Practical Applications of the Model

In this chapter, I make use of the model that I developed through analysis of the data collected during my PhD research which I call the Triangle of Kakistocracy. I analyse three contemporary policing issues which are linked to corruption and the drivers behind it. I deconstruct the findings of Baroness Casey and her review of culture and behaviour in London’s Metropolitan Police Service using the psychological, ethical, and managerial elements of the model. I similarly examine a recent Channel 4 documentary series “To Catch a Copper” which captured several examples of how the police manage serious misconduct through the existing legal framework. Lastly, I discuss the move towards professionalising policing through the introduction and subsequent rescinding of a strict requirement for recruits to be educated to degree level. My research and the findings I present, rooted in an academic analysis of my 30 years of experience as a police officer, provide a means of examining the subject of police corruption which can be of immediate value to researchers and practitioners in seeking an improvement in police praxis. I maintain that this book is an original addition to human knowledge in this under-examined subject where the hegemony of ‘a few bad apples’ being responsible for the horror of the police (Linnemann in The Horror of Police, University of Minnesota Press, 2022) has held currency for far too long.