Assessing Legal Liabilities in Law Enforcement: Police Chiefs' Views

Abstract

Texas mandates 40 hours of law enforcement management and leadership training biannually for police chiefs. To implement this requirement, from October 1997 to August 1999, the Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas held 22 statewide training classes. During the training, we administered a survey on legal liabilities in law enforcement, in which 808 usable surveys were completed. Amassing the largest data set on legal liabilities in law enforcement, this article reports results from that survey and documents the chiefs' perceptions of the prevalence of civil litigation, fear of litigation, type of suits filed by members of the public as well as by their own officers, and issues surrounding settlements, policy and procedure changes, training, indemnification, and lawsuit prevention. The article concludes that nationwide systematic data collection should be undertaken on legal liabilities in law enforcement so the public becomes better informed about this important aspect of police work.

Depolicing: Rhetoric or Reality?

“…(Barker, 1999, p. 129) Conversely, Novak et al (2003) reached the conclusion that officers do not change their behavior in the face of civil suits. This finding has ample support in the literature in this area, for while studies have found police officers are in fact greatly concerned about civil litigation, it does not necessarily cause them to change their behavior (Garrison, 1995;Hughes, 2001;Kappeler, 2001;Scogin & Brodsky, 1991;Stevens, 2000;Vaughn & Coomes, 1995;Vaughn, Cooper, & del Carmen, 2001). Despite this fact, civil litigation is still believed to be a causative factor in police officers who engage in depolicing.…”

Civil Liability for Negligent Police Investigation: Canadian Developments

“…Officers will likely want to know if the department 'has their back' in the event of a negligent investigation lawsuit. In addition, there is the possibility that Hill will cause an increased fear of litigation among police officers and administrators (see, e.g., Hall et al, 2003;Vaughn, Cooper, & Carmen, 2001). …”

“…Absent rigorous, planful methodologies in place in the near term, it is unlikely that any definitive conclusions about Hill's impact will be evident in the future. Prior research illustrates very clearly the difficult nature of research on civil litigation against police (see Archbold & Maguire, 2002;Hughes, 2001;Vaughn, Cooper, & del Carmen, 2001;Worrall, 1998). Assuming that authoritative conclusions can be retroactively determined from archival records is likely to be a major mistake.…”

Bureaucracy, managerial disorganization, and administrative breakdown in criminal justice agencies

“…Managers should be aware that specialized subordinates are less liable when sued in civil litigation (M.S. Vaughn, Cooper, & del Carmen, 2001). Training and specialization can reduce employees' misbehavior (Walker et al, 2000) on and off-duty (M.S.…”