1. Issues in Policing: Professional, Social, and Legal

2. Who Are the Police? Demographics ◦Almost all officers in early departments were white males; tended to be recruited from working classes; a social mobility ladder ◦For past 50 years departments have made concerted effort to attract women and minority officers ◦From 1987 to 2012 minority representation increased on local police departments from 14.5 percent to 22.7 percent ◦In sheriff’s offices minorities increased from 13.4 percent to 28.1 percent ◦Women now comprise about 32 percent of police personnel

3. Who Are the Police? (cont.) Minorities in policing ◦First African American police officer hired in Washington, D.C. in 1861 ◦Earliest minorities experienced discrimination by other officers ◦As number of minority officers increased, issue of discrimination have become more muted and subtle.

4. Who Are the Police? (cont.) Women in policing ◦Los Angeles Police appointed first woman police officer in 1910 ◦1964, Civil Rights Act ◦Today, about 32 percent of all officers are female, and some have reached the top ◦still experience difficulties and struggle for acceptance by male officers ◦Report higher levels of job stress than males ◦Research supports females are highly successful in policing

5. Who Are the Police? (cont.) Research shows that female officers differ little in their performance from male officers (despite fears form male officer) Are just as tough and effective as male officers Female officers perform somewhat better than males in ◦Handling situations without resorting to force ◦Attracting fewer complaints ◦Dealing with problem populations

6. Who Are the Police? (cont.) Minority women ◦Account for less than 5 percent of police officers ◦Report discrimination by all other officers on the force, including African American male officers ◦One study found little unity among female officers in general ◦Female minority officers subject to “double marginality”

7. Who Are the Police, cont Gay police officers ◦Great difficulty getting accepted by other male officers ◦Have fewer legal protections against discrimination than minorities and women ◦Can be subject to “triple marginality” (e.g., a gay, female, Hispanic officer)

8. Who Are the Police? (cont.) Police education ◦Very few agencies require a college degree ◦Percent of departments requiring some college (AA degree) has risen from 19 percent to 37 percent ◦88 percent of departments recognize college education is an important element in promotion decisions

9. Who Are the Police? Benefits of hiring college educated officers: ◦Better written reports ◦Enhanced communication with the public ◦More effective job performance ◦Fewer citizen complaints ◦Wiser use of discretion ◦More sensitivity to racial issues ◦Fewer disciplinary actions But little evidence that more formal education makes for more effective crime fighters

10. The Police Profession The police occupational culture ◦Experience of becoming a police officer and the nature of the job causes most officers to band together in a subculture characterized by attitudes which differ from other occupations ◦Subculture contributes to creation of the “blue curtain” effect where officers isolate themselves and are isolated by others from society.

11. The Police Profession (cont.) Core beliefs of the police subculture: ◦Police are the only real crime fighters. ◦No one else understands the real nature of police work. ◦Loyalty to colleagues counts above everything else. ◦It is impossible to win the war on crime without bending the rules – noble cause corruption ◦Members of the public are basically unsupportive and unreasonably demanding. ◦Patrol work is the “pits” – detective work is glamorous and exciting. ◦The police are the “thin blue line.”

12. The Police Profession (cont.) The police working personality ◦Occupational environment creates the working personality:  Cynicism, authority and control, conventionality, humor  The Symbolic Assailant  Danger is exciting  Force is righteous ◦The role of recruitment, selection, training, and the job have all been examined as potential causes.

13. The Police Profession (cont.) ◦Research is inconclusive as to how the “police personality” is developed or if one even exists. ◦Some research indicates police are cynical, dogmatic, authoritarian, and suspicious. ◦Other research indicates they are more psychologically healthy than the general population, less depressed, and more social.

