Issues in Policing

1. Chapter 7 Issues in Policing

2. The Police Culture: Core Beliefs • Police are the only real crime fighters • Only the police understand police • Loyalty to one another is paramount • The “War on Crime” can only be won by bending a few rules • The public doesn’t support the police • Patrol work is the pits, detective work is glamorous

3. The Police Subculture: Characteristics • Clannishness • Secrecy • Insulation from others in society • The "blue curtain"

4. The Police Personality • Dogmatic • Authoritarian • Suspicious • Racist • Cynical

5. What Accounts for the Police Personality? • The nature of police work attracts candidates who are by nature cynical, authoritarian and secretive • The process of being socialized into the job of police officer causes the traits to develop

6. Cynicism in Policing • Increases with years of service • If college graduates are denied promotions, it increases • Military-type training academies cause self-cynicism

7. Police Discretion • Discretion is the freedom to act or judge on one's own; latitude of choice and action • Police discretion is sometimes referred to as low-visibility decision making • Different factors affect decisions that police make

8. Some of the Benefits of Higher Education in Policing • Better behavioral and performance characteristics • Fewer on-the-job injuries and assaults • Fewer disciplinary actions from accidents and force allegations • Less sick time use • Promotes higher aspirations • Greater acceptance of minorities • Decreases dogmatism, authoritarianism, rigidity and conservatism • Lessens citizen complaints

9. Women in Police Work • 16% of all sworn police officers in cities with populations greater than 250,000; 11% of all departments combined • Role of women in policing is restricted by: • Social barriers including: • Gender conflict • Jealousy • Stereotyping

10. Women in Police Work (cont.) • Administrative barriers including: • Under-representation at senior administrative levels • Selective utilization of their skills and training • Lack of peer acceptance in a male dominated occupation

11. Research Results About Women in Policing • Are less likely to use a firearm in a violent confrontation than male officers • Are more emotionally stable than male officers • Are less likely to seriously injure a citizen than male officers • Are no more likely to suffer injuries than their male partners • Are more likely to receive more support from the community • Are less likely to engage in improper conduct

12. Categories of Police Stressors • External stressors • Organizational stressors • Duty stressors • Individual stressors

13. Police and Stress • Policing is not the only criminal justice job that produces stress • Because of the public nature of policing, citizens sometimes suffer from the effects of police stress • There are many sources of negative stressors in policing that may produce a synergism • Not all officers respond similarly to stressors

14. The Effects of Stress • Poor work performance • Depression/suicide • Alcoholism • Divorce • Violence

15. How Common is the Use of Force Today? • In 1999, about 422,000 incidents involved the use or threatened use of force • 20% of the total was the threat of use of force only • 20% of those reporting use of force against themselves reported no injury

16. Police Brutality: What is it? • Abusive language • Unnecessary use of force or coercion • Threats • Harassment

17. Race and Force • About 2% of African-Americans and Hispanics experience police use of force or threatened use of force while only 1% of whites experience the same • Some authorities argue that race is a main factor in the decision to use force; others contend that individual behavior is the primary determinant regarding the use of force

18. Factors Related to Police Shootings • Violence levels • Exposure to violence • Workload of officers • Availability of firearms (gun density) • Social conflict • Administrative policies • Race

19. Who Are The Problem Cops? • Research by Lersch and Mieczkowski found that 7% of police accounted for 33% of all citizen complaints • Officers receiving most of police complaints tend to be: • Younger • Less experienced

20. Controlling Use of Deadly Force • Tennessee v. Garner • Put an end to any local police policy that allowed officers to shoot unarmed or nondangerous offenders if they resisted or attempted to flee • Graham v. Conner • Force is excessive when, considering all the circumstances known to the officer at the time he or she acted, the force used was unreasonable

21. Curbing the Use of Force • Different approaches have been used to curb the use of force in departments. Some of these approaches include: • Detailed “rules of engagement” procedures • Force-Related Integrity Testing • Civil judgments against police officers, their superiors and the departments

22. Are There Alternatives to Lethal Weapons? • Pepper Spray • Bean Bag Guns • Tasers

23. Corrupt Cops and the Knapp Commission • Meat Eaters: • Those who aggressively misuse police power for personal gain by demanding bribes, threatening legal action or cooperating with criminals • Grass Eaters: • Those who accept payoffs when their everyday duties place them in a position to be solicited by the public

24. Kinds of Police Corruption • Internal corruption • Selective enforcement or nonenforcement • Active criminality • Bribery and extortion

25. Corrupt Police Departments • Rotten apples and rotten pockets: • Departments with a few corrupt officers who use their position for personal gain • Pervasive unorganized corruption: • Majority of personnel are corrupt but have little relationship to one another • Pervasive organized corruption: • Almost all members are involved in systematic and organized corruption

26. Causes of Police Corruption • Police personality • Institution and practices • Moral ambivalence • Environmental conditions • Corrupt departments

27. Social Ambivalence Towards Police Corruption • Unenforceable laws governing moral standards promote corruption because they create large groups with an interest in subverting law enforcement. Interest groups include both consumers and suppliers; their existence creates a climate that tolerates active corruption by others

28. Changing Police Corruption • Change in department tolerances • More willingness to take cases to the courts • More active scrutiny within government • Greater access to police practices for the public • Changing what the public will accept from the police

29. Changing Police Corruption (cont.) • Policies requiring Internal Affairs investigate all citizen complaints • Development of good computer files containing all types of complaints against all officers • Policies giving corrupt or excessive force complaints “high priority” status • Mandatory reporting and recording of all incidents in which an officer used more than incidental force • Training officers to treat citizens without racial bias; requiring top echelon officers to monitor all charges of racial bias • Review all policies and practices to eliminate any racial bias