Police Deviance And Accountability Essay

Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"The ethically ideal police system would be one with integrity and nothing puzzling about it (i.e., there would be neither corruption nor misconduct). There would be no us-against-them and no disrespect for the limits of the law or how it’s enforced. Everything done in private would be just as if it was done in public.† (Anonymous)   This is the probably an interesting view of one’s vision for the police. Can this be achieved? is a question of utmost importance. The issue of police misbehavior is a limiting factor in this dream of such an ideal police force. Police deviance is a generic description of police officers activities that are inconsistent with the officer’s legal authority, organizational authority and standards of ethical conduct. Who then polices our police or what effective measures have been put in place to curb deviance among the police. The problem of police deviance is seen in the core values of the police and modifying internal review processes would be effective in controlling deviance amongst the police such as allowing civilians interference into the internal review processes of the police force. Following Nelligan and Taylor (1994: 59), who wrote that â€Å"should police work be reorganized, patterns of misconduct are likely to change† The actions of the police officers are controlled by a number of different rules and regulations which are written down in the criminal code and various police acts, some are undocumented and exist in the expectation the police department and society at large dictates for its officers. Police deviance is defined as a behavior that is inconsistent with the norms, values or ethics from either societal standpoint. It has thus been described as a much broader term than corruption. The criminal code, which contains policing rules and precepts regarding the use of deadly force and policing, rules. The police act adds rules governing neglect of duty, insubordination, discreditable conduct dressing .The society also has its own rules not formally stated but socially accepted and expected by citizens from officers such as police-citizen interaction, and maintenance of certain ethical standards. Any action that violates such laws is termed as police deviance. Ross (2003) sees police misbehaviors in two lights i.e. the officer willfully violating the law and the agency tolerating it. Deviance has been placed on the standard of police behavior, which can be derived from 3 perspectives i.e. ethical, organizational and legal. Ethical standards involve the police officers personal standards of moral integrity and responsibility. Organizational standards are the standards published by the police departments, police boards and commissions. Legal standards involve the laws of the community.   How Does Deviance in the Force Arise The Sherman typology distinguishes between levels of corruption that exist at different levels of the police department. The Rotten apple, rotten pocket theory holds that some police officers where deviant before joining the force and upon admission into the force became the deviant ones in the police. The pervasive unorganized theory holds that there are deviant police officers within the force with no specific pattern of organization. While the pervasive organized theory holds that there are deviant police officers with a specific pattern of organization. Whatever the origin of deviance, public safety cannot be assured and much of the deviance is seen due to lack of proper monitoring or effective control of internal systems and as such creates a free environment for the deviant officers to continue in their acts as seen in this story of Arthur McDuffie, an African American, was riding his motorcycle in Miami, when according to police reports; he popped a wheelie, gave a cop the finger, and sped away. More than a dozen Miami patrol cars gave chase. When caught, at least six white officers jumped him, splitting open his skull. He died four days later. It came out at trial that the police fabricated an explanation that he fell; splitting his head, of his own accord, but an all-white jury acquitted the officers. Three days of racial rioting erupted.    REASONS FOR POLICE DEVIANCE The Sherman’s (1974) typology of police deviance attributed 8 factors responsible for police deviance. The large number of police officers thus increasing the number of deviants A lack of direct supervision, especially seen among police patrol where the police superiors or public are unaware of what’s going on. The complex task of policing which incorporates law enforcement, order maintenance and service functions and placing strict limits on the power of the police leading to misconduct. Both the discretionary power of the police and the nature of the work provide police officers with numerous opportunities to partake in deviant behaviors. Contacts formed during the course of work with deviant and criminal subcultures can introduce the officer to deviance Code of secrecy that exists and leads to a cover-up of deviant behavior as well as new recruits been initiated to such a system. Police managers are part of the police subculture, having worked their way up the ranks Police officers have a mentality of being underpaid and undervalued despite improved financial rewards to the police system   Efforts Carried Out Much effort has been put in place to curb police deviance, Much as been attributed due to public society effort such as the story of Rodney King, an African American, who was detected speeding on a Los Angeles freeway, but refused to stop for fear that he could be returned to jail. Over eleven LAPD units, including a helicopter, gave chase. Eventually he stopped but refused to exit the vehicle, he was savagely dragged out, jolted twice with fifty thousand volts, and kicked or beaten with nightsticks at least fifty-six times by four white officers. Rodney suffered sixteen broken bones and permanent brain damage. The tape was then aired on television. The four white officers were initially acquitted of charges by a Simi Valley jury mainly white population. Five days of racial rioting erupted. A federal trial in 1993 then reviewed the case and convicted two of the four officers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As seen above, the public had a great impact in the prosecution of the deviant police officers. The deviance amongst the police in Canada is much less than that of the United States and more so less numerous. Perhaps, Canada’s most famous incident of police deviance occurred in 1974 when a corporal of the RCMP security and intelligence branch injured himself while planting a bomb outside a supermarket executive’s home. The cases of deviant police officers have mainly shown that police deviance most often occurred mainly for the selfish gain of these individuals probably driven by greed, guilt, revenge or lust and made possible by the lack of proper monitoring and a police department that is swift in covering its acts and thus protecting these