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This edition of The Abuse of Police Authority: A National Study of Police Officers Attitudes has been
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David Weisburd
Rosann Greenspan
Edwin E. Hamilton
Kellie A. Bryant
Hubert Williams
Police Foundation
4
The research findings in this publication were supported by Grant Number 97CKWX0047,
awarded on behalf of Community Oriented Policing Services, US Department of Justice. Findings,
recommendations, and conclusions of the research reported here are those of the authors and do
not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the US Department of Justice.
2001 by the Police Foundation. All rights, including translation into other languages, reserved
under the Universal Copyright Convention, the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and
Artistic Works, and the International and Pan American Copyright Conventions. Permission to
quote is readily granted.
ISBN 1884614175
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Contents
Foreword ................................................................................................................... 9
Acknowledgments ................................................................................................... 11
I Introduction ............................................................................................................. 12
II Methodology ............................................................................................................ 15
Code of Silence 25
Social Factors 29
Departmental Response 31
Controlling Abuse 32
Community-Oriented Policing 35
Subgroup Analysis 39
Race 39
Rank: Supervisors and Nonsupervisors 42
Region 46
Agency Size 48
Gender 50
V Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 52
Endnotes ........................................................................................................................... 56
References ........................................................................................................................ 62
Authors ...................................................................................................................... 66
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Illustrations
Tables
3.1 Officers Current Rank ...................................................................................... 20
3.2 Education Level of Officers .............................................................................. 21
3.3 Racial Background of Officers .......................................................................... 22
3.4 Hispanic vs. Non-Hispanic Officers ................................................................. 22
4.1 Officers Attitudes Toward Limitations on Use
of Force .............................................................................................................. 24
4.2 Officers Perceptions of Use of Force Behavior
in Their Department ......................................................................................... 25
4.3 Code of Silence: Attitudes ................................................................................. 27
4.4 Code of Silence: Perceptions of Behavior ....................................................... 27
4.5 Scenario of an Unruly Suspect ......................................................................... 28
4.6 Perceptions of the Effects of Extra-Legal Factors
on Police Behavior ........................................................................................... 29
4.7 Police Perceptions of the Publics Attitude
Toward the Police ............................................................................................. 30
4.8 Perceptions of Media and Citizens Concerns
Toward Police Abuse ....................................................................................... 31
4.9 Departmental Responses to Abuse of Authority ............................................. 32
4.10 The Role of Supervision in Controlling Abuse ................................................ 33
4.11 Officers Perceptions of the Effects of Training
on Abuse of Authority ...................................................................................... 34
4.12 The Community-Police Partnership ................................................................. 35
4.13 Perceptions of the Effects of Community Policing
on Abuse of Authority ...................................................................................... 36
By Race
4.14 Police officers often treat whites better than they do
African Americans and other minorities .......................................................... 40
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By Region
4.29 Frequent friendly contact with local residents and merchants
increases the likelihood that police officers will accept
free lunches, discounts, or gifts of appreciation for
effective service. ................................................................................................ 47
4.30 It is sometimes acceptable to use more force than is
legally allowable to control someone who physically assaults
an officer. ........................................................................................................... 48
4.31 Police officers always report serious criminal violations
involving abuse of authority by fellow officers. .............................................. 49
By Agency Size
Figures
3.1 Officers Gender ................................................................................................ 22
We expect our police to have the wisdom of Solomon, the courage of David, the patience of
Job and the leadership of Moses, the kindness of the Good Samaritan, the strategy of
Alexander, the faith of Daniel, the diplomacy of Lincoln, the tolerance of the Carpenter of
Nazareth, and, finally, an intimate knowledge of every branch of the natural, biological,
and social sciences. If he had all these, he might be a good policeman.
Foreword
When the police fail to meet our expectations, we react with dismay, anger, and
additional demands. Police corruption and abuse of authority have persisted
since the beginning of policing, and were exacerbated late in the twentieth cen-
tury by Americas drug epidemic. Every year, incidents of police abuse of author-
ity cost local communities tens of millions of dollars in legal damages. Tax dollars
are wasted. Careers are destroyed. The public trust is compromised.
Virtually every police department has policies prescribing officer conduct and
regulating use of force. No police department or police chief should knowingly
condone conduct that runs counter to either department policy or constitutional
standards. While there is accountability for acts of corruption and other forms of
wrongdoing in most police departments, there is little or no accountability for
those who tolerate such an environment. How, for example, were a few officers
able to brutalize Abner Louima within sound if not sight of first-line supervisors
th
and other department officials in New Yorks 70 Precinct?
Even good people, placed in the wrong situation, will do the wrong thing. Bad
supervision, intense peer pressure, and an organizational culture that sends un-
clear signals can cause honorable men and women to behave in dishonorable
ways. The key moral problem for police departments is the same as it is for
corporations, universities, labor unions, and government agencies: how can you
create a culture that will induce members to strike the right balance between
achieving an organizational goal and observing fundamental principles of de-
cency and fairness?
Values in police agencies come not just from documents that describe them but
also from traditional police culture. Too often, there is a disconnect between
policies and practices, a failure of police management to monitor behavior and
to respond appropriately. If police leadership does not assume an aggressive role
in ensuring that the police culture is one of integrity and accountability, officers
will continue to cultivate their own culture in their own way.
Police Foundation
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As this study reaffirms, commitment by the chief and command staff to uphold
democratic values and eradicate discriminatory practices is key. Police adminis-
trators should proactively institute and enforce strong policies governing
conduct, as well as systems to collect and analyze data relative to police-citizen
contacts such as complaints, use of force incidents, and traffic stops. Such
efforts would inform policy, guide recruitment and training, and build account-
ability necessary to restore and maintain public trust in the police. It is the lack of
internal, systemic controls, and not a few rotten apples, that perpetuates prob-
lems of misconduct and abuse by police. Most of Americas police officers are
honest, dedicated, hard-working public servants, and it is they, as well as the
public they serve, who are victims of the bad cop.
Because of the nature of their responsibilities, the police have the power to
intervene and become involved at very basic levels within the lives of American
citizens. The nature of the police responsethe manner in which officers inter-
act with citizens and the methods by which they enforce the lawhave critical
implications for our democracy and the quality of life of our citizens. As Jerome
Skolnick writes in his thoughtful essay, On Democratic Policing, Order achieved
through democratic policing is concerned not only with the ends of crime
control, but also with the means used to achieve those ends.
Are police abuses inevitable in our efforts to control crime? What are police
officers views on the code of silence, whistle blowing, and the ways in which
race or class influence police behavior? What are effective means of preventing
abuse of authority by police? This report provides a nationwide portrait of what
Americas police officers think about these and other important questions of
abuse of police authority.
Hubert Williams
President
Police Foundation
Acknowledgments
As in any large-scale project, we owe a debt of gratitude to many people who
helped in developing our work. At the outset, we received much advice, encour-
agement, and support, which continued throughout the project, from Dr. David
Hayeslip (now at Abt Associates) and Joseph Kuhns from the Office of Commu-
nity Oriented Policing Services.
We would like to thank Mathematica Policy Research Inc. for setting and meeting
the highest standards in survey research, especially project director Rhoda Cohen,
senior statistician John Hall, telephone supervisor Deborah Reese, survey associ-
ate Phyllis Schulman, and all the telephone interviewers. We also thank Edward
Maguire of George Mason University for sharing his police agency database and for
assisting in developing the sampling frame, and we thank Colleen Cosgrove and Bill
Matthews for assisting in selecting police departments for our focus groups.
A number of policing scholars contributed greatly at various stages of the project,
from initial design of the sample frame, through development of the survey
instrument, and by participation in our focus group of police scholars and execu-
tives. Our gratitude goes to Carl Klockars, Peter Manning, Ramiro Martinez, Stephen
Mastrofski, Albert Reiss, Jerome Skolnick, Alfred Slocum, and Robert Worden.
We appreciate as well the contributions of Commissioner Thomas Frazier, Chief
Jerry Oliver, Chief Jerry Sanders, and Director Robert Pugh in our focus group of
scholars and executives.
We learned a tremendous amount from the generous participation of the un-
named officers who took part in our focus groups of rank-and-file officers and
supervisors. We thank the officers who participated in the pretest, and especially
the 925 officers from across the country who volunteered their cooperation in
completing the survey interview. Finally, our thanks go to Fred Wilson, Chris
Tutko, Rachel Dadusc, and Michael Clifton, formerly of the Police Foundation,
and Kenneth Brunk of the Police Foundation, and especially to Mary Malina,
Communications Director of the Police Foundation, who supervised the
production of this report.
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12
INTRODUCTION
be most effective? Such questions have sought to tighten the bonds between
been raised and debated in the media, police and community and to empower
by our politicians, and by police schol- both groups to act effectively against
ars and administrators. However, the community problems.
voices of rank-and-file police officers
With the support of the Office of Com-
and supervisors have not been heard.
munity Oriented Policing Services of
the U.S. Department of Justice, the
This silence is particularly important,
Police Foundation undertook to
given the vast changes in organization, [V]iews of
conduct a representative national
tactics, and philosophy that have
survey that would uncover the attitudes rank-and-file
occurred in American policing over the
of American police about sensitive police have
past three decades. At the forefront of
questions of police abuse of authority.
those changes has been the transition special
How do contemporary police view
from the use of traditional military and
abuses of police authority? Do police significance
professional models of policing to the
see them as an inevitable by-product in this age
creation of innovative models of
of increased efforts to control crime and
community policing. While the police of community
disorder? What forms do they take?
had earlier defined professionalization
How common do police believe them policing, which
as limiting the role of the community
to be? What strategies and tactics do has sought to
in American policing, today police seek
police view as most effective in
to work closely with the public in tighten the
preventing police abuses of authority?
defining and responding to problems
Given the importance of the movement bonds between
of crime and disorder. In turn, the mili-
toward community-oriented policing, police and
tary model of police supervision that
we sought to define whether commu-
gave little autonomy or authority to community
nity-oriented policing is seen to encour-
street-level officers has begun to be
age or constrain the boundaries of and to
replaced by more flexible modes of
acceptable use of police authority. Has empower
supervision that allow rank-and-file
community policing enhanced the
officers the freedom to develop con- both groups to
movement toward police respect for
tacts with the public and to define
the rights of citizens, or has it fostered act effectively
innovative problem-solving strategies.
new police skepticism about the rule against
The police and the community are seen
of law in a democratic society?
as partners in emerging models of com- community
munity policing. Rank-and-file police The following is our report on a tele- problems.
as those closest to the publichave, phone survey of a representative
in turn, become central actors in the sample of more than 900 police offic-
movement toward community-oriented ers who were drawn from an estimated
policing. The views of rank-and-file population of 350,000 American mu-
1
police have special significance in this nicipal and county police. Ours is the
age of community policing, which has first national study of this type and,
Police Foundation
14
therefore, has particular significance for from abusing authority. They also
understanding the attitudes of Ameri- argue that their own department
can police toward abuse of authority takes a tough stand on the issue
in the age of community policing. The of police abuse. Finally, they argue
report examines the questions raised that a departments chief and first-
above using the survey responses of line supervisors can play an impor-
police officers, as well as the insights tant role in preventing abuse of
[T]he first gained from focus groups conducted authority.
earlier in the study (see Appendices B,
national study C, and D). The major findings of the Police officers believe that the pub-
of this study are as follows: lic and the media are too concerned
type has with police abuses of authority.
American police believe that extreme
particular cases of police abuse of authority
American police officers support
significance occur infrequently. However, a sub-
core principles of community polic-
stantial minority of officers believe
for under- that it is sometimes necessary to use
ing; they generally believe that
community policing reduces or has
standing the more force than is legally allowable.
no impact on the potential for
attitudes police abuse.
Despite strong support for norms
of American recognizing the boundaries of
police toward police authority, officers revealed A majority of African-American
that it is not unusual for police to police officers believe that police
abuse of treat whites better than African
ignore improper conduct by their
authority in fellow officers. Americans and other minorities, and
the age of that police officers are more likely
American police believe that train- to use physical force against minori-
community ing and education programs are ties or the poor. Few white police
policing. effective means of preventing police officers, however, share these views.
II
METHODOLOGY
Our findings are based on a telephone only one previous national surveya [W]e had
survey that was conducted by 1985 study of police officers attitudes
Mathematica Policy Research Inc. of toward issues related to rapeused a
a basic
Princeton, New Jersey, under the di- randomly selected sample of police requirement
rection of the Police Foundation. The officers (LeDoux and Hazelwood, to obtain a
survey instrument was developed by 1985). In selecting our sample, we had
the Police Foundations staff after con- a basic requirement to obtain a repre-
representative
sulting a wide range of earlier studies sentative sample of police officers na- sample of
4
and after conducting a series of focus tionwide. We designed a two-step pro- police officers
groups composed of police scholars, cess. First, we sought the most accurate
police managers, and rank-and-file listing of police agencies throughout the
nationwide.
2
police. The survey itself took an av- country. Second, after selecting a sample
erage of 25 minutes to complete and of participating agencies, we began our
was carried out with careful concern task of procuring lists of officers from
for protecting the anonymity, privacy, those agencies.
3
and confidentiality of participants.
A recent study by Maguire, Snipes,
As the sample design was developed, Uchida, and Townsend (1998) concluded
background research revealed that al- that the sources generally relied upon
though a number of studies have ran- for national-level information about
domly sampled police departments, police agencies are inadequate. Maguire
Police Foundation
16
et al. explained the limitations of and The sampling frame, as thus defined,
discrepancies between the FBI Uniform consisted of 5,042 police departments
Crime Reports and the 1992 Census of that employ between 91.6 percent and
Law Enforcement Agencies that had been 94.1 percent of all full-time sworn
compiled by the Bureau of Justice Statis- officers who serve in local police agen-
tics with the Census Bureau, as compre- cies in the United States. Applying the
hensive lists of all police agencies in the regional classification system used in
United States. Their study developed a the FBI Uniform Crime Reports (FBI,
The sampling more reliable list of police agencies by 1994), we see that the officers repre-
frame combining the information contained in sented 1,377 departments from the
the Uniform Crime Reports, the 1992 Northeast, 1,547 from the South, 1,383
consisted of Census of Law Enforcement Agencies, from the North Central, and 735 from
5
5,042 police and a third list of police departments pro- the West. Maguire (1997) estimates
departments vided by the Office of Community Ori- the number of officers in these 5,042
ented Policing Services. This newly departments at about 350,000.
that employ created list, with further corrections by
We followed a method of multistage,
between Maguire, served as the universe of
or clustered, sampling, whereby the
91.6 percent police departments for the Police
sampling frame was divided into sam-
Foundation study.
and pling units that were based on depart-
6
The Police Foundation, in consultation ment size. Those units were then dis-
94.1 percent
with several policing experts and stat- tributed into three strata, or groups, by
of all full-time isticians, identified criteria for inclusion size of department and organized by
sworn offic- in the sampling frame. The criteria geographic region. One stratum (the
established were as follows: certainty stratum) consisted of the
ers who serve
nine largest departments. The second
in local police The police department has primary
stratum contained 84 randomly selected
responsibility for providing police
agencies in services to a residential population
departments with 25 or more full-time
sworn officers (the midsize stratum).
the United (thus eliminating special police
The third group included 28 randomly
States. forces).
selected departments with at least 10,
The department has a minimum of but no more than 24, full-time sworn
10 full-time sworn officers. officers (the small stratum).
The department is either a munici- To draw the random samples of offic-
pal or county police agency (state ers of all ranks from each of the 121
police and sheriff departments, with departments, and then to contact the
their wide range of responsibilities officers selected to be interviewed, the
that may or may not include polic- Police Foundation contacted the 121
ing residential populations, were selected departments and requested the
excluded from the sampling frame). following information:
A roster with the names and ranks participate for a number of reasons (i.e.,
of all full-time sworn personnel, were not full-time sworn officers, were
on suspension, were on long-term dis-
A badge or employee identification
ability, etc.). They were, therefore,
number for each officer,
removed from the sample. Their elimi-
A phone number at the department nation left a final sample size of 1,060.
where each officer could be con-
Response rates in social science re-
tacted,
search are often used as the benchmark
Of the
An address at the department where for evaluating the representativeness of
each officer could be contacted, and, the sample and for determining the 1,060 eligible
If possible, the shift each officer is
degree to which one can generalize officers,
from the survey results to the survey
assigned to. 925 completed
population. A generally accepted rule
As each departments list became avail- of thumb is that response rates of 70 the survey.
able in the form necessary, the random percent or above are viewed as very This rate [87%]
samples were drawn, advance letters good (see Babbie, 1990; Babbie, 1992;
is one of the
were sent to the selected officers, and Maxfield and Babbie, 1995). Of the
the process of phoning and conduct- 1,060 eligible officers in the sample, highest
ing the surveys was carried out. 925 completed the survey, for a in surveys
completion rate of 87.3 percent. This
Of the 121 departments contacted, 113 of police,
rate is one of the highest achieved in
ultimately agreed to participate, for an whether on
surveys of police, whether on the na-
overall departmental participation rate
of 93.4 percent. The eight departments
tional or state level (see, for example, the national
LeDoux and Hazelwood, 1985; Pate
that declined were from all three strata. or state level.
and Fridell, 1993; Martin and Bensinger,
Thus, we lost (a) one department (from
1994; McConkey, Huon, and Frank,
the nine) in the certainty stratum, for a
1996; and Amendola, Hockman, and
participation rate of 89 percent; (b) six
Scharf, 1996). Even when we combine
from the 84 in the midsize stratum, for
the departmental participation rate of
a participation rate of 93 percent; and
93.4 percent with the officer comple-
(c) one from the 28 in the small stra-
tion rate of 87.3 percent, the combined
tum, for a participation rate of 96.5
overall response rate of 81.5 percent is
percent. The participating departments
still well above the accepted standard.
cooperated by submitting rosters of all
full-time sworn personnel, with rank, In survey research, it is traditional to
contact address, and telephone num- report the level of statistical confidence,
7
bers. From those lists, 1,112 officers sometimes referred to as sampling error,
were randomly selected. As initial that can be applied to the estimates
contacts were made, it was determined reported. For our study, that level of con-
that 60 officers were ineligible to fidence was very high for percentages
Police Foundation
18
relating to the full sample. The 95 per- intervals and significance statistics were
cent confidence intervals for responses adjusted according to the sampling
9
in the survey were generally between procedures we used.
8
2 and 4 percent. This figure suggests
that we can be very confident that the Because of the stratified and clustered
population characteristics associated with sampling procedures used in the study,
the survey responses were generally it is necessary to include a correction
within plus or minus 2 to 4 percent of when reporting survey responses. This
those reported. If we were hypotheti- correction is based on weighting each
cally to observe repeated samples like department and police officer accord-
that drawn in our study and to calculate ing to the proportion of the actual
a confidence interval for each, then only population of American police that
10
about 5 in 100 would fail to include each represents. In practice, weight-
the true population percentage (see ing in the survey does not greatly alter
Weisburd, 1998). This statistic is some- the majority of estimates that we
times defined as the margin of error or report. Nonetheless, the weighted
the sampling error of a study. Confidence estimates provide a more accurate
intervals for subsamples in the study, picture of the true population of
such as women or minorities, were larger. responses than that provided by the
In those cases, we generally compare raw estimates. We report only weighted
subgroups and report significance lev- percentages in the discussion and
els. It should be noted that the standard tables below.
errors used for calculations of confidence
III
CHARACTERISTICS
OF THE SAMPLE
The survey represents a broad popula- The length of service of the sworn po- The survey
tion of officers and reflects the diverse lice officers in the sample ranged from
composition of American police. For less than 1 year to 35 years, with about
represents
example, 56 percent of the officers sur- 25 percent at 5 years or less. One in five a broad
veyed defined themselves as patrol officers had served from 6 to 10 years, population
officers. Another 16 percent were de- almost one in five had served from 11 to
tectives, criminal investigators, and 15 years, and more than one-third had
of officers
corporals. Sergeants constituted about served 16 years or more. Most officers and reflects
15 percent of the sample, and another had patrol responsibilities (60 percent). the diverse
13 percent held the rank of lieutenant Some 30 percent were involved in other
11
or above (see Table 3.1). About 3 of field operations such as gang, juvenile,
composition
10 officers in the sample noted that they robbery, and homicide, including 7 per- of American
served as supervisors. While more cent who identified themselves as as- police.
than 2 of 10 officers were under signed to community policing. More than
30 years old, more than 8 percent were 10 percent did not have field assign-
over 50 years old. Officers ranged in ments, but served in administration, com-
age from 22 to 66 years old. Regarding munications, technical support, and other
marital status, almost three of four (74 jobs. This proportion is similar to that
percent) were either married or living reported in the 1993 Law Enforcement
with someone as if married.
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Number Percentage
Rank of Officers of Officers
N = 924
Table 3.2
Number Percentage
Highest Level Attained of Officers of Officers
N = 924
8.8 percent of the U.S. population, iden- Despite the controversies that surround
tified themselves as of Hispanic, Latino, American policing, our survey shows that
While the
or Spanish origin (see Table 3.4). American police officers are generally racial
satisfied with their career choice. Indeed, composition
While the racial composition of Ameri- almost all of the officers we surveyed
can policing may reflect the nation from (94 percent) indicated that they were
of American
which it is drawn, American policing satisfied and over half of those said that policing may
remains a predominantly male profes- they were extremely satisfied with their reflect the
sion. Only 8.5 percent of the sample choice of policing as a profession (see
were women (see Figure 3.1). Other Figure 3.2). Only two officers described
nation,
sources provided similar estimates. themselves as extremely dissatisfied with American
According to the National Center for their career choice. Even when asked policing
Women and Policing (1998), Women about their satisfaction with their current
currently make up less than 10 percent assignment, more than 90 percent of the
remains a
of sworn police officers nationwide. sample indicated that they were predominantly
This figure was also consistent with the satisfied, of whom 40 percent were male
1993 LEMAS survey, which reported extremely satisfied. Nevertheless,
that 8 percent of officers in municipal 46 percent of police officers described
profession.
police departments and 10 percent of their work as extremely stressful (16 per-
officers in county police departments cent) or quite stressful (30 percent).
were women (BJS, 1995).
Police Foundation
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Number Percentage
Race of Officers of Officers
N = 921
African-
White American Other
Officers Officers Officers TOTAL
N = 920
Female Dissatisfied
76 (8.5%) 52 (5.6%)
Male Satisfied
848 (91.5%) 871 (94.4%)
IV
MAIN SURVEY
RESULTS
Police Foundation
24
It is
sometimes
acceptable
Police to use more Police Police
are not force than department officers
permitted is legally rules about should be
to use as allowable to the use of allowed to
much force control some- force should use physical
as is often one who not be any force in
necessary physically stricter than response
in making assaults an required to verbal
arrests. officer. by law. abuse.
(N=912) (N = 912) (N = 915) (N = 920)
Percent
[T]hemajority use more force than permitted by the required by law. More than 65 percent
laws that govern them. The officers re- of the sample officers were content that
did not believe vealed this attitude in their responses to police department rules about the use
that officers several questions that were presented to of force not be stricter than required
...engage in them. More than 30 percent of the sample by law. Still, almost 35 percent did feel
expressed the opinion that police that departmental rules should be
an excessive officers are not permitted to use as much stricter than required by law. And when
use of force force as is often necessary in making asked whether police officers should
on a regular arrests (see Table 4.1). Almost 25 per- be allowed to use physical force in
cent felt that it is sometimes acceptable response to verbal abuse, a very small
basis. to use more force than legally allowable number, only 7 percent, thought that
to control a person who physically as- this clear violation of current norms
saults an officer. A very substantial mi- should be allowed.
nority, more than 4 of 10, told us that
Although a substantial minority ex-
always following the rules is not com-
pressed the view that the police should
patible with getting the job done (see
be permitted to use more force, the
Appendix A, a19).
overwhelming majority of the sample
Most officers are not interested in hold- did not believe that officers do engage
ing themselves to higher standards than in an excessive use of force on a
Table 4.2
Police officers
in your
Police officers department
in [city] use respond to
more force than verbal abuse
necessary to with physical
make an arrest. force.
(N = 922) (N = 922)
regular basis. A mere 4 percent thought and only 16 percent reported that they [O]fficers
that police officers regularly used more never did so (see Table 4.2). Although
physical force than was necessary in the large majority of respondents felt
do not believe
making arrests (see Appendix A, a10). that it is inappropriate to respond to ver- in protecting
And almost everyone (97 percent) agreed bal abuse with physical force, almost wrongdoers;
that serious cases of misconduct, such 15 percent thought that officers in their
as the Rodney King case in Los Angeles department engaged in such behavior
nevertheless,
and the Abner Louima case in New sometimes (or often, or always). they often
York, are extremely rare in their de- do not turn
partments (see Appendix A, a40).
Code of Silence
Some of the most strongly held and them in.
varied responses addressed the trou-
Still, they did not give their fellow offic- bling area of whether officers should
ers a completely clean report. When tell when they know that misconduct
asked about their perceptions of the has occurred. The responses suggest
behavior of officers in their own depart- the possibility of a large gap between
ments, almost 22 percent of the weighted attitudes and behavior. That is, officers
sample suggested that officers in their do not believe in protecting wrong-
department sometimes (or often, or doers; nevertheless, they often do not
always) use more force than necessary, turn them in.
Police Foundation
26
The survey shows that more than 80 their house because of you. However,
percent of American police do not they admitted that in individual cases,
accept that the code of silence is an it is very difficult to betray fellow
essential part of the mutual trust nec- officers even when those officers are
essary to achieve good policing (see involved in criminal matters.
Table 4.3). However, about a quarter
In the survey we presented several sce-
of the sample told us that whistle blow-
narios involving misconduct, and we
ing is not worth it, and more than two-
asked the officers a series of questions
[M]ore than thirds reported that police officers were
about the seriousness of the conduct,
likely to be given a cold shoulder by
80 percent fellow officers if they reported incidents
the consequences that should and
would follow that conduct, and
of American of misconduct. A majority felt that it
whether they or others in the depart-
police do not was not unusual for police officers to
ment would report such conduct. In
turn a blind eye to improper conduct
accept that the by other officers (see Table 4.4). Even
one scenario, An officer has a hand-
cuffed suspect sitting at his desk while
code of silence when it came to reporting serious crimi-
he fills out the necessary paperwork.
is an essential nal violations, a surprising 6 in 10
With no provocation from the officer,
report that police officers did not al-
part of the ways report serious criminal violations
the suspect suddenly spits in the face
of the officer. The officer immediately
mutual trust involving abuse of authority by fellow
pushes the suspect in the face causing
necessary to officers.
the suspect to fall from the chair onto
achieve good During the focus groups, officers re- the floor. There was wide variation in
sisted the notion of a code of silence, perception of the offenses seriousness,
policing.
but agreed in the end that the code from 15 percent of the sample consid-
stands except in the case of criminal ering it not serious at all to 16 percent
violations. For instance, one supervi- considering it very serious (see Table
sor suggested, I dont think theres a 4.5). But would respondents report an
code of silence at all when we are talk- officer who engaged in this behavior?
ing about criminal conduct. And if it Only 3 in 10 stated that they would
is, those people are part of a criminal definitely report. Even fewer, only
mind. Another said, I think that the 11 percent of the sample, thought that
wall of silence, as far as criminal things, most officers in their agency would
is a thing of the past. I hear a lot of definitely report the offense.
cops saying they are not going to lose
Table 4.3
An officer who
reports another
The code of officers mis-
silence is an conduct is
essential part likely to be
of the mutual given the
trust necessary Whistle blowing cold shoulder
to good policing. is not worth it. by fellow officers.
(N = 905) (N = 904) (N = 908)
Percent
Table 4.4
It is not unusual
for a police Police officers
officer to turn always report
a blind eye serious violations
to improper involving abuse
conduct by of authority by
other officers. fellow officers
(N = 908) (N = 899)
Percent
Police Foundation
28
provocation from the officer, the suspect suddenly spits in the face
of the officer. The officer immediately pushes the suspect in the face
causing the suspect to fall from the chair onto the floor.
Table 4.6
Police
officers are Police
A police more likely to officers are
officer is Police use physical more likely to
more likely officers force against use physical
to arrest a often treat African force against
person who whites better Americans poor people
displays what than they and other than against
he or she do African minorities middle-class
considers Americans than against people in
to be a and other whites in sim- similar
bad attitude. minorities. ilar situations. situations.
(N=917) (N = 914) (N = 916) (N = 918)
Percent
Police Foundation
30
The relationship
between the
Most people do police and
not respect the citizens in [city]
police. is very good.
(N = 924) (N = 923)
Percent
Eighty-eight to which race affects everyday polic- What were the police officers views
ing (Mastrofski, Parks, DeJong, and of how the public perceives the
percent
Worden, 1998), the likelihood of being police? More than 75 percent did not
described the arrested (Tonry, 1995; Black and Reiss, feel that most people do not respect
relationship 1970; Lundman, Sykes, and Clark, 1978; the police (see Table 4.7). Put more
Smith and Visher, 1981; Smith, Visher, positively, more than 75 percent of
between the
and Davidson, 1984; Worden, 1996; officers felt that most people respect the
police and Lundman, 1996), and the use of exces- police. Indeed, 88 percent of police in
the citizens sive force (Adams, 1996; Worden, 1996; our sample described the relationship
Reiss, 1971; Walker, Spohn, and between the police and the citizens in
in their
DeLone, 1996; Ogletree, Prosser, Smith, their locality as very good. However,
locality as and Talley, 1995). According to our more than half of our sample thought
very good. sample, almost 2 in 10 police officers that the public is too concerned with
in the U.S. believe that whites are police brutality (see Table 4.8), and
treated better than African Americans more than 80 percent of police officers
and other minorities (see Table 4.6). told us that the newspapers and TV in
More than 1 in 10 said that there is this country are too concerned with
more police violence against African police brutality (see Table 4.8). As one
14
Americans than against whites. More- officer in the focus group of police
over, 14 percent of the sample believed supervisors noted in regard to the
that police use physical force against poor media, They are absolutely ruthless
people more often than against middle- when it comes to police officers.
class people in similar situations.
Table 4.8
The newspapers
and TV in this
The public is too country are too
concerned with concerned with
police brutality. police brutality.
(N = 918) (N = 920)
Percent
Supervisors and rank-and-file officers ior by police (see Table 4.9). And they Supervisors
alike complained that they are judged overwhelmingly (94 percent) disagreed
on the sensational misdeeds of offic- with the suggestion that investigations and rank-
ers from cities far away from their own. of police misconduct are usually biased and file
As one said, Were judged on Rodney in favor of the police. complained
King, Fuhrman. Another officer put it When asked about the effectiveness of
this way, And as far as the Detroit deal,
they are
different institutional procedures for
yeah, we caught heat behind that; L.A., addressing abuses of authority, most judged on the
we caught heat behind that; and New people considered internal affairs units sensational
York, yeah, we caught heat behind effective (79 percent), while a much
that. Still another presented the mi-
misdeeds of
smaller percentage (38 percent) con-
nority view that the media do treat them sidered citizen review boards an effec- officers from
fairly, Our department has a great deal tive means for preventing police mis- cities far
of credibility and respect from the conduct. This preference for internal
media.
away from
review was consistent with views ex-
pressed during the focus groups. One their own.
Departmental Response rank-and-file officer argued that law-
We polled the officers for their views yers and doctors police themselves so
of how their departments handle cases why shouldnt police, Who is on the
of abuse of authority. Officers in the bar association? Who is on doctors as-
sample overwhelmingly (93 percent) sociations? Doctors judging doctors;
reported that their departments take a doctors policing doctors. We are
very tough stance on improper behav- special[ists]; weve got training; we deal
Police Foundation
32
Percent
Eighty-five with other people just like them. Why authority? American police overwhelm-
are we different? One supervisor sug- ingly told us that leadership makes a
percentsaid gested, Internal affairs works. Civilian difference. Eighty-five percent of the
a police chiefs review authorityas soon as you men- officers said that a police chiefs tak-
strong position tion civilian review, the knee-jerk re- ing a strong position against abuses of
action is no way; yadda yadda, they authority can make a big difference in
against abuses preventing officers from abusing their
go on and on. If they only knew, civil-
can make a ian review authority is nothing more authority (see Table 4.10). Policing
big difference than a toothless tiger. Theyre easier on scholars have long recognized the
cops than the departments are them- importance of the chiefs role. Skolnick
in preventing and Fyfe (1993, p. 136) for example
selves. Bottom line. Another supervi-
officers from sor agreed, I think internal affairs is argue, [T]he chief is the main
abusing their more threatening because were police architect of police officers street be-
officers. Weve all been out there. So havior. This is so because the strength
authority and direction of street-level police peer
we know how to play the game.
pressures ultimately are determined by
Controlling Abuse administrative definitions of good and
Can leadership make a difference in bad policing and by the general tone
preventing police officers abuse of that comes down from the top.
Table 4.10
If a police
chief takes a
strong position
against abuses
of authority,
he or she can Most police
make a big Good first-line abuse of force
difference in supervisors could be stopped
preventing can help prevent by developing
officers from police officers more effective
abusing their from abusing methods of
authority. their authority. supervision.
(N = 920) (N = 921) (N = 913)
Percent
Elsewhere, Skolnick and Bayley (1986, pervisors can help prevent police offic- It is the
p. 220) suggest that executive leader- ers from abusing their authority (see
ship might be even more important in Table 4.10). As an officer who partici-
supervisor
police departments, with their tradi- pated in one of the focus groups ex- as role
tional paramilitary character, than in pressed it, The supervisor, the first-line model who
other organizations: Police depart- supervisor, the sergeant, is so critically
ments are not democratically run orga- important in how he sets the tone, the
surfaces as
nizations. Everyone within them is ei- expectations. How he says things and the critical
ther aware or attuned to the chiefs supports department programs or doesnt aspect in
preferences, demands, and expecta- support them. If not by what he says,
tions. Skolnick and Bayley (1986, then by body language and tone of voice.
good first-line
p. 6) argue, [A]dministrative leadership, How he sells it or doesnt sell it. That leadership.
an animating philosophy of values, can sort of thing, I think, is real. It is the
indeed effect change. supervisor as role model who surfaces
as the critical aspect in good first-line
As important as the role of the chief may leadership. Following this, 55 percent
be in preventing abuse, an even greater of those surveyed thought that develop-
majority90 percent of police in the ing more effective means of super-
sampletold us that good first-line su- vision would prevent abuse of force.
