Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Sleeping with the enemy is clue to a bent copper

Jason Bennetto,Crime Correspondent
Friday 19 May 2000 00:00 BST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Police officers who are bitter, brash, or have a tendency to bully, and those who have sex with the wives of criminals, have been identified as those most likely to become corrupt, says a new guide drawn up by a senior police analyst.

Police officers who are bitter, brash, or have a tendency to bully, and those who have sex with the wives of criminals, have been identified as those most likely to become corrupt, says a new guide drawn up by a senior police analyst.

The profiles and common traits of "bent" coppers have been obtained by analysing 149 cases of corruption in England and Wales. Police chiefs intend to use the guide to help them weed out corruption, and focus on suspects during internal inquiries.

Among the most common characteristics found in corrupt police officers are being divorced, failing promotion, having money problems and arguing with their superiors.

Dr Bryn Caless, a member of the Association of Chief Police Officers' countercorruption advisory group, and the head of human resources at Kent police, who did the research, said: "The profile suggests where we may look if we want to find corruption. It may be possible to use profiling to determine where risks may be and may also assist in the vetting for designated posts."

Dr Caless argues firmly against the much-repeated theory that corruption is isolated to inherently wicked officers or "bad apples". Instead he says people join the police honest, but can become corrupted by fellow officers, criminals and retired colleagues.

His analysis found that uniformed and plain-clothes constables were the most likely to become corrupt.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in