Blurring the Blue Line: Neutralizations and Rationalizations of Police Misconduct.

Although misconduct and deviance can occur in virtually any occupation, police misconduct/deviance is a special case of occupational wrongdoing (Kappeler, Sluder & Alpert, 1998). As a result of the professionalism necessary to serve as an officer and the privileges associated with the profession, misconduct as an officer should be viewed more seriously and should try to be prevented as much as possible. Police misconduct not only affects those involved or individual officers but also departments themselves since it can affect citizen perceptions of the police and undermines relations between officers and the public. This paper applies neutralization theory to the issue of police misconduct to explain how officers may be able to engage in both law abiding/enforcing activities and law breaking activities (or at least professional lapses). In addition, this paper looks also at how neutralization can be applied to officers who are "positive deviants" and snitch on fellow officers, breaking the informal code of "blue secrecy" which is rarely explored in either the policing or neutralization theory literature. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]