Police Foundation
34
Do you think
Do you think interpersonal Do you think
ethics in law skills or interper- human diversity
enforcement sonal relations or cultural aware-
training is training is ness training
effective in effective in is effective in
preventing abuse preventing abuse preventing abuse
of authority? of authority? of authority?
(N = 576) (N = 674) (N = 807)
Table 4.12
Citizens can be
a vital source of Police should work Police should make
information about with citizens to frequent informal
the problems try and solve contact with
in their problems on their people on their
neighborhood. beat. beat.
(N = 924) (N = 924) (N = 921)
Percent
cultural sensitivity report that such policing idea into policing in the U.S. [P]olice
specialized training can play a role in The survey shows that police today
today over-
controlling abuses of police authority. overwhelmingly support a philosophy
that looks to the public for advice and whelmingly
A substantial majority (82 percent) of cooperation. Several statements formed support a
those officers in the sample who have a group designed to measure officers
received training in law enforcement
philosophy
opinions of the police-community
ethics either in the academy or since partnership that is generally considered that looks
becoming a police officer told us that a necessary component of community- to the public
such training prevents abuse of author- oriented policing. Respondents over-
ity (see Table 4.11). A similar majority
for advice and
whelmingly agreed that working with
(80 percent) who have received police citizens was an important and effec- cooperation.
training in interpersonal skills or tive means of solving neighborhood
interpersonal relations felt that this problems. For example, nearly all
training prevents abuse of authority. agreed that [c]itizens can be a vital
And 75 percent of officers who reported source of information about the prob-
receiving training in human diversity, lems in their neighborhood, that
cultural differences, cultural awareness, [p]olice should work with citizens to
or ethnic sensitivity said that this try and solve problems on their beat,
training prevents abuse of authority. and that [p]olice should make frequent
informal contact with people on their
Community-Oriented beat (see Table 4.12).
Policing
The study provides strong evidence of But what of the relationship between
the penetration of the community community policing and abuse of au-
Police Foundation
36
[A] close thority? Police in our sample generally 7 percent of the officers told us they
indicated that a close relationship with thought community policing increases
relationship the community does not increase the the risk of corruption. Over a third
with the risk of police corruption. We asked this thought it decreases the risk of corrup-
community question in two ways. Without referring tion, and another 57 percent thought it
to community policing, we asked all of- had no effect (see Table 4.13).
does not ficers whether they agreed that [f]requent
Some scholars have suggested that com-
increase the friendly contact with local residents and
munity policing may decrease the likeli-
risk of police merchants increases the likelihood that
hood of gross forms of corruption, such
police officers will accept free lunches,
corruption. discounts, or gifts of appreciation for ef-
as extortion, while increasing the temp-
tations toward softer forms of corrup-
fective service (see Appendix A, a34).
tion, such as the free lunch, the profes-
Although one in five officers agreed with
sional discount, or the gift of apprecia-
the statement, almost 80 percent
tion for effective service (Weisburd,
disagreed. Almost all the officers in the
McElroy, and Hardyman, 1988). Others
survey were familiar with the concept of
suggest that community policing has no
community-oriented policing (98 per-
discernible impact on corrupt behavior
cent). We asked those officers whether
(McElroy, Cosgrove, and Sadd, 1990).
they thought that community policing
increases, decreases, or has no impact In the focus groups, there was consen-
on the risk of corrupt behavior. Only sus among the officers that community
Police Foundation
38
of excessive force (47 percent) or the them against the wall and searches
seriousness of excessive force incidents them. Finding nothing, the officer uses
(54 percent). demeaning language, then tells them
that this will teach you to respect the
The community policing partnership
law and Id better not see you here
can be complicated. Almost all officers
again and gets in his patrol car and
(97 percent) told us that [p]olice offic-
drives off.
ers sometimes have to explain to indi-
viduals and groups of citizens that the In the other version (see p. 63), the
[P]olice police are prohibited by law from us- other half (482) of the officers
officers ing some of the tactics that citizens responded to a set of questions based
encourage them to use (see Appendix A, on the following scenario:
sometimes
a32). But 21 percent felt that they could
have to explain In a community meeting, citizens told
use more aggressive tactics than they
police that they were very concerned
to individuals otherwise would if the community had
about groups of rowdy youths hang-
asked them to do so (see Appendix A,
and groups ing out on street corners. After the
a33). Whether they might sometimes
of citizens that meeting, an officer who participated
cross the line to tactics prohibited by
in the meeting notices several youths
the police are law remained unanswered.
standing on a corner smoking ciga-
prohibited We presented the officers with one of rettes and talking to one another. The
by law from two versions of a scenario that ad- officer tells the youths to break it up
dressed, among other issues, whether and leave the area. The youths say,
using some they would feel justified in using more Were not doing anything. Why are
of the tactics aggressive tactics if asked by the com- you hassling us? The officer gets out
that citizens munity (see p. 61). In one version, a of the car and orders the youths to
randomly assigned half (438) of the of- place their hands up against the wall
encourage ficers responded to a set of questions of a building. They refuse. The officer
them to use. based on the following scenario: throws them against the wall and
searches them. Finding nothing, the
While patrolling his beat, an officer
officer uses demeaning language, tells
notices several youths standing on a
them that this will teach you to re-
corner smoking cigarettes and talking
spect the law and Id better not see
to one another. The officer tells the
you here again, and gets in his
youths to break it up and leave the
patrol car and drives off.
area. The youths say, Were not
doing anything. Why are you hassling With these scenarios, we could cap-
us? The officer gets out of the car ture whether officers felt justified in
and orders the youths to place their taking certain questionable actions
hands up against the wall of a build- when they had been asked by the com-
ing. They refuse. The officer throws munity to do so. Interestingly, the
answers of the two randomly assigned survey were among police officers of
groups of officers were virtually iden- different racial groups. Although we
tical to the series of questions that fol- originally grouped the officers in two
lowed the scenarios. Most officers told categories (white and non-white) so we
us that a verbal or written reprimand could have larger numbers in each cat-
would and should follow such an inci- egory, when strong differences accord-
dent. A substantial minority thought ing to race emerged, we re-examined
the discipline would and should be the data, peeling back the non-white
suspension without pay. Slightly more category into two subcategories: blacks [T]here is a
than one in three said they definitely or African Americans, and other minor-
would report a fellow officer who ity officers. In so doing, the significance
racial divide
engaged in this behavior, whereas only of the results increased, indicating that between
1 in 10 believed that most officers in African-American officers hold the most whites and
their agency would report such an in- distinctive positions on these issues.
cident. These results suggest that Without meaning to overstate the
African
police officers do not feel justified in generalizability of our findings beyond Americans in
using more aggressive tactics if asked American policing, the survey tends to our society
by the community to do so. corroborate the view that there is a
racial divide between whites and Afri-
that is not
Subgroup Analysis: can Americans in our society that is not transcended
Race, Rank, Region, transcended even by a culture as ap- even by a
Agency Size, Gender parently strong as the culture of polic-
ing. Not that those differences emerged
culture as
Thus far, we have described what the
survey suggests about the attitudes of across every item in our survey, but strong as the
police generally toward abuse of au- when they did occur, the relationships culture of
thority. But the data can also reveal were strong, and the kinds of ques-
tions in which they emerged grouped
policing.
something about how different sub-
groups within American policing view together in meaningful configurations.
such issues. An analysis of subgroup
differences is presented in cross-tabu- Earlier we reported that almost 2 in 10
lations below. In reporting on differ- officers in the weighted sample agreed
ences in responses among different that police officers often treat whites
subgroups of police officers, we note better than they do African Americans
again that our statistics were adjusted and other minorities. When we consid-
according to the sampling procedures ered this issue broken down by race,
we used. we found that more than half of the Af-
rican-American officers felt this way (see
15
Race Table 4.14). By comparison, fewer than
By far the most striking differences we one in four among other minorities
discovered among subgroups in our agreed with the statement, and fewer
Police Foundation
40
Police officers often treat whites better than they do African Americans
and other minorities (by race). (N = 912)
Table 4.14
Strongly Strongly
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree
Percent
16
African- than one in eight white officers agreed. determined only by race. While only
2 percent of white officers in the
American The divergence in views of African sample thought that police officers
officers Americans and other officers continues were more likely to use physical
and grows when we examine whether force against poor people than
did not see
they felt that police officers were more against middle-class people in simi-
unequal likely to use physical force against Af- lar situations, 54 percent of the Afri-
treatment rican Americans and other minorities can-American officers felt that way
than against whites in similar situations. (see Table 4.16). Again, other minori-
by police as
While only 1 in 20 white officers in ties held a position between the
determined the sample thought that African Ameri- white and African-American officers,
only by race. cans and minorities received this but closer to the perspective of the
18
unfair treatment from police, well over white officers.
half of the African-American officers
thought unfair treatment was more While the survey suggests that African-
likely. Other minorities were more in American officers may not trust their
agreement with the white officers (see fellow officers to treat minority and poor
17
Table 4.15). citizens fairly, they did tend to respond
more positively to the role of commu-
African-American officers did not see nity policing in reducing police abuses
unequal treatment by police as of authority. For example, we
Table 4.15
in similar situations (by race). (N = 914)
Strongly Strongly
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree
Percent
Police officers are more likely to use physical force against poor people
than against middle-class people in similar situations (by race). (N = 916)
Table 4.16
Strongly Strongly
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree
Percent
Has No
Increases Decreases Impact
Percent
Police Foundation
42
Has No
Increases Decreases Impact
Percent
Table 4.19
Strongly Strongly
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree
Percent
Table 4.20
Strongly Strongly
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree
Percent
Strongly Strongly
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree
Percent
Police Foundation
44
Strongly Strongly
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree
Percent
supervisors Thus, while more than 87 percent of Still in keeping with their role as su-
could help nonsupervisors in the survey (primarily pervisors, but less predictable, was a
patrol officers) said that good first-line series of questions that suggested that
prevent police supervisors could help prevent police supervisors were very serious in their
officers from officers from abusing their authority, 97 attitudes about reporting misbehavior
abusing their percent of supervisors felt that way (see and that they held police officers to a
20
Table 4.20). Similar relationships are very high standard. Well over 80 per-
authority. found in other questions directly related cent of supervisors believed in the
to supervision. More than 80 percent of value of blowing the whistle on mis-
nonsupervisors and almost 95 percent behavior by fellow officers, com-
of supervisors believed that if a police pared with just over 70 percent of
23
chief took a strong position against nonsupervisors (see Table 4.23).
abuses of authority, he or she could make Similarly, supervisors were much less
a big difference in preventing officers likely to believe in the efficacy of the
24
from abusing their authority (see Table code of silence (see Table 4.24), and
21
4.21). And 50 percent of nonsupervisors supervisors disagreed to a much
and 68 percent of supervisors were likely greater extent than non-super-
to believe that most police abuse of force visors that it is sometimes accept
Table 4.23
Strongly Strongly
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree
Percent
Table 4.24
Strongly Strongly
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree
Percent
Strongly Strongly
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree
Percent
Police Foundation
46
Police department rules about the use of force should not be any
stricter than required by law (by rank). (N = 915)
Table 4.26
Strongly Strongly
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree
Percent
[W]e did able to use more force than is legally one officer explained that in her part
allowable to control someone who of the country, it would be considered
find a physically assaults an officer (see Table an affront if a community policing
25
consistent 4.25). They were more interested than officer refused to accept an offer of a
difference nonsupervisors in having departmen- cup of coffee. Those regional cultural
tal rules about the use of force that are differences might explain why officers
between the stricter than required by law (see Table from the southern region of the coun-
26
western 4.26). Supervisors in our sample were try were more likely to offer an opin-
region of the also more likely to note that commu- ion that frequent friendly contact with
nity-oriented policing could decrease local residents and merchants increased
country and the number and the seriousness of ex- the likelihood that police officers would
27
others. cessive force incidents (see Table 4.27 accept free lunches, discounts, or gifts
28
and Table 4.28). of appreciation for effective service (see
29
Table 4.29).
Region While regional differences did not show
As Professor Carl Klockars stated dur- up as clearly as one might have expected
ing the focus group of police scholars for many questions in the survey,
and executives at the outset of this we did find a consistent difference
study, There are right answers in dif- between the western region of the coun-
ferent places. During an untranscribed try and others on some specific
break in our rank-and-file focus group, indicators. Police officers from the
Table 4.27
Has No
Increases Decreases Impact TOTAL
Table 4.28
Has No
Increases Decreases Impact TOTAL
Percent
Police Foundation
48
Officers West tended to have a more profes- ence behavior. Officers in the largest
sional outlook about policing or tended departments more frequently demon-
from small to view policing as constrained by the strated what arguably was a more
departments law. Officers in the West were less likely cynical or alienated attitude about lead-
believed more to agree that it is sometimes accept- ership in policing, although even in
able to use more force than is legally those departments it was distinctly a
strongly in allowable to control someone who minority viewpoint. The relationships
the efficacy physically assaults an officer (see Table described were quite strong.
30
of good 4.30). And they are more likely to state While 94 percent of officers from small
that police officers always report seri- departments believed that if a police
supervision ous criminal violations involving abuse chief took a strong position against
and in the of authority by fellow officers (see abuses of authority, he or she could
31
authority Table 4.31). make a big difference in preventing
of the chief officers from abusing their authority,
Agency Size only 68.2 percent of officers from the
to influence Agency size also appeared relevant to largest departments agreed (see Table
32
behavior. police officers concerns about police 4.32). Similarly, while 97 percent of
abuse of authority. Officers from small officers from small departments agreed
departments believed more strongly in that good first-line supervisors could
the efficacy of good supervision and help prevent officers from abusing their
in the authority of the chief to influ- authority, only 80 percent of officers
Table 4.31
Agree Disagree TOTAL
Table 4.32
from abusing their authority (by agency size). (N = 920)
Strongly Strongly
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree
Percent
Strongly Strongly
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree
Percent
Police Foundation
50
Strongly Strongly
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree
Percent
[O]fficers from the largest departments agreed tistically significant results were found,
33
(see Table 4.33). Following this pat- the sizes of the differences were small,
from the largest tern, 71 percent of officers from small and no consistent theory or idea linked
departments departments agreed that most police them or suggested that they were
believed abuse of force could be stopped by meaningful. We could argue that this
developing more effective methods of finding suggested that women adapt
police supervision, compared with 45 percent to the dominant culture of policing or
administrators of officers from the largest departments that women who self-select to enter
34
concentrate on (see Table 4.34). Almost 8 in 10 policing are more like men in polic-
officers from the largest departments ing. However, this conclusion may be
what police believed that police administrators con- premature. As the National Center for
officers do centrate on what police officers do Women and Policing (1998) reports,
wrong rather wrong rather than what they do right, Women police perform better than
while just over half of the officers from their male counterparts at defusing
than what they the small departments agreed (see
35 potentially violent situations and
do right. Table 4.35). become involved in excessive use of
force incidents less often. We think it
Gender is possible that we did not ask ques-
The survey did not reveal meaningful tions in our survey that would reveal
differences in the responses of officers specific differences between male and
according to gender. While several sta- female police officers in regard to the
problem of police abuse of authority.
Table 4.35
Strongly Strongly
Agree Agree Disagree Disagree
Percent
Police Foundation
52
CONCLUSION
Policesupport Over the past three decades, American licing idea have filtered down to rank-
policing has gone through vast changes and-file police officers. Police today over-
a philosophy
in its organization, tactics, and philoso- whelmingly support a philosophy that
that looks to phy. At the forefront of such changes looks to the public for advice and coop-
the public for has been the transition from traditional eration in confronting problems of crime
military and professional models of and disorder. The survey was unambigu-
advice and
policing, to innovative models of ous in this regard. Nearly all who were
cooperation community policing. Our survey surveyed believed that citizens are vital
in confronting focused on the attitudes of American to good policing and that police must
police toward abuse of authority in this work with citizens in solving crime prob-
problems of
age of community policing. It is lems. In turn, contrary to what some have
crime and the first truly representative study of feared about community policing, offic-
disorder. police attitudes in many years, and thus ers were more likely to state that com-
it provides an important set of findings munity policing reduces the potential for
for understanding American police and police abuse than increases that poten-
for developing public policy. tial. This finding, of course, does not
mean that community policing has actu-
It is clear from the survey that central ally reduced the level of abuse in
components of the community po-
Police Foundation
54
It is particularly troubling that this per- misbehavior. While those responses did
ception was far more prevalent among not tell us whether indeed such pro-
African-American police officers than grams are effective, they did tell us that
among others. Comparing African- American police themselves view the
American officers views about police programs as important and useful.
abuse with those of white and other
Police we surveyed also emphasized
minority officers, we found significant
the importance of police management
and substantial differences. While a
in preventing police violence and other
Comparing small minority of white officers in the
forms of abuse. A large majority of
sample believed that police treat white
African- citizens better than African-American
police believe that when the chief of
police takes a strong stand against
American or other minority citizens in similar situ-
police violence, other police officers
officers views ations, a majority of African-American
will follow his or her lead. Similarly,
police officers held this view. Similar
about police differences were found between Afri-
police officers told us that good first-
line supervision is an effective method
abuse with can-American and other police
for preventing police abuse. These find-
those of white officers in their views on the likelihood
ings reinforce the long-held view of
of using physical force against minori-
and other ties and the poor. The magnitude of
scholars and police professionals that de-
veloping effective methods of supervi-
minority such race-based differences suggests a
sion and effective supervisors should be
officers, large gap between African-American
a first priority in efforts to control and
police officers and other officers. Such
we found a deep divide was not predicted at the
prevent abuses of police authority.
significant outset of the study. While American police recognized the
and importance of supervision in prevent-
The survey also provides some surpris-
ing abuses, they continued to see a
ing and important lessons regarding
substantial how police think abuses of police
tension between getting the police job
done and controlling misbehavior.
differences. authority can be controlled. Consistent
Almost half of the police surveyed told
with the suggestions of certain schol-
us that always following the rules is
ars and police professionals (Grant and
not compatible with getting the job
Grant, 1996; Scrivner, 1994), most
done. More than half believed that su-
officers believed that training and
pervisors focus too much on what they
education are effective methods for
are doing wrong and not enough on
reducing police abuse. A substantial
what they are doing right.
majority of those who have experi-
enced training in interpersonal skills, Abuse of police authority continues to
or have taken courses in ethics or be a major public policy concern. This
diversity, said that such education and survey adds the voices of rank-and-file
training is effective in preventing police and supervisors to the debate
over the nature of the problems that shields those who do abuse their [P]olice
American police face and the potential authority. What can be done to
abusesare a
solutions that can be brought. Our prevent such abuses? According to
study suggests that most police in the Americas police, education and train- continuing
United States understand the impor- ing are effective means of preventing realityas is
tance of limits to police authority, and police abuse. They also recognize the the code of
are sensitive to the dangers of corrup- continuing importance of effective
silence that
tion and abuse of force. Nonetheless, supervision, and the central role that
police abuses of authority are a police executives play in sending shields those
continuing reality in American polic- the message that police abuses of who do
ing, as is the code of silence that authority cannot be tolerated. abuse their
authority.
Police Foundation
56
ENDNOTES
1. Details regarding the sample are We also consulted a number of survey in-
provided in Chapter II of this report. The struments that addressed police ethics.
sampling frame of the survey as estimated They did not provide specific questions
by Maguire (1997) is 351,480 officers. but assisted us in our thinking. The instru-
ments included the Royal Barbados Police
2. A number of questions were Force survey by Richard R. Bennett (1994),
adapted from two previous Police Foun- the Illinois Police Behavior Survey (Martin
dation surveys (Pate and Hamilton, 1992; and Bensinger, 1994), an Australian sur-
Wycoff and Oettmeier, 1993). We used sev- vey on police ethics (McConkey, Huon,
eral questions from a survey on ethical and Frank, 1996), and a Police Founda-
conduct and discipline from Queensland, tion survey of Oregon State Police officers
Australia (Criminal Justice Commission, (Amendola, Hockman, and Scharf, 1996).
1995). We adopted the question structure
(although not the content) for presenting We conducted three focus groups, which
hypothetical scenarios from the survey in- provided a range of viewpoints from rank-
strument on police integrity by Carl B. and-file officers to chiefs and academics:
Klockars, Sanja Kutnjak-Ivkovic, and Will- The first group combined the knowledge
iam E. Harver (no date). Scenarios were and experience of academic experts and
provided by Chief Jerry Oliver during the police chiefs (for a full report, see Appen-
expert focus group (see Appendix B) and dix B). The second group was composed
by Earl Hamilton of the Police Foundation of rank-and-file police officers from depart-
staff. Some of the demographic questions ments across the country (see Appendix C
were developed with assistance from mem- for a full report, including selection crite-
bers of Mathematica Policy Research Inc., ria). The third group consisted of sergeants
who also assisted with editing the survey and lieutenants from departments nation-
questions. wide (see Appendix D for a full report,
Police Foundation
58
zona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, The sample selected from those lists was
Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, of adequate size to allow completion of
Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. 925 to 950 interviews. In certainty depart-
ments, the number of officers selected was
6. This method was developed in con- based on the proportion of the total popu-
sultation with and conducted by John Hall, lation of officers represented by the de-
senior sampling statistician with partment. For noncertainty departments
Mathematica Policy Research Inc. with 25 or more officers, we sampled 10
per department. For the departments with
The sample was selected using a stratified
10 to 24 officers, we sampled an average of
multistage design. The sample initially in-
4.5 (a random half of the sample was allo-
cluded 121 police departments that were
cated 5 selections, and the other half, 4).
selected by using probability proportional
to size (PPS) methods. To use PPS selec- 7. As noted in endnote 3, there was
tion, each department was assigned a mea- some variation in this procedure. In two
sure of size based on an estimate of its cases, the departments generated the ran-
number of full-time sworn officers. dom sample from their own computers in
the presence of Police Foundation re-
Departments that were so large that they searchers. In two others, departments pro-
were certain to be sampled using PPS meth- vided serial numbers from which we gen-
ods were selected with probability 1.0 and erated the random samples; only then were
are called certainty selections. we provided names and contact informa-
tion.
Selection was made from a machine-read-
able file (the sampling frame) that included 8. When the confidence interval ex-
one record for each of the 5,014 eligible ceeds plus or minus 4 percent, we pro-
police departments in the study. Each vide the exact interval in the endnotes.
record contained department identification,
department type, region, and the estimated 9. Because of the multistage sampling
number of officers who were employed procedure used in our study, we could not
by the department and were eligible for rely on standard estimates of standard er-
the survey. The estimated number of offic- rors or statistical significance. Adjusted stan-
ers was used as a measure of size in se- dard errors and observed significance lev-
lecting the sample. els were estimated using the statistical
analysis program Sudaan (see Babubhai,
Before selection, the sample frame was Barnwell, and Bieler, 1997), after specify-
stratified by size and region. The size cat- ing the specific sampling model used in
egories were (a) certainty selections, (b) our study.
other departments with 25 or more full-
time sworn officers, and (c) other depart- 10. The weighting procedure was de-
ments with 1024 full-time sworn officers. veloped by John Hall of Mathematica Policy
The sample included nine certainty selec- Research Inc. The weights for the Police
tions: 84 from the middle-size group and Foundation Survey account for differences
28 from the smallest group. in (a) probabilities of selection among of-
ficers responding to the survey, (b)
The Police Foundation contacted sampled nonresponse at the department level, and
departments and, from each cooperating (c) response rates among groups of
department, obtained a list of all officers officers. Without the weighting adjust-
eligible for the survey. Those lists contained ments, some groups of officers would be
identifying information that enabled inter- overrepresented (and others under-
viewers to contact sampled officers. represented), leading to potentially biased
survey estimates.
Weighting took place in seven steps: (a) a cell is the ratio of the sum of IDW for all
each sampled department was assigned an departments in the cell to the sum of IDW
initial weight equal to the inverse of its for responding departments in the cell, and
probability of selection; (b) cells were the final department weight is
formed for department-level nonresponse
FDW(dept) = IDW(dept) x DNRA(dcell)
adjustment; (c) department-level non-
response weights were computed; (d) each Each officer was then assigned an initial
sampled officer was assigned an initial weight (IWO), where
weight, which was the product of the
officers departments weight and the in- IWO(officer) = FDW(dept) x 1/P(officer|dept)
verse of the officers probability of selec- where P (officer dept) is the probability of
tion within the department; (e) new cells an officer being selected for the sample
were formed for officer-level nonresponse within the department.
adjustments; (f) officer-level nonresponse
weights were computed; and (g) each Officer Nonresponse Adjustment: Compu-
officers final weight was the product of tation of the officer nonresponse adjust-
the initial officer weight and the officer- ment (DNRAO) was similar to that for de-
level nonresponse weight. partments, except the cells were defined
differently. For adjustments at the individual
Initial Department Weights: Initially weight- level, one cell comprised four departments
ing departments by the inverse of the prob- selected with certainty within a region. One
ability of selection was required because cell included three certainty departments
departments were sampled with probabil- in two neighboring regions. One cell com-
ity proportional to size. Thus the initial prised a certainty selection and two other
department weight (IDW) is large departments within a region. Eight
IDW(dept) = 1/P(dept) other cells were defined by the intersec-
tion of region and the two major
where P (dept) is the departments prob- noncertainty strata.
ability of selection.
ONRA (ocell) for a cell is the ratio of the
When department-level nonresponse sum of IWO (officer) for all sampled offic-
adjustments were made, the initial depart- ers in the cell to the sum of IWO (officer)
ment weight allowed each department to for responding officers in the cell, and the
represent its appropriate share of the final weight is
population.
Finalwt(officer) = IWO(officer) x ONRA(ocell).
Department Nonresponse Adjustment: One
large department (selected with certainty 11. The survey instrument and re-
for the sample survey) chose not to re- sponses, including raw frequencies and
spond. Because of this, we defined one weighted percentages, are provided in
cell for department-level nonresponse to Appendix A. Throughout this report, un-
include all sampled departments within less otherwise indicated, percentages pre-
those departments having at least 400 full- sented in the text are weighted percent-
time sworn officers (FTSW). Other cells ages.
were defined by the intersection of region 12. Officers could identify themselves
and major stratum (selected with certainty, as belonging to more than one racial cat-
noncertainty with more than 24 FTSW and egory.
1024 FTSW). Departments assigned to the
first cell described above were not also as- 13. For example, in their re-examina-
signed to other cells. The departmental tion of 5,688 cases in the 1977 Police Ser-
nonresponse adjustment, DNRA (dcell), for vices Study data, Worden and Shepard
Police Foundation
60
(1996) found that reasonable force was confidence intervals were 5.21 percent for
used in 37 cases, and improper force was increases, 9.88 percent for decreases,
used in 23 cases. We note that improper and 8.31 percent for no impact. For
force was thus used in 38 percent of en- other minority officers, confidence inter-
counters that involved force. Similarly, in vals were 4.29 percent for increases,
his re-analysis of 1,565 cases in Albert 11.37 percent for decreases, and 11.76
Reisss 1967 data, Friedrich (1980) found percent for no impact.
that reasonable force was used in 52 cases,
and excessive force was used in 28 cases. 20. For Table 4.20, confidence intervals
Excessive force was thus used in 35 per- range from 5.53 percent to 5.84 percent
cent of encounters that involved force. for supervisors.
14. These issues are revisited later, 21. For Table 4.21, confidence intervals
when we take up questions of differences range from 5.88 percent to 6.03 percent
among subgroups of officers and consider for supervisors.
whether police officers of different races
have differing views of racial bias by po- 22. For Table 4.22, confidence intervals
lice officers. range from 5.25 percent to 6.50 percent
for supervisors
15. We are beginning to examine
whether the influence of race might be 23. For Table 4.23, confidence intervals
explained by other factors, such as the for supervisors ranged from 4.98 percent
concentration of minority police officers in to 5.57 percent.
specific parts of the country. Our findings
suggest that the importance of race is main- 24. For Table 4.24, confidence intervals
tained even when controlling for other rel- for supervisors ranged from 5.99 percent
evant demographic characteristics. to 6.66 percent.
16. In Table 4.14, confidence intervals 25. For Table 4.25, confidence intervals
ranged from 4.61 percent to 13.43 per- for supervisors ranged from 5.84 percent
cent for African Americans, and from 5.86 to 5.90 percent.
percent to 13.74 percent for other minori-
26. For Table 4.26, confidence intervals
ties. We remind the reader that we report
for supervisors were 5.55 percent.
confidence intervals only if they are greater
than 4 percent. 27. For Table 4.27, confidence intervals
17. Confidence intervals ranged from for supervisors were 6.08 percent for de-
5.86 percent to 10.76 percent for Afri- creases and 6.35 percent for no impact.
can Americans and from 9.8 percent to For nonsupervisors, confidence intervals
11.19 percent for other minorities. were 4.27 percent for decreases and
4.31 percent for no impact.
18. Confidence intervals ranged from
6.02 percent to 10.94 percent for Afri- 28. For Table 4.28, confidence intervals
can Americans and from 10.49 percent to for supervisors were 6.25 percent for de-
12.23 percent for other minorities. creases and 6.35 percent for no impact.
For nonsupervisors, confidence intervals
19. For the number of incidents of ex- were 4.29 percent for no impact.
cessive force (Table 4.17), confidence in-
tervals for white officers were 4.12 per- 29. For Table 4.29, confidence intervals
cent for decrease and 4.19 percent for for the North Central region ranged from
no impact. For African-American officers, 4.50 percent to 6.30 percent. For the
Northeast they ranged from 4.50 percent cent for the largest departments and from
to 5.70 percent. For the South they ranged 6.00 percent to 8.00 percent for the small
from 4.30 percent to 5.70 percent, and departments.
for the West they ranged from 7.90 per-
cent to 8.00 percent. 33. In Table 4.33, confidence intervals
ranged from 5.50 percent to 7.50 per-
30. For Table 4.30, confidence intervals cent for the largest departments.
for the North Central region were 5.70
percent. For the Northeast they were 6.02 35. In Table 4.34, confidence intervals
percent. For the South they were 6.31 ranged from 4.82 percent to 7.93 per-
percent, and for the West they were 6.31 cent for the largest departments and from
percent. 5.02 percent to 11.56 percent for the
31. For Table 4.31, confidence intervals small departments.
for the North Central region were 8.57
35. In Table 4.35, confidence intervals
percent. For the Northeast they were 5.88
ranged from 7.29 percent to 8.02 per-
percent. For the South they were 5.57
cent for the largest departments, 3.39 per-
percent, and for the West they were 7.02
cent to 4.25 percent for the medium
percent.
departments, and 7.56 percent to 7.80
32. In Table 4.32, confidence intervals percent for the small departments.
ranged from 5.00 percent to 8.00 per-
Police Foundation
62
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Police Foundation
66
AUTHORS
David Weisburd, PhD, is Senior Fellow, foundation research projects, and co-authored
and formerly Senior Research Scientist, at several foundation research reports.
the Police Foundation. He also is a profes-
Kellie A. Bryant, MS, formerly a research
sor of criminology at the Hebrew Univer-
associate at the Police Foundation, is a
sity Law School in Jerusalem, and a Senior
Deputy Marshal with the United States
Research Fellow in the Department of
Marshals Service.
Criminology and Criminal Justice at the Uni-
versity of Maryland, College Park. Hubert Williams, JD, has been President
of the Police Foundation since 1985. In
Rosann Greenspan, PhD, formerly research
1962, he joined the Newark, New Jersey,
director at the Police Foundation, is Assis-
Police Department, was later promoted to
tant Director and Visiting Scholar at the Cen-
sergeant, then lieutenant, and was granted
ter for the Study of Law and Society at the
a leave of absence from 1972 to 1974 to
University of California at Berkeley, where
direct the Newark High Impact Anti-Crime
she also teaches in the Legal Studies Pro-
Initiative. In 1974, Williams was selected to
gram. Dr. Greenspan continues to collabo-
head the Newark Police Department, and
rate on foundation research projects.
served as its director until 1985. During his
Edwin E. Hamilton, MA, is Senior Research career with the Newark Police Department,
Analyst at the Police Foundation. Since com- Williamss assignments included undercover
ing to the Police Foundation in 1983, Mr. narcotics, patrol, field operations, commu-
Hamilton has worked on dozens of nity relations, and the office of the chief.
A
SURVEY INSTRUMENT
WITH RESPONSES
Police Foundation
2
SURVEY
a2 The relationship between the police and the citizens in [fill CITY]
is very good.
Strongly Agree 179 18.7
Agree 634 69.4
Disagree 92 9.9
Strongly Disagree 18 2.1
N = 923
Survey
3
Raw Weighted
1
Frequency Percentage
Police Foundation
4
Raw Weighted
1
Frequency Percentage
a9 An officer who makes many arrests will get many citizen complaints.
Strongly Agree 104 11.3
Agree 427 46.6
Disagree 355 38.5
Strongly Disagree 33 3.6
N = 919
a10 Police officers regularly use more physical force than is necessary
in making arrests.
Strongly Agree 7 0.6
Agree 31 3.5
Disagree 596 64.5
Strongly Disagree 290 31.4
N = 924
a13 Preservation of the peace requires that police have the authority
to order people to move along or break it up even though
no law is being violated.
Strongly Agree 100 10.8
Agree 585 63.4
Disagree 218 24.4
Strongly Disagree 14 1.5
N = 917
Survey
5
Raw Weighted
1
Frequency Percentage
a14 Police officers often treat whites better than they do African
Americans and other minorities.
