Assignment: Use of Force Analysis

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Pollock_Ethics_9e_PPT_ch07.pptx

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Ethical Dilemmas and Decisions in Criminal Justice

Joycelyn M. Pollock

9th EDITION

Chapter 7

Police Corruption and Responses

Class discussion - Is it ever acceptable to take gratuities? What about coffee at a gas station that is free to anyone who purchases fuel? Would it be wrong for a law enforcement officer to take the coffee if he or she purchased fuel?

Chapter Objectives

Describe the types of police corruption (economic corruption and abuse of authority).

Describe individual explanations of corruption and potential solutions.

Describe organizational explanations of corruption and potential solutions.

Describe societal explanations of corruption and potential solutions.

Economic Corruption

Officers using their position to acquire unfair benefits

Includes:

Gratuities*

Kickbacks*

Overtime schemes

Misuse of dept. property

Payoffs

Ticket “fixing”*

Bribery/extortion

Theft

Gratuities

Items of value given because of role or position, rather than personal relationship

A gift is personal and has no strings attached.

Common police gratuities include:

Free coffee

Discounted or free meals

Half-price dry cleaning

Graft

Graft refers to any exploitation of one’s role, such as accepting bribes or protection money.

Examples include taking bribes for changing testimony or “forgetting,” looking the other way when discovering an illegal act, or taking kickbacks from a lawyer or tow truck company for sending them business.

Officers in the United States rated bribery as the second most serious offense. Only theft from a crime scene was rated as more serious.

Abuse of Authority

Physical abuse

DV with no fear of repercussions

Disciplinarian with children

Psychological abuse

Utilizing “cop mentality” in everyday life

Legal abuse

Assuming breaks or concessions due to police status

Ticket fixing, badge flashing, etc

Professional Courtesy and Ticket-Fixing

The practice of not ticketing an officer who is stopped for speeding or for other driving violations

Justifications for not ticketing other officers are diverse and creative

Professional courtesy tends to bleed over into other forms of misconduct

Class discussion – Read article - http://livermore.patch.com/articles/officer-arrested-for-dui

Should this officer be given “professional courtesy?” What could perhaps be the ramifications for doing so?

Should officers be given “professional courtesy” for minor offenses (such as speed, etc.)?

Do physicians, attorneys, or other professionals give professional courtesy to their colleagues?

• Police work factors that foster drug use:

Exposure to a criminal element

Relative freedom from supervision

Uncontrolled availability of contraband

• Drinking on duty:

Creates less vulnerability to corruption than drug use

Creates an ethical dilemma for other officers

May lead other officers to isolate themselves from or avoid working with those who drink

On-Duty Use of Drugs and Alcohol

Sexual Misconduct (slide 1 of 2)

Kraska and Kappeler continuum:

Viewing a victim’s photos/videos for prurient purposes

Field strip searches

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yB4zDyJcZ1A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxMv7FHsVnU

Custodial strip searches

Illegal detentions

Deception to gain sex

Provision of services for sex

Sexual harassment

Sexual contact

Sexual assault

Rape

Sexual Misconduct (slide 2 of 2)

Sapp’s inventory of sexual misconduct:

Nonsexual contacts that are sexually motivated

Voyeurism

Contact with crime victims

Contact with offenders

Contacts with juvenile offenders

Sexual shakedowns

Citizen-initiated sexual contact

Costs of Corruption

The costs to communities are considerable.

Many cities and police departments have also faced large judgments in response to the wrongdoing of officers.

No evidence to indicate lawsuits are a deterrent to errant police officers

Consent Decrees

Being a target of the Department of Justice investigations

Sometimes a police chief or mayor asks for an investigation and review.

Consent decrees focus on the department itself rather than the individual officer.

Compliance with consent decrees is expensive for cities and police departments.

