Police Deviance Research Articles

A Quantitative Study on The Police Organization of The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus from The Organizational Police Integrity Perspective Against Organizational Police Deviance

Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti'nde (KKTC) Polis Örgütünün polis sapmasına ilişkin kurumsal görüşü şudur; polis sapması, meslekte henüz olgunlaşmamış genç ve deneyimsiz polis mensuplarından kaynaklanan bireysel boyutta bir sorundur. Bu görüş çürük elma teorisi ile örtüşmektedir. Ancak birçok ülkede yapılan bilimsel araştırmalar, polis sapması sorununun sadece bireysel boyutta değil, grupsal ve hatta örgütsel boyutta da bir sorun olduğunu göstermektedir. Bu çalışma, polis sapmasının KKTC özelinde örgütsel boyutta bir sorun olup olmadığını polis bütünlüğü perspektifinden keşfetmek amacıyla yapılmıştır. Çalışmada yöntem olarak nicel araştırmanın tarama modelinin genel ve ilişkisel tarama türleri kullanılmıştır. Çalışmanın veri toplama tekniği ankettir. Ankette, polis bütünlüğü ölçeğinin ilk versiyonu yer almaktadır. Araştırmanın örneklemini, KKTC Polis Örgütünde çalışan 1767 polis oluşturmaktadır. Araştırma sonuçlarına göre, katılımcılar, polis sapma davranışlarına karşı kendilerini meslektaşlarından daha fazla ciddiyet algısına sahip görmektedirler. Katılımcıların çoğunluğu, senaryoların çoğunda, betimlenen sapma davranışlarını, kurumlarının resmi kurallarının ihlal edilmesi şeklinde doğru olarak değerlendirmişlerdir. Katılımcıların çoğunluğu, senaryoların çoğunda, betimlenen sapma davranışlarını sergileyen bir polis mensubuna, farklı disiplin cezalarının verilmesini beklemelerine ve desteklemelerine rağmen, yalnızca dört senaryoda sergilenen davranış için polis mensubuna meslekten çıkarma cezasının verilmesini beklediklerini ve desteklediklerini belirtmişlerdir. Polis sapma davranışlarını üstlere bildirme istekliliği yönünden ise araştırma bulguları, ankete katılanların büyük çoğunluğunun, en az ciddi bir sorun olarak gördükleri davranışları sessizlik koduyla koruma olasılıklarının, kendilerine göre meslektaşlarından daha yüksek olduğunu ortaya çıkarmıştır.

Is Police Misconduct Contagious? Non-trivial Null Findings from Dallas, Texas

ObjectivesUnderstanding if police malfeasance might be “contagious” is vital to identifying efficacious paths to police reform. Accordingly, we investigate whether an officer’s propensity to engage in misconduct is associated with her direct, routine interaction with colleagues who have themselves engaged in misbehavior in the past.MethodsRecognizing the importance of analyzing the actual social networks spanning a police force, we use data on collaborative responses to 1,165,136 “911” calls for service by 3475 Dallas Police Department (DPD) officers across 2013 and 2014 to construct daily networks of front-line interaction. And we relate these cooperative networks to reported and formally sanctioned misconduct on the part of the DPD officers during the same time period using repeated-events survival models.ResultsEstimates indicate that the risk of a DPD officer engaging in misconduct is not associated with the disciplined misbehavior of her ad hoc, on-the-scene partners. Rather, a greater risk of misconduct is associated with past misbehavior, officer-specific proneness, the neighborhood context of patrol, and, in some cases, officer race, while departmental tenure is a mitigating factor.ConclusionsOur observational findings—based on data from one large police department in the United States—ultimately suggest that actor-based and ecological explanations of police deviance should not be summarily dismissed in favor of accounts emphasizing negative socialization, where our study design also raises the possibility that results are partly driven by unobserved trait-based variation in the situations that officers find themselves in. All in all, interventions focused on individual officers, including the termination of deviant police, may be fruitful for curtailing police misconduct—where early interventions focused on new offenders may be key to avoiding the escalation of deviance.