Strongly Agree 11 1.2
Agree 144 15.8
Disagree 523 57.8
Strongly Disagree 236 25.2
N = 914
a15 Police department rules about the use of force should not be
any stricter than required by law.
Strongly Agree 61 6.7
Agree 542 58.9
Disagree 293 32.3
Strongly Disagree 19 2.1
N = 915
a16 African Americans and other minorities are much less likely
to cooperate with the police than are whites.
Strongly Agree 28 2.9
Agree 215 23.8
Disagree 570 63.0
Strongly Disagree 94 10.3
N = 907
a18 Internal affairs units are not effective means for preventing police
misconduct.
Strongly Agree 22 2.4
Agree 172 19.0
Disagree 601 66.2
Strongly Disagree 115 12.4
N = 910
Police Foundation
6
Raw Weighted
1
Frequency Percentage
a20 It is not unusual for a police officer to turn a blind eye to improper
conduct by other officers.
Strongly Agree 17 1.8
Agree 460 50.6
Disagree 393 43.3
Strongly Disagree 38 4.4
N = 908
Survey
7
Raw Weighted
1
Frequency Percentage
a25 Police officers in [fill CITY] use more force than necessary
to make an arrest.
Always 2 0.3
Often 6 0.7
Sometimes 188 20.8
Seldom 581 62.4
Never 145 16.0
N = 922
Police Foundation
8
Raw Weighted
1
Frequency Percentage
a30 Police should work with citizens to try and solve problems
on their beat.
Strongly Agree 603 65.1
Agree 315 34.3
Disagree 4 0.4
Strongly Disagree 2 0.2
N = 924
Survey
9
Raw Weighted
1
Frequency Percentage
a35 Police officers are more likely to use physical force against blacks
and other minorities than against whites in similar situations.
Strongly Agree 15 1.7
Agree 85 9.4
Disagree 506 55.6
Strongly Disagree 310 33.3
N = 916
a36 Police officers are more likely to use physical force against poor
people than against middle-class people in similar situations.
Strongly Agree 18 1.9
Agree 110 12.2
Disagree 526 57.9
Strongly Disagree 264 27.9
N = 918
a38 Good first-line supervisors can help prevent police officers from
abusing their authority.
Strongly Agree 212 22.9
Agree 614 66.9
Disagree 88 9.3
Strongly Disagree 7 0.9
N = 921
Police Foundation
10
Raw Weighted
1
Frequency Percentage
a40 Serious cases of police misconduct like the Rodney King case
in Los Angeles or the Abner Louima allegation in New York are
extremely rare in your department.
Strongly Agree 602 64.7
Agree 290 32.4
Disagree 20 2.3
Strongly Disagree 5 0.6
N = 917
Survey
11
Note: There are two versions of the first scenario. The computer randomly
selected which version was presented. Approximately half of the respon-
dents were read Version A and the other half were read Version B. We did
not provide further information about the scenario. The respondents used
only the information we read.
Police Foundation
12
Raw Weighted
1
Frequency Percentage
Survey
13
Raw Weighted
1
Frequency Percentage
b1-e Do you think you would report a fellow officer who engaged
in this behavior?
Definitely Not 36 8.5
Probably Not 124 28.2
Possibly Yes 126 28.8
Definitely Yes 148 34.6
N = 434
b1-f Do you think most officers in your agency would report a fellow
officer who engaged in this behavior?
Definitely Not 36 8.4
Probably Not 199 44.8
Possibly Yes 157 36.7
Definitely Yes 43 10.1
N = 435
Police Foundation
14
Raw Weighted
1
Frequency Percentage
b2-b How serious would most officers in your agency consider this
behavior to be?
Not Serious at All 18 3.8
Not Very Serious 83 17.1
Moderately Serious 152 32.0
Quite Serious 150 32.3
Very Serious 70 14.8
N =473
b2-e Do you think you would report a fellow officer who engaged
in this behavior?
Definitely Not 37 7.9
Probably Not 150 30.5
Possibly Yes 129 27.0
Definitely Yes 162 34.7
N = 478
Survey
15
Raw Weighted
1
Frequency Percentage
b2-f Do you think most officers in your agency would report a fellow
officer who engaged in this behavior?
Definitely Not 31 6.9
Probably Not 233 48.6
Possibly Yes 158 33.9
Definitely Yes 51 10.6
N = 473
Second Scenario
An officer has a handcuffed suspect sitting at his desk while he fills out the
necessary paperwork. With no provocation from the officer, the suspect
suddenly spits in the face of the officer. The officer immediately pushes the
suspect in the face, causing the suspect to fall from the chair onto the floor.
Raw Weighted
1
Frequency Percentage
Police Foundation
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Raw Weighted
1
Frequency Percentage
b3-e Do you think you would report a fellow officer who engaged
in this behavior?
Definitely Not 191 20.8
Probably Not 254 27.7
Possibly Yes 207 22.6
Definitely Yes 262 28.9
N = 914
b3-f Do you think most officers in your agency would report a fellow
officer who engaged in this behavior?
Definitely Not 166 18.3
Probably Not 378 41.3
Possibly Yes 270 29.7
Definitely Yes 94 10.8
N = 908
Survey
17
Police Foundation
18
Raw Weighted
1
Frequency Percentage
Survey
19
Police Foundation
20
Raw Weighted
1
Frequency Percentage
d5 How many years have you been with your current department
as a sworn police officer?
5 Years or Less 288 31.4
610 Years 184 20.2
1115 Years 156 16.9
1635 Years 296 31.5
N = 924
Survey
21
Raw Weighted
1
Frequency Percentage
d10 How many hours per week do you usually work in your job
as a police officer, including regular overtime hours?
40 Hours or Less 307 33.5
4145 Hours 258 28.0
4649 Hours 227 24.3
5080 Hours 131 14.2
N = 923
Police Foundation
22
Raw Weighted
1
Frequency Percentage
Survey
23
Raw Weighted
1
Frequency Percentage
3
d14 What was your major in graduate school?
Business 4 7.8
Criminology/Criminal Justice/Police Science 14 27.5
Education 5 9.8
Health Sciences 1 2.0
Law/Legal Studies 3 5.9
Psychology 3 5.9
Social Work 2 3.9
Social Science/History 1 2.0
Public Policy 15 29.4
Other Science 2 3.9
Other Liberal Arts 1 2.0
Other 3 5.9
N = 51
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Raw Weighted
1
Frequency Percentage
d20 Considering all aspects of the job, are you satisfied or dissatisfied
with your current assignment?
Satisfied 845 91.5
Dissatisfied 78 8.5
N = 923
Survey
25
Raw Weighted
1
Frequency Percentage
d20a Would you say you are extremely satisfied, mostly satisfied,
or somewhat satisfied?
Extremely Satisfied 333 39.6
Mostly Satisfied 395 46.4
Somewhat Satisfied 115 14.0
N = 843
d20b Would you say you are extremely dissatisfied, mostly dissatisfied,
or somewhat dissatisfied?
Extremely Dissatisfied 18 23.3
Mostly Dissatisfied 24 30.5
Somewhat Dissatisfied 36 46.2
N = 78
d21 Looking at your overall work as a police officer, are you satisfied
or dissatisfied with your career choice?
Satisfied 871 94.4
Dissatisfied 52 5.6
N = 923
d21a Would you say you are extremely satisfied, mostly satisfied,
or somewhat satisfied?
Extremely Satisfied 468 54.3
Mostly Satisfied 342 38.6
Somewhat Satisfied 61 7.0
N = 871
d21b Would you say you are extremely dissatisfied, mostly dissatisfied,
or somewhat dissatisfied?
Extremely Dissatisfied 2 4.1
Mostly Dissatisfied 22 41.4
Somewhat Dissatisfied 28 54.5
N = 52
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Raw Weighted
1
Frequency Percentage
d22 How stressful do you consider your work to be? Would you say
extremely stressful, quite stressful, somewhat stressful,
not very stressful, or not at all stressful?
Extremely Stressful 145 15.5
Quite Stressful 274 29.6
Somewhat Stressful 392 42.5
Not Very Stressful 93 10.4
Not at All Stressful 18 2.0
N = 924
Survey
27
Raw Weighted
1
Frequency Percentage
d27 How many children do you have who are under 18 that are
dependent on you?
1 212 23.6
2 202 21.8
3 or More 109 11.6
None 397 42.9
N = 920
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Raw Weighted
1
Frequency Percentage
Thank you for your time. You have made an important contribution toward
our understanding of police views of authority and community policing.
Survey
1
APPENDIX B
REPORT ON FOCUS GROUP
OF POLICE SCHOLARS
AND EXECUTIVES
Rosann Greenspan
David Weisburd
Kellie A. Bryant
Police Foundation
2
Contents
Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 3
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 30
POLICE SCHOLARS
AND EXECUTIVES
1
Introduction
On October 15, 1997, a group of eminent In identifying participants, the principal
scholars and police chiefs gathered in the investigators drew on their knowledge of [The] group
conference room of the Police Foundation the field and consulted several scholars and
in Washington, D.C., for a full day of dis- police executives to provide lists of lead-
was asked to
cussion exploring management, legal, and ing academic and police executive experts identify
ethical questions relating to police abuse on issues of police authority, community
causes
of authority. This expert focus group was policing, race, and the law. Scholars in at-
asked to identify key issues, to explore tendance were Professor Carl Klockars underlying
possible causes underlying police abuse of from the University of Delaware, Profes-
police abuse,
authority and police brutality, to suggest sor Peter Manning from Michigan State Uni-
potential actions that police departments versity, Professor Ramiro Martinez from the to suggest
could take to prevent abuses, and to con- University of Delaware, Professor Stephen potential
sider the potential effects that the commu- Mastrofski from Michigan State University,
nity policing movement has had on such Professor Jerome Skolnick from New York actions,
issues. For example, does community po- University Law School, Professor Alfred and to
licing increase the risks of police abuses Slocum from Rutgers University School of
consider the
of authority or decrease them? Does it Law, and Professor Robert Worden from
change the nature of such abuses or not the State University of New York at Albany. effects [of]
affect them at all? The panel was also asked Police executives included Commis- community
to provide ideas to assist in the develop- sioner Thomas Frazier of Baltimore, Mary-
ment of a questionnaire for use in our na- land; Chief Jerry Oliver of Richmond, policing.
tional survey of police officers. Virginia; Director Bob Pugh of Atlantic City,
Police Foundation
4
New Jersey; and Chief Jerry Sanders of San inform the public about how difficult an
Diego, California. Hubert Williams, presi- issue this is. I think most of the public dont
dent of the Police Foundation, greeted the really understand what the lines are with
guests and participated in the discussions. respect to police use of force, and that
Dr. Rosann Greenspan presided. police are authorized to use force. The
question is, when? Skolnick suggested that
Defining Issues of Police one way to structure thinking about the
Authority: The Boundaries of the boundaries of police authority would be,
on the one hand, the use of force in ap-
[M]ost Proper Use of Authority
prehending somebody who is considered
The first set of issues concerned the defi-
of the public nition of abuse of authority. What are the
to have committed a crime and, on the
other hand, the use of force after some-
dont really boundaries of proper use of authority? Are
body has been apprehended. He pointed
our ideas about the meaning and bound-
understand out that this [difference] is really what dis-
aries of police authority changing? What
what the tinguished in a way the Rodney King case
forms of abuse concern the participants?
and the Abner Louima case.
lines are with How extensive is the problem? Is abuse an
inevitable by-product of increased efforts Skolnick pointed out that it is true that
respect to control crime and disorder? police are authorized to, and sometimes
to police use have to, use force in order to apprehend a
As participants debated the boundaries of
suspect, and sometimes police are autho-
of force, police authority, they considered whether
rized to and have to use deadly force. He
the meaning of abuse of authority should
and that be limited to matters related to the use of
then offered a provocative suggestion:
police are force. Some argued that corruption and Then I suggest to you that we cross a
unprofessional conduct more generally
authorized line. And the line is now you have a
were important concerns that should fall suspect who is in custody and who is
to use force. within the definition. Police chiefs identi- under control, is immobilized.I want
The question fied a wide range of unethical behavior by to suggest to you that there is never a
police officersfrom language to corrup- reason to use force there. [There] might
is, when? tion to brutalityas matters of concern to be [a] question as to whether working
police executives. How to formulate a defi- police officers can really understand
nition of abuse of authority was discussed that line.
not only in terms of which specific acts
should be included, but also in terms of Professor Klockars argued that the blan-
the sources for the standards and criteria ket statement that no force is justifiable at
that should define the scope of proper use that point is probably a little strong, and
of police authority. Commissioner Frazier suggested that first,
[t]hey have to be compliant. Then, of
Professor Skolnick led off the discussion
course, there is no justification.
by suggesting that because the media fo-
cus attention on incidents of police bru- Chief Oliver recalled a difficult situation in
tality, it may be appropriate to focus our his department that involved the use of
attention on police brutality. He raised the force when a suspect was in custody and
hope that this project could serve to handcuffed:
I can think of a situation that Ive dealt and was the forceusednecessary or un-
with where someone was in custody necessary? He recalled that a turning point
and immobilized. Force was used as a for him in the Rodney King trial was when
reaction on that person.[I]t was cer- it was stated that officers had been trained
tainly looked at from a disciplinary in the legal limits of the use of force:
standpoint.[A]n officer was talking to
in the Rodney King trial, the one clip
an individual who was under arrest in
that Ill never forget was the federal
handcuffs sitting next to him, and the
prosecutor being asked, What do you
person cleared his throat and spit in
tell Los Angeles police officers about [J]ust
the officers face. And then the officers
the use of force? And he said, You
reaction was to immediately push that because you
can use whatever force is necessary and
person away, and thats a situation
where force was used. It was video-
not one iota more. That, I think, was use force
the key. I mean, just because you use
taped. We looked at that. If you just
force doesnt necessarily mean there is
doesnt
took that clip of the videotape of a per-
son turning and pushing somebody
anything wrong. But the line is more necessarily
than is necessary to accomplish a legal
thats already handcuffed, [it could ap- mean there
end.
pear as though that officer used unnec-
is anything
essary force or abused (his) authority]. Professor Mastrofski suggested that a num-
ber of ways exist to approach the issue of wrong. But the
Professor Skolnick pointed out that in the
defining abuse of authority. One way line is more
Abner Louima caseeven before the al-
would be to use a legal definition: We
leged events at the precinct headquarters
can, as a definition, just say that abuse of
than is
There were four officers who were being
authority by definition will be only legal. necessary to
accused of taking this guy [who is under
That is, whatever the law sets forthwhat-
arrest] out of the police car, beating him accomplish
ever case law and statutory law set forth
up, and putting him back in the police car a legal end.
we can say that constitutes abuse of
beating him up to beat him up, to teach
authority.
him some lesson. He suggested the dis-
cussion implied that it may be valuable to But he went on to suggest, There is this
ask officers in our survey, What are the other issue of bad policing or ineffective
occasions under which it might be pos- or not the best policing. And does that
sible to use force after somebody has been constitute abuse of authority?
arrested? And if somebody spits in your
Mr. Williams responded to Mastrofskis
face, what can you do? If somebody in-
question, [P]olicy I would think isone
sults you, what can you do? of the critical issues that has to be exam-
Commissioner Frazier raised the interest- ined and not just the law.
ing question, Do you have an obligation
Professor Manning added yet another
to submit to illegal arrest? He suggested consideration:
that the definition needs to be written, and
has to do with were you legally arrested [W]e know from public opinion polls
and were you under obligation to submit that there are enormous differences by
race and ethnicity around what is
Police Foundation
6
legitimate use of force. So clearly from motivated by an attempt to get that guy
the point of view of the attitudes of the off the street. Its another thing to be
public or public legitimacy of the po- motivated by an attempt to pay back
lice, its very important to look at what somebody who spit in your face.Its
is defined as appropriate by the public also not clearthat the most serious
as well as legal or state statutes. forms of abuse involve the use of force.
It seems to me that fraudulent testi-
Professor Mastrofski summarized the dis-
mony, which results in somebody be-
cussion as follows: That really raises three ing put in jail unjustly. I mean, if I have
[T]he public possible standardslegal, professional, and
a choice of getting punched in the nose
legitimacy of a larger society.
is less or sent to jail for a year or so wrongly,
Returning to Commissioner Fraziers point Id take a punch in the nose any day.
concerned about the importance of the citizens com-
Professor Manning suggested that the pub-
about issues pliance in determining the appropriate use
lic is less concerned about issues such as
of force, Professor Manning pointed out
such as corruption because such issues are less
that the process is interactive, and that the
visible than instances of excessive force:
corruption police do not act alone:
Now the reason that [Professor
because such [I]f we take some of the Weberian defi-
Klockarss] points about procedure,
issues are nition of authoritythat is when the
deception, and corruption perhaps are
compliance and deference to com-
less visible less public concerns is that they are
mandand we recognize that the po-
often done without people knowing or
than instances lice have the capacity to coerce that
[being] aware of those things going on.
compliance up to [and] including fatal
of excessive force, that makes the process interac-
Perjury in cases, corruption, implicit
lying to each other, and manipulation
force. tive to some degree.I think its im-
of records and the rest [are] less likely
portant to recognize that authority is
to become public. So the focus is often
an issue of negotiated acceptance of
on those more public cases of
command, and [it] can raise quite a
coercion.The public concern is[on]
span.
those issues of excessive use of force
Professor Klockars argued for a more ex- thatbecome known.Media events,
pansive definition of abuse of authority and in the sense, are [not] created by the
for the inclusion of the officers motive as media, but the media amplified
an aspect of the definition: them.The videos and the visibility of
these things through television[are]
We have, in the discussions so far, fo-
now become international.
cused on only one very special type of
abuse of authority, namely abuse of Professor Slocum raisedin order to reject
force.[T]here [is] a whole range of the provocative suggestion, which he attrib-
abuses of authority, and the motives are uted to Professor Randall Kennedy, that
often extraordinarily different. Its one there ought to be a sliding scale when it
thing to be motivated by gain or comes to legitimacy.[S]ince the black
corruption; its another thing to be community is the biggest victim of all
crime,they need greater protection when This could be anything from picking
it comes to equal protection, and, there- up the money from the crap game when
fore, aggressive law enforcement is required. everybody runs, to young officers who
start at $25,000 a year and see a drug
Mr. Williams agreed that the implications
dealer on the corner with $2,500 in [his]
were a little bit scary. Professor Slocum
pocket.They count it out and $2,100
offered a preference for a constitutional
ends up going back in the pocket. You
standard. The issue of local standards and
foot chase [criminals who] used to pitch
legitimate authority is integral to the dis-
their gun; now they pitch their money
cussion of police authority and commu-
because that ends the foot chase. [T]he
nity policing. (See pages 8991, 9395,
107108, inter alia.) I dont see systemic corruption. I dont
perception
Abuse of authority can encompass a wide see an officer taking a thousand dol- that police
range of activities (or inactivities) from lack lars a week, two hundred for him, two
brutality is
of professionalism to corruption to brutal- hundred for the sergeant, two hundred
ity. The police chiefs discussed which forms for the lieutenant, two hundred for the rampant in
of abuse they were particularly concerned captain, two hundred for the district
many police
about in their departments. They identi- commander, but we see individual cases
fied three types of misconduct: excessive of theft. departments
force, theft, and inappropriate language.
And usually, Id say more times than
can be
In the context of community policing, they
not, it involves more than one officer. attributed to
were particularly concerned with the re-
structuring of authority that might be leav- the media
ing officers with insufficient supervision The chiefs also expressed concern about
coverage of
and inviting certain forms of corruption, unprofessional behavior in the form of in-
such as accepting gifts, discounts, and so appropriate language. Chief Sanders and isolated
forth. They agreed that incidents involving Commissioner Frazier both indicated that incidents.
unnecessary use of force do occur in all discourteous and inappropriate language
departments and that such situations are of directed at community residents is a seri-
serious concern when they do arise. How- ous problem for police departments. It not
ever, they also agreed that such incidents only hurts the police departments image but
are not widespread problems and do not also can hamper community policing efforts
occur on a regular basis. In the view of the in neighborhoods. Commissioner Frazier
police executives, the perception by the revealed an incident that disturbed him:
public that police brutality is rampant in
[T]he other thing that disturbs me is lan-
many police departments can be attributed
guage. [When] I gave my community
to the media coverage of isolated incidents.
policing speech, I had a woman basi-
Commissioner Frazier expressed concern cally tell me, Im not going to help
about incidents of theft by officers in you. Long story short, she said there
his department, but argued that he was see- was some kind of disturbance outside
ing isolated instances, not systemic her front door. She opened the door to
corruption: see what was going on.
Police Foundation
8
[The] officer said, Lady, get your ass type of police misconduct. The medias
back up inside that house. intensive coverage of incidents of police
brutality, coupled with the fact that most
She said, That was uncalled for; I will
other forms of misconduct are not public
not help you if that is the way your
knowledge, results in the assumption that
officers treat me.
brutality is the most prevalent form of
That disturbs me because were trying abuse of authority. This misperception di-
to develop trust and partnership and rects the focus of public concern to bru-
relationships that will assist us in com- tality and away from corruption and un-
Three munity organization development.In professional conduct, which may be more
standards that community-policing model, we talk prevalent in modern policing than brutal-
about retaking the city neighborhood ity. The police chiefs confirmed this posi-
were identified by neighborhood, if we can; block by tion, indicating that although brutality does
as measures for block, if we cant; house by house, if occur, incidents are infrequent. The behav-
we have to. I mean, its just not going ior that could be construed as abuse of
inappropriate to work if we cannot develop the kind authority by police officers and that was of
use of authority: of trust. greatest concern to the chiefs was theft and
unprofessional and discourteous conduct.
court rulings A wide range of issues was discussed in
The rise of community policing emphasizes
and state law, attempting to define abuse of authority.
the development of partnerships among
Participants pointed out that in determin- police and communities and their citizens.
departmental ing the boundaries for the proper use of
Misconduct by officers, especially discour-
policies, authority, one must examine the relevant
teous and disrespectful behavior, erodes the
standards by which an officers behavior is foundation of trust that departments must
andsocietys
judged. Most preferred not to limit the dis-
build on to create successful partnerships,
concept of cussion to the use of force, but rather to
and it alienates the community.
acceptable and include any type of misconduct, whether
criminal or unprofessional. Three standards
unacceptable or levels of authority were identified as Abuse of Authority and
conduct. measures for inappropriate use of author- Community Policing
ity: court rulings and state law (legal), de- Central to the community-policing ap-
partmental policies (professional), and the proach is the development of partnerships
larger societys concept of acceptable and between the community and police to
unacceptable conduct (societal). In addi- formulate and implement effective crime-
tion, the participants identified the need to prevention strategies. These strategies
take into consideration the level of com- often require officers to use problem-
pliance or noncompliance demonstrated by solving skills and to rely on a range of
an individual being taken into custody by resources and agencies in addressing
the police, recognizing that abuse of force community problems.
is an interactive concept.
The impact of this philosophy on abuse of
Participants suggested that the boundaries authority by police was a central topic of
of abuse of authority are not limited to acts debate and a discussion by the participants
of police brutality but rather include any throughout the meeting. Although most
agreed that community policing enhances ity of police beyond the boundaries of
crime control and crime prevention, they previously appropriate behavior. He raised
also agreed that this style of policing may the provocative suggestion that
lead to increased opportunities for, and thus
One of the kinds of abuse of authority
incidents of, abuse of authority, especially
thats growing is a collection of all kinds
given the significantly changed role of the
of civil penalties andcollusions by city
supervisor under community-oriented
agencies to use civil law, to, say, evict
policing.
people from public housing:
In discussing police abuse of authority and
Abuse of authority that ranges into the [G]rowth in
the effects of community policing, partici-
mobilization of a political unit against
pants enumerated several factors that in- the use of civil
minority populations on the grounds
fluence an officers use of authority. These law to address
of its drugs or on the grounds of its
factors may be categorized into two main
public order, or on the grounds of its crime problems
themes: internal influences and external
other points.
influences. has expanded
But authority that comes through the
Internal influences include the effects of the authority
widening of the net to useand [that]
departmental policies on officer behavior.
These effects include the use of civil rem-
coordinates a variety of other means to of police.
coerce and minimize the opportunities
edies in crime control and the changing
for appeal, I think, is very serious.
role of supervisors under community-
policing models. If you view mobilizing the housing
bureauyou use civil law. Theres tax
External influences include those factors
law, [and you] use RICO statutes. Then
that are the result of the policecommu-
youre beginning to organize the po-
nity relationship. Factors included in this
litical [part of the state] in a very dif-
category are community demands and ex-
ferent way than focusing the police to
pectations on the behavior of officers, plus
aggressively, proactively intervene
the effect that the close policecommunity
[with] the sweeps or stops or even ar-
relationship has on opportunity for abuses
rests.
of authority, particularly corruption.
I think thats a different level of abuse.
And the remedies are very, very rare.
The Use of Civil Law to Address
Indeed, theyre available only in civil
Crime Problems: The Local Context
law if you can hire a lawyer, and its
of Community Policing
really simply not done. It just happens.
Picking up on Professor Slocums point
Youre out. Its done.
about the differential use of aggressive law-
enforcement techniques in poorer commu- Professor Mastrofski agreed with Profes-
nities, Professor Manning introduced an sor Manning, noting that the civil law mo-
interesting discussion about the local con- bilization he describes is very much on
text of enforcement and whether the the agenda of community policing,
growth in the use of civil law to address problem solving. Herman Goldstein de-
crime problems has expanded the author- voted a good part of his book to saying
Police Foundation
10
police should explore these very things. significant remedy in the situation. And
Mastrofski went on to suggest that these all of these involve community mem-
methods raise a question of invasion of bers; they involve attorneys; they in-
privacy as a new form of abuse of author- volve judges. I mean, these arent things
ity: There is another domain too, which is that are done behind closed doors and
the invasion of privacy, whichoften some secret thing. These are done at
doesnt involve coercion, but can involve community meetings, these are done
abuse of authority. Professor Mastrofski with the presiding judge, theyre done
took the point further, questioning whether with a defense attorney, or theyre done
We use the this entire set of community-policing strat- with the city attorney that looks at these
civil sideon egies is good policing or whether it involves things
a mobilization of bias:
some difficult And theyre much more difficultthan
What do you do with a situation pursuing criminals. But were looking
problems whereand this is quite common in for a different outcome on it. And I
simply because my experiencepolice officers suspect would suggest that the same discretion
someone of dealing drugs, maybe in an officer uses in making an arrest is
the criminal
public housing or something like that. used in this type of situation.
side doesnt They cant develop sufficient criminal
evidence to invoke the criminal law. In fact, I think [its] scrutinized even
provide more because its something that isnt
But theres a whole different standard
significant when it comes to public housing that an immediate thing. Its a planned thing
where you have to go through so many
remedy. they can mobilize because of who they
are, public housing people, quite se- hoops to get it done. Where an arrest
And all of lectively. And whether or not this is out in the field is something that you
these involve good policing or legalI suspect its see your probable cause, you use your
legal; but whether its good policing or discretion, you make the arrest right
community there, and then its reviewed after the
whether it involves a mobilization of
members; bias similar to the kind that [Professor fact.
I dont think thats any different than These are done working with the
issues of discretionon the criminal people who are going to be affected
side and the civil side. And I think the and telling them what has to change
civil side has just as many protections. as you actually bring in legal aid to
We use the civil side for abatement on work with them and bring in adult
some difficult problems simply because protective services, bringing in child
the criminal side doesnt provide protective services, bringing in all those
Police Foundation
12
And all of a sudden we find the ser- Now that person has 24-hour respon-
geants are closer to the team members, sibility, and that lieutenant may not see
the officers, than they are to the de- [his] sergeants for a week or two.
partment. And were not seeing those
Professor Klockars had observed the same
types of decisions we had seen in the
past where they stopped things before
problems in another department, and he
felt that the lack of supervision created a
they become problems or where theyre
great potential for corruption and other
writing up discipline.
abuses:
[T]o push Instead, theyre so close to the people
Well the problem, from a management
on the team that it creates problems.
authority, point of view, is that the community-
And I think thats a large issue because
services officers, by and large, dictate
responsibility, it starts spilling out externally after
their own schedules. Theyre on total
youve had the internal damage. And
accountability flex time.Number two, the problems
were struggling with a training program
that they decide to address are calls
down to [lower on how to bring the sergeants back up.
they getand theyve got an answer-
ranking officers] And as were moving through this, were ing machine that they pick up.
to getthe finding that were in whole new terri-
So they operate almost independently
tories that weve never considered when
community we restructured the police department,
of the other. Well, theres nobody whos
supervising in that situation. I mean,
involved in the because we just werent aware of what
you can say Im the lieutenant or the
was going to happen.
decision-making sergeant in that area, but I dont know
Community policing increases the author- when youre working.
processes,
ity of supervisors and line officers. So were
youve actually And our paths may cross, and Ill get a
going to give the lieutenant 24-hour-a-day
little summary of what youve been
changed all the responsibility.[S]ergeantsdont know
doing; but in terms of you seeing me
what to do and loyalties are misplaced.
management on any regular basis, its very [in-
[I]n an attempt to push authority, responsi-
frequent].I think from the point of
dynamics of bility, accountability down to [lower
view of potential corruption or abuses
your police ranking officers] to getthe community
or whatever, that scares the hell out of
involved in the decision-making processes,
me if Im a police chief, to have these
department. youve actually changed all the manage-
potentially 70 independent agents out
ment dynamics of your police department
solving what they think are problems
(Commissioner Frazier).
[and] drawing on whatever resources
Chief Sanders agreed completely with they can command.
Commissioner Frazier:
And its just one of those areas in com-
And thats exactly what were facing. munity policing that, I think, [those] de-
We did exactly the same thing. And we partments that are committed to [com-
used to have a lieutenant that super- munity policing will] have to struggle
vised during a band of time, and the with as to how we control it, how do
people knew that that person was there. we supervise it, how we manage it.
Professor Slocum agreed that the difficulty new sergeant, were sayingjust keep
with this corruption aspect is theyre inde- that in the back of your mind, but what
pendent agents, and thats conducive to we really want you to do are all [of]
corruption, [which] makes it theleast these things.
detectable kind of abuse.
Chief Sanders explained:
This change in management style and in-
We reduced the span of control from
ternal department dynamics leads to an-
one sergeant [for] 10 to 12 officers down
other area of concern for police depart-
to one sergeant [for] six officers, think-
ments in implementing the community-
ing that they could better direct the We gave
policing modelselection and training of
activities, better coach, better be a part 40 hours
sergeants. The role of the sergeant under
of it. And what were finding is [that]
community policing has changed in terms of community
they dont know what to do now. We
of responsibility and authority. Commis-
sioner Frazier pondered:
removed the role of just evaluating, policing
looking at journals, adding numbers.
It almost makes me wonder if we Instead, we said youre a part of that
training,
neednt redesign how we select ser- team now; you have to direct it.We 40 hours
geants. I mean, if we have selected ser- gave 40 hours of community policing
geants traditionally to get one kind and
of problem-
training, 40 hours of problem-solving
now we need to get a different kind of trainingbut we neglected the super- solving
result, [then] maybe the format we use, vision part. training
the way we weight the exams, the ques-
tions we ask, the answers that were but we
looking for need to change to select The Impact of Community Demands
neglected the
sergeants.[N]ow that the lieutenants and Expectations
not the bad guy anymore, the lieuten- Community policing stresses the need to supervision
ant has 24-hour-a-day responsibility, the establish partnerships with the community part.
sergeant has to be the disciplinarian, to identify neighborhood problems and to
and maybe weve not selected correctly formulate solutions. The tasks that com-
or trained correctly. munity-policing officers are asked to ad-
dress can range from crime prevention
Chief Sanders agreed that the old training techniques to crime control strategies. An
is no longer effective: important key to this policecommunity
I think you train the same way, but I relationship is the idea that different neigh-
dont think we follow up. You train in borhoods require different police services.
the traditional role. And then were say- Therefore, community policing is a flex-
ing [that] we want you to be flexible. ible model designed to change with each
We want you to work with the com- community the police department serves.
munity. We want you to be a team The differences that are acknowledged to
member with these officers. We want exist from neighborhood to neighborhood
you to coach them. We want you to will also be reflected in the communitys
work on team projects. So [with] the expectations of its neighborhood officers.
training theyve just received as a brand- What is expected of an officer in the inner
Police Foundation
14
city may not be expected of an officer in a high-crime neighborhoods where the com-
suburban area. In addition, what the munity mobilizes to drive the criminals out,
community views as acceptable police be- residents may demand swifter and stron-
havior will also vary across communities. ger action by the police than they would
in a neighborhood with a lower crime rate.
Chief Oliver spoke thoughtfully about the
These community demands may influence
negotiated relationship between the police
not only the behavior of the police in that
and the local community they serve:
neighborhood, but also the residents per-
I think, at least from a practitioners ception of this conduct. Indeed, as Profes-
Thats what standpoint, that community policing sor Klockars suggested, and as Professor
impliesauthorizes, I think, in a way Mastrofski affirmed, residents may ask the
community
police departments as a whole, and then police to engage in what the police know
policingis. as individualsto negotiate a certain is illegal activityto use excessive force,
Its a relationship with the community. to violate rightsand this may be a par-
ticular problem for community policing:
negotiation Its a localized relationship with the
community they serve. And they nego- (Klockars) [S]ome proportion of force
an ongoing isin response to demands for it from
tiate the expectations, some of which
negotiation and we have talked about here, the expec- the community.The community says
tations of how police officers will we want this problem fixed. And the
conversation
behave, how much force they will use, community may apply real pressures
[between] a where they will appear, the kinds of on the police to use excessive means
community programs theyll be involved in. to achieve that.
and its police Thats what community policing in my (Mastrofski) They do all the time.
mind is. Its a negotiationan ongoing
department. (Klockars) All the time. And may be
negotiation and conversation [between]
uniquely a problem in community
a community and its police department.
policing where that voice of the com-
And part of, I think, the glaringness of
munity becomes pretty strong.
the abuses that weve talked about has
to do within the context of commu- Director Pugh thought that the police could
nity policing[the fact that they] are resist these pressures: Well you cant
so far out of the negotiated relation- succumb to that. That just causes you
ship that that police department and that major problems.
community thought they had.
