Early intervention systems and the prevention of police misconduct

Abstract

Early intervention (EI) systems are often touted as an effective means to increase accountability amongst US police departments. The IACP report on police integrity and corruption control recommends that departments collect data on seven different performance categories: firearms discharges, excessive force incidents, motor vehicle damage, and loss of departmental equipment. The San Jose Police Department has initiated a Supervisors Intervention Program, whereby supervisors are flagged in the system when an officer under their command receives three or more citizen complaints in a six-month period. The successful operation of EI systems rests on their capacity to accurately identify officers at high risk for future misconduct from those who are not, as well as to successfully intervene with those officers once identified. Walker noted that by mid-2004, the system was still not operational, and so in over two decades since the Rodney King incident and enormous public scrutiny, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) still did not have a functioning EI system.