Effective management of serious police misconduct: a machine learning analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Cubitt
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Police Misconduct ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Career Opportunities ◽  
Police Agencies ◽  
Accepted Practice ◽  
Resolution Processes ◽  
Learning Analysis

There are a range of management strategies available to police agencies to prevent serious misconduct. While many of these strategies are well accepted practice, there is limited empirical evidence demonstrating their effectiveness. This study uses partial dependence plots to explore management strategies which have been identified as either increasing or decreasing risk of serious police misconduct. These include the provision of awards or complimentary remarks to officers, remedial action resulting from sustained complaints, and transfers between workplaces. Expedient and opportune complaint resolution processes at a local level, positive behavioural reinforcement, and having a diverse range of career opportunities help prevent serious misconduct by police officers.

Police CEOs and subordinates’ perceptions of workplace misconduct

2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Maskaly ◽  
Christopher M. Donner ◽  
Lorie Fridell
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Chief Executive ◽  
Police Misconduct ◽  
Police Chief ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Police Organizations ◽  
Police Agencies ◽  
Police Deviance ◽  
National Police

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine whether homophily – whereby people are influenced by those perceived as similar to themselves – affects attitudes toward police misconduct. Specifically, whether demographic dissimilarity between police chief executive law enforcement officers (CEOs) and subordinates is related to differences in perceptions of misconduct. Design/methodology/approach The data for this research are drawn from the National Police Research Platform. Multilevel mixed-effects regression modeling is used to analyze data from 78 randomly selected US police agencies (78 law enforcement CEOs and 10,709 officers from those agencies). Findings The main finding is that demographic dissimilarity between the CEO and subordinates is associated with differences in attitudes about police deviance, net of other factors. Practical implications The results exemplify the need to diversify police agencies at all levels, not just the lower ranks. Because employees were found to be more similar to those one step (up or down) from one another on the organizational hierarchy, diversifying at all levels of the police organizations will help to reduce the social distance between those in closer ranks, which could ameliorate the dissimilarity effect. Likewise, police agencies may need to adopt new management strategies to compensate for a diversifying workforce. Originality/value This study builds on previous research and investigates an understudied topic in the policing literature by assessing the extent to which dissimilarity is related to attitudinal congruence about workplace deviance in police organizations.

scholarly journals GETTING INTO THE CITY BEAT: Challenges facing our metro police

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gareth Newham
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Crime Prevention ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Traffic Control ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Good Reason ◽  
Police Departments ◽  
The Past ◽  
Police Agencies ◽  
The City

It has been a little over five years since metropolitan police departments were first established in South Africa. Despite relatively small numbers of operational personnel, they now form a familiar part of the policing landscape. With good reason, metro police officers do better at traffic control than crime prevention, and their relationship with the SAPS needs attention. This article reflects on their achievements over the past years and some of the key challenges confronting these local level police agencies.

scholarly journals The Importance of Establishing a New Counterterrorism Unit at Local Level: Combining Different Perspectives in Policing

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 219
Author(s):  
Ahmet Eker ◽  
Ersan Ozkan
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Police Agency ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Mutual Trust ◽  
Huge Amount ◽  
Local Police ◽  
Police Agencies ◽  
Contingency Plans

The number of terrorism related attacks and deaths of innocent people as a result of those terrorist assaults have been increasing. This was despite the huge amount of budget devoted towards fighting against terrorism by the governments. One of the reasons for being insufficient to reduce the number of terrorist attacks is the limited involvement of the local police agencies in the fight against terrorism. Most of them do not have separate terrorism units and are not full-time police officers. Those agencies which have separate units assign only four or less officers. As a result, their ability to get information on terrorism related activities and the level of information sharing with the federal and national agencies is very limited. It is suggested in this paper that each local police agency should establish a separate terrorism unit and assign sufficient number of full-time police officers. These officers and managers should be trained by national experts. Officers in these units should develop mutual trust with different groups that have diverse political and religious backgrounds. A strong relationship and cooperation should also be developed with other local and national agencies. In addition, each local police agency should prepare contingency plans prior to any attack.