Professor Klockars emphasized the point:
Chief Oliver suggested that when the com- But just dont misrepresent the problem;
munity has been involved in negotiated force is something that police officers are
expectations, an incident like the Abner just generating. That theres a demand for
Louima case is even worse. excessive force from the communities is
all Im saying, too, in many cases.
As the relationships and expectations vary
between communities, so do the demands These community demands, however, are
of community members on the police. In not limited to implementation of stronger
crime-control tactics and a tougher stance body is looking to them to lead every
by the police. With this communitypolice effort, whether it has anything to do
relationship, the community relies on the with policing or not.
police to solve a broader range of prob-
You know,the problem with expan-
lems, problems that have traditionally been sion of community policing is that were
outside of the realm of police work. This
more effective. Theres more demand.
reliance on the police to solve a more var-
And were being placed in arenas that
ied set of neighborhood problems implies we just have no business being in.
that society is vesting more authority in the
police. The more authority the police are And its awfully hard for police depart- [T]he
given, the greater the likelihood for abuse. ments to say no because we tradition-
ally made our power base by doing more
problem with
Chief Sanders spoke of the increasing pres-
sures on the police to lead every effort, and more and more so that we got more community
and Professor Klockars pointed out that cops and more funding and all of that.
policing is that
the more broadly you extend the scope And the challenge, though, is what you
of police responsibility and authority, the talked about here. were more
more occasions there are for the potential And thats the reason Ive been sitting effective.
abuse of that. here trying to figure out how you in-
Theres more
corporate some of the ideas that weve
As Chief Sanders put it: demand.
talked about in here in the policy for
[I]ts to the point now where everybody police departments. And were
looks to the police to lead every effort, And its very easy to sit around the table being placed
it seems like, because we seem to be and listen to academics talk about the
the most effective in doing it. issues. I just hope you appreciate how in arenas that
When we make a mistake,were held
difficult it is to turn that into concrete we just have
policy for our cops.
to a much stricter standard than corpo- no business
rations. Were probably the least edu- [Y]our message has to be extremely
clear when you send out directions to
being in.
cated, the least funded to really know
how to do all of these issues well. And your officers because they will take it
yet were held to a much higher stan- literally, especially if they dont like your
dard. directions.
Police Foundation
16
Klockars reminded the group that the pro- The concern about abuse of authority un-
fessional policing model that is being re- der community policing that was expressed
jected in favor of community policing was by the panelists focused on the potential
put into place precisely in order to pre- for corruption that arises under the com-
vent corruption: munity-policing model. None indicated a
concern about increased incidents of po-
Lets keep in mind that all of the things
lice brutality under community policing.
weve tried to move away from in inci-
Director Pugh suggested that excessive
dent-driven policing and the old pro-
force comes from officers who are frus-
fessional-model policing were originally
[A]ll of the trated because they are not part of a glam-
put in to control corruption, to control
things weve orous community-policing unit:
abuses. And as we back away from
tried to move them and move to community models, A lot of the excessive force [is] not com-
I suspect that we introduce a whole new ing from the individuals assigned to
away from in set of problems. community policing. [Its] coming from
professional- the individuals who are frustrated, who
Commissioner Frazier expressed concern
feel that theyre not a part of that glam-
model policing that the emphasis on developing relation-
orous community-policing unit that gets
were originally ships is an invitation for misbehavior
all of the praise for everything thats
and for undue influence by community
to control done thats successful in the police
members:
department.
corruption, One of the things that troubles me about
So that mobile unit, that unit that
to control community policing is you talk about
handles the calls for the department,
establishing relationships. The longer
abuses. the relationship exists, I think the more
they feel that theyre isolated in the unit
in another arena. And the community
opportunity for corruption.
suffers for that.
Lets say that your neighborhood ser-
The types of corruption that result from
vices officer has been in a neighbor-
this relationship with the community usu-
hood for X number of years. And just
ally take the form of officers accepting gra-
as a departmental response, we say that
tuities, discounts, and other similar gifts
these assignments are limited.
from community residents and businesses
And now the very communities that you in their area. Participants illustrated a num-
have sent this officer out to develop a ber of examples of the situations that can
relationship with will come to me and arise; a central theme in these examples is
then to all the political entities at every the complexity of the issue and the diffi-
level to try to influence the assignment culty of establishing standards for what is
process inside. So thats going to come abuse of authority. As Professor Klockars
down the line. put it:
And you have to see a balance of rela- Maybe it just is different in different
tionship versus opportunity for misbe- places and you have peoplearticu-
havior. lating different points of view on how
to do this. You know, theres the po- I wonder whether or not in an era of
lice foundation solution. Theres the one community-oriented policing it is im-
that says we want these community portant to look at the issues of motive
partnerships. The other one says well and not merely look at questions of
have these community partnerships, but when you, in fact, cross over the line.
there can be no financial component Let me give an example.
to it. I mean, we dont want our com-
Lets assume that a young police officer
munities to be buying our bike patrol
comes on the job. Hes walking the beat.
officers bikes. If they need bikes, well
He goes in. He orders a slice of pizza.
buy them out of the general fund. You [I]n an
He puts his money down to pay for
know, theres all sorts of different views. era of
the pizza. The owner says, No. I dont
Director Pugh suggested that some com- take money from police officers. Here. community
munity members tried to buy bikes for spe- Take this back.
cific officers in hopes of keeping those
policing
And the officer says, No, no, no. I
officers on their beat:
always pay. Take the money. And it
it is important
One of the things that theyre starting ends up getting into almost a fight, you to look at the
to do, which we have towell, I have know. Im telling you because I expe-
motive
to stop immediately. They werent at- rienced this situation.
tempting only to buy the bicycle; they and not merely
Is that corruption? I mean, you have to
were buying it for Officer Jones. They
fight this guy to make him take the questions
could guarantee that Officer Jones
money. You know? And youre telling of when you
would stay there.
the cops now, We want you to estab-
lish contacts and work with the neigh-
cross over
Professor Klockars pointed to the irony of
some situations: So if you run a borhood, develop relationships, and the line.
McDonalds and you give a cop a free meal, stuff like that.
thats corruption. But if you give a whole I think this issue, this corruption issue,
booth, thats community policing. is very complex.
Director Pugh pointed to the complexity: Professor Martinez offered another
example:
The officers dont feel that theres a
problem with accepting a sandwich or As another example, there is a favorite
coffee, or I can recall where they would cigar shop that some of the detectives
have a cookout, businesses, for the of- in Miami go to and get discounts. Some-
ficers from the community-policing unit times I go with them, and I get dis-
assigned. And they would feed them counts too.
all.
I asked the shopkeeper why about this
Mr. Williams also suggested how compli- discount. His response had very little
cated questions of corruption can become to do with maintaining a relationship
under community policing: with these specific officers, but what
Police Foundation
18
he wanted was for the local bad guys terms of alienating members of the com-
to see the cars going in and out, main- munity with whom the police are trying to
taining a presence in that area. And that establish a working relationship under the
was his motivation to let the other philosophy of community policing.
people know in the community, Hey,
We have gone to an establishment that
I have people coming in on a regular
had a police key, which was half-price.
basis. Dont rob me during the day.
We went out and said, If you dont
Dont burglarize my shop at night.
stop doing that, we will forbid our
[D]o you Professor Klockars described the formal- officers to eat here.
ized nature of police discounts in one busi-
allow your I mean, weve had to do it with
ness establishment: several places. But that happened
officers to go Anybody who is interested can come before community policing. Its hap-
out for a big to Delaware to Dunkin Donuts, the pening now. I thinkthe issues now
doughnut shops. On the register, are so much more subtle. I mean its:
event thats Do you participate in, like you said, a
theyve got a list of prices that faces
a combined back to the person who operates the business or group of business people
cash register. And then next to that, showing appreciation to all, perhaps?
thing with
theres a column that says, Police. And
Its a much more subtle thing. Or do
the community theyre all half.
you allow your officers to go out for a
andsolicit [T]hats just the policy. They like the big community event thats a combined
hot dogs and cops coming in and out for extra secu- thing with the community and go out
rity, and they want to be able to call on and solicit hot dogs and hot dog buns?
hot dog buns? And do you allow them to take that?
them when theres a problem.
I mean, what business feels like they
One concern that emerged was the motive
can say no to cops [who] come in and
of the police officers involved in any inci-
say,We need 500 hot dogs for the
dent of misconduct, as well as the motive
community social on a Friday? And
of the citizen or business that provides gra-
thats difficult for cops because theyre
tuities to an officer in the community. This
trying to do their part to increase to-
consideration of motive was seen as
getherness in the community.
increasingly important as many police
departments move toward the imple- I mean, I think its just much more
mentation of community policing. subtle now than it was before. And its
hard to talk in those shades because
Participants recognized that this type of
the officers get invited to dinner at
behavior (i.e., businesses giving free or
peoples houses because they create
discounted meals to officers, etc.) had been
friendships.
going on before the implementation of
community policing, but as Chief Sanders The friendships are created, which is
pointed out, Its just more subtle now than what were trying to do. And when is it
it was before. Also, the consequences of not? And when is it a gratuity to go
not accepting gratuities can be greater in into a friends business and get a cup
of coffee, and when is it not? I mean, I Mr. Williams addressed the issue as follows:
just think these are really difficult is-
So [with] this issue of corruption, I think
sues not only for the police officers but
maybe we have to be careful about how
also for police management.
we try and frame this thing. [We have
Where do we draw the line? Is it, as O. to] recognize the complexity and the
W. Wilson said, The first cup of coffee subtlety associated with it in this com-
you take for free is the start of corrup- munity. When we had the old traditional
tion, or is it [that] we need to be a little style of policing, we could say to the
bit more understanding about the cop, Heres what you do. Hes
Supervision
motives that were talking about? dispassionate and hes distant.
problems
Professor Skolnick spoke about the Now you want him to be close to the
motives involved: people hes servicing. You want him to
include the
Businessmen have a motive for devel-
establish relationships. You want him lack of
to formulate partnerships.
oping a category that will allow them training for
to make a profit so that they have these In summary, the implementation of com-
places being used because theres a
new roles and
munity policing has far-reaching effects on
general overhead. police departments that go beyond how relationships,
And thats what Im saying why mo- police services are rendered to the com- the sergeants
tives get to be very complicated. The munity. Participants suggested that several
aspects of the community-oriented
becoming too
question is whether rational economic
motives apply to the police in the same policing model and its implementation, close to the
way. And in some ways they do, and both internal and external, may increase
officers they
in some ways they dont. the opportunity for, and thus the likelihood
of, abuse of authority. supervise, and
I mean, its rational to give a category
of persons a break because you want The internal factors are the increased use the lieutenants
to do more business and the more busi- of civil law and procedures to address crime becoming too
ness you do, the more your general problems, and the new role of sergeants
costs are covered. and lieutenants under the community-po- removed.
licing model. Both factors affect officer
[Yet,] you want to give police a break
behavior, and participants voiced concern
because you want services from the po-
that each may increase the opportunity for
lice. And one of the services may be
abuse of authority. Participants debated
merely appearance. [B]ut then you have
whether the new tools that the civil law
the other appearance problem of the
provides will expand authority, and thus
free hot dog, which then people dont
potential abuse, or will refine police ac-
understand this and dont see it as
tions and, therefore, reduce potential abuse.
ethical.
Supervision problems include the lack of
I guess the bottom line is [that] I dont training for new roles and relationships,
think you can get into these larger ethi- the sergeants becoming too close to the
cal questions. I dont think thats the officers they supervise, and the lieutenants
issue. becoming too removed.
Police Foundation
20
External factors and concerns relate to the that examining societal factors is a relevant
relationship between the community and and important segment of a study of abuse
the police, which is critical to community of police authority. Are these differences
policing. This relationship can lead to in- misperceptions or do they reflect reality?
creased demands and expectations by the
Participants were asked what their thoughts
community, which may pressure officers
are on this issue, whether or not the
into using excessive means to address the
publics perceptions are accurate, and
communitys problems. Also, the close na-
whether different styles of policing are
ture of this police partnership with the
more relevant in an examination of these
The community creates increased opportunities
societal factors. The panelists responses
departments and pressures for officers to engage in some
covered a wide array of topics. In some
forms of corrupt conduct. Despite these
that have the instances, their comments addressed the
concerns, it was suggested that if police
issue of race and the effects of race on
corruptive managers were able to take steps to ad-
policecitizen interactions. However, their
dress the potential problems that may re-
influence responses also addressed the effects of
sult from implementation of community
different communities income levels on
under the policing, this policing style could improve
citizen perception and police behavior, and
community relations and benefit police
other style of the effects of neighborhood crime rates on
departments.
police and policing strategies.
policing are
Finally, Chief Sanders expressed what was
the ones who probably a consensus position when he
are going to be said, The departments that have the cor- Incivility and Cultural Differences as
ruptive influence under the other style of Influences on Abuse of Authority
the most policing are the ones who are going to be Throughout the day, the effect of citizen
susceptible the most susceptible under the community- misperceptions of police and the effect
style policing. these mistaken views have on policeciti-
under the
zen interactions arose in the discussion.
community- Societal Factors That Affect Participants noted that many instances of
style policing. Abuse of Authority police abuse of authority result from a
This section of the meeting moved away negative interaction with a suspect or of-
from the structure of policing and its rela- fender. In other words, police officers do
tionship to police authority to a discussion not go out looking to abuse an individual,
of other societal factors that may affect but rather the abuse is a response to a bad
abuse of police authority, issues such as attitude by the citizen, and it takes the form
perception and reality of the role of race, of discourtesy or disrespect toward the
ethnicity, and social status. These factors police.
are of increasing concern in an increas- Professor Mastrofski offered the following
ingly multicultural society. Several surveys observations, which he based on a recent
have shown that racial minorities perceive departmental study:
the problem of violation of rights by
police as being much greater than the white We found in this particular city that the
community does. This difference suggests rate of incivility or discourtesycoming
from citizens was far higher than was there something else going on there that
coming from police. The factor was maybe we dont really understand?
about five to one for African-American
Maybe the cop is looking at it as this
citizens, [which was] much higher than
guy is not showing me respect. And
the other groups in terms of acting in a
maybe the person in the community,
discourteous fashion toward the police.
the environment where he communi-
The police rate was much lower. We
cates, is showing him all the respect
also looked at who acted discourteously
that he could possibly be giving him.
first.[I]nitially the police initiated dis-
courtesy quite rarely,but they will The discussion of the role of cultural dif- Maybe the
retaliate. [And] that is fair. So what ference was not limited to racial differences. cop is looking
comes from this particular department Some emphasized the environmental and
is a fairly professional response. And background differences between officers at it as this
that is a very human thing when you and citizens that result in misunderstand- guy is not
get dissed to respond in a similar fash- ings. Professor Skolnick suggested, [Y]ou
ion. So there are a lot of ways of look- can take a 22-year-old kid, and you put
showing me
ing at it. Every instance of discourtesy that kid in Bedford-Stuyvesant, and hes respect. And
by a police officer is bad PR and bad grown up in a New Jersey suburb. Hes
maybe the
policing, but not unexpected in a hu- scared to death, a white kid who is a cop.
man kind of thing. He doesnt know quite how to act. person in the
An interesting discussion took place about Chief Oliver noted: community
the effect of the cultural differences that
I come from a city that is not typical of is showing him
may exist between the officers and the citi- what you are describing. This is a city all the respect
zens they come into contact with. Some
where theres an awful lot of African-
felt that these cultural differences may re-
American officers [who] are working
that he could
sult in the officers perceiving an individual predominantly in African-American ar- possibly be
as antagonistic or uncivil. Mr. Williams
eas. And we are faced with some of
suggested: giving him.
the same situations.
One of the things that weve got is [that] In many cases, the officers came from
often we dont understand the language the neighborhood andspeak the same
thats being communicated. And were language, understand the nuances of
communicating in different ways. Thats what people are saying and how they
why you heard all this talk at some point say it to them. Were still having some
about ebonics because of the linguistics. difficulty.
Police Foundation
22
here about authority and about the way I see a guy pull out. I know hes com-
people are alienated and disenfran- ing. He roars. He doesnt turn the light
chised. on. What is he doing? He drives past
me at 100 miles an hour. But he looks
So theres a lot more to it than just a
at me to see who I am. He looks first.
white person [who] did not grow up in
And then he slowed down, pulled in
there. There are some serious other is-
behind me, turned the red light on.
sues going on here, even intraracial is-
sues that have nothing to do with color. And then when he pulled me over, I
There are It has to do with culture. bad-mouthed him. I told him, Well,
you didnt like what you saw.
some serious
The Effect of Race on Police And he looked at me, and said, Well,
issues going youre okay, man.
Citizen Interactions
on here, even Although the effect of cultural or environ- No, no, no, no, no. Why didnt you
intraracial mental differences on police and citizen turn the light on when you first saw
interactions may explain some incidents of me speed by you? I asked him. And
issues
police abuse of authority, the effect of race he never gave me a ticket, and he let
that have on police behavior was also addressed by me go. And I did bad-mouth him, told
the participants. Recent court rulings on
nothing to do him he was an incompetent police
the police practice of profiling are a clear officer. I did.
with color. example of the impact of race on police
practices and individual officer behavior. Well, see, let me tell you this. I had
It has to do
It was suggested that the effect of race on assumed I was going to get the ticket.
with culture. police behavior goes further than merely But I was more aggravated because in
the use of profiles to target certain groups my minds eye[h]e said, Speeding
of citizens. Race reaches into and affects isnt the violation. Its you, who you
the daily interactions between officer and are, who would go by me and speed.
citizen. As Professor Slocum described his And I have to see who you are first.
own experience: And when I told him that, he knew I
had told him the truth, and it paralyzed
[Chief Olivers] point when he said he him. Its true.
can take people who are black, born
in the community, raised [in the] nu- Professor Mastrofski offered some results
ances of the language, [and] put them from a study:
in that position, [then] he got the same It is more complicated than that. We ac-
conflict he has for whites out there. tually have data on Richmond that we
collected in 92. One of the things we
My whole life experience is Im sitting
looked at was whether the citizen com-
here saying this is not theory for me.
plied when the police said, Quit being
Im driving down a highway 90 miles disorderly. Leave somebody alone. Dont
an hour. And I pass two state troopers bother them. Leave the scene, or Stop
who were like talking. doing something illegal.
One of the things we looked at was the When they get a call [that] theres a black
appearance of the race of the officer and male walking hurriedly down the street
the race of the citizen. And sometimes and theres been a robbery, if you hap-
what you get is not necessarily what you pen to be a black male, youre going to
expect because weve been talking about be stopped. Its not racist activity. Its
the likelihood that the African-American simply one of the prices you pay for
citizen will rebel against the white living in a high-crime area.
officer.
This idea led to discussion over whether
In Richmond, we found that that combi- or not this type of police action was The panel
nation was the most likely to be [a] white indeed fair. Mr. Williams suggested, Well,
officer [and an] African-American citizen. what if you dont have much of a choice, disagreed
And, not unexpectedly, the combination youre poor?Its the only place you can whether
that was least likely to secure compli- live.So you end up being subjected to a
kind of harassment without your having
citizens
ance was an African-American officer
[and a] white citizen. done anything improper or illegal. residing in
Im trying to remember the compari-
The panel disagreed over whether citizens high-crime
residing in high-crime areas should view
son of like race. I believe it was the areas should
case that basically there was no differ-
these frequent contacts with police as a
ence between an African-American
consequence of living in that neighborhood viewfrequent
and not as harassment, inappropriate
officer, [with an] African-American citi- contacts with
zen and [a] white officer [with a] white
behavior, or abuse of authority. Professor
Klockars suggested that it is critical that police as a
citizen at the extremes.
police attempt to communicate to citizens consequence of
the reasons behind their actions and to
apologize: living in that
High-Crime Areas and Officer
Perceptions and Behavior In those circumstances, its absolutely
neighborhood
The topic of neighborhoods with high- critical that police explain why they and not as
crime rates led to [a] heated discussion stopped you. And there are lots of
among the panelists. One opinion ex- harassment.
things you can do to repair that.
pressed was thatbecause many minority
citizens reside in low-income, high-crime [W]hat we have to do is train police to
areas in citiesacts by the police that ap- apologize, to explain why it was
pear to be racially motivated may, in fact, necessary for me to stop you, but you
be a response that can be attributed to the cant say to them, Dont stop people
high-crime rate in that neighborhood. in that neighborhood.
Professor Klockars suggested:
The Effect of Neighborhood Income
One of the consequences of living in a Levels on Interactions with Police
crime-ridden neighborhood is that The correlation between income level and
police, rightfully so, are going to interactions with police was initially raised
interfere in your life very often. by Professor Skolnick. He argued that
Police Foundation
24
So I think theres no question that this I think the issue, though, is that what
kind of enforcement has [an] impact [on] we have found in working with part-
people who are poor essentially. And nerships with[in] communities in ask-
theres a high correlation between race ing what their priorities are, instead of
us coming in and saying, This is our people in the community at which they
priority, is that we have a lot of offic- are directed:
ers who grow up in an area where
When you look at it, you see what is
theyve never seen anybody drink on
being done in the name of zero toler-
the street [or] drink outside of a liquor
ance. Well, thats not because its solic-
store. They thought thats what the
iting community police people to find
problem was.
out what the neighbors want. But its
When they go in and ask communities what the real estate people want and
what the priorities are, it almost never the private property owners and oth- [T]hats
is those types of things because thats ers who want the business districts to
just a custom in the neighborhood. live [and] thrive. what
Theyll talk about other issues that are community
more important to them. So its not a reflection on community
interests. And every one of the policing is:
And I think thats what the problem of examples of zero tolerance is about
community policing is: actually work-
working on
lower-class interventions and lower-
ing on issues that the neighborhood class activities in a public area that issues that the
agrees are a priority, instead of cops interfaces with the middle class. neighborhood
coming in and saying, This is unsightly.
This doesnt fit the mold for the last In summary, the discussion suggested the agrees are a
area that I worked in, or I think that importance of considering a wide range of
priority,
this is a crime generator. The people societal factors, such as income, race, crime
in the community know that its not. rates, cultural differences, and even instead of cops
Its their father out there; its their personal attitudes of individuals, when coming in and
cousin; its whoever. examining influences on police abuse of
authority. Also evident from the discussion saying, This is
And I think thats where were going to
is the complexity of evaluating the real im- unsightly.
have to start making those inroads and
pact of those factors on police and citizen
where we get the communitys priori-
behavior.
ties, instead of [having] us overlaying
ours on top of them and deciding were Citizens perceptions of the police will likely
going to enforce in a certain way. influence the manner in which they inter-
act with an officer. These perceptions are
And thats the only way were going to
formed and influenced by many factors.
be able to do it.Otherwise its always
Police must also consider such factors when
going to be on the racial side because
they interact with citizens. For example,
thats what the majority of the police
when aggressive policing policies such as
departments are going to see as a prob-
zero tolerance are implemented in a de-
lem because it doesnt look like where
partment, the enforcement of such poli-
they grew up.
cies will have more of an impact on lower-
Professor Manning suggested that zero-tol- income citizens. This increased contact with
erance policies regularly reflect middle- police for minor violations of the law may
class interests and not the interests of the result in more negative perceptions. Such
Police Foundation
26
interactions may be viewed by some com- well done. The panelists also suggested
munity residents as abuses of authority that raising the age of recruitment may be
because the police are focusing on behav- beneficial. We will address the issue of age
ior not perceived as problematic by the first.
community. Another important factor that
Participants suggested there is a relation-
was discussed was the impact of race on
ship between the age at which officers are
police practice. Participants debated
hired, their behavior, and their subsequent
whether this factor manifests itself through
abuse of authority. Some police depart-
a combination of cultural differences and
ments have begun to hire older individu-
To change the bias, or whether each of these concepts
als because they bring greater maturity and
way police singularly influences abuse of authority.
life experience to the job. The premise is
officers think, that this increased maturity and life exper-
ience will improve the level of policing
departments Possible Solutions: and perhaps reduce abuses of authority.
would have to Promoting Good Policing Chief Oliver stated, Thats what were
In this section of the meeting, panelists doing, 20 to 30, as opposed to 20.
focus on three were asked to identify policies and prac-
Chief Sanders remarked about hiring a 22-
areas: training, tices that departments may implement to
year-old: You know, you give him the best
promote better standards of policing among
professional officers. The participants approached this
training you can, the best supervision.
Youve still got a 22-year-old with a gun
standards, topic by attempting to determine how to
and a fast car. As he elaborated:
reduce, and ultimately prevent, varying
and means
types of police abuse of authority. They Yes. Were in there even older. Our av-
of reward and agreed that the best way to achieve this erage is about 26 or 27 because what
recognition. goal would be to address policies that youre getting is people who have had
would serve to alter the mentality of some life experience.
police officers. To change the way police
I shudder to think. I joined when I was
officers think, departments would have to
22, and I dont think I quite caught up
focus on three areas: training, professional
to the job until I was in my mid 20s or
standards, and means of reward and
late 20s. Its all of our, the police chiefs,
recognition.
nightmares to have a 22-year-old with
Particpants suggested that departmental a gun and a fast car and red lights out
policies and practices that emphasize the there.
positive may serve as better deterrents to
abuse of authority by officers than merely You know, you give him the best train-
implementing more stringent types of dis- ing you can, the best supervision.
cipline for misconduct. Three positive poli- Youve still got a 22-year-old with a gun
cies or practices were: (1) training and en- and a fast car.
couraging officers to do good policing,
Professor Manning concurred:
(2) establishing high standards of profes-
sional excellence, and (3) recognizing and [I]t seems to me that people who are a
rewarding the efforts of officers for a job little more advanced in life with more
life experiences might have a deeper was a priority for police departments.
commitment to ethical values, for want Officers should have the necessary skills
of a better term, might be better able to and tools to be good officers instilled in
resist some of the temptations that they them from the start. As Professor Worden
confront on the job so that who they put it, If they have a wider range of tools
are is better established. And it has been that they can apply in a somewhat more
reflected in what they do and ideally is surgical fashion to the problems that they
more compatible with what the com- confront, they may be less likely to abuse
munity expects. their authority.
I would have answered that the oppo- [T]here has to be a cultivation of police
site theory applies. That is, they are skill that motivates a police officer to
more balanced and less extreme than use those things with restraint or with [O]fficers
the 21-year-old, for whom the world is precision. That is, [officers should not] should not]
much simpler. The more life experience settle for behavior [they] can get away
you have, the more complicated the with without violating the criminal or
settle for
world becomes and, hopefully, the civil law, but [you should have] a stan- behavior [they]
more restraint you can show. dard of good police work that you want
can get away
cops to aspire to.
Sothe one who scares me is the one
with without
who joins as a police recruit at age 17, And we can all point to cops [whom]
hears all these old stories, lives inside we know can take a riot and calm it violating
the police world, and then goes on to down, and turn any domestic into a riot. thelaw,
become a policeman. This guy has And that is an issue not of the law
never talked to real people, just police, the criminal law or the civil lawbut
butshould
or crime control. [He thinks] the com- of the skill of competent policing. have] a
munity is divided between the good
people and the evil people and all of And what you end up trying to dois standard of
those kinds of things. you try to encourage police officers to good police
become skilled police officers, to learn
I mean, you put me out. I start work- how to handle incidents without mak-
workto
ing in a factory. I begin to understand ing it worse than when you came there. aspire to.
that there [are] all sorts of different
people in this world. And they have
troubles, and Ive had the same troubles. Standards of Good Policing
And maybe I come to it with a little bit The policies of a police department reflect
more maturity at 25 than I do at 22. the standards of behavior for the officers
serving in that department. To identify what
Cultivating Good Policing Skills is good policing and what is bad
The panelists agreed that training and en- policing, one must look to the standards and
couraging officers to be good officers boundaries of behavior set forth by the
rather than how not to be bad officers department in its policies. When the
Police Foundation
28
discussion turned to this issue, Mr. Williams people looking to act in bad ways.
noted, The law defines the outer param- [However, they] may need some guid-
eters [of police authority and behavior], but ance and constructive support and so
policy defines the boundaries. The impor- forth.
tance of departmental policy as a factor in
Methods of Rewards and Recognition
examining abuse of police authority, or con-
Commissioner Frazier suggested, A pro-
versely good policing, was acknowledged
motion is a reward, and this is true in the
by several of the participants.
majority of police departments. Promotion
[W]e could In conjunction with this concept of depart- to a higher rank has always been a tradi-
mental policy as a means of establishing a tional means of reward and recognition at
impose standard of behavior is the role of the su- the departmental level. Commissioner
something other pervisor in enforcing these standards. Frazier suggested adapting the promotion
[T]heres a presumption in thedis- system to fit the kind of officer whom
than, and the department wishes to reward. This is
cussions Ive heard so far that the supervi-
perhaps higher sor plays an important role in the regula- done by tailoring questions for the oral
tion of police behavior. And presumably, examination to the specific officers work
than, a legal
that good supervision means that youre experience, such as with the Police
standard, going to have a lot less behavior outside Athletic League facility.
some standard the bounds of [departmental policy] However, others noted that promotions are
(Professor Mastrofski). not available to all officers. In these in-
ofprofessional
stances, a less formal means of recogni-
competence or As Professor Worden put it:
tion for an officer who is doing a good job
craftsmanship. The notion that we could impose some- may be even more meaningful and appro-
thing other than, and perhaps higher priate than a promotion. Professor Worden
than, a legal standard, some standard suggested that sometimes having a super-
ofprofessional competence or crafts- visor simply take notice of an officer who
manship, if you will. [And] its not just is doing a good job and letting that officer
supervision; its also management. know that his or her work and effort is
recognized (an attaboy) can improve
But conceive of the problem as not sim- morale. Professor Worden suggested:
ply taking steps to detect abuses of
[S]ometimes when I talk to police of-
authority and sanction abuses of author-
ficers in my classes, they say, Yeah,
ity, but more positively to and affirma-
you know, just an attaboy makes me
tively to establish standards of profes-
feel good, makes me feel like Ive done
sional or competent policing. We may,
a good job.
at the same time, do as much to stem
bad policing ifwe said this is the way And Im not sure whether we havent
to do a good job. [Then] we may make underestimated the value of just com-
it less likely that officers do a bad job mendations, being held up as some-
[because] I suspect that many of the one whose work might be emulated.
officers who engage in these abuses of That might be a part of being a coach
authority are not fundamentally bad and a mentor,that is, identifying
officers who are doing what you want problem. As Professor Worden said, There
them to do. might be other approaches if you have
other tools. And if the tool is the civil law,
[We should] not only prais[e] them, but
providing that you are trained and learn
holdthem up for others as role
how to use that properly, then that might
models to follow, which might,
expand [the officers] range of options.
ultimately, affect the culture of the
organization. In addition to the provision of more ex-
tensive training, it was suggested that de-
This informal, frequent recognition of ex- partments consider establishing a higher
emplary police work not only rewards the
Reward and
standard of professional conduct than is
officer who is being recognized but also dictated by the law. Encouraging officers recognition,
serves to reinforce the high standards of to achieve a higher standard of conduct both formal
professional behavior that a department and professionalism may decrease the like-
encourages its officers to achieve. lihood of officers abusing their authority
(i.e., promotion)
In addition to the rewards mentioned, po- and engaging in misconduct. Making policy and informal
lice chiefs were curious about what meth- changes that address prevention of abuses
(i.e., a slap on
ods of reward rank-and-file officers would of authority and misconduct is a task that
consider to be satisfactory. They suggested falls on the department administrators and the back), are
that the national survey or the upcoming managers. However, simply establishing a key elements in
rank-and-file and supervisory focus groups higher standard of professionalism is not
address this issue, and that the chiefs be enough. This standard must be effectively motivating
informed of the officers responses in or- reinforced through adequate recognition officers to
der to consider the officers suggestions for and reward by midlevel superiors.
practice good
implementation.
These line superiors have the most con-
policing.
Deterrence of abuse of authority may not tact with rank-and-file officers on a daily
be achieved solely through rigorous en- basis; therefore, these supervisors must be
forcement of departmental policy or diligent in their efforts to positively rein-
through harsher disciplinary measures for force this standard of conduct in their of-
the violation of such regulations, but also ficers. Supervisors should make all efforts
by cultivating good policing skills in to acknowledge exemplary conduct, that
officers, by instituting a higher standard of is, identifying officers who are doing what
professional conduct, and by providing you want them to do, and not only prais-
positive reinforcement for exemplary ing them, but [also] holding them up for
conduct. others as role models to follow (Professor
Worden). Reward and recognition, both
At the training level, officers need to be
formal (i.e., promotion) and informal (i.e.,
provided with the necessary tools to carry
a slap on the back), are key elements in
out their responsibilities. If they are not,
motivating officers to practice good
one should not be surprised when officers
policing.
resort to relying only on their authority
to arrest, even when this approach may The panelists agreed that this combination
not be the most effective solution to a of training officers with the proper skills,
Police Foundation
30
1. The quoted portions of this appendix have been edited sparingly to enhance readability while
maintaining the speakers voice.
