Much of the 1990s were spent by transitologists and political scholars of many stripes discussing the future of democracy—whether, socially speaking we had reached the end of history and found the one political ideology that all societies would and should aspire toward. With the collapse of Communism, liberalism was embraced as a superior alternative to authoritarian, socialist systems. Henceforth, democracy was seemingly deemed as the best political system. The spread of democracy, however, has not exactly meant the alleviation of the crisis of corruption.
Particularly prone to the problem of corruption are the very same organs meant to combat it: police and law enforcement officials. Intended to protect citizens and society from those who snub law and order, police are also the prime target of those who want to break law and avoid prosecution. Simply put, the actions of corrupt police officers seriously undermine the existence of a just and democratic society.
Although most people are keenly aware of the corruption problem, there is an appalling lack of official information about the issue and how it relates to police. Fortunately, there are hints of change.
Transparency International Czech Republic (TIC)—part of the international NGO with a presence in 77 countries—recently undertook an effort to shed light on the problem of corruption within the ranks of police officers. They performed a global investigation, surveying 25 countries, and presented their results in a newly published study entitled Crossing the Thin Blue Line. The book provides information about the corruption that exists in the field of law enforcement and it also evaluates the kinds of efforts that are undertaken to fight what TIC has deemed a "global threat to democracy."
Examining the effectiveness of specific measures used in the fight against corruption, Crossing the Thin Blue Line offers readers detailed country profiles, case studies and expert testimony of this international problem.
CER turned to Czeslaw Walek, TIC project manager and the person co-responsible for the book, to discuss the issue of police corruption and what is being done about it.
Central Europe Review: How did you conceive the idea for the book Crossing the Thin Blue Line? What kind of audience are you aiming for and how would you describe the principal purpose of the project?
Czeslaw Walek: Everything started in 1998 and 1999 when our organization, Transparency International Czech Republic (TIC), researched public opinion. Results showed that the most corrupt institution in the Czech Republic appears to be the police. We did not hesitate whatsoever and immediately decided to make another survey, this time directly amongst the police officers (533 respondents). The major goal of this examination was to investigate whether the condition of the police is really as critical as it was suspected. Unfortunately, the result was positive. The survey was completed in 2000 and detailed results are available on TIC's web site at: www.transparency.cz.
The priority of TIC is not limited only to map out the corruption, but also to fight it. Hence, we took the decision to build up a strategy to combat the corruption threat in the Czech police. First and foremost, we wanted to have a look at the similar measures employed in foreign countries and afterwards, if estimated as efficient, to adopt them into our reality. Another cause of the decision to write the book was the awareness of the more than limited amount of empirical information available on the corruption of police officers and the measures against it.
Generally, the book is addressed to everybody who has anything to do with police corruption. It means police officers, judges, prosecutors, various non-government organization, scientists, investigation organs or police academies. Although, from the bottom of my heart, I hope that there are some people who will reach for the book in their spare time in order to get [an] idea about the phenomenon of the corruption.
By the way, I would love to mention that our organization will meet with other experts in the field in December and, in my opinion, the study is an absolutely marvelous basis for a fruitful discussion.
How does Transparency International define corruption?
TIC's definition is the misuse of entrusted power for private gain. For the purpose of our study, we have used the definition of policemen abusing their power for personal gain.
Why is police corruption such a major problem in the Czech Republic? What are some recent examples?
In my opinion, corruption was well-rooted in the culture of the Czech nation. Just recently, the well-known Czech magazine Tyden reminded its readers how corrupt Czech politicians were during the first republic. 40 years of Communism did not really help to improve the situation; [in fact] just the opposite [occurred]. Nepotism and small-scale corruption were so widespread during this time that it is really hard to get it out of people's minds.
According to a recently released public opinion survey by GfK (a market research and opinion polling company) almost a quarter of Czech respondents feel that the problem of corruption is absolutely pressing. So to answer the first part of the question, the problem is in the national culture, although people are screaming that corruption is wrong, the majority has a "give or take" attitude about it.
Unless we change this kind of thinking, we will not be able to change a thing. There are two striking examples of recent affairs. The first one is a case of the government versus Respekt, a Czech weekly. The latter wrote a general article about the perception of corruption in our country and about the general fault of this government for such a situation. Our prime minister (Miloš Zeman), together with other counterparts in the cabinet sued the weekly. The reason? To destroy the paper. Of course, mainly it is an attack on freedom of the press and freedom of speech, however, if we look further, it is also corruption.
