Recent high-profile cases of police misconduct have revealed that officers were often aware of misconduct, but remained silent, compromising public trust in law enforcement. Here, we systematically review ‘police whistleblowing’ literature to identify barriers and facilitators to officers challenging misconduct. Employing PRISMA guidelines, we systematically reviewed 118 relevant papers, extracting data and coding key variables including who the ‘target’ of the research was; whether reporting practices were studied, and whether practical solutions were offered. A reflexive thematic analysis then assessed consensus among researchers within the literature. Five themes - 1) knowledge and rules, 2) consequences, 3) interpersonal relations, 4) responsibility, and 5) police culture and group relations – emerged as barriers and facilitators to whistleblowing. The review revealed relatively poorer representation of internal police reporting structures and limited practical solutions, with only 40 papers proposing strategies, predominantly centred on training and education. This review highlights methodological limitations in existing research, with an overreliance on survey methods and a dominant focus on the characteristics of individuals over the structural constraints of reporting. The positive impacts of whistleblowing on policing as an institution and the development of practical strategies to overcome officers' reluctance to report misconduct remain largely unexplored.

中文翻译：

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警察举报：系统审查警官举报同事不当行为的可能性（以及障碍和促进因素）

最近备受瞩目的警察不当行为案件表明，警察往往意识到不当行为，但保持沉默，损害了公众对执法的信任。在这里，我们系统地回顾了“警察举报”文献，以确定警察质疑不当行为的障碍和促进因素。采用 PRISMA 指南，我们系统地回顾了 118 篇相关论文，提取数据并编码关键变量，包括研究的“目标”是谁；是否研究了报告实践，是否提供了切实可行的解决方案。然后进行反思性主题分析，评估文献中研究人员的共识。五个主题 - 1）知识和规则，2）后果，3）人际关系，4）责任，5）警察文化和群体关系 - 成为举报的障碍和促进因素。审查显示，警察内部报告结构的代表性相对较差，实际解决方案也有限，只有 40 篇论文提出了策略，主要集中在培训和教育方面。本综述强调了现有研究的方法学局限性，过度依赖调查方法，并且主要关注个人特征而不是报告的结构性限制。举报对警务机构的积极影响以及制定切实可行的战略来克服警官不愿举报不当行为的现象在很大程度上尚未得到探索。