ABSTRACT

The specialist squad is a common aspect of modern intelligence-led policing. Officers seconded to such units learn from the institutional knowledge and experience in a certain area of enforcement, allowing them to develop an expertise that enables proactive policing. While the utility of specialist squads is clear, the vulnerability of officers attached to them to become involved in corruption is also high. Corruption research argues that officers in squads are at risk of engaging in misconduct for a variety of reasons, such as the low visibility of their work and the necessity of building relationships with criminal actors. The history of police corruption in Australia supports this theory, with a range of examples of corruption in specialist squads to be found across the country. From an historical criminology perspective, this article explores the corruption in Australia’s specialist squads to discuss why risk factors were not addressed despite being consistently identified in the past. It also looks at attempts by police administrators and governments to deal with corruption in specialist squads, evaluating the efficiency of these strategies with a view to informing future anticorruption measures.

摘要

专家小组是现代情报主导的警务工作的一个常见方面。借调到这些部门的官员从机构知识和一定执法领域的经验中学习，使他们能够发展能够主动进行警务的专业知识。尽管专职小队的效用很明显，但隶属专职小队的官员卷入腐败的可能性也很高。腐败研究认为，由于多种原因，小队的官员有从事不当行为的风险，例如，他们工作的可见度低以及与犯罪分子建立关系的必要性。澳大利亚警察腐败的历史支持这一理论，在全国各地都有专职小队的腐败实例。从历史犯罪学的角度来看，本文探讨了澳大利亚专家小组中的腐败现象，以讨论为何尽管过去一直在确定风险因素却仍未解决。它还考察了警察管理人员和政府为应对专职班子的腐败所作的尝试，评估了这些策略的效率，以期为今后的反腐败措施提供信息。