14. The Police Profession (cont.) Policing styles: organizations ◦Watchman ◦Service provider ◦Enforcer Policing styles: individual ◦Crime fighter ◦Social agent ◦Law enforcer

15. Policing Styles

16. The Impacts of Police Culture Why do beliefs and attitudes matter? Police culture and styles impact: ◦How discretion is exercised ◦The incidence and prevalence of corruption ◦The use of force ◦View on the recruitment of minorities and women: resistance and denial that can do the job ◦Views by rank and file of superiors ◦Everything that cops do

17. How Do Cops make Decisions in Encounters? Police work under conflicting demands Have to balance: ◦Law - the latest from the courts ◦Organization - what the chief wants, organizational rules ◦Public - especially in Community Oriented Policing ◦Peers and fellow workers – advice and assistance ◦Personal values and beliefs on right and wrong ◦The specific characteristics of each encounter

18. Police Discretion in Encounters Low-visibility decision making Legal factors ◦Police discretion inversely related to severity of offense Environmental factors ◦Community expectations impact the amount of discretion officers are expected to exercise. ◦Officers who live in the community are more likely to adhere to community expectations than those who do not.

19. Police Discretion (cont.) Departmental factors ◦Organizational policies, practices, customs, and supervision Peer pressure ◦What other cops would do

20. Police Discretion (cont.) Situational factors ◦Immediate interaction with offender, citizen, or victim ◦Demeanor and behavior of person encountered ◦How the encountered was entered: proactive or reactive ◦Nature of the offense ◦Public or private space ◦Presence of bystanders ◦Reason for the encounter – suspicion, probable crime

21. Police Discretion (cont.) Extralegal factors: Who are the police dealing with in encounters? ◦Age ◦Gender ◦Income ◦Race

22. Police Discretion Racial (and other) profiling ◦Using non-legal factors to shape decisions (e.g., traffic enforcement)  Whom to stop  How to conduct the stop – language  Outcomes of the stop – warning, citation, arrest Racial profiling it unconstitutional and illegal It is extremely offensive to those stopped Impacted by police culture prevalent in an organization

23. Problems of Policing Job stress ◦Complexity of the police role ◦Need to exercise discretion ◦Stress linked to marital disputes and domestic violence ◦Stress can lead to alcoholism and drug use, depression, health problems, aggressive behavior towards others and self, even suicide

24. Problems of Policing (cont.) Causes of stress ◦24-hour duty ◦Risk of death ◦internal conflict with administrative policies ◦conflict over job definitions (e.g., the utility of community oriented policing) ◦personal lives ◦poor training and substandard equipment ◦inadequate pay – lack of opportunity ◦job dissatisfaction ◦overwork and lack of sleep

25. Problems of Policing (cont.) Four categories of stressors ◦External stressors ◦Organizational stressors ◦Duty stressors ◦Individual stressors

26. Problems of Policing, cont. Combating stress ◦Less work - no second jobs, overtime ◦Relaxation meditation ◦Biofeedback therapy ◦Stress management ◦Involving family members in the process Male and female officers have somewhat different styles of dealing with stress

27. Problems of Policing (cont.) Police and violence ◦Out of 45 million contacts only about 1.5 percent involved use or threatened use of force.  Minorities more likely than whites to experience violence  Young people (16-29) 3 times more likely to experience ◦Most common use of force is verbal commands, physical restraint, pushing, or grabbing. ◦Cities with large African American populations experience the highest amount of deadly force.

28. Police use of force The multiple determinations when and how is force used by cops ◦Legal restrictions: Tennessee v Garner, defense of life principle ◦Organizational rules: regulations on use ◦Professional ethics: ladder of force ◦Police culture: need to control, protect, sense of danger, force is righteous, it works ◦Peer pressures: what other cops are doing ◦Situational factors and assessments of persons encountered: threat, danger ◦Public demands: “do something,” get rid of undesirables

29. Ladder of Force

30. Problems of Policing (cont.) Problem officers ◦A small proportion of officers are continually involved in use-of-force incidents ◦Research shows a few officers are responsible for a significant portion of all citizen complaints  Tend to be young, less experienced, and more gung ho

31. Problems of Policing (cont.) Curbing violence ◦Better recruitment to weed out violence prone individuals ◦Specialized training programs ◦Use of early warning systems ◦Administrative policies to limit the use of force ◦Use of integrity testing programs ◦Threat of civil judgments against officers and supervisors ◦Use of non-lethal weapons (to prevent deadly violence)

32. Problems of Policing (cont.) Factors related to police shooting ◦Perceived threat in the situation ◦Immediacy of threat ◦Community threat levels ◦Exposure to violence ◦Ambiguities in administrative policies, lack of training, lack of supervision ◦Racial discrimination (sometimes)