APPENDIX C
REPORT ON FOCUS GROUP
OF RANK-AND-FILE
POLICE OFFICERS
OCTOBER 2021, 1997
Rosann Greenspan
David Weisburd
Edwin E. Hamilton
Police Foundation
2
Contents
Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 3
Handling Situations That Challenge Police Authority: Rules and Practice ..................... 7
Us-versus-Them Mentality 19
Code of Silence 23
Solutions ........................................................................................................................... 31
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 34
RANK-AND-FILE
POLICE OFFICERS
1
Introduction ments, representative of all regions and
In selecting police departments for partici- sizes. Half were assigned to the rank-and-
pation in the two panels of police offic- file group, and half to the supervisory Eleven
ersone of rank-and-file officers and one group. In the end, 11 departments partici-
departments
of supervisorswe established a set of cri- pated in the rank-and-file focus group, and
teria to guide the process. Our goal was to another 11 departments participated in the participated
achieve representation from various types focus group of supervisors. in the rank-
of departments, as characterized by their
style of policing, with attention to size of To guide the participating police departments and-file focus
community served and region of the coun- in selecting representatives to participate in group.
try. We began by using our own expertise the rank-and-file focus group, we provided
as well as by consulting several colleagues the chiefs with a list of suggested criteria.
to develop a list of police departments that We asked them to choose an officer with
are particularly known for either commu- 5 to 10 years of experience. We asked
nity-oriented policing, problem-oriented departments that were selected for their
policing, or traditional policing. As the list orientation toward community- and prob-
grew, we attempted to ensure that all re- lem-oriented policing to choose officers from
gions of the country were represented. Hav- those units. We asked departments that were
ing reviewed and refined the selections, selected for traditional policing to choose
we then categorized them by size of popu- officers from specialized units such as
lation served and region of the country. In narcotics or gangs who have considerable
this way, we derived a list of 24 depart- contact with community residents.
Police Foundation
4
The 11 officers from all regions of the coun- Defining Issues of Police Authority:
try who participated in the rank-and-file What Is Professional Conduct?
focus group ranged in experience from To explore how contemporary police view
3 years to 15 years, with an average of the boundaries of police authority, we
10 years of experience as police officers. As asked participants to discuss what they
we requested, their assignments included consider appropriate and inappropriate
community- or neighborhood-policing units, conduct in their exercise of authority. Their
problem-oriented policing units, and gang responses quickly turned to a thoughtful
and narcotics units. discussion of the sources of both the for-
I am mal definition of good conduct and a per-
The rank-and-file focus group was moder-
generally sonal sense of what is good conduct. One
ated by Rhoda Cohen, survey director for
officer started off the conversation by again
guided by my the project, under contract with the Police
posing the question in different ways:
Foundation from Mathematica Policy Re-
own sense
search, with the participation of Dr. Rosann What is professionalism? What are our
of what is Greenspan, Research Director, and Earl expectations of ourselves? What is the
Hamilton and Kellie Bryant of the Research expectation of the citizenry of the law
right and
Division of the Police Foundation. The fo- enforcement agency that works on their
wrongmy cus group met for two days: from 9:30 A.M. behalf? [H]ow is it that we ought to act
own personal to 5:00 P.M. on October 20, 1997, and from and behave? How is it that these things
9:30 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. on October 21, 1997. are appropriate or inappropriate, or
view of what
right or wrong, or good or bad?
The officers discussed a range of topics with
is moral or
a set of questions to guide each topic. The The officer answered that, for him, the
immoral. broad categories included a definition of definition of appropriate conduct begins
police authority, the nature of the problem with his own sense of right and wrong,
and their concerns, the effect of community but it does not end there:
policing on the abuse of authority, the soci-
etal factors that affect police authority, the I think that I am generally guided by
culture of policing, and what can be done. my own sense of what is right and
In addition, the officers pretested the first wrong. In other words, my own per-
draft of the upcoming national survey. They sonal view of what is moral or immoral,
provided valuable input by reviewing and whats right and wrong.What be-
reacting to each question in the first draft of comes a challenge for me is how I be-
the survey instrument and by making gen- have in very difficult circumstances,
eral and specific recommendations. how I behave in cases where people
hate me, [and] how I behave in cases
The participants worked hard, grappling with where people want to kill me. So how
some of the most difficult and personal is- do I keep from misbehaving? How do
sues they face in policing. We were grateful I keep from doing things that are wrong
for their thoughtful and frank conversation. inherently, either morally or criminally?
We were surprised, as they were, by the And so that is a huge challengeon a
degree of consensus among them on many daily basis, not just for the individual,
different issues. but, I think, for the organization.
Another officer suggested that the source Society says that I can effect the amount
of the definition of acceptable and unac- of force necessary to effect the arrest.
ceptable behavior must be society and that In other words, society has given me
the boundaries of appropriate conduct, the green light to use some degree of
therefore, change as society changes: physical force in order to control an
individual. And I know that I can do
I think that we as police officers are
that. And there may be something want-
guided by what society says is accept-
ing me to do that [because] this indi-
able and is not acceptable. Thirty years
vidual has provoked me to some de-
ago [in] law enforcement, certain [W]e as
gree in which I have the option of ex-
actions were acceptable, where[as]
ercising some force. But I know that if police officers
todays society has decided that those
I can talk rationally to this individual
things are not acceptable. As a result,
and still gain compliance, then I should are guided
my definition of acceptable behav-
probably take that route or accept that by what
ior is what society says the rules are for
as an alternative, as opposed to using
us. Twenty years from now, law en-
some degree of physical force.
society says
forcement will probably be different be-
This comment turned the discussion to the
is acceptable
cause society will have said that force
can go this farthat professionalism participants definitions of professional and is
means x, y, or z. conduct. One officer suggested that key to
not acceptable.
professional conduct is treating each indi-
However, he agreed that ones personal stan- vidual with respect:
dards were also relevant: I think within that
[B]eing professional is about respect
boundary, then we rely on our own per-
whether you are talking to the presi-
sonal moral and ethical ideas to define and
dent of the United States or whether
guide that. That officer later modified his
you are talking to Joe the hobo.Every-
response: I think when I said about society
body has a story and [people have] their
deciding what is acceptable, I think I didnt
own shoes.Just [as] I could in no way
use a correct term. I think its the commu-
do what the president does, there is no
nity in which we live [that] decides that.
way I could do what the hobo does.
A third officer raised the interesting sug- The hobo would teach me how to sur-
gestion that societys standards are too low vive, just [as] the president could teach
and that unless a higher, personal moral me a bunch of other things.
standard is applied, force will be exercised Picking up on the idea that attention must
in effecting an arrest when it may be pos-
be paid to the individual, another officer
sible to use language to gain compliance:
emphasized the importance of learning
about the individual situation:
I think that society in general is taking
a very dangerous trend in some of the You have to learn what the situation is
things [that] are morally acceptable, and the background behind that prob-
some of the things that are socially lem. You have some police officers
acceptable. they are so gung ho[who] bust in the
Police Foundation
6
house and its so much the profanity Another officer suggested that officers un-
and its so much this. They never know der stress in their personal lives will en-
what the environment as far as the fam- gage in misconduct, and she suggested that
ily [is], whats going on in there. Social very young officers may also have such
issues: father could be laid off, the problems: [Y]ou also have babies coming
mother hasfive kids, the father is frus- on. Im talking about 19 to 20 years old.
trated because he doesnt have a job Can carry a gun but cant take a drink.
so he starts drinking, and thats when
the domestic violence comes in.Good
In contrast to an earlier suggestion that
Good police standards of acceptable conduct have low-
police need to focus more on being pro-
ered, one officer explained how policing
need to focus fessional, finding out what the prob-
lem is, and the bad police officers need
has changed over the decades, how a re-
more on being to think some time before they are so
form chief in his city in the 1980s played a
role in changing the face of policing. Until
professional, gung ho.
that time, police violence was the norm:
finding out Later, another officer expressed the diffi-
culty of entering a situation like the one [B]eing a child of the 60s, a teen-
what the ager of the 70s, and an adult of the
just described and explained how, despite
problem is. an officers good intentions, the situation 80s, I watched thepolice department
is interactive, and the individual may have go through the change. In the 60s,
a pattern of using violence caused by poor there was no accountability whatsoever.
oral communication skills that may make Same thing in the 70s. [In] the 80s, the
it very difficult to avoid the use of force: department really started changing its
face. Twenty years ago, it was accept-
[S]ome peoplehave grown up in envi- able if you got a burglar call, the bur-
ronments in which their oral communi- glar was shot, plain and simple. There
cation skills are horrendous. The only were no questions asked. [An officer
way in which they know how to resolve from another department across the
conflictexpress their emotions and feel- country agreed. The first officer con-
ingsis by getting physical. They beat tinued.] We got a chief[name omit-
their wives; they beat their kids; they beat ted] came in. The face of the police in
the dog. That is how they express them- [name omitted] changed.In the
selves. If the dinner was too cold, they 70s,you got stopped, [and] you went
smack their wife and that tells her the into a panic because you knewsome-
dinner was too cold. The kids are mak- thing bad is going to happen to me.
ing too much noise in the other room; And they could walk up and basically
he gets the belt and just starts beating knock the hell out of you.There was
the kids to let them know that they are no internal affairs in [name omitted]
drowning out his football game in the until 1978.
living room. So for this guy to all of a
sudden be a human being and treat you Another officer, agreeing that standards
any differently [from how] he treats his have risen, that police operated differently
family, once you go into his living in a different era, suggested that the
room,is a very difficult thing to do. Rodney King case had a big impact on
Police Foundation
8
they had to shoot her because she came alizing the question of authority.It is not
at them with a knife. Right away, we a personal issue whether you hate me. You
are the bad guy. I was going down to may not like what I am doing, but it is the
court one day on the subway and right community who dictates what the laws are,
away, they said, You shot grandma, and I am simply following through with
and this and that. I had three or four that.
people looking at me like I did some-
One officer shared a story, not a dramatic
thing wrong. How should I react to that?
story whatsoever, where he learned the
Maybe if I was a young cop,came
limits of his authority. He responded to a
You may not from a nice neighborhood, and was a
situation where there was a group of
like what I am gung-ho kind of guy, I could have es-
people playing basketball, and he wanted
calated that on the train and then I
doing, but it is to speak to someone on the court. He
would have had a riot situation. Or I
asked another guy, Hey, run over there
the community may have had to lock up some-
and get that guy and tell him to come over
body.So, I took it; I swallowed a little
who dictates here.
bit of my pride; I tried to act as profes-
what the sional as I could without escalating the Well, the guy told me to kiss his be-
problem. hind; thats not his job. I thought, just
laws are, and me arriving in uniform, I could direct
I am simply Another stated that it is because of his com- people and just tell this guy what I
passion that he takes that extra second wanted him to go do for me. And that
following to de-escalate a situation, by letting them guy told me where to get on and where
through. vent first and then asking what is wrong. to get off.I was verbally assaulted.
The first thing they say is that I dont care, And it made me really think, and it
and I tell them that, yes, I do care. Tell me. really does.[M]y authority only goes
Another officer told a story of being called so far;I do not dictate [to] people or
on a domestic disturbance where the indi- control lives [as] I think I door [as]
vidual had left in a car. To the surprise of the uniform makes me think I do.
the officer and his partner, the individual
jumped out of his car and ran when they Officers Perceptions of the Extent
pulled him over. We are thinking it is just and Nature of Abuses of Authority
a disturbance, so why would the guy run? The Role of the Media
They chased him into a field, where he Expressing a sense that the media, in re-
pulled out a switchblade. He told us he porting instances of abuse, influence the
was going to stab both of us in expletive public to distrust all police, one officer said,
terms. The officers spent five minutes yell- [E]veryone of us gets labeled for every
ing back and forth, trying to get him to problem from every city.When you re-
drop the knife, which he finally did. Would spond on a call, [then] you just did every-
other officers have handled it differently? thing that they heard of for the past 10, 20,
Sure. There could have been a shooting. 30 years of their life. You just did it, you
We could have been hurt. But I think that represent it, and theyre going to take it
how we dealt with it [was by] not person- out on you in those cases.
Another put it this way, And as far as the bulk of us who are out there doing [our] j-
Detroit dealyeah, we caught heat behind o-b because we believe in what we do.
that; L.A., we caught heat behind that; and
Another felt that police departments needed
New York, yeah, we caught heat behind
to be more media savvy:
that.
I think that we are hurt as law enforce-
Another said, [N]o matter what we do in
ment by our lack of communication
[name omitted],or anybody else does, I
with the media.But I think our lack
have to answer for it. If I go to Portland,
of willingness to be honest with the
Oregon, to see family, say for example, Youdont
publicand maybe not the lack of will-
theyre going to question me about what
happened in Detroit, and I have no
ingness, but the lack of know-how, to hear about the
perceive that [lack] in the media is what
connection.And if I take the approach bulk of us who
is damaging usnot necessarily our
that the police were rightthey were not
wrongI better be ready with my ticket,
actions but our inability to relate that are out there
to the mass public.
my keys, whatever way I came, because doing [our]
Im going to take some heat for that.
j-o-b because
The Extent of Abuses of Authority
Some also expressed concern about the
There was general agreement that a small we believe in
accuracy of media reports. Because they
percentage of officers abuse their author- what we do.
tend to present only the dramatic event of
ity. One officer referred to the 95/5 rule,
police violence, the media neglect the situ-
in that 95 percent of the people on the
ation that precipitated the violence, offer-
department are doing what theyre sup-
ing what some felt was a distortion of the
posed to do, doing a good job, andtheres
facts:
this 5 percent that cause all the problems
I was giving an example earlier with in your organization. And 5 percent be-
the situation in Baltimore. I didnt see came the rule of thumb generally accepted
the 20 minutes of footage that occurred by the participants. At least some felt that
before that, in which the three officers these abuses were generally of a relatively
are around this guyplease drop the minor nature:
knife; please drop the knife. I just saw
I think on my part, that the 5 percent
the 10 seconds leading up to the point
[who cross the line into abuse of au-
right before they shot and killed the
thority] are usually guys [who] are in
guy. I know there was more to the story,
violation of some sort of policy proce-
but the average person [who] looks at
dural error, in that they didnt take a
that particular situation, thats what they
report, or they failed to administer first
see.
aid when the situation called for it.
One officer suggested that, although in her Of that 5 percent, you probably have 1
city the police receive both bad and good percent that actually goes out and vio-
media coverage, the general trend is to lates someones rights.I dont think
report only the negative stories about that 5 percentthat are in trouble
police, and in that way, the truth is within the departments are actually tak-
distorted. You still dont hear about the ing bribes and shaking people down
Police Foundation
10
you know, abusing authority. I think the public. One officer suggested that he
its more [that] this guy just comes to found for himself that the solution is to
work, his uniform is bad, or he had explain your actions to the people affected:
alcohol on his breath today, or what-
One of the problems that I think [is] an
ever.
issue with regard to police work is that
One officer suggested that it takes matu- the public requests to be informed, and
rity for an officer not to become jealous the officer feels as if he has no obliga-
when he sees a drug dealer driving a nice tion to inform the citizen as to what
[T]heres car: And then thats when he starts doing hes doing. Ive found that Ive elimi-
illegal searches, not turning in the money, nated a large percentage of complaints
nothing that not turning in the drugs.And thats what that Ive had lodged against me and
turns your some of these officers are doing. Theyre just [had] an easier time of doing my
putting their hands in the cookie jar, job by simply explaining to the indi-
stomach more
theyre being caught, and the media [are] vidual what it is that Im doing.You
than to find feeding off of it. find that [with] most police officers
[who] find themselves in trouble, it isnt
an officer Another expressed his distaste for officers
because hes shaking people down or
[whos] doing who engage in illegal activity:
hes taking bribes; its because he does
something And the reality is theres nothing that notexplain his actions in a lot of
turns your stomach more or thats more situations.That person is hyped up
illegal. distasteful than to find an officer [whos] and that person is really emotionally in-
doing something illegal.[W]e had volved. And now the officers emotion-
some officers in [name omitted] [who] ally involved. And the next thing you
were breaking the law,were shaking know, the officer says something he
down people.Not only was it illegal, wishes he could have grabbed back and
but it was just so personally offensive. pulled back. You know, its the verbal
You want to arrest them, but you also assault again, [which] the officer levies
just want to throw up at the same time. against the citizen, that hurts him.
up and theyre filming this person beating police and community and the expanded
the hell out of somebody. power of the police. He spoke of how he
developed a teen basketball league some
12 years ago in the inner-city neighbor-
Abuse of Authority and hood where he was then assigned and still
Community Policing is working as a community-policing officer.
Most of the rank-and-file officers who par- The relationships he developed in the bas-
ticipated in the focus group expressed be- ketball league led to the development of
lief in the value of community policing. narcotics information and warrants, as well
They recognized that it expanded the tools as to a neighborhood trespass affidavit Most saw
available to solve community problems, but program and other techniques such as community
they cautioned about its potential for en- vertical patrol, which are all aspects of an
couraging the community to place undue expanded police role under community- policing as
demands on the police. They saw a poten- oriented policing. In his words, All these involving a
tial for violation of citizens rights; they tools were added to us for locations like
doubted a management concern about this so we could use [them] in our daily
much greater
corruption. Most saw community policing routine of patrolling. The basketball league commitment
as involving a much greater commitment continues to occupy much of his leisure
of time and dedication than traditional
of time and
time to this day:
policing. As one officer put it, If you dont
I went to a community meetingin a
dedication
put in 110 percent as a community officer
housing project, where blocks and than
or beat cop or whatever, youre not doing
blocks of buildings weredrug in-
your job; I dont care what anybody says. traditional
fested.And the people were com-
Their conversation seemed to assume that policing.
plaining about drug dealershanging
community policing and problem-oriented
out late at night, drinking on the cor-
policing are the future of policinga real-
ner, throwing garbage out the windows,
ity to which management and older offic-
bringing garbage downstairs, boom
ers must adaptrather than an experiment
boxes, drag racing, fixing cars on the
or a marginal activity that may disappear
street. It was out of control.They were
or be deemed to have failed in time.
yelling at me and screaming at me.
So I started thinking of what I could
Community Policing and the do. And I walked around, and on my
Expanding Authority and beat there was a local church.I went
Responsibility of the Police upstairs,and I saw there was a small
The officers discussed a wide range of is- gym.I started a basketball league.
sues that relate to the expanded role of I made out a few flyers.I had to con-
the police in community policing, to the solidate it to [ages] 10 to 14 because I
use of civil law, and to the effect of had too many kids coming.
community demands and expectations.
Well, we built it up a little bit. Kids
One officer told a rich story that was about would give me informationnot that I
community policing and that demonstrates was looking for information, but they
both the close relationships between were giving me information on certain
Police Foundation
12
places. We would target them ourselves. people has been a very controversial or-
I would pass the information to narcot- dinance. The officer described it as a real
ics. I would do my own search war- difficult ordinance to enforce, with five
rants. And little by little, we cleared up or six criteria in order to even write the
each building at a time. ticket, suggesting there are easier solu-
tions than trying to enforce this ordinance.
We set up another program, called the But some of the public and a radio talk-
Trespass Affidavit Program, where we show host have raised concerns that we
have people in the building; then we are just stomping all over the peoples con-
We, as law have the rent roll, so that if there were stitutional rights with this ordinance.
people that were outside from other
enforcement, But this expansion of authority also places
areas coming to buy drugsand I knew
take there was a spot in one buildingI a great burden of responsibility on police
could grab them in the building when officers. As one community policing of-
responsibility
I was doing a vertical. ficer said, [Y]ou, as a police officer, have
for far to wear many different hats: a fireman one
I do a vertical patrol, [which] means you day, a lawyer another day, a doctor an-
too much go up and down a building and check other day, a marriage counselor one day,
in our society it. If I saw somebody coming out that I a psychiatrist one day. It is amazing be-
didnt knowbecause I knew people cause we dont go to school for that. We
.[W]ere
on the blockand [those people] dont get paid for having all these degrees.
feeling[an] couldnt give me a good answertake
me back to the apartment they were Another community policing officer stated,
overwhelming
visiting, they were placed under arrest [E]verybodys always looking for the po-
requirement for criminal trespass. lice to answer all their problems.
to be everything A third put it this way, We, as law en-
Now, today, I have 12 teams still doing
to everybody. it. I run the program from January to forcement, take responsibility for far too
June. Its four hours a night of my own much in our society.And I think every
time, but I have a good time, more than time someone comes to us, we feel it is
the kids, but I cant let them know that. our responsibility to solve that problem for
And I have 120 kids, and a 12-team them.
league. Its still going strong. Another offered, I know were feeling
just [an] overwhelming requirement to be
Another officer described a recent program
everything to everybody.
to enforce a loitering ordinance. Police had
been using the tool of criminal trespass, There was intermittent discussion about
getting property owners to post their taking your work home with you, whether
properties, as in the above example, in such a move is unhealthy, what to do about
order to move drug dealers and other it, and what its effect on home life is, be-
people. But the targeted population kind cause the successful community-policing
of wised up to it and changed their tactics officer is an individual to his community.
a little bit. They moved to a public park. Officers admitted they gave citizens their
The tool now being used to move these home phone numbers and received calls
at all hours: It never turns off. But the rules and regulations,which I have to
most striking example was the following: follow.
Im down at the shore. Im down there Perhaps most striking was the officers
the last two weeks in July and the last indication that a potential for abuse of
week in August. I have a beeper. Well, police authority comes directly from the
[its] a great invention, but community heightened community expectations and
leaders beep me. Community activists the closer communitypolice contact and
beep me. People [who] have a prob- relationship that occurs under community
policing:
lem in the park beep me. You know Perhaps most
why: S, we didnt see any radio But just an example of the possible
car tonight; S, can you do some-
striking was
abuse, you get a person who lives in a
thing. Could you call up one of the lieu- neighborhood, and [such people are] the officers
tenants at the desk and give him a heads in charge of a neighborhood watch pro-
indication that
up [to] send a car over. gram. Or theyve got a house [that] they
know [and that] they kind of get a little a potential for
These expressions of the burdens of com- concerned about. Now, its not a regu-
munity policing precipitated a discussion
abuse of
lar 911: theyre [not] shooting or theres
of the communitys responsibility in the
[not] any kind of real problem. But they
police
community-policing partnership: Im not begin this process because now they authority
responsible for all the answers, and some-
havethe ear of the police because Im
times the community is. comes directly
designated as the person that they can
Another said, [T]he problem is probably
callnot just a generic number, but from the
now theres a face and a pager. And
going to come to you first.But youve got heightened
they start calling me. Well, I sort of be-
all these other resources to funnel every-
come the innuendo policethe rumor community
thing soyoure kind of a liaison. Andyou
police. Ihear that so-and-so living at expectations
deal with the whole family with the idea
the house isyou know, I think he
that eventually you want to totally empower and the closer
could possibly be doing a variety of
that whole community so, in a sense, you
wouldnt have to be there anymore.
things. I said, well, none of those seem community
to fit with whats criminalso maybe
police
Officers also stated that at times they have in some cases its more of a neighbor-
to explain to community members that hood personality issue than it is a crime contact.
there are limits to their authority: Can I issue. And now Ive got [these people]
hit this house two doors down from you? in the community who [have] my ear
Probably, if I can get enough information [and] who feel like Im accountable to
that gives me the legal authority to do it. I them.Theyre demanding that I do
cant just go in there and just run through something.Thats the key piece; [dis-
this persons house just because you say cretion] is being able to tell them
that you think somethings going on. which is nothing theyre going to want
[T]heres certain legalthere [are] certain to hear from me because they think that
Police Foundation
14
Im there to do what they want, not to want any cops going into buildings. Why?
enforce the law or keep the peace Because theyre going to get involved in
[and] finda way of telling them its something. Or maybe its easy for corrup-
not something Im going to be able to tion. Right away, theyre corrupt. Theyre
deal with for you. going to get into an apartment, or theyre
going to getgrabbed by one of the deal-
Community Policing and the ers and maybelets make a deal.
Potential for Corruption
Asked whether the closer ties with the com- Departmental Structure and
Youre asking
munity increased the risk of corruption, one Community Policing
a quasi- officer suggested that this was a mis- Some officers expressed concern that po-
military type perception held by police management and lice management is not adapting to the
some citizens: changing authority structure, namely the
organization expanded authority of the rank and file
Thats how these chiefs and higher-ups
with a very think becausetheyre behind closed under community-oriented policing:
structured doors. Theyre in their offices.I deal Youre asking a quasi-military type or-
with a lot of store owners because they ganization with a very structured chain
chain of give me things at the end of the year of command, and youre asking upper-
command, and when I have my championship game. level and mid-level managers to relin-
I get donations that go right down to quish some of their authority and some
upper-level
the PA [Police Athletic] office, and I get of their responsibilities.As a detec-
and mid-level a receipt. Theyre afraid that we might tive, Im bypassing and eliminating the
managers get hooked into something with these middleman and going right to the top
store owners wherewe might give with my plan and my solution, and
to relinquish them protectiona slap if theyre do- thats a threat against everything that
some of their ing something illegalin that commu- youre taught as a police officer.
nity area. And then people [who] live in
authority. the community perceive this. And they Another suggested, The problem seems
see that were hanging out with some- to bethe breaking down of the pyra-
body; right away were doing something midfrom staff to officer. There is a lot of
wrong. And this is why these chiefs and old-school thoughtthat the street officer
everybodythey dont want to hear this. doesnt really have the ability to create an
And right away, they want to put a bash- autonomous decision.
ing on community policing. And another said:
Besides the potential for corruption from The micromanagement part was our
legitimate commercial enterprises, the use biggest foul-up in the system.
of vertical patrol raises some concerns [Command officers from the old school
among police management because of the didnt believe in community policing.]
potential for corruption by drug dealers Just go out and lock people upand
when officers cannot be observed by their when you came up with ideas and
supervisors: I [police administrator] dont things you wanted to try,they were
reluctant to give you the go ahead on discussion with a direct question that en-
it.If you still have those people [who] gaged the group: Is it unfair to stereotype or
are policing from the 60s and the 70s is it smart policing to know that people of
with the same ideasits hard to push certain typesseen at certain hours in cer-
new ideas around them sometimes. tain placesare basically up to no good?
This question led to a lively discussion that
One officer suggested this ideal for super-
began with an insistence on distinguishing
vision under community policing:
stereotyping from profiling, with the assump-
You have to have immediate supervi- tion that stereotyping is bad, while profiling
sors and mid-level managers [who] trust is ethical, though its legality has recently been You have
you and trust your judgment and [who] limited. By the end, the two seemingly dis- to have
give you latitude to make decisions. parate terms were comfortably conflated.
immediate
And even if you fail in your decision, One officer suggested that profiling is ethi-
they cannotmicromanage. I guess cal to a certain degree, not necessarily
supervisors
they have to allow you to be innova- right. But you have a good feel of whom and mid-level
tive, to express yourself, to not be afraid you are dealing with. I mean I can tell a
to come in with an idea and implement managers
normal persona normal studentbe-
that idea. I think thats very important. cause I deal with a lot of kids. If I see a kid [who] trust
walking, I can pretty much judge what kind
Others suggested that they encountered you and trust
of person he is. But as he explained,
problems, not with management, but with
Were careful about stereotyping. The term your judgment
veteran officers who are not serving as
we use is profiling. Several officers ques- and [who] give
community-policing officers: [S]omething
tioned the difference between the two
that were experiencing right now is that you latitude to
terms. Then one provided the working
neighborhood officers are over here; pa-
trol officers are over here. And youre kind
definition in his gang squad: make
of looked at as this special group, and you The way in which we have the prac- decisions.
get to kind of adjust your hours. tice in our department, I should say the
practice in gang squad, to differentiate
between stereotyping and profiling, is
Societal Factors That Affect
that to stereotype we go strictly[on]
Abuse of Authority
physical appearance. Profiling would be
The Effect of Race and Ethnicity
the physical appearance, the location
Although we considered that the topic of
in which the person is, and what [such
race as a factor in police behaviorsuspi- people] are doing in that location and
cion, investigation, stops and searches, use
what others are doing around them.
of forcewas important to our consideration
of abuse of authority, we were uncertain Exploring the meaning of stereotyping and
whether the participants would be willing profiling, one researcher described an ac-
to talk openly about their perceptions. As tual incident where two black teenagers
with all other topics addressed, we were driving around in a white neighborhood
impressed with the apparent thoughtfulness were approached by two officers with their
and frankness of the officers. We began the guns trained to the back of the boys heads.
Police Foundation
16
So I become a little bit more concerned cause of what I do [and] in terms of the
for my safety. Its very low light, a relationship we get in.We dont ever
couple of guys in a car. We dont know have time to get to know each other.
who they are. They are not searched,
Relinquishing the distinction, several offic-
so I have them get out of the car. Put
ers agreed that [s]tereotype or profile or
your hands on the back of your head,
whichever word we choose to usesort
and lock your fingers. I grab hold of
of keeps us alive.
his hands. Now step out of the car.
I dont know if he and his partner Citing a Maryland study that suggested Af-
are going to start shooting at us or what. rican Americans are discriminatorily the [S]everal
subject of traffic stops, we rekindled the
They step out. I go to handcuff him.
officers
race discussion by asking whether police
He physically resists it. He tightens his engaged in racially discriminatory practices agreed that
whole body up. I am thinkinghe kind or if this was a false perception held by [s]tereotype
of starts crouching down. Im waiting the minority community. The term dis-
for his hand to come off the top of his crimination seemed more evocative than or profile or
head, to [go] into a waistband. I ended did stereotyping or profiling. One officer whichever
up getting him cuffed up. We got the tried to refine when it was acceptable to
dope. He was dealing marijuana out of treat people by appearance, suggesting that
word we
the car. They [were] smoking marijuana. the standard should be: I think its dis- choose to
criminatory if I am judging somebody based
But we get in court several weeks later. usesort of
on something that they have no control
He says, I saw what happened on TV.
over. Thus, returning to the earlier ex- keeps us
I watched what the white police do to
ample, he argued that [y]ou are a teen-
black men. He sees me walk up on alive.
ager; youre black; you are in a white neigh-
him, and he begins to see me in a par-
borhood; you are driving. You have no
ticular way.
control over the color of your skin. For me
I begin to see him as a threat to my to stop you simply because you are
safety. [When] we both sort of start look- blackwould be discriminatory. He con-
ing at each other as men in this way, tinued in this direction, However, you are
thats not really good for either one of a teenager who happens to be black, who
us. I mean its good in a sense because chooses to dress like a gang member, who
were not going to die, but its bad in a chooses to hang out with several other gang
sense that now I kind of see him as a members, who chooses to be tagging in a
guy who is not a very nice person, and neighborhood. Now I stop you. I think
I dont know the man. Hestarts maybe theres a difference. You had a choice.
seeing me as this racist, brutal, heavy- I thinkwe can base a lot about how a
handed white cop. person is dressed.
Another officer suggested this approach
I have got to walk up on that car. But
does not always hold up in court:
one of the things I dont have to like is
what happens to me because of what I Then when I go to court, the kid [is]
do, and what happens to people be- wearing the gang attire, standing on the
Police Foundation
18
corner or whatever. Hes got his mom discriminatedare more likely to dis-
with him, his dad with him, and a lot criminate against black, Asian, or His-
of family members. They have got a panic people.
lawyer, an American Civil Liberties
Ill give you an example. Were sit-
Union; they are pissed off. Then the
ting around a table at a chiefs forum.
media [have] gotten in the middle of it
I work in the black community. I have
and [are asking], So thats good police
got a black man sitting next to me who
work? This just kind of seems a little
is a leader in the black community. He
intrusive to us, officer.
[S]trong says there [have] been X number of
As a result, his department no longer con- gang homicides on this street over the
police dones this activity: [T]hey went the oppo- period of the last couple of weeks, and
presence in site liberal extreme. Our chief told us that we need to do something about it. We
if you see a kid who is dressed in gang- have got a white guy sitting across the
minority table who lives near one of the white
bang attire [and] who is in the wrong neigh-
communities, borhood at the wrong time, thats not area high schools. He says, Well, the
enough to contact him. problem in our neighborhood is smok-
which have
ing off campus. The chief is sitting
traditional Another officer said her department also
there. Hes [thinking], Lets see. Weve
would not permit such a stop:
policing, got people dying over here, and weve
We dont have routine pit stops or rou- got Mr.-lets-not-have-kids-smoking
contributes to tine core stops. I mean, I cant assume over here.How can you help but
the negative because you are wearing your hat back have the disparaging sort of view from
with your pants backthey are falling the different racial populations about
view of police. downthat you are out there selling police authority. I dont see how you
drugs. You might be a college-educated can get away from it.
person that liked that type of dress, so
Another officer, also not surprised by the
we cant assume that. We are held re-
poll, suggested that the strong police pres-
sponsible for that kind of thinking.
ence in minority communities, which have
The moderator cited a national poll that traditional policing, contributes to the nega-
reported that while 63 percent of whites tive view of police:
stated they had a great deal of confidence
[I dont know if] the traditional way that
in the police, only 26 percent of African
we do policing [is] reflective of every-
Americans felt that way. The moderator
bodys department.The majority of
then sought participants reactions. One
police stations or policing, as it were,
officer made these observations:
are situated or centralized in predomi-
I can see why, though the people who nantly black or minority communities.
are black might be more inclined to Therefore, most of the police contacts
have less confidence in police because that occur during the course of a day
police historically are predominantly are involving blacks or people of color.
white.I think white officersthose Most of those contacts have to do with
that stereotype or those that have enforcement, either that or the police
have been called in again to remedy or You have certain cultural groupsbe-
resolve a situation. cause of where they come from[who]
come to America. They have their own
Race and Community Policing fear of police. We [police] have to go in
The view of the officer who saw a strong, and break down that fear, set up com-
but negative, police presence in minority munications, set up information, open
communities was that community policing those lines of communication, [and] bring
can be expected to improve the confidence them into the fold.
level in the police of African Americans.
This view was shared broadly among par- We [police]
The Culture of Policing
ticipants. As he suggested, In seeking to understand how much the have to go in
culture of policing contributes to abuse of
By seeing the police in a different light and break
and seeing them as not just people who authority, we focused on two aspects at-
go in to enforce the law and to effect tributed to police culture: (a) the us-ver- down that
an arrest, but [as] problem solvers and sus-them mentality, with its premise that fear,set up
facilitators in that they help guide and police officers who are in constant contact
with problematic citizens tend to view all information,
direct people into situationshelp re-
solve their problemI think that num- civilians suspiciously; and (b) the code of open those
ber [26 percent] is probably going to silence, in which police officers protect
lines of
go up. It has no choice but to go up. I (by not reporting) their fellow officers in
mean,the police are now helping out situations involving inappropriate or communication,
as opposed to the bad guy [who] comes abusive police conduct. We began by ask- [and] bring
in and just drags people out of a neigh- ing whether the participants believed there
borhood and takes them away. was an us-versus-them mentality and them into the
what its role might be in the abuse of fold.