deviant persons. Policing The Police The question of whether the police should be left alone to carry out is function has long been discredited and it is obvious that there is a need for a monitoring body. The accountability of police officers can be divided into 2 categories namely the internal review process and the external review process. Internal review processes refers to the policies and procedures that exists in individual police department and are enforced through a chain of command and they include internal affairs, discipline boards and command and management supervision. External review procedures relate to agencies that are external to agencies that are external to police organizations which monitor police agencies such as police board, police commission and public inquiry. Civilian Review Bodies A civilian review body involves the creation of a group of civilians to review instances of alleged misconduct by the police. The police have often resisted this intrusion into what they deem their exclusive area of expertise as this civilian oversight compromises the secrecy needed by police departments. According to Rothwell and Baldwin (2007:611) They agree that many officers believe that silence enables them perform their jobs more effectively and also avoids unnecessary public oversight.   Despite this though the civilian review boards have gained widespread growth due also to public demand for accountability and have paid off tremendously. The aim of civilian review board is to provide police accountability and listed below are its objectives. To determine, whether individual complaints against an officer are true and to take appropriate corrective actions To identify patterns of wrong doing by officers who are subject to a number of complains To demonstrate police credibility and responsiveness to the public by showing them grievances are taken seriously. This board is taking the bull by the horn as they form the aggrieved party and thus provide a strong motivation in performing their duty. There are some limitations to the civilian review board as they only have access to the cases that are reported and the help of the internal review process is needed. A reform that allows for the safety public is thus required also putting into consideration the need for police secrecy. Seagrave in her book: â€Å"Introduction to Policing in Canada† lists 5 alternative models for dealing with this police deviance, she describes alternative models such as â€Å"Externally supervised â€Å"in house† model† where the investigation and adjudication of the complaint are undertaken by the police but at the end of the process, the entire procedure is reviewed by an individual external to the police department to ensure fairness in judgment by the police. â€Å"Police investigation with independent adjudication model† in which the investigation is completed by the police, but once completed, the adjudication is in the hands of a body independent of the police. Both models here allow the police process to be monitored. While the police argue that this probably is an intrusion into their secrecy and undermines their capabilities well as claiming that police individuals are well versed with the law and procedures as well as human rights. The public on the other hand understands that the police are also humans and are thus capable of making judgmental errors along with the different moral values shown by various police individuals as depicted a study reported by Terry and Reisig (2003): â€Å"It was found that police officers are significantly more likely to use higher levels of force when suspects are encountered in disadvantaged neighborhoods and those with higher homicide rates, net of situational factors (e.g., suspect resistance) and officer-based determinants (e.g., age, education, and training). Also found is that the effect of the suspect’s race is mediated by neighborhood context.† Also following the rotten apple theory of police deviance, it is probable that some of the deviant police officers are in the force and may have worked their way up to top ranking positions, thus if they are left unsupervised, they pose as the rotten of the police force. By view of reforms to integrate some external p rocesses into internal review processes, public safety can be ensured. Accountability in The police The police are a public enforcement agency allowed to use deadly force. It is thus necessary that accountability measures be put in place. The accountability of the police is based on the premise that the state has a duty to provide a fair and equitable service to the public. The police are accountable to number of different groups such as the politicians, lawyers, general public etc. A police individual can be held accountable for his/her action or the police department can be held accountable for the action of its members. Assessing Accountability How does one therefore assess the accountability of the police? An administrative way takes into consideration the effectiveness and the efficiency. Effectiveness ascertains such things such as crime and arrests rates, number of calls for service, reports etc. while efficiency takes into account how resources are used by the organization Both internal review processes and external review processes are involved in monitoring police accountability, while the internal process monitors internal accountability, the external review processes involves bodies outside the police such as the police boards, public enquiries and police commissions. The external review processes are mainly involved in administration of police and the police laws and are not involved with deviant behaviors. Thus much of the police deviances are handled by the internal board which does not handle these cases well. Summary. Much has been mentioned about police deviance, the internal review process has played its part but is still ineffective and argues that civilians should not be involved with police matters due to invasion of secrecy. It is in view that civilian interference into internal police affairs has helped in instances such as the Rodney King incident to combat deviances in the force. Works Cited Heck WP: Police Who Snitch – Deviant Actors In A Secret Society, Deviant behavior 13 (3): 253-270 JUL-SEP 1992 Klinger DA: Negotiating Order In Patrol Work: An Ecological Theory Of Police Response To Deviance, CRIMINOLOGY 35 (2): 277-306 MAY 1997 Nelligan.P; Taylor.W.Ethical Issues in Community Policing: Journal Of Contemporary Criminal Justice, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 59-66, February 1994. Ross, Darrell L, Book Review: Readings on Police Misconduct and Police Ethics Criminal Justice Review, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 382-395, September 2003 Rothwell.R. Baldwin. J: Whistle-Blowing and the Code of Silence in Police Agencies: Policy and Structural Predictors Crime & Delinquency, vol. 53, no. 4, pp. 605-632, October 2007 Terrill W, Reisig MD: Neighborhood context and police use of force journal of research in crime and delinquency 40 (3): 291-321 AUG 2003