A Quantitative Study on the Police Organization of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus from the Group Police Integrity Perspective Against Group Police Deviance

Bu araştırma, Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti (KKTC) Polis Örgütünde görevli polislerin, polis sapmasına karşı polis bütünlüğü düzeylerinin grupsal özelliklerine göre anlamlı bir şekilde farklılaşıp farklılaşmadığını karşılaştırmak ve eğer anlamlı bir fark varsa bu farkın hangi gruplar arasında olduğunu ortaya çıkarmak amacıyla yapılmıştır. KKTC Polis Örgütü, büyük gruplardan küçük gruplara doğru üç seviyede ele alınarak karşılaştırılmıştır. Karşılaştırılan gruplar; (1) merkez örgütü ile taşra örgütü, (2) ilçe polis müdürlükleri ve (3) polis birimleridir. Araştırma tarama türündedir. Veri toplama tekniği olarak anket kullanılmıştır. Araştırmanın evrenini KKTC Polis Örgütünde görevli 1926 polis; örneklemini ise 1767 polis oluşturmaktadır. Araştırma sonuçları, grupsal boyutta polis bütünlüğü düzeylerinin her üç katmanda da farklılaştığını; merkez örgütünün taşra örgütünden, Gazimağusa Polis Müdürlüğünün diğer İlçe Polis Müdürlüklerinden ve “siyasi/istihbarat” birimlerinin diğer polis birimlerinden genel olarak daha fazla polis bütünlüğüne sahip olduklarını ortaya çıkarmıştır. Çalışmanın sonuç kısmında KKTC Polis Örgütünün grupsal polis bütünlüğünü artırmak için neler yapılabileceği ile ilgili öneriler sunulmuştur.

경찰의 직무스트레스가 일탈태도에 미치는 영향

경찰의 직무스트레스가 일탈태도에 미치는 영향

Five years later, but centuries in the making

Five years later, but centuries in the making

Police Deviance as Viewed by the Thai Public and Police

Police Deviance as Viewed by the Thai Public and Police

Trading sex for shampoo: exploring machismo in police officers and female offenders’ experiences and perceptions of police sexual misconduct

ABSTRACT Police sexual misconduct (PSM) is often referred to as hidden offenses because they are normally unreported. Most of the literature on the topic focuses on the sexual harassment experiences of policewomen. The media is increasingly reporting female civilians who have been affected by this form of police deviant behaviour. However, little is known about the experiences of female serious offenders with police sexual harassment and other forms of PSM. This study will examine how machismo in the Latin American country of Ecuador manifests in police officers and female offenders’ accounts and perceptions of PSM. Women’s responses to this form of police deviance will also be discussed. It was found that, according to both police officers and female offenders, consensual sex (even when both police and detainees referred to some sexual acts as consensual because no physical force was used, such sexual activity cannot truly be considered consensual given the unequal power dynamic and lack of basic resources available to female detainees.) was common in police detention centres. The encounters resulted in women receiving certain benefits. Police officers typically avoided their responsibility or that of their colleagues in the perpetuation of this behaviour. Machismo and the lack of supervision in police detention facilities are two factors influencing this behaviour in Ecuador.

Applying Social Exchange Theory to Police Deviance: Exploring Self-Protective Behaviors Among Police Officers

Social exchange theory is one of the prominent paradigms used to explain the processes linking organizational treatment of employees to their job performance. However, the theoretical link between perceived organizational treatment and police deviance has not been fully explored. This research addresses this gap by analyzing the relationship between perceptions of organizational justice and the use of police self-protective behaviors (SPBs) using organizational support and organizational indifference as ad hoc indicators of the social exchange process. Data were collected using an online self-report survey distributed to police officers in a southern state who are members of a police officer association ( n = 1,861). Consistent with previous social exchange research, the findings generally support the idea that fairness is related to SPBs, but largely to the extent that it enhances the social exchange in terms of increasing perceptions of organizational support and reducing perceptions of organizational indifference, which both directly affect an officer’s use of SPBs, and are a type of police deviance. Specific findings, relevant policy implications, and directions for future research are discussed.