One participant prescribed community authority.
policing to improve race relations, with-
Us-versus-Them Mentality
out actually naming it. He saw
One participant referred to a scholarly ar-
race relations improving with the ticle that described the psychological and
amount of police that you are able to physiological response to living with the
put on the street. The more police that dangers of police work on a daily basis:
you are able to put on the street, the
When you go out into the street and
more police officers will be out there
you make contact with somebody on a
[and] be able to do one-on-one com-
call or a car stopyou begin to see
munity involvement. There is no way
people, anybody, anywhere, as poten-
you are going to improve relations on
tially a threat of death to you. So you
an amicable basiswhen all your
develop this vigilance for work: Im
officers are able to do is answer runs.
ready. Im on. Im prepared.And then
One officer who worked in community what happens is [that] you sort of turn
relations saw the solution in expanding that [approach] into hypervigilance.
communications, which is also a feature Youre alwayslooking over your
of community policing: shoulder;youre a little more aware
Police Foundation
20
than the general public about dangers However, the participants felt that this vigi-
that you encounter.And then, over a lance does not lead to problems. More se-
period of time, you [need] something vere manifestations of the us-versus-them
to check that. In other words, people mentality can cause potential problems.
dont get on the phone to 911 and tell Participants described a type of police of-
us how good their life is going;they ficer who is intensely identified with his
get on the phone [to] tell us when things role and who may be the ones that dont
are horrible. So those are the kind of make it:
experiences that we have over a pe-
Theres Youve got a lot of guys [who] are cops
riod of time [that] can divide us. And
in the day.They hang out with cops.
an over- we may respect people.We may
They talk about cop stuff. All they do
be thinking compassionately.But
identification ultimatelyyou begin to see people as
is cop, cop, cop, cop, cop. And those
are the guys [who] are in that hyper-
with the police a threat of death to you.
vigilance mode. These are the guys
role. In other A number of participants acknowledged [who] read gun magazines.And,
that the us-versus-them mentality is a cor- youve got to wonder about that.
words, police
ollary of the requirement of their work that
work becomes Conversely, one officer suggested that the
they be vigilant at all times. It is an attitude
attitude described as problematic was more
your life. that never leaves many of them, on duty
common than the more-balanced attitude
or off. Two described experiences in
that the participants were claiming, and he
traveling to Washington, D.C., for these
implied that the participants may not be
meetings:
all that different from the supposedly more-
We were talkingthis is ironic again. extreme adherents of the us-versus-them
We were talking the other day about mentality:
going in restaurants andwe kind of
Theres an over-identification with the
[took] an unscientific poll. How many
police role. In other words, police work
of us sit with our back to the door as
becomes your life in some ways. The
opposed to sit facing the door? How
people who are here in this roomin
many of us read customers that come
many ways in my experienceare the
in there? And we were talking about
exception. I mean, I know a lot more
keeping our eye on the cash register.
people [who] are acting and behaving
Were almost expecting something to
in the ways that we are characterizing
happen.
than people who live and act and be-
Or in the cab. Everybody was talking have as were saying we do.
about [being] in a cab.Were in a city
Comparing his life to that of his brother
were not familiar with. Get in a cab
the banker, one officer admitted to living
with this guy. Its the middle of the
with an us-versus-them mentality:
night, and were driving, and, oh, okay,
hes taking us somewhere to kill us. All [W]hen youre bombarded with nega-
right. So what do I do now? tive all day, pretty soon that becomes
your life, okay, because you are out population of officers in their departments.
there doing it to save your life or save They joked, Oh, I think so, and The
the life of others.But as a police of- department will not send one of them to
ficer, I have to be concerned with my Washington. Because the participants con-
life and everybody elses. sidered themselves exceptions to the rule,
they were asked how they personally man-
Another officer admitted not being so far
aged to avoid the more-negative aspect of
from the gun-loving officers characterized
the us-versus-them attitude. The partici-
earlier:
pants credited their own personal integ-
I agree withyour over-gung-ho rityand often their religious or spiritual [W]e work
people with the gun magazine promot- beliefswith being key factors in avoid- 8 hours a day,
ing guns and this, that, and the other ing those attitudes. They also suggested
thing. I like guns as much as the next involvement with positive people or ex- 40 hours
guy, but Im nowhere near that. But I periences, and humor. Typical comments a week, for a
do have something to say. In my expe- included these:
combination
rience, the [military] veterans are I think it is filtered out by how much
some of the best police.They usually you are involved in other things other
of 30 seconds
find a common bond. Yes, a lot of them than your job.[Those who] are in- of pure, sheer
come out of the chute a little too fast. volved in churchget to see the good
But some of our veterans are some of terror that can
side of life. For most of us, kids suck
the best guys you can depend on. because the only kids we deal with are come at
[W]e work 8 hours a day, 40 hours a kids who are problematic. Im lucky
week, for a combination of 30 seconds
anytime.
enough that Im involved with the youth
of pure, sheer terror that can come at group at our church. So I see the best I cant think
any unknown time. I cant think of an- of teens also. And that kind of balances of another
other occupation thats like that. Thats things. If you dont seek out the best in
where the understanding comes in. [kids], all we are left withwith this
occupation
Im asking you [the public] to sympa- jobis the worst in [kids]. And you have thats like that.
thize. Youre [the police] supposed to to actively do that, otherwise you will
be perfect, perfectup to the point become mental[ly] unstable.
where you make a minor mistake. Then
youre held with a level higher, held to I think in myself, anyway, [that] I have
higher accountability. a great appreciation for life after see-
ing death. You see people die [at] a
Thus, as the discussion progressed, it be-
young age. You see so many things that
came apparent that from the participants
you see the worst in people and you
viewpoint, many police officers have the see the best in people. And you really
more-negative version of the us-versus-
kind of balance it out.
them mentality, and perhaps the original
distinction was overdrawn. This revelation You have to use every tool that you
led to questioning whether the participants can. Because of my demeanor, I use
felt they were the exception to the general humor to bring about some levity, to
Police Foundation
22
bring about some light in stressful situ- forms of the us-versus-them mentality, the
ations. [It is] by no means demeaning, participants generally felt that type of of-
but I try to bring about some light. ficer does not remain very long in the po-
lice profession. Comments included these:
I feel the spiritual side. I know what
guides me because I would have Theyre the ones that dont make it.
burned out years ago. I know how to Four or five years, burned out. They get
bow down to that. I know how to ac- injured, get hurt.And theyre the con-
cept it. I know how to find it within stant revolving door of law enforcement.
[P]articipants me. Its what drives me. A lot of offi-
Get hurt mostly.
cers will not admit to a spiritual side
indicated the until it gets tested. The participants indicated the need for
need for more more experienced officers to take a lead
What does it take to humble you as a
in helping officers cope with the stress of
experienced police officer? It may be something as
the job and their personal lives:
simple as an old lady youre giving a
officers to take And you help the other police also with
ticket to who will give you her license
a lead in and say, I need to come off the that [seeking the best and not the worst
road.Or it may take a kid whose in the job].You help other police of-
helping officers
mother just got killed by his father, you ficers. Because when they had a prob-
cope with the know. What is it going to take for you lem, their own personal, theyll come
stress of the job to come back to reality and realize that to you because they see you in a
youre just a cop? Youre just somebody certain light. And they see [that] youre
and their out here doing eight hours. always working with kids. You got some-
personal lives. thing I can do with a kid.So you be-
You have to keep that spirituality within come a reference point for them.And
your heart because God is the one that I find it ironic that we, in community
watches over you, protects you from policing, help the community. But what
that unseen danger.I tend to find happens to our problems?
myself bringing that spirituality in the
community and that gets rid of that us- We still have everybody [who] gradu-
versus-them because thats when the ated [in] our class in the department,
devil gets involved. and everyone is doing well and we
keep in touch with each other. [When]
Im going to take care of my family and somebody has a problem, we can call
thats one of the things. Here Ive been one another.
doing this job for 10 years and prior to
that, I didnt have the sense or the feel- Our department has a mentor officer
ing in that very strong way. So thats an program. When new guys come on, the
important point for me. Sort of a stake training department looks at the old
in the ground in terms of taking care of guys [who] have been on a while like
myself, taking care of my family. were looking at one another here and
saying, you know, that guy is a guy
While acknowledging that a number of [whos] doing something right.They
officers exhibit these more problematic take guys like me, and they pair me up
with a brand new guy.You just talk using what they have.So that dimin-
about whatever interests him.Of ishes that us-versus-them because
course, new people want to know theyget a chance to know a police
about being a cop, and my job as a officer or know the community on a
mentor officer is to make sure that he first-name basis.
understands everything: how to be a
The participants agreed that all police of-
20-year veteran, how to retire from the
ficers exhibit some degree of an us-ver-
job, not how to make it necessarily the
sus-them mentalityas a mechanism for
year. FTOs [field training officers] will
survivalbut that attitude in a more ex- Community
take care of that. Youve got to make
treme form can cause problems with the
sure that they are human beings and policing was
communitys perception of the police. Com-
members of society for that entire
munity policing may prove to be an im- seen as a
career.
portant key for addressing the problem by
Community policing was also seen as a creating more-positive interactions with the
critical
critical component in preventing the us- community that will, in turn, provide of- component in
versus-them mentality by allowing officers ficers with a more-positive perspective on
preventing the
the opportunity to have more positive con- the people they serve.
tacts with the community. As one of the us-versus-them
participants commented: Code of Silence mentality
I think when youre in control also, you The topic of the code of silence or blue
wall of silence generated more controversy
by allowing
see the community in which you work
a little differently than a community than any other topic discussed. The dis- officers the
cussion began with a flat denial: Ive got
police because youre in service. Okay. opportunity
The radio dictates your movements, to tell you: there is no code of silence.
your time. The only time youre in con- However, even this naysayer before long to have more
trol is when you take a personal or admitted to what amounted to a code of positive
when you take lunch. When youre in silence, though he preferred to call it
police subculture. contacts with
community policing, you dictate what
happens. You control the pace.Most At first, some held that the code of silence the community.
officers Ive seen who come out of was a media creation and was based on
patrol[when] they come into a posi- isolated incidents that would negatively
tion in community policing, they sit stereotype the publics perception of the
back. Say, for example, in a situation police. Others admitted it exists and poses
like this [the focus group] and its, Oh. problems, but they suggested it is not as
The sigh of relief. Youre in with people pervasive as is sometimes depicted in the
[who] have education, [who] have a media. The officer who denied outright that
home, [who] have interests other than a code of silence exists immediately de-
robbing a bank, taking drugs, beating scribed something approximating such a
on kids, or whatever the case may be. code for minor transgressions. What
If they were in service [patrol], what- concerned him was that people would
ever skills they have, now they can suggest such a code applied for criminal
come to surface. In other words, theyre activities by fellow officers:
Police Foundation
24
The code of silence is I take care of admitting to the possibility of the wall of
you, you take care of me. Yes, I might silence resulted from the kinds of activities
drive a drunk officer home. We may that were permitted to stay behind the wall.
overlook the minor things. Theyre in What kind of police misconduct was be-
no way infractions upon society or other ing ignored? Whether the term police mis-
police officers.Good police officers conduct referred to officer violations of
police other police officers. Nobody minor departmental rules and regulations,
does that stuff in front of me.But the or to criminal violations committed by
media take that and run. Code of si- officers, affected the participants perceptions
[P]articipants lence. Code of silence.Ill protect just of the code of silence. The participants
insisted about anything: your morals, your foun- consistently insisted that for them no code
dation, your beliefs.But Im a crimi- of silence exists for incidents involving
no code of nal, and youre going to look out for criminal misconduct by a fellow officer.
silence exists me. No way. Its just the opposite.
One officer admitted he might turn his head
So that code of silenceinsults me per-
for incidents sonally. Its credibility.
while his partner smack[ed] a crook,
though he would not tolerate stealing:
involving Another officer stated, [T]he blue wall of
criminal silence, Louima thing, blue code of silence, No, Im not going to tolerate your steal-
and everything else,this is all stereotyped ing in front of me. Okay. Im not going
misconduct to tolerate your abusing your family in
in the media. Whatever the media see and
by a fellow whatever they print, people perceive that front of me. Am I going to turn my
to be true. head while you smack a crook?It
officer. depends.Then is my partner going
Others agreed that the media exaggerate to tell on me? Maybe. Is the crook go-
the wall of silence: ing to tell? Maybe. But thats something
I think it does vary from department to that I did.I think its upon every of-
department, jurisdiction to jurisdiction, ficer, if hes going to do somethingis
but, in general, I think certain people it something that Im going to get in
in the media or just certain people [who] trouble for or is it something that I wont
have been violated by the police would get in trouble for? If theres a chance
suggest that its so pervasive thats its Ill be getting in trouble for it,
going on everywhere.Im not a fink, 99 percent of the time Im not going to
but if it comes down to [my] getting on do it.
the box [trial stand] lying for you or
One officer described a rejection of the
[my] putting my family out into the soup
code of silence in his unit:
line, Im not going to lie for you.
If somebody has done something, our
All it takes is one incident. One nega-
unit has an understanding. Nobody lies
tive. And then the media come in and
for nobody. You dont do something
they blow it into like thats what goes
as my partner that I have to lie for you.
on every day, all day.
If you are going to require me to lie
As the discussion continued, it became for you, then I dont want you as my
apparent that much of the resistance to partnerbecause now what the hell
else are you going to require me to lie [Officer 1] Now,my question to you
for you over? is what is your line? Are you saying as
far as, lets say, a felony, that a fellow
Another officer emphasized drawing the
officer would commit or [are] you say-
line at felonies:
ing some minor rule or regulation? A
[T]hats a felony. Theres no cut and dry cop didnt wear his hat.
when it gets to that point. If he puts
you in that line of fire, hes not your [Officer 2] Tell the truth or get sus-
friend anymore. Hes not your part- pended for 30 days without pay.
ner.Its not, well, you know, no [Officer 1] It depends upon the in-
problem.But once you cross that line
[O]nce you
stance.
into felonies, you can forget it.I dont cross that line
[Officer 2] No. It depends upon
know a cop out there [whos] going to
whether or not I tell the truth or lie and into felonies,
go to prison for another cop.
my family is put out and inconve- forget it.
Another suggested that there are those cops nienced as a result of some indiscre-
who get involved and those who dont, tion or action as a result of you. I dont know a
and the dishonest cops know the differ-
[Officer 1] It depends upon the inci- cop out there
ence: The cops that are doing these kinds
of thingsthey know the cops [who] have dent. Are you going to tell on your part- [whos] going to
integrity [and] who are concerned about ner because he didnt wear his hat?
go to prison for
their images.As a result, they dont pull [Officer 2] well, we dont have to
you into that. wear a hat.
another cop.
Some participants felt either it was their [Officer 1] You say you are required to
duty to report even small departmental wear your vest.Are you going to tell
rules violations, or at least they would not on your partner because he didnt wear
cover for the violators if asked, because his vest?
participating in that way could, if discov-
[Officer 2] Im going to hope my part-
ered, jeopardize their pay. That is, the cost
ner doesnt put me in that position, but
of upholding the code of silence could be
if my supervisor
too high: Im not a snitch, and Im not a
fink, but if it comes down to [my] getting [Officer 1] Would you tell on your part-
on the box [and] lying for you or [my] put- ner if he didnt wear his vest that day?
ting my family out into the soup line, Im [Officer 2] If I would voluntarily go be-
not going to lie for you. Whichever posi- fore my supervisor and say, [he] didnt
tion was taken on whether to report such wear his vest. No.
infractions, the decision was generally
[Officer 1] Why?
viewed as being at the discretion of the
individual. That discretion included [Officer 2] Thats not my positionif
whether to report the violation to superi- the situation reversed, if the supervisor
ors, to report only if asked, or to remain came before me and asked me the ques-
silent to protect the officer. The following tion, you know, I would have to de-
dialogue between two of the participants cide at that particular time, but Im go-
illustrates the minor rule violation dilemma: ing to tell you heres where it escalates.
Police Foundation
26
If the supervisor says, tell the truth or Now, as far aswe have to wear our
do 30 days without pay. Well, he didnt hats if were in uniform.So if I make
wear a vest. a run and a citizen drives by and sees
my partner without his hat onand I
The discussion suggests that for one of the
get questioned about it later on, I dont
participants, his assessment of the serious-
know. He may have had on his hat. I
ness of the incident and the possible con-
wasnt paying attention. Do I know for
sequences (e.g., disciplinary action) of his
sure? Maybe I do; maybe I dont. Is it
failure to report the incident were critical
going to affect my paycheck? Thats
factors to be considered in the decision to
Where they what hes [the participant] thinking. If
tell on your partner. Similar points of view
[the publics it affects your paycheck, yes [partner
were expressed by other participants, al-
was not wearing hat] because now
perception] though one participant felt that it was not
youre affecting his livelihood. But if
at the officers discretion. That participant
hold you over emphasized the need for the officer who
its something as minor as that [violat-
ing the policy on wearing a hat while
the barrel is did not wear a hat or vest to be account-
in uniform], I dont care about that.
able for that action and not to place a fel-
they constantly low officer in an awkward position when
If it comes down to something as stu-
want to attack questioned by a supervisor. Reactions to
pid as a hat, and were sitting next to
the minor departmental rule violation ex-
your level one another and the supervisor [asks],
ample included the following:
Was [the officer] wearing his hat? Its
of discretion.
Where they [the publics perception] up to [that officer] to say, No, I wasnt.
hold you over the barrel is they con- And if [that officer] doesnt, he wants
stantly want to attack your level of dis- to make me lie over a hat? No, nega-
cretion. They want to say, Okay, you tive. I tell my supervisor the exact
wouldnt tell on your partner for not truth.Im not going to lie for you nor
wearing his hat, not wearing his vest? are you willing to require me to lie for
So whats to say that youre not going you.No [its not discretion]. We po-
to tell on him for robbing a bank, tak- lice ourselves in that way becauseif
ing a handful of money on a burglary anybody wants to make me lie for
call out of the open door in back? them, then thats somebody that I cer-
Whereas youre susceptible to not turn- tainly do not want near me.Im go-
ing [him in]from wearing his vest or ing to tell the truth, and then that per-
wearing his seatbelt. Whats to say son is no longer a part of whatever,
youre not susceptible for the thing? whether it [the incident] be minor or
Same thing might be susceptible for not major. And criminal violations are way
writing a traffic ticket when you blew out. You dont wait for somebody to ask
that stop sign yesterday. It was my dis- you over. If its a criminal violation,you
cretion. Its the same thing that makes take care of that [person] immediately
me take the driver home on a DUI [driv- with your supervisor and thats taken
ing under the influence] rather than care of.
arrest him.
[Participants response to the comment there. All right.For me, its better for
made above.] Thats why that term [code my partners [whom] Ive worked with to
of silence] is insulting to a good cop. know that yes, if you do something ri-
Any [officers who push] me in that line diculous, Im going to let it be known
of fire [criminal violation], they brought because that keeps them in line and that
on themselves. They asked for it. keeps me in line. Okay. And then theres
no question.
The focus of the foregoing discussion was
a situation involving the violation of a mi- No. You take me right out of the dis-
nor departmental rule or regulation. We cretionary loop once you do that. If
[A] bad
wanted to find out the participants per- somebody is in jail, and you decide to
spectives on situations involving more se- give him a good crack, you took me cop will force
rious (i.e., criminal) forms of police mis- out of my discretion. You put me now you to try to
conduct. An example of a situation involv- intoyou forced me intothe role that
ing serious police misconduct was Im already in as a police officer. Now remain silent.
suggested by one of the participants: Or Im forced to police you. You put me He will
use the popular one. The handcuffed pris- in the line of fire.So youre account-
oner [officer physically abuses prisoner]. able at that point.
put you on
Thats the most popular.
The attitude has existed here [his de-
the spot.
Thus, we asked the participants to provide partment] a number of years where you I hate it.
their views on a situation involving a fel- dont burn blue. The so-called bad cops
low officer whom they witnessed striking will put you in that position, and they
a handcuffed suspect. The consensus will try to rely on your loyalty. You see
among the participants was that officer dis- me slap him. Its like okay, you dont
cretion, as a factor in the decision to re- in front of all the guys. Because of the
port the offense, would be totally elimi- moral issue, do I say, Yes, you did, or
nated. In addition, some indicated that the do I say, No, I didnt see. Its up to
individual officers own moral code would the individual officer. You do something
be a crucial factor in the decision-making criminal, [and] you put me on the spot
process. Typical comments included the indicted, you be a man and you handle
following: yours. Dont force me to force you.
Certain lines I dont cross. Its an indi-
Im honest. Im not going to bull here.
vidual thing.But a lot of cases we
Im telling you exactly the way it is be-
wont come forward, but when the
cause I dont care. All right. I am not
department finds out and were put in
going to,lets say, tell on my partner
the line of fire, yes, you know it, we
about thingsand I understand what
know it.But a bad cop will force you
hes sayingthings that do not pertain
to try to remain silent. He will put you
to my paycheck or to my life, my per-
on the spot, and I dont appreciate it.
sonal life. No, Im not. But if theres a
I hate it.
chance that it could come back and cause
stress and strife in my personal life, with- [Y]ou are who you are and you are what
out question [Ill tell]. You hit. You know. you are. The badge and gun only em-
You should have done it when I wasnt phasize sometimes what it is that you
Police Foundation
28
are as a person. You have your own Ive gone through doors withwho has
set of morals. And yes, the department gotten out and now hes put me in this
has [its] set and the society has [its] set, situation. What the hell am I going to
but you yourself, when you talk about do?
code of silence, you know what youll
Well, the easy way for me to do it is to
be able to do and what youll be able
shut up and sit back, and let the investi-
not to do, and its up to you to make
gation start. And let me see what I may
that decision.
have to say. I was going to take that
To provide further illustration of the per- approach until my partner called me
[I]f your
sonal dilemma that an officer contends with you cant tell them what went on.
partner does in making the decision whether to report And I said, Wait a minute. And I
something police misconduct, one of the officers re-
started[comment made by another
called an incident that he was involved in
felonious and participant] [to say], Is this going to
with a partner. In his discussion of that affect my house? Yes. Becauseif your
you do not incident, he framed his story in terms of
partner does something felonious and
the earlier discussion of the code of silence
say anything you do not say anything about ityou
as a way to understand the personal chal- are in just as much trouble as your
about ityou lenges that an officer can face:
partner.
are in just as I had a partner when I first started work- So I was going to be quiet until they
much trouble ing vice. On our way to one of the bomb asked me. I wasnt going to volunteer.
threats, my partner happened to see his Thats the way a lot of officers do. They
as your
girlfriend in the carwith her boy- [think], Well, Im not going to say any-
partner. friend.I dont know the girlfriend. I thing until they ask. If they ask me,
dont know the boyfriend.I didnt well, Ill make a decision then. Which
know anything.I had no idea what the is what[comment made by another
hell was going on. My partner says to participant]I did that until he called
me, Hey, thats a friend of mine.See me at my home and asked me.In fact,
if you can pull them over so I can talk to he demanded, You cant tell them what
her.I pulled over. I got out. My part- went on. Man, Ill beIll lose my job.
ner got out. And he got into a physical
altercation with this young lady. And so I said, Wait a minute. If I dont tell
I began to get out of the car to break this them, Im going to lose all those same
up. Her boyfriend got into this alterca- damn things that youre talking about.
tion also. My partners gun was drawn, This wasnt my girlfriend.But you put
and he feloniously assaulted both of them me there. Which is what[comment
with the gun.He beat them. He pistol- made by another participant] is talking
whipped them. about.If you think, as an officer, that
youre going to do something thats
Now, Im standing there scratching my going to jeopardize your partner or that
head going, Oh, shit. What am I going you yourself could get in trouble for,
to do? Here this is my partner who is you better not do it in front of me.
watching my back many times, whom
Noting that the participant initially felt he question is, are you protecting the code
should wait for an investigation or until he of silence byeven allowingknow-
was questioned by a supervisor rather than ing inevitably youre going to go ahead
come forward to report the incident, we and break down? But are you, in a
asked if that was a common approach sense, I guess, enforcing the code of
among police officers. The perspectives the silence by waiting as opposed to
officers brought were theoretical when knocking on the door. Hey, I got some-
compared with the actual experience the thing to tell you? Thats a tough call.
first officer related. Several officers spoke
Another officer invoked both integrity and [A]nother
of a higher standard to which police are
the higher standard to which the police
held. For example, We dont havethe thingis
are held, which favor calling and report-
public doesnt have those expectations to-
ing the incident: the subculture
ward those people [people in private or-
ganizations]. [When] you look at us, we But ultimately, your integrity is going of police.
are held to a higher standard.And we to be more important to you over your
accept ityou have public accountability, career than your loyalty to one another
[L]et there be
just like politicians. You have an account- is going to be. And the public does hold a snitch in the
ability to the public. us to a higher level.I mean, its [the
department
public] certainly [having] the expecta-
One participant said his approach would
tion that we are not liars and thieves. and we
have been immediately to call his
supervisor: A frank discussion of the pressures of the absolutely
subculture of policing was offered by one hate him.
I would handle that differently.And
participant:
theres no right or wrong, but as soon
as that person committed that act, then Id say another thingis the subculture
[its] up to the supervisor to make that of police.Subculture policing helps
decision. My supervisor gets a call and hold that down. Theres a lot of guys
then he makes the decisionwhen [an [who] would say things but dont be-
officer] hits somebody for no reason, cause theyre afraid to be chastised by
my supervisor is called. Everybody the people around them, the other
waits right there and he can explain to cops.But let there be a snitch in the
[the supervisor]. Because at that point, departmentand we absolutely hate
when he pulls his gun out and pistol- him. Its the worst thing you want to
whips somebody for an illegal reason, hear about.Very few peoplein that
then hes made my decision for me. I subculture say, Hey, wait a minute.
have no more discretion. What would you have done?Oh, I
guess I would have done the same
Another officer felt it was a tough call:
thing. Youre danged right youd have
I think [that with] the questions youre done the same thing. That subculture
asking, we have a policy. As an obliga- stops.How youre treated, how youre
tion, youre obligated to report this to chastised, how youre labeled. Its a very
internal affairs to come and question big thing in policing.
you with regard to that. And I think the
Police Foundation
30
The discussion made apparent that a code going to put down their doughnut and
of silence does exist in the police subcul- come to get you. Thats hard. Thats
ture and could place pressure on an hard.
officers deciding whether to report an in-
Although the discussion suggested a code
cident involving serious misconduct. The
officer may consider not only what his or of silence influences their behavior, par-
ticipants commented that the amount of
her own morals are, but also how fellow
behavior that involves covering up mis-
officers will view his or her decision. Of-
ficers who report on fellow officers may conduct is very small. Estimates ranged
[Y]ou are from 1 to 5 percent. But, as one officer
be chastised or labeled:
suggested, [F]rom that 1 percent, you are
judged on the If you place an officer in a position judged on the acts of that one [officer]. Its
acts of that where he would have to either lie for 99 percent that are out there doing the right
you or face alienation by coming out. thing.Because its that same one person
one [officer]. We have one guy that bustedour TAC that you will be judged by civvies.
[N]inety-nine [tactical] unit, but to save himself.That
At the close of the discussion, the partici-
[was in] 1987 and hes still on the out-
percent side. He doesnt exist. He doesnt get
pants criticized the media for creating the
are out there backup. No one hangs out with him.
public perception that the code of silence
problem is an everyday occurrence in po-
Far as theyre concerned, hes a bas-
doing the licing. Because of misrepresentation by the
tard child in the department because
right thing. he came forward in the way he did. He
media, all police officers are perceived by
the public to support each other when in-
saved himself from indictment but ev-
cidents of police misconduct occur by not
eryone else got indicted.Thats an ex-
ception. Its not common at all. Its a
acknowledging to the proper authorities
that the incident took place:
one time thing.
But that [incident] got blown out of
To be isolated for something, for being
proportion [by the media].Is the blue
labeled. It happens all the time.
code of silence, Louima thing, blue
Nobody wants them around. Youre
code of silence, and everything
afraid to say anything.
elsestereotyped by the media? What-
[A]s a police officer, you dont get ever the media see and whatever they
backupwhich means that because print, people perceive that to be true,
you stood on something that you felt no matter how much it is [and] no
morally right onthats a hard pill to matter how minute it is.But thats
swallow.[U]nfortunately these same how people perceive things. And
officers that sometimes you are everybody gets stereotyped.
snitching on, or you are telling on, or
The media take that one bad experi-
whatever, are the same officers [who]
ence that he had and make it every-
are going to be there at a domestic. Or
one.
who are going to be the ones that youre
going to [see] when you call for help; All it takes is one incident. One nega-
theyre going to be listening. And theyre tive. And then the media come in and
they blow it into thats what goes on very much troubled by it.I feel bad
every day, all day. Its like that incident for the first one, two, three, four police
in New York. officers who are going to be the test
pilots, if you [will]. They are going to
The publics perception of the existence
get, I feel, very mistreated. Everybody
of a code of silence poses problems for does. There are good things, dont get
the police profession, even if the
me wrong, with a review board.But
perception is exaggerated. As the participants
right now we are having a hard time
suggested, the community will not perceive incorporating.
their police as professional if the code of Who is on
silence or if police misconduct in general is civilian review board, we have one;
condoned. it doesnt have any power. It doesnt
the bar
dictate department policy. association?
Solutions Lawyers
We have it. A lot of controversy. Lots
Agency Procedures for Dealing
and lots. Officers dont particularly care. judging
with Abuse of Police Authority The general consensus is they dont par-
We posed a number of questions regard- ticularly care for civilians judging them lawyers. Who
ing procedures for handling complaints: and their actions, because they dont see is on the
How should investigations of citizen com- it fromthe perception is different.
plaints be handled (i.e., internally or by doctors
outside civilian review)? Is civilian review They [civilians] dont know the emo-
associations?
of police misconduct effective in address- tional side and everything that we see
ing problems of abuse? Do such reviews and we deal with. Doctors
affect officers behavior? judging
Who is on the bar association? Lawyers
Interest is growing in the possibility of es- judging lawyers. Who is on the doctors.
tablishing independent civilian agencies to doctors associations? Doctors judging
monitor police conduct. A number of U.S.
Why are we
doctors, doctors policing doctors. We
cities have some form of civilian review are a specialty; we go to training; we different?
for citizens complaints against police. deal with other people just like them.
However, controversy persists about the Why are we different?
best mechanism for handling police mis-
conduct. Police sometimes argue that only But in our professionits civilians now
the police can effectively police the po- and not police officers and bosses or
lice. We asked the participants for their mid-management or upper manage-
perceptions of the use of civilian review ment, however you want to call it,
boards, as well as whether their own cities making a decision.
had established civilian boards for review-
Ours is not a fact-finding board so to
ing citizen complaints. Participants re-
speak. What they do is just an over-
sponded as follows:
sight committee that basically ensures
We are just getting it [civilian review]. that the investigation is thoroughly con-
We as police officers and the unions ducted and thatno indiscretions or
are adamantly against it. We are very, abusive things [are] going on during the
Police Foundation
32
you do.You know, just to tell a guy a I find that, for me, I was always asking
job [is] well done motivates that guy to that question in my years of commu-
get up and pull himself out of bed the nity policing. But I guess for me I found
next morning and giveat least that the pat on the back by being asked to
same effort. come here [as a participant in the focus
group]To me, that was a lift.
But you get hollered at every other day
for something that you did [that] in their I agree with [comment above], [its the]
[police administration] mind is wrong. same thing. Thats why Im here, be-
So I think there should be an equal cause of my commissioner, and he If you are
amount.If you are going to get at me thinks very highly of me, which feels
about what I do wrong, get at me about good.
going to
something I did right, too. get at me
In addition to the need for departments to
in the last three or four years, I re- provide recognition of positive police be- about what
ceived over 40 [commendations] and let- havior, the participants feel that recogni- I do wrong,
ters from citizens thanking me.The tion from the community is also an impor-
community has been very responsive tant factor. While having a difficult time get at me
in thanking me. My department has with a certain community in embracing the about
given me two in the same period of concept of community policing, one par-
time; my partner and I won an interna- ticipant commented:
something
tional award for problem-oriented I did right,
policing.A year and a half later, I But I guess that one community that I
havent received a letter from my de- was speaking of earlier, I think if I got too.
partment saying good job. But Ive re- more thank yous and pats on the back
ceived letters from all over the nation from them, I would be more motivated
saying good job. Its interesting to me to work with that particular community.
that we often dont appreciate those But [in] the other two [communities he
next to us while we [do] appreciate is assigned to], I can do something as
someone from across the country. small as [this:] Just one old ladylives in
the community, and she calls me for
We dont get recognized by upper man-
everything. And every time that I do
agement. I wouldnt say middle
something for her, she really makes me
managementyour direct supervisor
feel special.
probably knows what you are doing
because you make him look good as Awareness of this universal yearning for
supervisor.But for all those attaboys approval and recognition can perhaps in-
that youve got, all the pats on the back, form the improvement of policing and the
Im saying, once you make a mistake in changing structure of police authority in
judgmentnot a severe thing, not a the age of community policing.
criminal thingforget about all those
attaboys you ever got. Nobody will re-
member that.
Police Foundation
34
1. The quoted portions of this appendix have been edited sparingly to enhance readability while
maintaining the speakers voice.
We thank David Hayeslip, Bill Matthews, Colleen Cosgrove, and Stephen Mastrofski for their
advice in selecting police departments for the focus group.