Other costs include damage to the department’s reputation, a reduction in morale, and potentially the loss of good officers

Explanations of Deviance

• Individual:

“Rotten-apple” argument (Officer was deviant before hiring)

Development of a police personality (Officer became deviant after hiring)

• Possible predictors: gender, age, education, race, military experience, academy performance, prior history of wrongdoing

Individual Explanations (slide 1 of 2)

Women were more likely than male officers to be terminated during their probation.

Younger officers (those under 22 years of age when appointed) were more likely to be terminated during probation.

Blacks (but not other minorities) were more likely to be terminated.

Those who had prior negative employment histories, dishonorable discharges, and/or did poorly in the academy were more likely to be terminated for misconduct.

Individual Explanations (slide 2 of 2)

• Factors involved in developing PTSD symptoms

include:

Witnessing the death of a friend or partner

Accidentally killing or wounding a bystander

Failing to stop a perpetrator

Killing or wounding a child or teenager

Viewing the body of a child victim

Interacting with grieving family

Feeling caught in a violent riot

Viewing bloody or gruesome scenes

Observing an event involving violence or murder

Being undercover and constantly “on guard”

Being threatened by suspects

https://youtu.be/VkqFjvoa6iQ

Organizational Explanations

Small work groups

Limited exposure to diversity

Camaraderie becomes central

Perverse incentives

Doing something morally wrong, even if legally right

Hounding traffic

Stat based policing

Organizational culture

Societal Explanations

If the public does not comply with the law, officers may rationalize non-enforcement of the law.

If the public engages in illegal activities, officers may feel justified in doing the same.

If the public believes crime control is more important than due process, police will act on that message.

Increase pay

Eliminate unenforceable laws

Establish civilian review boards

Improve training

Set realistic goals

Provide ethical leadership

Perform audits

Have financial disclosure rules

Provide written code of ethics

Provide whistleblowing procedure

Reducing Police Corruption

(slide 1 of 2)

Reducing Police Corruption (slide 2 of 2)

Improve internal affairs

Rotate staff in some positions

Better evidence handling procedures

Early warning systems

Use video cameras in patrol cars

Use covert high-tech surveillance

Targeted/randomized integrity testing

Conduct surveys of police and public

Decriminalize vice crimes

Improving screening:

Background checks, interviews, credit checks, polygraphs, drug tests

The most common pre-employment screening tool is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

The so-called “Big Five” (extroversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness)

Conscientiousness seems to be the most relevant to job performance.

Conscientiousness is related to being organized, reliable, hard working, self-governing, and persevering.

“Rotten Apple” Responses

(slide 1 of 5)

“Rotten Apple” Responses (slide 2 of 5)

Education and training:

Higher formal education standards are not, themselves, the key to ethical behavior.

Academy and in-service ethics training are common and recommended for all departments.

Many courses use a moral reasoning approach.

Some advocate an emphasis on character.

Others recommend case studies.

Integrity testing

Very controversial

Not well-received by most officers

Comparing integrity testing to undercover operations reveals that:

Most officers oppose integrity testing

Most officers support undercover operations

“Rotten Apple” Responses

(slide 3 of 5)

Body cameras

Powerful tool to support citizens who allege brutality

Officers can turn off the camera when they want

Cost of the cameras and storing the unimaginable amount of video make widespread use unfeasible

Invasion of privacy with such cameras

Rules regarding whether and when police officers should turn off the cameras is being worked out

“Rotten Apple” Responses

(slide 4 of 5)

Public Databases of “Bad” Cops

Controversial attempt to expose officers who engage in a pattern of wrongdoing

Stems from the public’s inability to trust police departments to root out bad individuals

Police argue instances of serious wrongdoing are rare and problem officers who have a pattern of wrongdoing are rarer still.

Such efforts are designed to bring light to the subject of police misconduct.

“Rotten Apple” Responses

(slide 5 of 5)

“Rotten Barrel” Responses

Internal affairs model, civil service, and arbitration

Civilian review/complaint boards

Changing the culture

Ethical leadership