexander Stoyanov
12:00 – 12:45 |SESSION 2.5: FOCUS GROUP RESEARCH
The advantages and disadvantages of focus groups, the practical problems involved, etc., This
session will also consider one or two case studies.
Speakers: Leslie Holmes
12:45 – 14:00 |LUNCH
14:00 – 15:00 |SESSION 2.6: INTERVIEWS
This session will focus on a particular kind of qualitative analysis, the interview. Interviews are
an important instrument that is used in a standard way by most social scientists. Yet designing
and conducting successful in-depth interviews that yield useful and usable information require
careful sampling and questionnaire design, and persistence in their administration. Equally
important is the analysis of interviews. The session will consider how to select interviewees
(including snowballing), interview design (e.g. structured, semi-structured, open),
confidentiality issues, and analysis – e.g. interview coding. Going beyond simple quotations and
extracting and summarising useful information is done presently with programmes such as
Nvivo. Such software products allow for a broad array of qualitative information to be analysed.
Speaker: Tihomir Bezlov
5
15:00 – 16:15 |SESSION 2.7: ACCESSING INFORMATION
How to use online public records to connect and follow people through companies, learn about
businesses and reveal illegal or suspicious business practice. How CINS uses public data bases,
available to all internet users, to unveil huge systems of crime and corruption.
Speakers: Branko Čečen, Head, Centre for Investigative Journalism (CINS); Stevan Dojčinović,
Editor-in-chief, CINS
16:15 – 16:45 |COFFEE BREAK
16:45 – 17:45 |SESSION 2.8: WHISTLEBLOWERS
How to get in touch with whistleblowers; How to use the information received by
whistleblowers; how not to compromise the safety of whistleblowers;
Speaker: Leslie Holmes
17:45 – 18:45 |SESSION 2.9: DISCUSSION OF PARTICIPANT RESEARCH PROJECTS
In this session, the discussion of possible research projects that the participants might want to
undertake in the future (see session 1.6) is continued. Participants are invited develop their
ideas into detailed plans which will then be discussed and evaluated together with the
facilitators.
Facilitators: Franziska Klopfer with Leslie Holmes, Alexander Stoyanov and Tihomir Bezlov
18:45 |CONCLUSION
6