Chapter Nine
Police Misconduct
In my view, this is by far the most interesting component to the study of policing. One
reason for this interest stems from the irony of agents of social control who are given
the authority to invade our privacy because we happen to be suspect in a criminal
investigation, the perpetrators of illicit activity themselves. What makes the examination
of police corruption even more interesting is the study of the phases of misconduct and
how as society has progressed and became more materially oriented, police subtlety
became more pronounced in their attempts to rise up the socioeconomic ladder.
Even more ironic is the fact that this chapter follows chapters about discretion and due
process of law. So, what are the factors that affect how law enforcement officers
become corrupt and abuse the trust and authority placed upon them as they assume
their role—whichever role they assume (social service, order maintenance, or
enforcer)?
Police conduct has become an infestation that is not cured by inoculation, deterred
through rigorous screening mechanisms, or eradicated by strict and swift punishment
for those who choose to follow the dark side. According to LaGrange “just as crime
erodes the social fabric of trust among people, police misconduct tears tat the delicate
threads of public confidence in police.” As we discussed in chapter seven, police
discretion is both necessary and valuable to the overall goals of the criminal justice
continuum. But, if not carefully monitored, police discretion can turn sour and taint the
image of public servants.
The problem of police misconduct can be traced to a number of valid reasons why
citizens should be concerned with integrity of police:
1. Police misconduct distracts from the effectiveness of the police and their ability to
perform required duties
2. Police misconduct hurts people (financially, emotionally, and physically) without
justification
3. Police misconduct undermines the credibility of the police
4. Police misconduct, on a larger scale, diminishes citizen confidence in the entire
government system
5. Police misconduct breeds additional misconduct
6. Officers who lack integrity and choose to become corrupt are hypocritical as they
are sworn to enforce the law
There is one benefit to police misconduct…it allows you to weed out bad apples and
improve the screening during the harvesting process. Presently, more police officers
are being recruited than ever before. The bad apples are not the recruiters or
supervisors. In most cases, they are the ones at the bottom of the barrel who are upset
about assignment, partners, marriage, or some other issue that permeates their
commitment to being honest, loyal, and trustworthy.
If we look at this issue from a historical perspective, we can clearly see that police have
always had a problem with corruption and venality. Brutality, corruption, and moral
ineptitude have infected policing since its inception. Why is this? Is it because the all
mighty dollar can sway people from adhering to their morals, values, and beliefs that
should govern those in positions such as police assume when they sign on?
Ok, now to the meat of the misconduct chapter. First off, you need to know about what
the Wickersham report found with regard to police misconduct.
Next, you need to know about the Knapp Commission in New York. Why was the
Knapp Commission convened? What was it that they were investigating? What year?
What were their findings?
What did the Mollen Commission find?
To round out the study of police misconduct we should have knowledge about the
varieties of misconduct. You need to know these so you can answer the questions on
the exam and identify these types of misconduct should you encounter them during the
course of your employment as a law enforcement officer.
Geller’s Classifications
There are five types according to Geller:
Brutality
Harassment
Corruption
Violation of constitutional rights
Failure to take required or appropriate action
Police brutality is nothing other than exerting more force than is necessary to take
control of an arrest scenario. It is my opinion that this definition should be used for all
assessments of police use of force.
Police harassment is when officers use their knowledge to continually abuse their
authority in pursuit of what they believe is just.
Police corruption is when cops go on the pad and begins to take gratuities that they feel
are meaningless. More on this later.
Violating constitutional rights deals with the issues we talked about in chapter 8
regarding due process and democracy.
Failure to take required or appropriate action is related to the discretion problem.
You should know that Barker and Carter classify misconduct in two ways: Occupational
misconduct and abuse of authority.
So, are you an aggressive violator or a passive violator of your authority as a police
officer? The Knapp commission reported two types: the grass eater and the meat
eater. You can probably guess which is worse but for clarification, the grass eater is
someone who simply engages in small acts of misconduct and sort of happens by a
place where misconduct can flourish and a meat eater is one who aggressively seeks
out situations where they might reap some type of benefit.
There is internal corruption—the type that occurs while on officer is on duty and external
corruption—the type that occurs when an officer is off duty. Both are devastating to the
image of police. Some of the common forces of internal corruption are inappropriate
working relationships between officers, some type of consensual agreement to accept
payoffs and the like, and even those agreements where unwilling participants are drawn
into the mix when they witness an incident that needs to be reported and is not—
because of the thin blue veil, or the blue snot rag, or whatever you wish to call the social
and occupation arrangement or roles that exists in the police organization.
There are currently two theories that attempt to explain police misconduct and
corruption:
The rotten apple theory—the idea that the bad apple spoils the bunch
Opportunity theory---officer’s exposure to criminal activity becomes seductive because
of the huge financial gain
In order to control police misconduct, it is important to do the following:
Increase internal controls via enhanced supervision and accountability for individual
officer actions
Provide strong leadership
Enhance the internal affairs division
Encourage citizen participation via citizen accountability boards
Use screening mechanisms as you would use the lie detector test---subject officers to
scenarios while hooked up to the detector and then ask them how they would respond
to various scenarios.
Remember, the courts are presently the only final external control mechanism currently
available to curb corruption and misconduct. Most police agencies do not have citizen
review panels nor do they welcome any attempt to establish them. Most agencies
believe that they are the sole possessors of knowledge with regard to crime and
disorder in a given community.
If I was to study for this chapter, I would know about the Knapp Commission, the Mollen
Commission, the Wickersham Commission, what occupational deviance is, what the
rotten apple theory is, the difference between grass eater and meat eater, internal
corruption, external corruption, extortion, and the function of a civilian review board. I
think if you know a little bit about each one of the above issues, you will enhance your
knowledge about police and society.