The second recent affair is much more serious. The Czech government has signed a contract with a Swiss company [under] which the Czech government will buy a Russian debt of USD 100 billion for USD 20 billion. Respekt (surprisingly) find out that the Swiss company has basically no office, no employees and is connected to the Russian Mafia. If this suspicion is true, it means that our government is helping to launder money.
How have government authorities reacted to the problem of police and corruption?
Well if you mean Czech authorities, it is a rather complicated issue. According to our survey, the Czech Republic is employing a minimalist strategy, which means having a very limited number of anti-corruption measures implemented. Although the Czech government is planning to implement other measures. On the other hand, the police president is very open to our cooperation and suggestions. This month we are organizing a workshop with experts from all public sectors.
There are 25 countries worldwide that were covered in your book. What was the criterion for selecting countries? Was it dependent on the eagerness of the experts to cooperate?
Well, originally our plan was to pick as many heterogeneous countries as possible, making it easier to compare and contrast various national anti-corruption strategies in the police force. However, in reality it looked slightly different. You guessed well; the final choice was dependent on the eagerness of the experts to cooperate. On this occasion, I must admit that sometimes I was pretty surprised at how reluctant respondents were, particularly those within police organs.
What has been the initial reaction to your study?
The study was just released, therefore not many people have seen it. Nevertheless, in speaking with professionals working in law enforcement agencies who have [evaluated] our work, they say that this study fills an informational gap. We very much hope that further editions of this review will contribute to eliminating this threat even more.
Who were the experts that took part in the survey and provided you with all the information needed? What makes you sure that the sources are reliable and, more importantly, objective?
From the very beginning we were aware of the importance of the choice of the experts in order to assure the greatest objectivity of the project. That was why we contacted a minimum of three experts in each of the countries. The selection process was governed by the principle of maximum heterogeneity and targeting several types of institutions (such as the police, police academies, universities or non-governmental organizations). The majority of the questioned experts work in senior and leading positions. All of them have [lots of] experience with working on corruption... The single most frequent source of information used when filling out the questionnaire was personal experience, interviews, but not any official statistics.
Between May and July 2001 we managed to obtain 71 filled-in questionnaires from 25 countries. As for objectivity, I must underline that the goal of our investigation was not to supply detailed and representative data on the notoriety of police corruption in each country. Rather, the value of the results is in hypothesis, theories and, based on this, the propositions of various anti-corruption strategies. The study, it is crucial to say, was meant rather as a pilot that is setting down the basic points and that can be useful for the next steps in [TIC's] anti-corruption struggle.
"Most experts have also agreed that, aside from the negative influence of outside factors, one of the most serious obstacles in the effort to solve police corruption is the nature of the police work itself, as well as what one them called 'the blue wall of silence,' meaning secrecy, seclusion, reality and solidarity."—From The Thin Blue Line
Did any of the data take you by surprise?
To be absolutely honest, I must admit that at the very beginning I had no idea what to expect, so logically there was nothing that could surprise me. But on second thought, a little bit unexpected was the fact that the understanding of some terminology was not completely problem-free. For instance, the universal application of definitions, such as "the corrupt behavior of a member of the police," caused some problems.
At the moment, the sample of Finland comes to mind, where the definition [of] "corruption" is applicable in a completely different way than, for example, in the Czech Republic. Moreover, sometimes I found the harvested data slightly ridiculous. Let us take as an example South Korea's case. Experts from this country consider controlling and keeping a close eye on an individual police officer as the best anti-corruption measure. They even suggest having access to the bank accounts of policemen.
What are the most universally applied and most sufficient methods of the fight against corruption?
Let me answer this question according to the experts' statements: The standard and, at the same time, the most efficient anti-corruption measure is without doubt the introduction of stricter punishment for the corruption of members of the police. It is the standard repressive measure. However, according to above, we need to say that implementation of only this measure would not be efficient. The state has to employ such a strategy that would be complex and would fit [a] state's needs.
Do the individual countries take over the measures combating corruption that turned out to be efficient in other countries?
Certainly. Moreover, we can say that during the last 11 years almost all countries (which we have investigated) more or less were inspired by the experiences in the field of strangling this global threat in other countries. But there might also appear difficulties.
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