Decoding the Code of Silence

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 172-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanja Kutnjak Ivković ◽  
Maki Haberfeld ◽  
Robert Peacock
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
East Coast ◽  
The United States ◽  
Police Misconduct ◽  
Code Of Silence ◽  
Police Agencies ◽  
Police Accountability ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Willingness To Report ◽  
Police Integrity

The code of silence—the informal prohibition of reporting misconduct by fellow police officers—has long been viewed as a serious obstacle in control of police misconduct and achievement of police accountability. The purpose of this article is to study the key correlates of police officers’ reluctance to report. Relying upon a theory of police integrity and the accompanying methodology to study the code, a police integrity survey was administered in 2013 and 2014 to measure the contours of police integrity among 604 police officers from 11 police agencies located in the Midwest and the East Coast of the United States. The questionnaire contains descriptions of 11 scenarios describing various forms of police misconduct, each followed by seven questions measuring officer views of scenario seriousness, the appropriate and expected discipline, and willingness to report misconduct. Multivariate analyses reveal that the key factor related to the police officers’ reluctance to report is the perception that the other officers would not report. The code is also negatively related to familiarity with the official rules, evaluation of misconduct as serious, and the expectation of harsher discipline. The methodology can be used either by the police agencies themselves or by the civilian oversights to assess the nature and extent of the code in the police agency.

A multi-country comparative study of the perceived police disciplinary environments

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 338-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanja Kutnjak Ivković ◽  
Maria Haberfeld ◽  
Wook Kang ◽  
Robert Peacock ◽  
Adri Sauerman
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Police Misconduct ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Organizational Variables ◽  
Police Agencies ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Police Integrity

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test an aspect of the theory of police integrity by exploring the perceived disciplinary threat made by police agencies in Croatia, South Africa, South Korea, and the USA. Design/methodology/approach – A police integrity survey was used to assess perceptions of the expected discipline meted out by police agencies in four countries. Samples of police officers from Croatia, South Africa, South Korea, and the USA evaluated 11 hypothetical scenarios describing various forms of police misconduct. Findings – Bi-variate analyses reveal considerable divergence of perceptions of disciplinary consequences across the four countries. The majority of the respondents in each country expected some discipline for every scenario, but dismissal was expected for very few scenarios. Multivariate models of perceptions of expected discipline show that the country effect remains strong in the majority of the scenarios even in the presence of numerous controls. Research limitations/implications – To accommodate the diversity of legal rules, answers providing disciplinary options were not identical across countries. Some of the samples are representative, while others are convenience samples. Practical implications – The results show that, controlling for societal integrity, organizational variables play a critical role in shaping the respondents’ perceptions of expected discipline. Teaching police officers official rules might be an effective tool toward attaining more accurate perceptions of expected discipline. Originality/value – Police integrity research is dominated by single-country studies; this paper provides an in-depth exploration of perceptions of expected discipline across four countries.

scholarly journals The Network Structure of Police Misconduct

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 237802311987979 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Wood ◽  
Daria Roithmayr ◽  
Andrew V. Papachristos
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Network Structure ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Police Misconduct ◽  
Police Departments ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Network Ties ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Factors Associated ◽  
Using Data

Conventional explanations of police misconduct generally adopt a microlevel focus on deviant officers or a macrolevel focus on the top-down organization of police departments. Between these levels are social networks of misconduct. This study recreates these networks using data on 16,503 complaints and 15,811 police officers over a six-year period in Chicago. We examine individual-level factors associated with receiving a complaint, the basic properties of these misconduct networks, and factors related to officer co-naming in complaints. We find that the incidence of police misconduct is associated with attributes including race, age, and tenure and that almost half of police officers are connected in misconduct ties in broader networks of misconduct. We also find that certain dyadic factors, especially seniority and race, strongly predict network ties and the incidence of group misconduct. Our results provide actionable information regarding possible ways to leverage the co-complaint network structure to reduce misconduct.

scholarly journals How Blue Carbon Ecosystems Are Perceived by Local Communities in the Coral Triangle: Comparative and Empirical Examinations in the Philippines and Indonesia

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 127
Author(s):  
Jay Mar D. Quevedo ◽  
Yuta Uchiyama ◽  
Kevin Muhamad Lukman ◽  
Ryo Kohsaka
Keyword(s):  
Global Climate ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Blue Carbon ◽  
Utilization Rate ◽  
Coral Triangle ◽  
Factors Affecting