Organizational correlates of police deviance

Purpose Many examinations of police misconduct involve case study methodologies applied to a single agency, or a handful of agencies. Consequently, there is little evidence regarding the types of misconduct across agencies, or the impact of department-level characteristics on the nature and prevalence of officer deviance. The purpose of this paper is to address this research gap using statewide data of over 1,500 charges of police misconduct filed with the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board (AZPOST) from 2000 to 2011. Design/methodology/approach This study examines variation in the prevalence and forms of misconduct across 100+ agencies based on agency type and size. Difference scores were calculated for every agency in the state to determine whether an agency’s level of misconduct was proportionate to the number of officers employed by that agency. AZPOST data were supplemented with Law Enforcement Management and Statistics data to identify organizational correlates of misconduct in agencies generating disproportionately low and high levels of misconduct. Findings Results identify variation in officer misconduct across different types of agencies. Tribal agencies generally experience higher rates of domestic violence and drug/alcohol-related incidents. Smaller agencies have more misconduct allegations involving supervisors. Organizational characteristics including pre-hiring screening, accountability mechanisms and community relationships are associated with lower levels of agency misconduct. Originality/value The use of AZPOST data enables a statewide examination of misconduct while accounting for organizational context. This study identifies organizational features that might serve to protect agencies against disproportionate rates of officer misbehavior.

Police CEOs and subordinates’ perceptions of workplace misconduct

PurposeThe 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/approachThe 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).FindingsThe 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 implicationsThe 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/valueThis 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.

General strain and police misconduct: the role of organizational influence

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the utility of general strain theory in explaining the relationship between organizational stress and police deviance. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from a non-random sample of 1,389 police officers in three large cities in Texas. The survey instrument used for this research was the Police Work Experience Survey. Results from regression analyses are presented. Findings Findings showed that the organization influenced police misconduct, but misconduct was dependent upon the specific type of strain encountered. Research limitations/implications Results show that instances of police deviance depend on the types of strains encountered. Additionally, anger plays a significant role when examining organizational strain. Police administrators should move to reduce organizational strains to reduce instances of police misconduct. Originality/value Currently, there is very little theoretical work in understanding police misconduct. And no studies have drawn linkages between organizational stressors and self-reported officer misconduct. At a time when police behavior is at the forefront of the social policy reform, the examination of potential correlates of police misconduct is the first step toward controlling it.

Do the police really protect and serve the public? Police deviance and public cynicism towards the law in Nigeria

This study empirically examines the everyday problem of corrupt policing and other related abuses in Nigeria, and how these deviant behaviours engender public cynicism towards the law. In any democratic society, police officers are expected to be accountable for their actions and inactions. But the perennial problem in Nigeria is that the police are not accountable to anyone. The history of Nigeria policing is littered with accounts of deviance, malevolent attitudes towards the public and failures of the police organization in detecting or disciplining errant officers. Using a sample of 462 participants from a cross-sectional survey, this study examines whether actual or vicarious experiences of police deviance are likely to predict public cynicism towards the law. This current study corroborates previous assertions that the relationship between the police and the public in Nigeria is poor and that police deviance engenders cynicism towards the law. Implications for policymaking and law-abiding behaviour are discussed.

Police Deviance and Accountability

I want to consider an issue that is raised regularly, police accountability. I propose to review the essential features of the Canadian debate on police accountability that has been taking place over the last fifty years, to see what, if anything, South Africans can learn from it.

Exploring citizen satisfaction with police in India

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine citizens’ perception of police in India, particularly the authors examine the factors influencing citizen satisfaction with the police in India. Design/methodology/approach – Using survey data collected from the residents in a neighborhood of the capital city and from the passengers on a 41-hour-1,281 miles journey traveling from the northern part to the southern part of the country and return via Indian Railways, this study empirically analyzed citizens’ perceptions of police and factors that accounted for the variation in Indian citizens’ assessment of police. Consistent with the literature, this study integrates a broader range of explanatory variables to explain citizens’ perceptions toward police, including demographic characteristics, views about professionalism in police, police performance, fairness, police corruption, and citizens’ perceptions about their safety in their neighborhood. Findings – Older citizens reported higher satisfaction with the police. Among the contextual characteristics, the authors find a positive relationship between perceived police performance, fairness, professionalism, and citizen satisfaction with police. As expected, perceived police deviance is associated with lower citizen satisfaction with police. Practical implications – Findings of the study provide Indian police administrators with important references and directions to improve police performance and move to increase citizen satisfaction about police. It also adds to the limited literature on citizens’ perceptions of the police in India. Originality/value – This study is an attempt to systematically assess the citizens’ perception of police in India. The researchers believe that this as an original contribution in the body of criminal justice research, particularly to the scholarship on policing in India. Moreover, the examination of citizens’ satisfaction of police highlights their detailed views about professionalism of police, police performance, corruption, fairness and their perceptions about the safety in their neighborhood.