Rosann Greenspan
David Weisburd
Edwin E. Hamilton
2
Contents
Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 3
Us-versus-Them Mentality 29
Code of Silence 32
Solutions ........................................................................................................................... 35
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 38
Police Supervisors
3
POLICE SUPERVISORS
1
Introduction country were represented as well as
We explained the selection criteria that departments of varying sizes. On the basis
guided the process for choosing the po- of the established criteria, we derived a list [For] the
lice departments for participation in the two of 24 police departments, assigning half
supervisory-
panels of policeone of rank-and-file of- to the rank-and-file group, and half to the
ficers and one of supervisory-level offic- supervisory-level group. As a result, 11 level focus
ersin Appendix C, Report on Focus departments participated in the rank-and- group,[w]e
Group of Rank-and-File Police Officers. file focus group, and 11 departments par-
However, the method bears repeating here. ticipated in the focus group of supervisory- askedchief
level officers. executives to
Our goal was to achieve representation
from various types of departments, as char- To guide the participating police departments choose an officer
acterized by their style of policing, with in selecting representatives to participate in
attention to size of the community served the supervisory-level focus group, we pro-
with the rank
and region of the country. We began the vided the chief executives with a list of sug- of sergeant
selection process by using our own exper- gested criteria. Criteria for selection of su-
or lieutenant
tise and by consulting several colleagues pervisory officers were naturally somewhat
to develop a list of police departments that different than for the rank-and-file group. and 3 to 5 years
are particularly known for either commu- We asked the chief executives to choose an of supervisory
nity-oriented policing, problem-oriented officer with the rank of sergeant or lieuten-
policing, or traditional policing. We at- ant and 3 to 5 years of supervisory experi- experience.
tempted to ensure that all regions of the ence. For those departments selected for their
Police Foundation
4
orientation toward community- and prob- authority, the culture of policing, and what
lem-oriented policing, we asked that the can be done to prevent problems of abuse
officer selected be a member of those units. of authority.
We asked departments selected for traditional
In addition, the supervisory-level officers
policing to select officers from specialized pretested the second draft of the instru-
units, such as narcotics or gang units, who
ment to be used in the national survey.
have considerable contact with community
They provided valuable input by review-
residents. As requested, their assignments ing and reacting to each of the survey items,
included community- or neighborhood-
[S]upervisors and by making general and specific rec-
policing units, and specialized units includ-
ommendations. The participants worked
turned to ing narcotics, organized crime, mounted diligently, discussing difficult and personal
patrol, street crime, and internal affairs. The
the form of issues they face in policing and their bur-
11 officers from all regions of the country
dens and responsibilities as supervisors in
abusethey who participated in the supervisory-level addressing those issues. We are sincerely
perceive[d] focus group ranged in policing experience
grateful for their thoughtful and frank
from 10 to 29 years, with an average of about
as the most conversation.
18 years experience as police officers. With
extensive: respect to their experience as supervisors,
they ranged in experience from 2 to 11 years, Defining Issues of Police Authority
discourteous We began the focus group by discussing
with an average of 5 years of supervisory
behavior by experience. how police supervisors view the bound-
aries of the proper use of authority, as well
officers toward The supervisory-level focus group was as by asking participants to discuss what
citizens. moderated by Rhoda Cohen, survey direc- they consider appropriate and inappropri-
tor of the project, from Mathematica Policy ate conduct in the exercise of police au-
Research under contract with the Police thority. The supervisors immediately turned
Foundation, with the participation of Dr. to the form of abuse that they perceive as
Rosann Greenspan, Research Director, Earl the most extensive problem in their su-
Hamilton, and Kellie Bryant of the Research pervisory work: discourteous behavior by
Division of the Police Foundation. The fo- officers toward citizens. Although some fo-
cus group met for two days, from 9:00 A.M. cused on this abuse as the problem in it-
to 5:00 P.M., on October 27, 1997, and from self (A lot of what comes through our
9:30 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. on October 28, 1997. department is the language complaints, the
Following a framework similar to that used attitude complaints.), others stressed the
with the rank-and-file group, the modera- relationship between officer insensitivity
tor led the sergeants and lieutenants in a and the escalation of the problem. They
discussion of a range of topics with a set suggested that abuse of a more serious
of questions to guide each topic. The broad nature could be prevented if officers main-
categories included defining police author- tained a polite demeanor from the outset.
ity, supervisors perceptions of the extent One Internal Affairs officer led off the dis-
and nature of abuse of authority, the effect cussion by stating, Our Internal Affairs
of community policing on the abuse of Division investigates anywhere from eight
authority, societal factors that affect police [thousand] to ten thousand complaints a
Police Supervisors
5
year. And many of them stem from inci- going to focus on. And their complete
dents that really need not occur if people focus was trends of police officers,
were more courteous or officers were more trends that are specific to what were
sensitive to people theyre talking to. She talking about that wereand Im not
elaborated that her observation of this prob- trying to lessen itbut nothing more
lem was also based on her experience than officers not being personable
while working with patrol officers, Just enough with the public.
looking at some of the complaintsfrom
what was my experience on a district level One officer shared a recent incident that
he just investigated as an illustration of the A key element
when I did work with patrol officers, many
type of courtesy complaint that causes
of the complaints could be avoided simply in courteous
by being more courteous and more pleas- problems for officers and that influences
ant, schmoozing.
the negative impressions citizens have behavior[is]
about the police:
Another officer suggested that no connec- taking the time
tion necessarily existed between discour- Ive got a good example.[A]n officer to explain
tesy and brutality: We dont have a brutal- went to a house with his sunglasses on
ity problem, but we sure as hell have a to get some information from a com- what youre
discourtesy problem. plainant. She asked him to have a seat, doing and why
but he wouldnt sit down. He wouldnt
A key element in courteous behavior rec-
take the damn sunglasses off. Shes
youre doing
ognized by the officers was taking the time
pissed off. She says, He has no con- it.
not only to schmooze but also to explain
cern. Why did I bother to call in the
what youre doing and why youre doing
first place?
it.Most of the time you take the 15 or 20
seconds to explain what youre doing and So I chatted with the officer before I
why you have to do it, and you can avert came up here about it, Well, you know,
[or] divert from a lot of problems. I didnt think about the sun-
Despite the general agreement that cour- glasses.Most of our officers are less
tesy was the big problemthe problem that than three years on. And unless that
concerns their departmentsone officer couch has roaches on it and Ive got to
found this emphasis both in the focus group scrape them off, you know, Ill plop
and in his own department surprising: down anywhere most of the time. But
this officer just did not feel comfort-
I find it very interesting because just
able sitting in this ladys house. And it
two weeks ago we had one of our su-
wasnt a call that was ait was a noise
pervisors meetings. And IA [internal
complaint. Thats why she called 911.
affairs] was scheduled as one of the
And thats what we see a lot of, that
presenters at the meeting. And so you
type, where just the body language is
have about 30 supervisors from the
all bad, what theyre projecting when
captain and the sergeant ranks listen-
they talk to people.
ing to IA and I suppose, like me, ex-
pecting that there were going to be As the discussion continued, a theme
some pretty severe topics that IA was emerged among these experienced officers
Police Foundation
6
Police Supervisors
7
earlier: So I think that its changed a little through the cadet program or who come
bit, the publics perception of how open the from suburban areas dont associate with
officers should be to their discussions, the the area that they work with. They dont
way that theyre talked to [by] the police. have the empathy that they should have
And I think that the expectation from that with some of these other cultures that they
end is a little more than it was in the past. police.
One officer suggested, I think they kind Another officer argued, [The empathetic
of look for us to be a little bit more com- officer] has greatly improved over the last
passionate to their needs or [to be] able to number of years,but the complaints are [S]tandards
give them the answer to their solutions right more now.
then and there. of acceptance
Another officer pointed out that standards
Another officer noted, What I have found of acceptance of police authority vary from of police
over the 24 yearsand it seems to be get- community to community and depend on authority
ting worse, at least in [his city]is there is how residents in a community view past
less of a willingness of the [public] to sub- relationships with police. Thus, the bound-
vary from
mit to authority. This comment met with aries of acceptable behavior are variable: community
general agreement from the participants.
I also think that it depends on where to community
One officer offered his perception of the youre working. Whats acceptable in and depend on
negative attitude that the general public has one area of your community might not
toward police authority, which results in a be acceptable in another. I could tell how residents
need for greater verbal skills on the part two people the same thing in different view past
of police officers: ends of this city. And one might take
offense at it, but the other one would
relationships
[T]here [are] going to be the one
percenters [who] are going to complain,
just go ahead and just do it because its with police.
the norm. I think they look at who they
no matter what the officer does. But
used to deal withthe expectations of
also now its like youre having to use
the past, police officers, as opposed to
more verbal skills to get over the im-
what were dealing with now.
mediate dissension that people have
about police authority. Before, Further discussion indicated that the stan-
whatever a police officer told some- dards set by the citizens have altered con-
one was not questioned. People just siderably since the Rodney King case and
reacted and responded out of the re- the increased media attention it brought to
specting authority. With the media and police authority. One supervisor suggested
the perception of us becoming more that the publics greater expectations are
human and our mistakes being magni- related to their being better informed about
fied, people dont accept what a police law enforcement:
officer says as quickly as I think they
used to. [T]he publics expectations, as well as
their knowledge of law enforcement,
One officer suggested that the problem is has changed here in the last 20 years.
lack of empathy, that officers who come Obviously one of the big benchmarks
Police Foundation
8
was Rodney King.[The case] had na- Abuse of Authority and the Role
tionwide impact. Something else that of the Supervisor
goes along with that in just about the Handling Citizen Complaints of
same time period is the development Abuse of Authority
of the news media to where they are Participants critiques of the citizen com-
always out there, and their cameras plaint process became a vehicle for entry
are always rolling; they are capturing into an interesting discussion of the role
all these events. So the publics knowl- of the supervisor. A number of participants
edge of how we operate in law enforce- expressed the view that the complaint pro-
[I]ts a ment has increased and changed. cess had changed in significant ways that
citizens I think these are two significant things have led to an increased number of citi-
that have changed the publics out- zen complaints. Citizens increasingly abuse
willingness look of law enforcement and their their right to complain about an officers
to be policed expectations of it. misconduct, and the supervisors right to
as well as a reject complaints as unfounded has been
One participant complained that citizens
removed. One officer called it abuse of
supervisors now expect that they can provoke officers
complaints:
with impunity and that since Rodney King,
willingness to police are expected not to react but to be I would just like to add one thing,
supervise and robocop: personally. There is also abuse of com-
plaints being taken; thats a fact. In this
make hard You should be able to walk up to a information world we live in, [all people
policeman and slap him, kick him six
choices. know] they can sign a complaint. A lot
or seven times, and then when he starts of complaints are used as leverage for
to raise his fists, say, I give up, and I know defense attorneys [who] just tell
the policeman is supposed to say, Oh, their clients right off the bat, you go
okay. Could you put your hands be- down and sign a complaint against that
hind your back for me? officer, for assault, whateververbal
abuse. And its used as leverage in court
In concluding the discussion about defin-
for a plea bargain situation. So I think
ing the boundaries of abuse of authority
everything said in here is correct, but
and leading into a discussion about super-
there is also abuse of the system. Its
vision, one participant pointed out the
just so widely known that you can sign
multiple, interactive levels of defining, ex-
a complaint against a cop, [that] you
ercising, and controlling authority. He sug-
can sue a cop or threaten a cop [when]
gested that successful encounters depend
you are going to sue,that its abused
on the citizens acceptance of the legiti-
in some forms.
macy of the officers authority, as well as
on the unseen supervisors acceptance of Others agreed that citizens abuse the
authority over that officer: So, its a citizens system as a way to punish the officer:
willingness to be policed as well as a
supervisors willingness to supervise and
make hard choices and hard decisions.
Police Supervisors
9
If a complaint comes in, weve got to officer gave an example, by way of con-
document it, and then weve got to go trast, of when he was a young patrol officer
through the investigative steps. [Weve and his own supervisor had exercised the
got to] interview, weve got to call, and discretion to reject a complaint against him:
its just a bunch of bullshit [in] the major-
I remember when I came on, my ser-
ity of the cases. A lot of it is just
geantsI remember I was working traf-
vindictive. They are trying to backdoor
fic and I went out and I tagged this
the officer because they [complainant]
woman for speeding and whatever else.
got jammed up on something. So they
Well, she called in a complaint to my [A]s
want to deflect thewhat Rwas say-
sergeant. And this woman alleged that
ing. They want to deflect the focus of frontline
I used certain wordsIm sorry
whats going on. And they want to jam
up the cop by making a complaint.
maam, he said. He said, Maam, I have supervisors,
known this officer for a number of
Its like he said, like Rsaid; its a
[w]e have
years. I know how he speaks and I
ploy to get something for nothing. And know the terms. He says he does not orders that if
we find it all the time. Most complaints use language like that. You have no
somebody calls
are not valid. complaint. You are lying. And she hung
up the phone on him, and it was true. in a complaint,
One participant, acknowledging an in-
And we dont have that authority any- we are going
crease in complaints, was curious about
more.
whether the other participants were re- to put it on
quired as supervisors to take reports of Other participants shared the frustration
complaints that they knew would not be paper; its
that all complaints must be accepted, sug-
sustained. So is it the norm now that we gesting it breaks down morale and con- going to be
are accepting these complaints, and would tributes to just an awful environment:
everyone agree that there is nothing wrong
documented.
with a supervisor telling someone on the He is right.When people walk in with
phone or in person, Im sorry maam. You a complaint, no matter how minute it
dont have a complaint. is, we have to take it; it has to be writ-
ten down before we can do anything.
Replies indicated agreement that they
Id rather go to bat for that officer who
should have the discretion to reject com-
I know didnt do it, because it breaks
plaints, but that their supervisory authority
down morale. Our morale here is very
to handle incidents in such a manner had
low. So to have these additional com-
virtually been eliminated.
plaints only tears the officers down. On
As one noted, We dontthe administra- top of that, if the complaint is so gross,
tion has taken that away from us as mid- we call the [officers] right off the street
level managers, as frontline supervisors, our and take their gun and badge right then
administrations have taken that away from and there. And then we just do the
us. We have orders that if somebody calls in initial paperwork, and it goes straight
a complaint, we are going to put it on pa- to IAD. Sometimes we are not even able
per; its going to be documented. That to get involved until it goes to what we
Police Foundation
10
Police Supervisors
11
acting stupid and zoom in on them. This idea was repeated that supervisors are
Who is abusing sick time? I know who reluctant to behave as supervisors. One
they are. Again, you know who they officer noted that in his department there
are. seemed to be a breakdown in supervisory
responsibility, which he attributed to the
Although he agreed that not addressing the
fact that many of the supervisory-level
individual problem leads to unnecessary
personnel were young and too close to
blanket policies among other problems,
their experience as patrol officers. There-
one participant argued that the fault for
fore, they were unwilling to serve in a
not addressing problems at the individual [M]ost
supervisory capacity:
level originates with the sergeant who
protects his officers rather than holding So weve got a bunch of young cops supervisors
them accountable. He made the sugges- coming on, and weve got a bunch of in law
tive observation, which others corrobo- young supervisors who have not been
rated, that most supervisors in law able to make the break from patrol of- enforcement
enforcement more often want to be the ficer. Now all of a sudden they are su- more often
buddy rather than to be the supervisor: pervising. So I think there has been some-
what of a breakdown in super[vision.]
want to be the
That comes back to police super- I mean, they are still the patrolmans tail buddy rather
vision.[I]n a lot of instances, sergeants kind of thing.I dont know how many
know whats going on, protecting their thanthe
times Ive gone up to some of these kids,
employees. The lieutenant knows that and I [will] say, You are a cop; take supervisor.
the sergeant is doing the protection and charge of that situation and go. And so
[that] nobody is responding to the spe- theywe are behind the learning curve
cific issue. So, therefore, departments so much. So, its a citizens willingness
have to come out with blanket policies to be policed as well as supervisors will-
instead of accountability. If the sergeant ingness to supervise and make hard
is not accountable, which is the first- choices and hard decisions.
line supervision [and] supervisor to the
troops [and if] he doesnt work with the Another officer showed the serious conse-
troops and address training issues, and quences that can result when supervisors
address the deficiency that the officer are unwilling to behave in accordance with
has, then it all gets convoluted as it goes their supervisory responsibilities. Describ-
through the system.Then it gets to ing a current investigation in her depart-
Internal Affairs because it becomes a ment, she suggested that in an apparent
big problem because we dont [address situation of a very sick, serious pattern
the problem.] Some of my troops, when of abuse including using verbal abuse,
they first start working for me, call me planting drugs, and stealing money, the
nitpicky because I do. You have to look supervising sergeants must have been
at the small issues to keep from having complicit at least in that they didnt do
to look at the big issues. And most su- anything about the situation:
pervisors in law enforcement more of- Therein that situationthis investiga-
ten want to be the buddy rather than tion is not over yet. It has to come to
to be the supervisor. trial. But we found that there was a
Police Foundation
12
pattern of complaints. That is why this People assume that if you pass the test,
whole investigation was launched: there if you are a good test-taker or you can
was a pattern of having verbal abuse interview well, you are automatically a
complaints, planting drugs, stealing supervisor. Our department provided no
money, all kinds of allegations that took training to be a supervisor, and I think
on a very sick pattern. And when we that that is very reflective in what you
went and looked at it and did the joint are saying; here is your gold badge; go
operation with the FBI,it turned out do it. Then you just flounder around;
to be true. there is just, in many cases, no training.
[W]hen that
But there were all sorts of things that Although he acknowledged the important
new recruit had been discussed here that fall into role of the supervisor, one participant
sits with his that [category]. Number one, there has pointed out that the role of field training
to beand it has not surfaced yet officers (FTOs) was also a critical compo-
[field training
but there has to be a level of, if not nent in shaping the new recruit because
officer] for the complicity, responsibility on the part of that is where he begins learning the
the sergeants. These officers were ab- police culture:
first time, that
solutely lawless, and I dont know how
is where he anyone could not have seen that. And One thing that we havent talked about
although people arent pointing fingers in officer conduct and authority and
begins learning
and naming names yet, I would imag- what not, [is the police culture and] I
the police ine that might happen in the future. So think thats where it starts.You can
have all the training that you want, but
culture. there is a level of responsibility on these
sergeants and lieutenants that no one when that new recruit hits the street
accepted. I find itcoming from the and he sits with his FTO for the first
situation and my background [of be- time, that is where he begins learning
ing] with the police department,[for] the police culture. That is where the
20 yearsI find it astounding that these FTO says, I dont care what they told
sergeants didnt do anything. you in rookie school; this is the way it
is, pal. This the way we are going to
Another officer suggested that the appar- do it. I think it starts with their FTOs.
ent unwillingness to exercise supervisory
responsibility may be related to the absence Nevertheless, these police supervisors em-
of proper supervisory-level training, as well phasized the view that the role of the su-
as a lack of innate ability to effectively su- pervisor as a role model and mentor is a
pervise others: critical factor in setting standards and ex-
pectations regarding appropriate behavior.
A lot of that, I think, has to do with the
As one put it:
training of the supervisor and
then just the innate ability to be a We are talking about [a bunch of
supervisor. You can have a street cop factors] here, but one that I keep going
who is excellent at what he does. Then back to, and I think is so vitally impor-
people assume that he would make a tant, is the supervision. The supervi-
good supervisor, but he wouldnt. sor, the first-line supervisor, the
Police Supervisors
13
Police Foundation
14
It may not be a violation, but they didnt and cover for you the best that I can. If
follow the correct policy and procedure. you make a mistake because you are
That gives supervisors some leeway in messing off or trying to do what you
making some decisions on whether this arent supposed to do, then I will burn
qualifies for coaching and counseling you and I will send you to Satan or
or should there be some form of disci- wherever you need to go.
pline attached to it such as letter of rep-
The general sentiment that a clear line ex-
rimand or days off. So we have some
latitude there.
ists between a behavior that can be over-
[A] clear looked or treated lightly and an intentional
Another officer explained that his discre- criminal activity that deserves the harshest
line exists response was expressed by one officer in
tion ranged from deciding to do nothing
between about an incident to deciding to terminate this way:
deserves the It is hard to identify exactly why I did One participant noted that helping out an
that, except that I thought it was a officer accused of a serious violation could
harshest worthwhile officer who did [his or her] get the supervisor in trouble. And I agree,
response. job well and efficiently, and I didnt if I can fudge a little bit on a minor infrac-
want to see a blemish on [that officers] tion and handle it differently, Im going to
record. do that if its a good hardworking officer.
But Im not going to cross that line where
However, participants were quick to dis-
Im violatinggetting myself in trouble.
tinguish incidents involving intentional
criminal activities, where they would not As the discussion focused on criminal mis-
exercise discretion to impose less than the conduct by police officers, one officer re-
maximum discipline. As one officer said, marked that misconduct is progressive,
If it is something criminal, then you are and it is the responsibility of supervisors
on your own; shame on you. Another put to observe and document patterns of
it this way: inappropriate officer behavior.
But I also set a very specific football I think that misconduct is progressive,
field. You can make a mistake while and a lot of times supervisors, when
you are doing the job, and I will fight its in the minor stages, choose not to
Police Supervisors
15
document in some way, so that a pat- positive contact, youre apt to get a lot less
tern cant be seen. And the thing is, complaints. If youre the street-crime unit
too, an officer sometimes is transferred where youre kicking in doors, chasing
around to where we pass our discipline these knuckleheads, and doing what youve
problems to somebody else. Somebody got to do, theyre going to come in.
will say, well, what do you think of this
One participant noted that a problem with
guy. And youre thinking, oh, boy; hes
the way supervisors handle problems of
great; take him. You cant go wrong
abuse of authority is a lack of consistency
with this guy. But the pointis then
in disciplining officer misconduct:
the disciplinary process starts all over. [M]isconduct
That supervisor has to see this progres- One problem we have with our [super-
is progressive,
sion, and it gets to the point when they visory] officers is the lack of con-
pass him on. So the officer goes through sistency.[M]aybe on Charlies side its, and it is the
a long time without any discipline when try to get your ass there next time; I responsibility
maybe we should be documenting throw it in the trash. And officers [hear]
more. that. Well, on Charlies side you can get of supervisors
away with that; on the Adam side you to observe and
An officer provided a story of sexist verbal cant. And thats a problem we have in
behavior toward her by a rookie that she our department; were not applying the
document
came to regret having laughed off. Well, rules fairly to everybody.I just think patterns of
5 years later, he was indicted and fired for they really do lack consistency in their
stopping vehicles with young women in inappropriate
routines every day,no problem, Ill
them. Hed run their plate, stop them, find cover it; dont worry about it, Ill take officer
out they had an active traffic warrant or it. You cant do that. Andthe biggest behavior.
something on them. [Hed] get them in the problem we had is everyone needs to
car with him and say, We can work this supervise and be fair about it. And I
out. You know, if you want to do some- think its a learning process.I think
thing for me, well let this warrant go. you said [that] everybody wants to be
However, another argued that it may be your buddy, wants to be your best
unfair to use an officers history of com- friend. I think we all want to be bud-
plaints. [I]f you have 15 brutality dies with our officers, but theres a bot-
complaints, does that mean that there is tom line you cross. Im your supervisor
some legitimacy to any allegations if you today, and this is what weve got to do.
caught them in a shooting[?] Not necessar-
But how clear is the line that the partici-
ily, because officers that work street-crime
pants saw between criminal and noncrimi-
units or narcotic units are the ones [who]
nal or between appropriate and inappro-
get all the complaints.
priate behavior? The moderator presented
Another officer agreed that the number of a scenario and asked the participants to
complaints an officer receives is related to discuss whether the behavior constituted
the work assignment: I agree. It depends abuse of authority. A handcuffed suspect
[on] where you work. You know if youre is sitting at an officers desk while he fills
a community service officer, [with] more out the necessary paperwork. With no
Police Foundation
16
provocation from the officer, the suspect Another participant was clear, By my de-
suddenly spits in the face of the officer. As partment standards, it would be abuseit
a reflex action, the officer pushes the sus- would be excessive force. Yet he felt, I
pect in the face, causing the suspect to fall think it would be judged with the entire
over the chair onto the floor. situation in mind. In other words, an of-
ficer might not suffer a great deal of
Responses varied widely. To some extent,
discipline.
differences could be attributed to depart-
mental policies, but some participants in- Another analyzed the situation similarly,
dicated opinions would vary within their stating that although there [are] very few
[W]e pay
departments. The first reaction was No, instances that I know of that justif[y] strik-
officers this is not an abuse of police authority: ing someone [who is] handcuffed because
to make you do have complete control of him,if
NoI dont think thatI think thats
its retaliatory, its abusive. If its reflex, its
split-second pretty much a normalnot a normal,
not abusive.
if thats the right wordreaction of an
decisions, officer to use your hand to that persons Another officer felt, Once theyre cuffed,
weve got to face.I dont think the officer intended thats the end of the game, although you
on that persons falling over backward do have to take some kind of physical
give[them] action to handcuff some people.
in the chair and busting his head open
the necessary or whatever the repercussion. And I Another put it this way: I mean, 99.99
tools to make dont think that thats an abuse of percent of the time, if a prisoners hand-
authority. I think that thats a reaction cuffed, if the officer strikes him, its wrong.
decisions. to a disgusting act by this person whos
sitting in the chair. If you can cover [the And yet another officer said, If youre
persons] mouth and prevent [him or handcuffed in my office and you spit on
her] from spitting and the [person from me, [even if] not handcuffed, I dont care;
falling] over in the chair, youre doing its an assault.Im not going to continue
the same thing, which would be per- to beat you, but Im going to have to knock
fectly fine. you to the floor as a reaction.
Police Supervisors
17
Police Foundation
18
the situation. And then of course, some- behavior before the media. (When one
body that saw the last swing of the cop commander stood up on television for an
finally hitting the guy, no matter how officer who shot a pellet gun, it was ab-
bad the cop is beat, their statement is, solutely rare, because the chief chewed his
Johnny was on top of them just beat- ass later on.)
ing the hell out of him. So thats whats
At least one officer felt that even though
all over the media.
the media are as ruthless and awful in his
Another said that the media are not held city as the others had depicted, Our
accountable for the accuracy of their re- departmenthas a great deal of credibil-
[G]ood
ports. I wish there was some way we can ity and respect from the media. He pointed
publicity hold them accountable, but we cant. We out, The press is also used in a lot of oc-
comes and all know we cant. They can do whatever casions by us, and it brings out some of
they want, when they want. And its just the positive things we do. Were trying to
goes real implement and improve our work, and so
unfortunate that they do that type of
quickly. stories. on. So theres a positive side as well.
Police Supervisors
19
of problem officers, despite the apparent right, and that when police are involved
public perception of much more wide- in a criminal incident, they give themselves
spread problems: I mean, how many law up quickly because most policemen have
enforcement people are there across the a conscience.
United States [among] the FBI and the lo-
cal police and the sheriffs departments? I Participants laid blame on the media for
perpetuating the publics perception that
mean, there [are] thousands. Were judged
incidents of police violence are a common
on Rodney King, Fuhrman. But as one
officer stated, I think yes, it is an aberra- occurrence. [T]hey perpetuate some of
these theories about police misconduct, and [Y]oucant
tion. Butits intolerable.
they would have the public believing this
Another suggested, Cops are nothing more happens all the time, everywhere, and
discountthe
than a microcosm of society at large.Its everyday, and so on. training, the
not that theres a bunch of rogue cops out
there that are brutal and corrupt and crimi- While acknowledging that isolated inci- supervision.
nals. Its justits everyday cops going out dents of police misconduct do occur, par- [T]hose things
and doing their everyday job. He contin- ticipants stressed that their departments
ued, Youve got your very best, youve work hard to prevent such incidents from have to be
got a large group in the middle, and youve occurring. As one officer put it, [W]ill we reexamined
got some on the other end of the spec- find more police officers doing the same
kind of thing? Probably, because the money
anytime theres
trum that are not so good, and maybe even
criminals.We need to get rid of them. and the drugs are there, and because of an allegation.
the temptations. Have we, as an organiza-
Another officer suggested there is little se-
tionare we trying our best to look at all
rious misconduct, both because as a gov-
kinds of ways to stop this from happening
ernment entity, police are highly scruti-
again? Yes, we are. Later, this officer sug-
nized, and because police officers have a
gested that departments should work even
conscience.
harder at preventing these occurrences,
[W]ere a government entity, so were however isolated they are: But you just
totally an open book. We get more scru- have to look at it and say, Is the whole
tiny than the priests [who] molest little system bad? No, it isnt. But lets take more
boys. We get more scrutiny than the seriously any hint that there could be some-
mayor [whos] corrupt. We get more thing wrong going on with it. Lets really
scrutiny because we are representative look at it. The officer suggested review-
and we do deal with everybody on a ing all aspects of training and supervision:
day-to-day basis. But we probably have [A]nd you just cant discount all of those
less corruption and [fewer] problems in things: the training, the supervision. All of
our society, the police society, than those things have to be reexamined any-
probably any other organization, any time theres an allegation.
other group of people.
Another participant commended police
He went on to suggest that even the idiot departments ability to remove the bad
[who] comes into this job just to have a job apples: And I think, by and large, as
does perceive that we are supposed to do organizations, just from what Ive been
Police Foundation
20
listening,we do a good job of getting rid have Health and Safety in the Health
of people [who] need to be gotten rid of. Department who can handle that, write
Its a long, laborious process because weve citations.
got labor contracts to deal with and unions
We tried to redirect this group to those
and the whole spectrum. But I think by
people because that is where the en-
and large, we do a pretty good job of po-
forcement leverage comes from, not
licing ourselves when these incidents do
from us. But the point that I am mak-
come up.
ing is they were trying to force the
[T]he police department to enforce the health
Abuse of Authority and violation laws. When I refused, of
department Community Policing course they complained to council rep-
had gone too Community Policing and the resentatives, and it [got] into the politi-
Changing Authority of the Police cal arena.
far in creating
The officers discussed a variety of issues
expectations We created problems like that years ago
related to the expanded role of the police
when we started this neighborhood
that the police in community policing and to the chang-
policing and [when] it was necessary
ing and sometimes misunderstood nature
would solve all of their authority. One officer had recently
for us to convince them that the police
were on their side. We did absolutely
the problems. worked for two and a half years in com-
everything for them: civil, criminal, job
munity policing in a department with a
fairs, cleanups, completely run by the
relatively long (10-year) experience of com-
police department. And it had to be
munity policing. He described how the
that way because we wanted the com-
department had gone too far in creating
mitment from them and they wanted
expectations that the police would solve
to see the commitment from us.
all the problems when they initially were
trying to convince the community of the We are just now, after 10 years of do-
value of the new model of policing: ing this, we are just now trying to tran-
sition from that; we cant do everything
I tried for years to get the groupto
and dont expect us to do everything.
prioritize their problems. They are crime
We are struggling to do our job. It re-
problems; we can deal with crime prob-
ally impacted their perception of our
lems and we will help you deal with
authority.
some of the civil problems. The big-
gest problem was the narcotics, the He went on to explain how he felt that the
prostitution, and some of the more se- expectations of community residents
vere stuff. exceeded the limits of the authority of the
police:
However, they focused, during the en-
tire time that I was there, on the illegal Our community meeting was nothing
vendors near the school in that area. more than a police meeting. I say that
They wanted the police to fix the prob- because the police were up in front and
lems. And that is a civil problem. You there were 100 people waiting to
Police Supervisors
21
report every problem they had in the the residents to suggest that we were
neighborhood to the police. They had the only ones [who] could address those
the expectation that we would come problems.
back next week and tell them that the
Now they get a patrol officer [who]
problem had been fixed. We allowed
goes to cover or respond to a problem,
[the problem] to go like that for some
and they [have] a complete different
time.
demeanor.Theyre not comfortable
We tried to empower these groups, but with [the new patrol officer]. Theyre
there was a whole lot of resistance. not familiar [with him or her]. He [w]ont
[T]here
They really did not want to be empow- sit and have coffee with them at meet-
ered; they wanted the police to do it ings. is not
for them. We were not really willing to
Another officer discussed how police au- comparable
tell them that their perception of our
thority under community policing is un- training to
authority was wrong for fear of their
like the adversarial authority officers are
thinking we were bailing out on this
taught to exercise in their training, with
partnership
program that we were working on for
its emphasis on arrests. In community- with the good
years.
oriented policing, officers must learn
community and
Later, he described how dependent resi- to exercise authority with the good
dents can become on their neighborhood community: engage that
policing team and the dangers of such over-
And partly because the police mental-
community
reliance:
ity from the day the persons hired, in part of
I had myself and 10 officers working a going through the academy, with their
the problem-
small crime-ridden geographical area as field training officer, all through [the
the neighborhood policing team.[T]hey persons] career, its always go out and solving.
became completely possessive of my make arrests. You know, its kind of an
squad. They chose not to call communi- adversarial training thing here that were
cations to report crimes. They chose to going to battle with the criminal, which
hold onto 911-type aggressive, serious we [battle daily]. And there is a place
violations until we met the following for that [mentality]. But there is not the
week so that they could police bash. comparable training to partnership with
Hey, someone pointed a gun at me last the good community and engage that
Thursday, and I want to report it to you. community in part of the problem-
solving.
Did you call the police?
