Selective scrutiny signals that unmonitored areas carry no accountability

Evidence

Second, supervision of subordinates with broad discretion and responsibilities requires assertions of priorities in attempting to increase accountability. Police departments may scrutinize traffic tickets, vice arrests, or interracial encounters between police and citizens. But they cannot meaningfully hold officers accountable for everything all the time. If everything is scrutinized, nothing is scrutinized. … Efforts to increase accountability in some areas may come to be regarded as the. only areas in which accountability will be sought and behavior scrutinized. — Michael Lipsky, Street-Level Bureaucracy, 1189

Categorization

• QUESTION: Does the same signal effect explain why informal discretion tends to reaccumulate in exactly the areas oversight ignores?
• SEED: Angle: ‘If everything is scrutinized, nothing is scrutinized’ — how selective metrics create implicit zones of permission.
• SHARE: Perfect for someone working on policing or compliance metrics — the traffic-ticket/vice-arrest example lands instantly.