Police Crime: The Criminal Behavior of Sworn Law Enforcement Officers

AbstractThis essay examines the criminological conceptualizations and research on police crime, that is, the criminal behavior of sworn law enforcement officers. It starts with an overview of the conceptualization of police crime as it relates to organizational and scholarly perspectives of social deviance. Police deviance is often conceptualized to include various misconduct, corruption, and/or crime committed by police organizations and police officers. This essay focuses on police crime resulting in the arrest of a sworn law enforcement officer and is organized within a conceptual framework that incorporates five types of police crime: sex‐related police crime, alcohol‐related police crime, drug‐related police crime, violence‐related police crime, and profit‐motivated police crime.

Low Self-Control and Police Deviance: Applying Gottfredson and Hirschi’s General Theory to Officer Misconduct

Prior research assessing police misconduct has generally focused on prevalence and demographic correlates while neglecting traditional criminological theories. Some recent research has begun to fill the void in this area, but the link between self-control and police misconduct has yet to be explored. The current study utilizes a behavioral measure of self-control to evaluate the extent to which low self-control predicts police misconduct. Data from a sample of 1,935 police officers from the Philadelphia Police Department are analyzed, and the results generally indicate that low self-control is related to police misconduct. Specific findings, policy implications, and directions for future research are discussed.

Darwin Meets the King: Blending Sociology and Evolutionary Psychology to Explain Police Deviance

Ce papier utilise la perspective de Parnaby et Leyden's (2011) qui adapte l'approche de Merton de la déviance policière en incorporant des éléments de psychologie évolutionniste. Nous proposons que l'intégration de la psychologie évolutionniste contribue à un modèle théorique plus robuste. Plus précisément, nous considérons qu'une structure sociale anomique crée les conditions sociales par lesquelles des mécanismes psychologiques adaptifs qui coïncident avec les modes d'adaptation de Merton et se manifestent dans le comportement. Nous soulignons l'importance d'une intégration de la sociologie et de la psychologie évolutionniste et adressons certains malentendus sur cette dernière. In this paper, we build on Parnaby and Leyden's (2011) modified Mertonian approach to police deviance by incorporating elements of evolutionary psychology. It is our contention that an infusion of evolutionary psychology will lead to a more robust theoretical model. Specifically, we argue that an anomic social structure helps create the social conditions within which specific adaptive psychological mechanisms manifest behaviorally in ways that coincide with Merton's modes of adaptation. The importance of integrating sociology and evolutionary psychology is emphasized while a number of misunderstandings about the latter are addressed.

Police criminality and neutralization: an empirical study of court cases

The prevalence of police deviance is a much-debated statistic and one that is often rife with problems. Based on 61 convicted police officers in Norway, court cases are analyzed in this paper to identify relationships between imprisonment days for convicted police officers and motive and brutality as determinants of each sentence. While there is a positive correlation found between severity of sentence and the extent of personal motive, there is a negative correlation between severity of sentence and the extent of brutality applied in policing. This is explained by neutralization theory in the paper.

Conceptual framework for police deviance applied to police crime court cases

PurposeA conceptual framework for police deviance and crime has recently been suggested and presented by other scholars. This research attempts to test the framework empirically based on court cases where police employees were prosecuted and convicted.Design/methodology/approachThe sliding slope in the conceptual framework was separated into two dimensions, motive and damage, respectively. Court cases were coded according to these dimensions.FindingsEmpirical results provide support for the framework by linking seriousness to court sentence in terms of imprisonment days to the sliding slope. However, further validation of the framework is needed.Originality/valueIt is useful to both academics and practitioners to have an organizing framework when considering police complaints and prosecuting police crime.

Dirty Harry and the station queens: a Mertonian analysis of police deviance

In this article, we take advantage of the versatility inherent in Merton's work and apply his theory of social structure and anomie to the realm of policing. Specifically, we argue that police deviance can be understood as a function of an anomic social structure in which an exuberant cultural emphasis on police as noble, masculine ‘crime-fighters’ occupies a disproportionate relationship to the availability and/or efficacy of institutionally accepted means. The outcomes, we argue, are forms of deviant behaviour that coincide closely with Merton's four classic modes of adaptation.