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Issues of legitimation processes of police authority as well as instances of conflict and resistance within police organizations have yet to receive the full attention of police researchers. Following Barker (2001, 2003) and Wrong (1995), it is argued here that police organizations are regularly engaged in symbolic activities of legitimation directed not only towards the public (as the mainstream literature would have us believe), but also to themselves, and that the object of such legitimation is the cultivation of a sense of self-confidence in the Tightness of the authority they wield. It is further argued that, as with all organizations, police organizations are characterized by conflict and resistance which impinge on their legitimation efforts, especially during times of reform. Taking the example of anti-corruption reforms, my aim in this chapter is to explore why and how police officers may resist, and the ways in which resistance relates to endogenous and exogenous legitimation enterprises. My main thesis is that the reason for police officers' resistance to reforms is not so much related to the need for reforms per se, or to the threats these reforms may carry for individual interests; instead, resistance takes the form of "condemning the condemners", stemming from what officers often see as the inconsistent and discriminatory enforcement of anti-corruption measures. I shall identify and discuss informal social control norms and police discretionary powers as the most valuable tools of resistance.

DOI: 10.1057/9780230298040_11

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