Organizational correlates of police deviance

Abstract

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.

The Network Structure of Police Misconduct

“…From this perspective, misconduct happens because specific individuals violate the primary function of policing itself; such officers are seen as "deviants" and believed to represent a small fraction of police. At the organizational level, the bad-institutions approach focuses on top-down features of the department, including authoritarian police culture; organizational features of police departments, such as officer diversity and hiring practices; and the racist and racialized history of policing (Silver et al 2017;Huff, White, and Decker 2018;Ray, Ortiz, and Nash 2018). Some scholars have even argued that policing is designed as a means to control marginalized groups and maintain white supremacy (Soss and Weaver 2017).…”

Identifying misconduct-committing officer crews in the Chicago police department

“…Younger and less experienced officers receive more complaints—including use of force complaints—than older and more experienced officers [ 21 ]. Findings on education are mixed, though mounting evidence suggests that some college education is associated with lower levels of misconduct [ 24 , 25 ]. Misconduct also appears to be associated with anti-social behavior of officers and personality factors such as low self-control and an “authoritarian personality” [ 26 , 27 ].…”

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

“…Specifically, while there is considerable and persuasive quantitative evidence of racially-biased policing (see Knox et al 2020 ; Ross et al 2018 ), in general, serious forms of police deviance are expected to be rare relative to the sheer volume of police activity and police-public interaction typical of U.S. police departments (Worden 1996 ). Indeed, data presented in prior research, in addition to the data we analyze here, suggest that when bad behavior occurs it is likely to take the form of comparatively benign police misconduct such as administrative infractions, accepting free food, speeding unnecessarily, or sleeping on duty (see Chappell and Piquero 2004 ; Donner et al 2016a ; Huff et al 2018 ; Kane and White 2009 ; Lersch and Mieczkowski 2000 ; Rozema and Schanzenbach 2019 ; Son and Rome 2004 ; Terrill and Ingram 2016 ; Quispe-Torreblanca and Stewart 2019 ). To be sure, grave on-the-job malpractice in the form of police corruption (e.g., modification of normal police behavior for reward; collaboration with criminals) and police crime (e.g., excessive and unjustified use of force; sexual assault) occurs—with dangerous and fatal consequences—but it is expected to be relatively unusual given the number of police and the volume of police activity.…”