33. Problems of Policing (cont.) Controlling deadly force ◦Fleeing felon rule ◦State laws ◦Department internal reviews

34. Problems of Policing, cont Police as victims ◦About 50-60 officers are killed feloniously each year in the line of duty. ◦About 80 die in job-related accidents across the country Citizens as victims – how many people are killed by police? ◦No accurate national statistics ◦Estimates range from about 5 to 8 times as many people are killed by police than officers are killed by people ◦Have to differentiate between “good” police killings and “excessive force” killings – no national statistics on that either

35. Problems of Policing (cont.) Corruption ◦Extent and pervasiveness of corruption is mostly guesswork ◦Knapp Commission  Meat eaters and grass eaters ◦Mollen Commission ◦Sherman’s Typology  “Rotten apples” and “rotten pockets”  pervasive unorganized corruption  pervasive organized corruption

36. Problems of Policing (cont.) Categories of corruption ◦Gratuities and the “slippery slope” ◦Noble cause corruption: lying, violations of law ◦Non-performance of duties: sleeping, “copping,” avoiding work ◦Material gains: money, services ◦Selective enforcement or non-enforcement of laws ◦Extortion and active criminality (if done under color of law)

37. Controlling Corruption External controls: ◦Civilian Review Boards ◦Media attention and exposure ◦Complaints and law suits ◦Federal consent degrees and oversight monitors Internal controls: ◦Internal affairs units ◦Administrative sanctions and controls ◦Public relations offices

38. Police and the law: Law is the shield against arbitrary government power (Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth amendments) Substantive law (authorizes police power) and procedural, dueprocess law (restrains the exercise of police power) Law is what the courts say: retroactive (e.g., exclusionary rule) Police culture and law: law is a tool and a hindrance, flexible ◦Law is a game – how far can the police go?

39. Legal Control of Policing 4 th Amendment: Search and Seizure ◦All searches and seizures require probable cause. ◦As a general rule searches or seizures conducted without a warrant are invalid. ◦Warrants must be obtained from the court and be supported by an affidavit that establishes probable cause, and identify the place to be searched and property to be seized. ◦Surveillance and the principle of curtilage and private space (e.g., listening in on phone conversation, thermal imaging, body scans require probable cause)

40. Legal Control of Policing (cont.) ◦Warrantless searches: when are they legal?  Terry stops (field interrogations, stop and frisk) but require “reasonable suspicion”  Incident to lawful arrest  The special case of automobiles, airports, and planes  Consent  Plain view  Public danger  Seizure of nonphysical evidence – overhear a conversation

41. Identification of suspects Pre-trial identification: line ups ◦Non bias ◦Witness credibility ◦Excessive publicity: “perp walk”

42. Legal Control of Policing (cont.) Custodial interrogation ◦5 th Amendment ◦Miranda v. Arizona, 1966 – warning has to be given before interrogation  Right to remain silent  Any statements may be used in court of law  Right to consult with an attorney and have present during interrogation  If a person cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for them ◦Improper gathered confessions and statements are generally inadmissible.

43. Legal Control of Policing (cont.) The Miranda Rule today ◦Case law has been used to define boundaries of Miranda and to create exceptions to its requirements.  Inevitable discovery  Public safety doctrine

44. Legal Control of Policing (cont.) The Exclusionary Rule ◦A legal rule first stated in 1914 by the Supreme Court to control misconduct by police officers ◦All evidence obtained by unreasonable searches and seizures, coerced confessions or other violations of Constitutional rights is inadmissible in criminal trials Under the “good faith exception” evidence is admissible if the police acted in good faith on a warrant, even if the warrant is invalid or out of date.

45. Legal Control of Policing (cont.) Critics argue exclusionary rule allows guilty to go free. Research shows less than 1 percent of cases are dismissed because of the rule. Alternatives to Exclusionary Rule ◦Administrative policies which support good police work and sanction bad work ◦Criminal prosecution of officer who violate constitutional rights ◦Internal police control ◦Civil lawsuits against state or municipal officers ◦Federal lawsuits against the local government ◦Contingent exclusionary rule

46. END