One officer described how the expectations
Well, no; we want a neighborhood
raised under community policing can en-
policing team officer to respond.
tail an unrealistic request to revert to
Sotheres some cautionwith putting police actions that once may have been
these teams together and working in acceptable, but now may exceed the
the communities and having them too limits of police authority:
available to community groups or to
Police Foundation
22
[T]alking about the community opposite.I think the more youre known
asking for unrealistic things25 to 30 in the community that you work, the less
years ago, in the downtown area, they likely youre going to get involved in any
had what they called the Bum Wagon. kind of corruption or stuff like that. I think
And that was a paddy wagon that would if youre not known, youre a stranger,
go around and just pick up all the bums nobody knows you, [and] you dont know
and, depending on how they behaved, anybody, [then] I think youd be more
they either went to jail or to skid row vulnerable.
or you took them someplace else and
[T]he more Similar points of viewthat community
threw them out. But they werent there
policing decreases the likelihood of
when everybody got to work in the
youre known abusewere expressed by other partici-
morning, so it looked nice. And these
in the pants without dissent. One suggested there
people were calling for the Bum Wagon
would be a decrease in both abuse and
community, to come back. Thats what they wanted
to do.
complaints of abuse because police would
the less likely be less likely to abuse people they know,
However, the community apparently did and because citizens would be less likely
youre going to
move the police to take action on the to accuse officers they know of abuse when
get involved in homeless problem by developing new ap- they use force:
any kind of proaches to address a problem that they
had ignored up until the old approach was I think that knowing someone person-
corruption. rendered unacceptable. They considered ally [causes] a lot less police miscon-
using arrest, but we didnt think our pan- duct because it would be hard to abuse
handling ordinance could withstand the someone you know or [who] knows
scrutiny of a Supreme Court challenge, and you as you are. I think when some-
we have more than enough homeless ad- thing is maybe construed as abuse, [for
vocacy groups out there that would be instance,] you have an arrest where you
willing to challenge us. Plus, its a lousy have to use force, [then] the people
waste of a police officers time. Instead, [who] know you [and] would observe
they came up with some very innovative [you] in the neighborhood where you
ways to deal with this, [such as bringing] work would be more supportive of
in service agencies that deal with these your using that force because they
individuals. Bring in whats left of the men- know how you are.
tal health professionals out there [who] will
Another participant suggested that com-
actually come.
munity-policing officers take a great deal
of pride in their relationship with their com-
Community Policing and the munity or their area, and they value that
Potential for Corruption pride for the most part. Theyve bought
Asked whether community policing in- into that neighborhood and they dont want
creases the risk of police corruption or to tarnish [their reputation].So I think
misconduct, one participants immediate many of their intentions are so honorable
response was, I think its just the that, again, corruption is not a factor.
Police Supervisors
23
Another officer pointed out that instances A participant gave an excellent explana-
of serious allegations of abuse received at tion of why he believed community polic-
Internal Affairs are rarely, if ever, directed ing is not just a throwback to the old beat
against beat officers: officer and will not lead us into the cor-
ruption we saw back then. The difference
[T]he allegations of serious corrup-
is the changes in morality and ethics in
tion or serious criminal misconduct are
law enforcement from back 40, 50 years
not made against those officers who are
ago and after things like Rodney King:
walking around, walking beats, or
[working] in the neighborhood going Well, I think this theory of increased [T]here is
to the beat meetings. You dont hear corruption or potential for corruption
complaints about those officers. You in relation to the community, a police-
a different
dont see those allegations of mis- man comes along with the thought that emphasis on
conduct. many people say that, well, commu-
morality and
nity-oriented policing is just a throw-
The profiles of the officers that these
back to the old beat officeron the ethics in law
kinds of serious accusations are made
street in New York City. He knew ev- enforcement
against are plainclothes [or are] doing
erybody on that street, where they lived
tactical or narcotics investigation. Those than we saw
and every shop owner and so on. And
are relatively young; they have a lot of
freedom. I understand the need for that
there was, in fact, corruption very fre- 40, 50 years
quently. But I think were in a different
in those kinds of investigations, but I
day and age, and Im not so sure were
ago.
think thats where those kinds of accu-
going to get the community-oriented
sations are headed towardnot to the
policing to lead us into the corruption
person sitting at the community meet-
that we saw back then. The reason
ing. I dont hear those allegations.
is weve had things like Rodney King,
One officer suggested that although com- and whats happened in Chicago, and
munity policing is a very positive thing, its what happened there, and whats de-
presence creates problems by contrast for scribed as happening in many cities. I
traditional patrol units. The problem were think there is a different emphasis on
dealing with sometimes with patrol units is morality and ethics in law enforcement
that when we have to go into an area, [we] than we saw back 40, 50 years ago. I
know [we]re met with a contentious atti- dont think even the public has a toler-
tude becausewe dont know these people. ance for the corruption that was a fact
I dont deal with them all the time, so when of daily life in New York 50 years ago.
I have to arrest Joe Blows kid and Johnny
So Im not so sure there is this greater
Joness daughter.
risk to it as some people seem to think.
In reply, another participant pointed out, I do believe that as time goes on and as
We get to know people and we get to community-oriented policing moves for-
know their first names, and we get to know ward, there will be some instances of it
something of the family history, but its and people will right away say, Aha,
strictly on a professional level. that was what I was talking about.
Police Foundation
24
But I think were in a different day and supervision to some extent where the su-
age, and I dont think its as great a pervisors [should] empower the officers a
risk. great deal more. Give them more and more
latitude in problem-solving and in
Another officer explained that he thought
developing relationships with the
community-policing officers are less likely community.
to become involved in corruption because
they are under observation and feel the Not only the structure but also the content
need to be representative of what people of the supervisors role changes under com-
I dont think a policeman should be: munity policing. One officer who was
given charge of the community-policing
thinkmany [W]hen you look at police corruption,
unit explained how his work has changed.
most times its under unsupervised,
agencies uncontrolled situations to where either I went from being a crime fighter, more
really have theyve been in a narcotics assignment or lessnot that Im not a crime fighter
for a long time, or theyve been in some now; its still part of our role. But I ba-
community-
type of special situation where they sically, for the last 15 months, have
oriented have no supervision or they have very become [a] real help [to] these young
lax supervision. They work either with officers [as they] develop a personality
policing
just one partner or alone in situations [when] they had the confidence just to
tacked down where you have the interaction with the talk [to groups].I was basically like a
solid. community. coach therebut I had younger people
who just could not talk to groups or
[Under community policing], [t]he com-
just didnt want to be there.
munity is going to hold you to a higher
standard, and the officer is going to feel Of particular interest was the concern ex-
[as if] he needs to be [held] to a higher pressed by one of the participants that his
standard because hes going to be rep- department and police departments across
resentative of what people think a po- the country did not have a true definition
liceman should be. But I think that if of what constitutes community-oriented
as with community policingyou open policing:
up the whole command system, there
I think I can identify some shortcom-
[are] more avenues for people to point
ings. And because of that, I think were
out indiscretions of an officer [who is]
unable to say that youve got a true com-
working with the community.
munity-oriented policing program. I
think thats what you find quite a bit
Departmental Structure and across the country. I dont thinkmany
Community Policing agenciesreally have community-ori-
There was some discussion of the way su- ented policing tacked down solid. I went
pervision should be restructured in the tran- to one conference a couple of years
sition to community policing: [I]n most ago. They started off the conference
agencies where community-oriented polic- saying, What do you do at your agency
ing [exists]there should be a looser for community-oriented policing?
Police Supervisors
25
Somebody says, Well, we have a horse This officer also had an interesting obser-
patrol. Well, we have a substation or a vation about the problem of integrating
community service center. And they de- community policing as it pertains to
scribed all these features. But none of officers assigned to the midnight shift:
those features constituted by themselves
community-oriented policing. And we [M]idnights in our police department,
still, to some extent, hear that today.So, and I think [in] a lot of police depart-
you know, I think were not getting com- ments, is just left out in the cold in re-
munity-oriented policing. Were not gard to any of this, community policing,
hitting the nail on the head. whatever it may be. The midnight tour [C]ommunity
on our police department is exactly the
Another officer suggested,
policing
same as it was 17 years ago when I came
I think in our departmentthe chief on. Its minimal manpower. The desk issupposed
man, the house mouse, maybe four cars
tr[ies] to make the department too user to be a
friendly or too just community-polic- per precinct. Thats it. Now they dont
know community policing from a hole philosophy
ing concept.The problem is that we
havebetween [sic] the basketball in their head. that every-
leagues and the boat rides and the pet-
Some of them dont even know we have ones involved
ting zooand about 25 community
bicycle patrol out there. What the hell inand the
service officers,these [community]
is that? Bike? What the hell [are] you
meetings are usually still police- patrol guys
doing with that? When did that hap-
bashing.But I think were almost too
community oriented.Weve got every-
pen? About 5 years ago. You know, 2 arebeing
or 3 years ago. And I think thats where
thing for the community.
you run into a lot of corruption prob-
left out
Another officer replied, [W]hat I just heard lems or authority problems, ethical completely.
you describe is a lot of community-rela- problems.
tions programs. I didnt hear you talk about
[Officers in the] midnight tour [are] just
community-oriented policing.
out there on their own. And its their
Commenting on the problems that the de- own world. No one gives a shit about
partment encountered while embracing the them. No one brings them on board.
community-oriented policing concept, one And to me, thats one of [the problems].
officer was concerned about the separa- Im always trying to [work on the prob-
tion between the officers who are doing lem]because Im an old midnight guy
this community policing and what you call and I know the midnight world.
patrol.And thats the basic weakness we
have. I mean, community policing is really And Im always trying to talk to the
supposed to be a philosophy that every- bosses that Im exposed to and say,
ones involved in. And were just training You know [the problems]; youve got
my neighborhood task force guys, and the to get the midnight guys involved in
patrol guys are kind of being left out of it something. Youve got to give them
completely. some kind of training. You know,
Police Foundation
26
theyre out there 8 hours a day them- gardless of color. If youre wrong,
selves dealing with the same commu- youre locked up. I make no bones
nity that were dealing with, but they about it. It doesnt matter. I lock up old
dont have any of this philosophy, people, unfortunately, grandmas, little
or any of this training, or any of the children, everybody gets locked up if
support. youre wrong. My criteri[on] is who was
wrong and who was right. Age has no
Societal Factors That Affect Abuse limit; color has no distinction. Every-
of Authority body is locked up.
Is it unfair The Effect of Race and Ethnicity
Responding to this comment, another of-
to stereotype, The topic of race as a factor in police be-
ficer suggested, And I think that comes
haviorsuspicion, investigation, stops and
or is it smart with experience. You have experience in
searches, use of forceis an important
a certain area; you know who is who and
policing[?] consideration in any discussion of issues
whats going on, who is not supposed to
related to abuse of authority. We began
be there and who is. Then you get that gut
the discussion by asking the group: Is it
feeling: this guyIll check it out.
unfair to stereotype, or is it smart polic-
ing to know that people of certain types, Another officer suggested that officers who
seen at certain hours in certain places, are exhibit racist attitudes in the conduct of
basically up to no good? their duties eventually weed themselves
out of this job, because racism interferes
One officer remarked:
with doing police work successfully:
If I know [that] at 2 oclock in the morn-
ing in a residential neighborhood no In American society today, [if you have]
12- and 13-year-old should be walking a racist cop, [and]in my experience
back and forth business, then to some its always proven true,black cops
something is wrong and its not because [who] were racist and white cops [who]
theyre two young black kids. Its be- have been racist in [his depart-
cause of where they are in that particu- ment]weed themselves out because
lar setting. If I work in an all-black ignorance creates ignorance. They
neighborhood and I have arrested 40 make their own stupid mistakes that
people the last 2 weeks, its not because have cost them their jobs. Everyone of
I only look for black people; its be- them [whom] Ive known in my career
cause thats all that was there.I cant [and who] are black and white [and]
arrest white people, Korean people, Ital- had a problem with race or being preju-
ian people if there are none. diced or having particular prejudices,
weed themselves out of this job. An
Furthermore, the officer stressed that for ignorant person and racism and preju-
her the issue of race was irrelevant when
dice and discriminatory actions [are]
it comes to enforcing the law:
nothing but ignorance. And ignorance
And I say to them all the time, I lock weeds itself out of this job very quickly
up people who are doing wrong, re- because it takes away your other senses
Police Supervisors
27
and the other things that will make you But even when you make [an] arrest,
survive in this line. you still have to leave them with a cer-
tain amount of dignity, and thats what
Others suggested that the key to prevent- we were getting on young officers
ing problems associated with stereotyp- about. [Those officers] were grabbing
ing is for officers to be sensitive to cul- them and telling them to lay on the
tural differences and to effectively commu- ground in the rain. [Then the officers]
nicate their actions to the person they ap- might have finished what theyre do-
proach. As one officer said, So not only ing, but its raining and they still have
do we have to become cognizant of whats [the person] there. We ride by and say When you
going on in their culture, they have to re- why is that person there? Did you do
alize what the law is as well, because they
approach
it? Yeah. Well, why is he still there? Put
do bring their cultures here and they [will] the cuffs on and get him in the car. someone, you
do different things than we do thats wrong Theyre still people. have to tell
in our society.
When asked whether the participants felt [that person]
Another emphasized the importance of that discriminatory police behavior is preva-
explaining your actions:
what youre
lent among officers or whether it is just a
false perception in minority communities doing and
You have to know how to talk to
that is influenced by the media, one of- why youre
people.When you approach someone,
ficer stated that the media were in large
you have to tell [that person] what youre
part responsible for those perceptions: doing it.
doing and why youre doing it.
Approaching people and conducting an [O]n the race issue, I think the police
investigation [is] when a lot of problems are still hurting fromthe media issue.
occur. You explain to whoever youre You very pointedly see Alabama where
dealing with, I just had a robbery by a they were letting the dogs out on the
black [person and] you fit the descrip- marches and taking the fire hoses on.
tion. Im stopping you. They respect that. And black politicians, as we have tran-
People who are out there respect that, scended into the inner cities of being
and if they dont, well, too bad. Ive got African-American or minority popula-
to do my job. But see, if you just dont tions in the inner cities, [those] black
explain the situation, black, white, His- politicians have used the police depart-
panic, Oriental, it doesnt matter. Then ment as stepping stones into political
youre looking for trouble. leadership as well, because its been an
area that they could attack.
This remark led to considerable agreement.
One participant offered, Yeah, thats true. He also suggested that it may serve politi-
If you take the 20 seconds to explain, you cal purposes to accuse police of racism,
can divert a lot of problems. People just but the police do not have time to behave
want to be informed [of] whats going on. in a racist manner:
Another added that people want to retain
It serves political benefit to keep a
their dignity: division of the races and to keep the
Police Foundation
28
diversity in the arguments expounded between the [minority] community and the
because I think most police [officers, police officer.
particularly those who are men,] no
One officer, agreeing that community
matter what he says when he goes
policing has a positive effect on relations
home to be the macho self in each par-
in minority communities, described a situ-
ticular situation, usually handles it in a
ation where prejudiced attitudes among
professional situation because again, in
residents can sometimes hamper commu-
most inner-city policing if you went in
nity-policing efforts:
and handled one color differently [from]
The race card the next one [according to] race, youd Ive got a community right now and it
will never be a busy person thinking all day. has community police officers assigned
to it. They came to me 2 weeks ago
go away. Some officers did acknowledge that dis-
wanting black officers, not white offic-
crimination is a problem among officers.
Its always ers. I told them theres nothing to indi-
As one put it, Sure. The race card will
cate these officers are not doing their
there. never go away. It wont. Its always there.
job. It doesnt matter what their race is.
Somebody is going to play it.
Somebody I surveyed the other people in that com-
is going to Another admitted, Lets face it; prejudice munity. Its a black community and she
is still out there. I have it in my depart- was the only one [who] was making
play it. ment to some degree, but it does happen. that comment. So it was her own per-
sonal prejudice. But I got called in the
Race and Community Policing
deputy chiefs office about the issue.
General agreement existed among the par-
He was called also.Normally, I think
ticipants that community policing had a
trust has gone up with the community
positive effect on relationships between the
policing in the black community with
police and minority community residents.
white officers, overall. Its just this one
As one officer suggested:
neighborhood, and it really caught me
I think the black, the African-American off guard when she hit me with that.
community in [his city], [can change] as
the police department becomes more
responsive. Policing has not been re-
The Culture of Policing
In seeking to understand how much the
sponsive to the black community [both]
culture of policing contributes to abuse of
in the past and in the minority commu-
nities. Weve only been [there] because
authority, we focused on two aspects of
police culture: (a) the us-versus-them
of the disenfranchised; weve only come
mentality, with its premise that police of-
in and [taken] people in jail. With com-
munity policing, were seeing more
ficers constant contact with problematic
citizens leads officers to view all civilians
changes in those positions.
suspiciously; and (b) the code of silence,
Another officer commented, I think com- in which police officers protect (by not
munity policing is, in fact, about commu- reporting) their fellow officers in situations
nication; communication has gotten a lot involving inappropriate or abusive police
better. I think thats a big thing that I see conduct. We began by asking whether the
Police Supervisors
29
Police Foundation
30
requirement of their work and, more im- [For] a beat officer and in street-crime
portant, that attitude is more often directed units, all your contacts for that 8-hour
toward those individuals who constantly period, 99 percent of that contact is
come to the attention of the police than negative contact. So how can you take
toward the general public. Typical an individual and give him any other
comments included the following: attitude or any other perception of life,
other than dealing with negative, which
Yeah, I agree. I mean depending on
makes him negative in its context.
what group of society youre dealing
Hes either hearing how bad somebody
with. I mean the positive element, no.
[For] a beat just ripped them off, or dealing with
We go out there and are projected in a
the bad guy saying how [someone] just
officer and positive light. But the people I deal with
ripped him off.
in a street-crime unit, yeah, its almost
in street-
like urban warfare. It is us against them. The officers engaged in an interesting dis-
crime units, My job is to get them; their job is to cussion of how they cannot shed their
99 percent bail out, and jump over fences.Yeah, police identities when off duty (You al-
with that certain drug-dealing element, most live this job), and how they find it
of that contact the little scum of society, yeah, abso- difficult to maintain contact with friends
is negative lutely. Thats the way I feel. And, by who knew them before they became
any means necessary, we go out and police officers. It takes concerted effort to
contact.
we do our job. Im not saying kick them get away from the police culture. Those
in the face, handcuff, and beat them, factors exacerbate an us-versus-them men-
and put their heads in toilets. But we tality. As one said,
do our job; we do it with the courts
I think there is an us-versus-them [atti-
law, and the policies and procedures,
tude], and them could be the bad guys
and the law and all the parameters that
and the good people out there.
we have to meet. But, yeah, absolutely
He had to make an effort, and I made
.But [considering] the people I deal
the same effort, although sometimes I
with a couple nights, three, four nights
analyze it and say, I failed. Ive made
a week, its brutal.
an effort to keep all my non-police
I agree with everything thats been said, friends. But you know what? Because
but its that small population.But of the schedule you work and the hours
those people we keeplike M was you work, and as the years go by, I say
talking about, you keep arresting the to myself, Jesus Christ, I havent seen
same people over and over and over. [those friends] in years.
Well, I think [that for] the majority of
I go to weddings; its usually cop wed-
the citizens, I dont think its us and
dings. Again, because of the hours you
them.
work, if I go for a beer, its usually with
But, yeah, I agree. Theres a certain [a] bunch of cops. Its something that I
percentage that we deal with all the consciously wanted to avoid, but its
timeactually its a big percentage. difficult to avoid because youre all
Police Supervisors
31
living in the same environment, the each issue as it comes before us.But
same schedule. And that creates an its notwe deal with particular issues,
us-versus-them [attitude]not even and [we hope] we deal with people on
good guy, bad guy. Youre in a culture an individual basis more than we deal
that you have to make an effort to get with them as us versus them.
out of. Actually, its a pleasure to be
Another added, Were more stereotyped
around peoplenon-police people
than some of the ethnic groups and all the
who dont bring up policing also.
other groups that are out there.So thats
Another officer stated: part of the us against them. Its not us, the
You almost
good guy against the bad guywere just
Theres nothing more annoying than regularwere blue collar [workers] too. live this job
when you go in a place, or a restau-
rant, and they go, I didnt do it; he did To combat problems associated with the Policing is
it.You almost live this job; you us-versus-them mentality, one officer sug-
gested that officers should be rotated
what I do;
really do. And you try not to have [only
police friends]. [As] both of these gentle- throughout the different areas of a city: its not who
men said, I have friends on the out- [O]ur city is divided in quadrants, I am.
side, but [because of] our schedules and basically four quadrants. You have your
interests, [I] end up going back to that: business area, which would be consid-
Im always with cops. ered here; then you have your straight
residential area. And for people who
Another officer stated, Sometimes you
patrol nothing but residential area all
dont tell people youre the police. Once
their career, and [who] have never been
she made the decision to tell people her
outside that particular district, they do
occupation: Everybody at that point
have a separate mind-set. And Ive al-
changed and treated me different, because
ways said, People should be rotated
Im with the police. And I am who I am.
through the quadrants of the city, be-
Policing is what I do; its not who I am.
cause if you know only one thing, and
And I have to make people aware that Im
how to deal with one sector of people,
still a person.
its hard to break that habit. And some
Summing up the sentiments expressed by people have been in that same career,
those officers, one officer noted: [have never gone] anywhere else. And
if you take them from straight ghettos
I think were all begging for acceptance.
and put them in someplace like [an
Were not the ones saying us versus
upper-class neighborhood], it doesnt
them. What were asking for is to ac-
work. You will get complaints.
cept T and accept S, not to
group us as police; they group us as People think that this person is abso-
individuals and human beings. Thats lutely out of control, but you take that
what I think all police [officers] are ask- officer out of that and put him back
ing. Its not us against them, as far as where he is, and hes the best thing
we perceive it. Were going to deal with happening. So [officers] need to be
Police Foundation
32
rotated around. I always tell people, who might have been on the opposite
after 5 years, try to move somewhere side of the street [will come in and give]
else, even if its to an investigative po- you a statement. So you try to give [of-
sition or something. [Officers] need ficers] that opportunity to come forth,
something else, because, if not, [they] and when they dont, you just light
get in that mold and its hard to break. them up. You have no choice, and that
to me is the code of silence.
Agreeing with that comment, another of-
ficer stated, It makes you a better police One participant noted, quite angrily, that
officer, I think. It makes you a better all- the topic of a code of silence was not
You talk around police officer, but its hard to do. unique to the police profession, You talk
about the code about the code of silence as if it is some-
thing that is unique to police work. But
of silence as if Code of Silence
what have we all heard since we [were]
The topic of the code of silence or blue
it is something first able to talk? Dont be a tattletale. That
wall of silence generated controversy as
is what society wanted. This isnt some-
that is unique it had when the topic was discussed in the
thing that is just specific to police work,
to police rank-and-file focus group. The discussion
for Gods sake.
began with one of the participants provid-
work. ing a definition of what she thought is the Another agreed, What disgusts me about
code of silence, a code that pertains to rank- this topic is that law enforcement gets
and-file officers, but not to management: tagged with this, and it is such a critical
issue from the publics perspective. Yet,
When I think of code of silence, I guess
they dont see that this is what is going on
I dont look at it so much as from a man-
with doctors and lawyers.
agement point of view, but I look at the
two scout car partners, and one guy However, that officer, as well as the other
crosses over the line. And the guy [who] participants, agreed that to a certain ex-
has to drag him out the house and, he tent the code of silence does exist in po-
knows, should not have struck the licing. Eventually it seemed, as in the rank-
citizen.That [officers] responsibilityis and-file group, that it was the term itself
to tell, and sometimes they dont until that was most offensive:
that complaint comes down and you do
In law enforcement, I think it primarily
that investigation. And thats where I al-
pertains to the layers of rank. In other
ways see the code of silence.
words, code of silence among officers
Because they feel like, I went in and and then among supervisory person-
snitched. I dont want to be the one nel, and so on, as [one participant]
[who] has to tell it. But then you have pointed out. I think there is, I hate to
to let [officers who cross the line] be use the term, this concept in operation,
put in the hot seat, because its always but I dont think it is near what the
somebody out there who saw what public and the media portray it as.
happened. Whether you know it or not, There are other elements working
somebody, some citizen, somebody about this, I hate to use the term, code
passing by, some other police officer of silence.
Police Supervisors
33
Another officer suggested that the more One participant noted that a supervisors
appropriate term would be [c]overing for overlooking minor rule violations does not
people. He went on to explain why offic- constitute a code of silence.
ers have to cover for someone who, as
I think M is making a good point in
big a jerk as he may be, might be your
differentiating when talking about the
lifesaver:
code of silence and criminal conduct, and
Officers tend to cover for each other what might be perceived as improper
because they know that a part of that behavior within our rules and regulations
shift is a person they dont like. They and whether or not it was investigated
[Officers]
know they dont like the way their part- or if that person is disciplined or not.
ner operates and the things that they That was a supervisors decision to do wont impede
do, but they dont know how often they one thing or another thing that may or your
will have to work with that individual, may not be proper. And even if you dont
and they know that they always have turn that person who went to take a nap investigation.
to count on that individual for backup. into IA [internal affairs], if you didnt do But they do,
That person, as big a jerk as he may thatthat is not the code of silence. [It
be, might be your lifesaver. You may should be] my choosing to discipline or
to a degree,
not like him. If it was your choice, you not.It is not even close to a code of close ranks.
wouldnt work with him, but you have silence.
to depend on him.
Another officer commented, And as a su-
A case that we had once was a deputy, pervisor, whether you are a sergeant or a
who I am glad to say quit.The day lieutenantand in most organizations, you
after he left, all these stories surfaced have a progressive discipline procedure if
from the deputies about his activities you have a minor violationyou dont
and what he was doing. We were want to burn the guy on paper. You can
scratching our heads and asking why pull him in; you can counsel him and docu-
didnt you tell us last week or 3 months ment it for your own records.
ago or a year ago. But they wouldnt
One officer observed that officers will
say. I think it is somewhat understand-
close ranks during a criminal investiga-
able, because even though they didnt
tion, not just rank-and-file officers, but ser-
like him, he was part of their backup.
geants too. They wont impede your
As the discussion continued, it became ap- investigation. But they do, to a degree, close
parent that an important distinction existed ranks.
between the participants perceptions of a In contrast, with respect to criminal viola-
code of silence when violating a minor de- tions, all of the participants agreed that they
partmental rule or regulation and the code would not condone blatant criminal
of silence when committing a criminal vio- activity. Short of what they considered
lation. As one said, [I]f anyone of us knew criminal though, the code may apply:
that one of the other ones was in the pro- Criminal things, we dont condone that.
cess of committing a felony someplace, Once in a while, there is a cop who gets
there would not be a code of silence.
Police Foundation
34
pegged with DWI. The guys stop to get a I think this wall of silence, the media
beer after work and [he] gets stopped and picks it up out of police doing things
arrested. Should he lose his job? No. Do wrong. That is not a wall of silence;
you have a domestic? Sometimes things get that is a criminal conspiracy. You know
a little hot between you and your spouse; you have the buddy boys in New York.
you make a bad choice and get pinched. That is all conspiracy stuff. Those are
Should you be vilified publicly? No. criminals wearing uniforms.
Police Supervisors
35
and-file police officers share the supervi- civilian review, the knee-jerk reaction
sors attitude against a code of silence to is no way, yatta yatta, they go on and
protect criminal violators: on. If they only knew, civilian review
authority is nothing more than a tooth-
We had [a] group that was doing the
less tiger. Theyre easier on cops than
drugs and different stuff. We had an
the departments are themselves.
undercover FBI investigation going. But
Bottom line.
we were constantly getting calls from
other officers to the point that they were
[O]ur review authority[is]looking to
saying, You sonofabitches aint going
get a case. They had 9 months without [C]ivilian
to do nothing about it, and I dont even
a specific case.
know why I bother to tell on them reviewis
anymore.[However,] we were trying We found that when we had it, they a toothless
to get all the ducks in a row to get them were not prepared for the complaints.
prison time. tiger. Theyre
We were like 5 years behind. We had
maybe 400,000 complaints with four or easier on
Solutions five people on the board.It was just
Agency Procedures for Dealing with
cops than the
overwhelming, so they did away with
Abuse of Police Authority it. So we do it in-house at the station, departments
We asked a number of questions regard- and if its criminal, it goes to IA. themselves.
ing procedures for handling complaints:
How should investigations of citizen com- Were just starting one so our citizen
plaints be handled (i.e., internally or by review is going through a citizen acad-
outside civilian review)? Is civilian review emy now. Theyre not going to review
of police misconduct effective in address- every complaint, only those of deadly
ing problems of abuse? force issues and more serious issues.
Theyre not going to handle the cour-
As we discussed in the rank-and-file focus
tesy complaints and the verbal stuff.
groups report, a number of U.S. cities have
some form of civilian review for citizen
Yeah, its totally different. The problem
complaints against the police. However, the
our officers have [is] we have civil ser-
use of civilian agencies to monitor police
vice protection and thats all civilian.
conduct is very controversial, with the po-
So they reviewthe chief cannot fire
lice arguing that only the police can effec-
you. He can only suspend up to 90
tively police the police. We asked the
days. Thats all the power he has. He
participants what their perceptions of the
can recommend termination. It goes to
use of civilian review boards were and
civil service board, and they meet and
whether their own cities had established
you have your attorney present and the
the bounds for reviewing citizen com-
board has their attorney. They present
plaints. Participants responded as follows:
the case to this board. And theyve been
Internal affairs works. Civilian review pretty fair to the police. Police officers
authority, as soon as you mention love civil service. They fired one 2 or 3
Police Foundation
36
weeks ago, but still, we trust them for Its a toothless tiger. I mean they come
the most part and we like it. But now back, they exonerate, and then [they]
weve got this extra. To me, civil ser- do not sustain more cases against cops
vice is almost like a civilian review. So than our Internal Affairs unit does.
now weve got something else to go
through. And any police unit we have
Perhaps not surprisingly, the participants
overwhelmingly preferred internal review
[is subject to] the homicide investiga-
processes (e.g., Internal Affairs) over citi-
tors, internal affairs investigators, SBI,
sometimes the FBI, the DAs office and
zen review, and they believed internal re-
[I]nternal view was most effective in preventing
their investigators, and now civil ser-
abuse of authority:
affairs is more vice and citizen review. I mean where
does it stop is what we kept wonder- Internal affairs works.
threatening. ing. How much further double-check-
Weve all been ing, double-checking, double-checking? I think internal affairs is more threat-
So Iwanted to hear how these civil- ening because were police officers.
out there, so ian reviews work. We were petrified of Weve all been out there, so we know
we know how them to begin with because it came how to play the game.
about a couple of pre-shoots. We had
to play the The officers feel [that] if it goes to
a couple of them close together and all
game. IAD, its going to be thorough and done
of a sudden we need civilian review;
because our IAD comes. Its just like
we need civilian review and now we
Dragnet. They come and theyflip the
have one.
badge. They take you and they say IAD
We have a civilian review board that is is in the building, pull the files. People
always empaneled when theres a are already petrified.So its an amount
controversial issue. If its not contro- of fear, a mind-set when IAD comes,
versial, the board doesnt review it, but but when you say [civilian review],
its usually issues of deadly force or people say whatever.
excessive force. [Such issues always
Id rather deal with internal affairs. I
make] the headlines.
think the lieutenants assigned to it are
Our civilian review board has investi- fair, and they clear more cops. I think
gative powers and the [members] actu- they investigate and theyre a lot fairer
ally have subpoena powers. Thats been and a lot more thorough and more pre-
an ongoing fight here lately, and its in cise. I would go with them. In our
appeal to the state supreme court that civilian review board, its a group of
they actually subpoena our personnel folks [who] review little training and
records.And this has been in sustainof course, with the chief in our
existence about three and a half years. internal affairs and our chief can over-
To this date, they have yet to find a turn and he has the final say. But Im
substantive case against an officer. not going to leave my crew to some
Police Supervisors
37
guy who is the day manager of Little [T]he district I worked in recently was
Caesars or the day manager at 7-11 to all residential neighborhoodslike the
say whether I can work again because worse place. People said when you
he sits on some review board. come out of the academy, dont go in
that district. Thats the worse district.
I think my people feel just because they
So people really had a fear going in
hear the other officers talk theyre a little
[such as] oh, my God! Im going to be
bit intimidated by it, but I dont know
shot at every day. Its a total ghetto.
anyone who has got a bad deal from
Theres nowhere to eat.
IA. I think once [officers] get up there
[C]ommunity
they get a fair shake. But once the [officers] got there they
found they learned a lot. The citizens policing [offers]
Rewarding Good Policing wanted to kind of build up a more posi- an excellent
tive image, so what they did was they
The topic of rewarding good policing pro- opportunity
came to a meeting and they told our
duced an interesting array of responses
from the participants. One officer sug- commander, We want to put on an for providing
awards banquet for the officers because
gested, Good work is its own reward. How positive
we really appreciate them. Were going
many people go out and do a good job?
Another indicated, We dont have support to get different businesses and other beat feedback to
officers and whoever nominates an of-
from anybody really. All the satisfactions and recognition
ficer on the beat. Well give the [officers]
that we get are all in our own minds.
a plaque and a big dinner, and they get of the
Other comments included the following: to invite a guest of their choice: wife, accomplishments
spouse, or whatever.
The phone call of saying, Hey, thanks. of police
So officers were [saying,] Okay, lets
Oh, just the recognition among your officers.
see whats going to happen. And they
peers or in front of your peers of a job
rented a beautiful hall. It was one of
well done.
the hotels ballrooms, and they gave out
In general, the participants felt that com- these wooden plaques and money, and
munity policing offered an excellent op- the officers really didnt think it was
portunity for providing positive feedback going to be a big deal. They invited the
to and recognition of the accomplishments mayor and the council members,I
of police officers. As one officer suggested, mean it was just a big thing and for
now the appreciation goes beyond ones that moment, just felt [as if] after all Ive
fellow officers: And I think community done in 15 years, [people] really thought
policing has expanded that circle a bit. And enough of me to go out of their way.
theres more community support.
In [another area of the city], the police
Another officer related her experience as department [and] the officers com-
a community-policing officer when the plained they didnt have a place to
community arranged an awards banquet work, so the citizens of thearea gave
for the officers:
Police Foundation
38
them brand-new work-out equipment police officers. That means a lot. I dont
[and] built [for] them [an actual] work- know if that would have happened if
out room. Its the little perks, the little [community policing] hadnt been in
thank yous. place.
1. The quoted portions of this appendix have been edited sparingly to enhance readability while
maintaining the speakers voice.
Police Supervisors