Ghanaian Police Officers' Views of the Rural–Urban Dynamics of Police Corruption

What is it about?

This study explores police officers' views regarding the rural-urban perspectives of police corruption, which refers to police officers’ use or misuse of authority for private or organisational gain. Evidence shows that the effect of police corruption is particularly grave in rural areas due to the remoteness of rural areas, inadequate frontline supervision, and people in rural areas being largely poor. Police corruption denies people in rural areas of justice and contributes to increasing poverty levels. However, studies hardly consider the rural–urban dynamics and perspectives, a gap that the current study addresses. The study explores the causes of police corruption from the perspectives of police officers working in rural and urban areas by analysing survey data of 616 Ghanaian police officers. Results show that the area where police officers work influences what factors they perceive as causes of corruption: officers working in rural areas are less likely to regard economic factors and institutional (in)actions as causes of police corruption. Also, officers’ gender is an important determinant of factors that are considered causes of corruption irrespective of whether they work in a rural or urban area.

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Photo by Jonathan Harrison on Unsplash

Photo by Jonathan Harrison on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The results suggest that for anti-corruption policies addressing causes of police corruption to be effective, measures must factor in the rural–urban dynamics as different factors are regarded as causes of corruption among police officers working in rural and urban areas.

Perspectives