Blue carbon ecosystem (BCE) initiatives in the Coral Triangle Region (CTR) are increasing due to their amplified recognition in mitigating global climate change. Although transdisciplinary approaches in the “blue carbon” discourse and collaborative actions are gaining momentum in the international and national arenas, more work is still needed at the local level. The study pursues how BCE initiatives permeate through the local communities in the Philippines and Indonesia, as part of CTR. Using perception surveys, the coastal residents from Busuanga, Philippines, and Karimunjawa, Indonesia were interviewed on their awareness, utilization, perceived threats, and management strategies for BCEs. Potential factors affecting residents’ perceptions were explored using multivariate regression and correlation analyses. Also, a comparative analysis was done to determine distinctions and commonalities in perceptions as influenced by site-specific scenarios. Results show that, despite respondents presenting relatively high awareness of BCE services, levels of utilization are low with 42.9–92.9% and 23.4–85.1% respondents in Busuanga and Karimunjawa, respectively, not directly utilizing BCE resources. Regression analysis showed that respondents’ occupation significantly influenced their utilization rate and observed opposite correlations in Busuanga (positive) and Karimunjawa (negative). Perceived threats are found to be driven by personal experiences—occurrence of natural disasters in Busuanga whereas discerned anthropogenic activities (i.e., land-use conversion) in Karimunjawa. Meanwhile, recognized management strategies are influenced by the strong presence of relevant agencies like non-government and people’s organizations in Busuanga and the local government in Karimunjawa. These results can be translated as useful metrics in contextualizing and/or enhancing BCE management plans specifically in strategizing advocacy campaigns and engagement of local stakeholders across the CTR.

Cops and COVID: an examination of California officers' perceptions and experiences while policing during a pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
John Shjarback ◽  
Obed Magny
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Organizational Level ◽  
Sensitive Information ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Police Agencies ◽  
Police Executives

PurposeUsing online survey data from a sample of 440 police officers in California throughout May 2020, the current study collected time-sensitive information on officers' perceptions and departmental experiences in the wake of the pandemic. It examined officers' perceptions of agency responsivity as well as their perceptions of morale, stress and risk following agency responses and changes in policy patterns, service delivery innovations and other administrative challenges.Design/methodology/approachCOVID-19 had a tremendous impact on the law enforcement community, who continued to work and adapt in order to provide public safety. During the first few months of the pandemic, a number of national data collection efforts set out to understand what police agencies, at the organizational-level, were doing to address the crisis. Largely missing from these initial discussions were the perspectives of individual officers, particularly how they felt about their respective departments ensuring safety and balancing risk.FindingsResults from ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions found that the number of departmental changes made in the wake of COVID-19 that reduced police–public contact was associated with (1) increased levels of perceived agency responsivity to officer needs (i.e. balancing officer safety, taking active steps to maintain officers' mental health) and (2) reduced levels of perceived negative outlook (e.g. stress, low morale, danger/risk). Policy implications and the importance of police executives' decisions during crisis are discussed.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first, to the authors’ knowledge, to examine perceptions of policing during the pandemic from an individual officer point of view rather than an organizational standpoint.

Mission Impossible? Challenging Police Credibility in Suppression Motions

2021 ◽  
pp. 088740342110576
Author(s):  
Siyu Liu ◽  
Esther Nir
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Police Misconduct ◽  
Northeastern State

Suppression motions are the means by which defendants challenge the constitutionality of stops, searches, and seizures, and move the court to exclude illegally recovered evidence. However, defendants face insurmountable obstacles in challenging police credibility in these motions. Using 31 motions with factual disputes from a northeastern state, we dissect the types of defense challenges related to stops, searches, seizures, and arrests, as well as the prevalence and types of corroborating evidence presented by the defense. We find that most defense challenges to police credibility are not corroborated, and evidence of prior police misconduct is not presented. Furthermore, judges typically rule in favor of the police when adjudicating uncorroborated factual disputes between police officers and defendants. As a result, suppression motions generally fail to serve as an accountability structure for police conduct and rarely provide defendants with a viable remedy to address rights violations.

scholarly journals The Economics of Policing and Public Safety

2021 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 3-28
Author(s):  
Emily Owens ◽  
Bocar Ba
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Relative Magnitude ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Police Departments ◽  
Indirect Benefits ◽  
Monitoring Strategies ◽  
Police Action ◽  
The City

The efficiency of any police action depends on the relative magnitude of its crime-reducing benefits and legitimacy costs. Policing strategies that are socially efficient at the city level may be harmful at the local level, because the distribution of direct costs and benefits of police actions that reduce victimization is not the same as the distribution of indirect benefits of feeling safe. In the United States, the local misallocation of police resources is disproportionately borne by Black and Hispanic individuals. Despite the complexity of this particular problem, the incentives facing both police departments and police officers tend to be structured as if the goals of policing were simple—to reduce crime by as much as possible. Formal data collection on the crime reducing-benefits of policing, and not the legitimacy costs, produce s further incentives to provide more engagement than may be efficient in any specific encounter, at both the officer and departmental level. There is currently little evidence as to what screening, training, or monitoring strategies are most effective at encouraging individual officers to balance the crime reducing benefits and legitimacy costs of their actions.

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