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3 Rutgers J. L. & Urb. Pol'y 74 (2006)
Whistleblowing and the Police

handle is hein.journals/rutjulp3 and id is 74 raw text is: Rutgers University Journal of Law and Urban Policy WHISTLEBLOWING AND THE POLICE Roberta Ann Johnsoni Introduction Most Americans are familiar with whistleblowers, people who go public with information about corruption, fraud and abuse in their own organizations.2 Whistleblowers are often seen on the nightly news and discussed in the morning newspapers. In December 2002, three whistleblowers were named Time magazine's Persons of the Year.3 Whistleblowers have been the subject of The New Yorker cartoons,4 Hollywood films,5 and children's stories.6 Although there are many whistleblowers in the United States, some of whom are publicly praised, whistleblowing is not an easy endeavor. There are almost always dire consequences to whistleblowers, to their careers, and to their personal lives as a result of their actions.7 Some organizations make whistleblowing very difficult, and therefore, less probable.8 The police department is one of these organizations. In this paper I will argue that the character of the police department not only makes whistleblowing less likely to occur, it ironically makes it even more necessary. In addition, I will 1 Department of Politics, University of San Francisco. Ph.D., political science, Harvard University; M.A., political science, Harvard University. The author wishes to thank two University of San Francisco students, Juan Garcia and Christy U. Harder who were her research assistants for this project. I am grateful to them for their creativity and resourcefulness. 2 Whistleblowing is a distinct form of dissent consisting of four elements: (1) the person acting must be a member or former member of the organization at issue; (2) his information must be about nontrivial wrongdoing in that organization; (3) he must intend to expose the wrongdoing; and (4) he must act in a way that makes the information public. 3 Lacayo, Richard, Ripley, Amanda: Persons of the Year, Time (December 30/ January 6, 2002) PP. 32-33. 4 Johnson Roberta Ann, Whistleblowing: When It Works - And Why 15, 19 (Lynne Rienner Publishers 2003) 5 The most well-known whistleblower movies are the 1973 film, Serpico, the 1984 film, Silkwood, the 1986 film, Marie, and the 1999 film, The Insider. 6 Gary Zingher, Snitching, School Library Media Activities Monthly January 20Ol, at 4o. The ethical ramifications of snitching were also the theme in an episode of the 1950s television series, Leave It to Beaver. Leave It To Beaver (ABC television broadcast, April 8, 1961. 7 Staff of Senate Subcomm. on Administrative Practice and Procedure of the Committee on the Judiciary, 98th Cong., Examining the Role of Whistleblowers in the Administrative Process: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Administrative Practice and Procedure of the Committee on the Judiciary (November 14, 1983); Glazer, Myron Peretz & Penina Migdal Glazer, The Whistleblowers (Basic Books, Inc. i89); Alford, C. Fred, Whistleblowers' Broken Lives and Organizational Power, (Cornell University Press 2001); Weisband, Edward & Thomas M. Franck, resignation in Protest, (Grossman Publishers 1975); Nader, Ralph et al., Whistleblowing: The Report on the Conference of Professional Responsibility (Grossman Publishers 1972); Michael Frome, Blowing the Whistle on Waste, Center Magazine, November-December 1978, at 5o; Louis Clarke, The Sound of Professional Suicide, Barrister 5, Summer 1978. 8 Miceli, Marcia P., Near, Janet P.: Blowing the Whistle: The Organizational and Legal Implications for Companies and Employees (New York: Lexington books 1992) p. 187. 1 Vo013

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