Abstract
In simplest terms, police deviance can be defined as disregarding agency policy, rules and regulations, societal expectations, and/or criminal law. However, from a more practical perspective, five basic types of police deviance can be specified: (1) police corruption, (2) police criminality, (3) excessive use of force, (4) abuse of authority, and (5) police misconduct. The different categories of police deviance as it relates to the experiences of many large American metropolitan police agencies over the last six decades will be comprehensively outlined and analyzed within this chapter. In addition, a comprehensive evaluation of police deviance through criminological perspectives will assist in formulating practical policy recommendations to deter corruption, criminal behavior, and serious abuses, and in enhancing effective leadership and professional standards within law enforcement organizations.
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Notes
- 1.
The author was hired by the NYPD in January 1984 with more than 2200 other police officers.
- 2.
Integrity tests evaluate a police officer’s reaction to found currency or narcotics and ensure that legal and police department procedural guidelines are complied with. Most tests are randomly administered, but can also be conducted on targeted police officers when there is suspicion that they may be engaging in thefts or other criminality.
- 3.
Drug tests can also be administered for cause when there is reasonable suspicion that the police employee has smoked or ingested illegal narcotics.
- 4.
This would permit a potential police candidate to have served 4 years in the military or complete a bachelors’ degree.
- 5.
When a police officer, detective, sergeant, or lieutenant applied for a position within the NYPD’s Detective Bureau, Narcotics Division, or other criminal investigative unit, the Internal Affairs Bureau (IAB) received “first choice” in transferring that applicant to the IAB to ensure that the IAB had experienced investigative staff and management.
- 6.
The author recognizes that there may be other contributing factors that have supported the dramatic drop in crime in New York City and across the USA since 1993, which include relative economic stability and low unemployment rate; decrease in the American juvenile and adolescent populations; increased incarceration and lengthened prison terms; notable decline in crack cocaine usage and addiction; more effective treatment in the correctional and probationary environments; enhanced use of technology (e.g., DNA analysis, video surveillance, etc.) to prevent and solve crime; etc.
- 7.
This event and the resultant counter-terrorism responsibilities has not significantly affected police integrity, ethics, or deviance, other than concerns regarding the implementation of the Patriot Act, which does not overwhelmingly affect local law enforcement agencies like the NYPD.
- 8.
The practice of making false arrests and of planting fake evidence on suspects is called “flaking.”
- 9.
Some police officers were found to have used the phone book and information found on department databases to write “phantom” summonses and tickets to individuals and vehicles. The summonses and tickets were actually never issued, but individuals only found out about them when the courts notified them that they had failed to pay a fine or show up in court.
- 10.
A police officer could “take care of” a traffic ticket by discreetly disposing of it or by providing false testimony in traffic court.
- 11.
The number of NYPD police officers arrested on an annual basis is less than 0.5% of the total complement of police officials, and this has remained stable since 1990. The overwhelming number of arrests is made for domestic incidents and alcohol-related offenses such as bar altercations or drunk driving. The extreme (ab)use of excessive force, police corruption, and police criminality are exceptionally rare events and have tended to involve 1 or 2 police officers and not a large team of officers as seen during the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s.
- 12.
“Problem” employees include police officers who were involved in higher level disciplinary cases. As part of the punishment process, these officers would be transferred to undesirable work locations, and those who had performed in an exemplary fashion at those same police stations were permitted to transfer to a more desirable precinct.
- 13.
In New York City and other jurisdictions, police officers are permitted to work in most security positions with the specific permission of their agency, so this does not necessarily mean that police personnel who work a second job in the security field are deviant or corrupt.
- 14.
Accepting free coffee has presented some discomfort to police administrators. On one hand, the police should move closer to the community and accepting a cup of coffee or a non-alcoholic beverage would be considered appropriate within the boundaries of community policing. Some businesses that operate 24 hours (e.g., 7/11 stores, Dunkin Donuts, diners, and some gas stations) have established the standard practice of providing free coffee to uniformed police personnel, more so on the night shift. On the other hand, there are businesses that provide free coffee and/or discounted meals to police personnel often with an expectation (e.g., no traffic tickets issues in front of their business or perhaps permitting illegal activity such as gambling to take place on those premises). Again, this is a sensitive situation as each instance may have to be judged on its own specific characteristics and intentions. A troubling issue for frontline police personnel is that they often see high-ranking administrators attending community, business, or inter-agency meetings where meals are served and they do not understand how that is different from them accepting coffee or discounted meals from local restaurants. The matter also has to be evaluated in relation to its perception by the public.
- 15.
The five general classifications are (1) police corruption; (2) police criminality; (3) excessive use of force; (4) abuse of authority; and (5) police misconduct.
- 16.
At one point in 2004, the New York City Mayor actually decreased the starting salary for new police officers by more than −25%. Even with tax surpluses that at times exceeded $4 billion annually over the last 15 years, no raises or cost of living increases were provided to NYPD personnel on a routine basis. The situation changed in 2007 when New York City was embarrassed that the NYPD could not fill their budgeted police academy complements.
- 17.
This is one reason why the NYPD does not permit enforcement personnel to live in the area in which they work. However the policy does not preclude police officers from working in areas where they had previously lived, attended school, or had been employed.
- 18.
This has to be contrasted with the “perceived” use of excessive force by police personnel, which is more common than the actual incidents involving force-related police deviance. The sensationalized cases often highlighted by the media have routinely resulted in prosecutorial or jurist conclusions that the police officers had acted appropriately given the known circumstances and facts at the time of the decision to deploy force. This often differs dramatically from the related allegations of racism and police brutality made by minority group and other community advocates. It is clear that the perception of police brutality has to be addressed by police administrators, but it should not be confused with the actual use of excessive force by law enforcement actors.
- 19.
In New York City, allegations involving abuse of authority are investigated by an independent agency staffed by civilian employees and supervised by the Civilian Complaint Review Board.
- 20.
The most common examples included police officers testifying that they discovered a gun or illicit narcotics on the body of the suspect, when in fact the contraband had been found on the floor nearby, in the suspect’s car, or in the suspect’s home. When questioned, the officer’s often admitted that they merely wanted to strengthen the criminal case (Mollen, 1994).
- 21.
Prior research has indicated that specific indices or scales in the MMPI, CPI, NEO-PI-R, and IPI have been shown to be predictive of misconduct and termination. Further research is needed to validate these findings, but agency psychologists should at the minimum pay close attention to these factors when interviewing these job candidates prior to employment.
- 22.
Those police stations that are located in high-crime and drug-prone communities have been shown to be of higher risk of police deviance.
- 23.
The issue of drug testing of law enforcement personnel must take into consideration the legalization of medical and recreational marijuana usage within that respective state and jurisdiction and agency policy when determining the need for testing police employees for marijuana usage.
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Albrecht, J.F. (2023). Criminological Explanations for Police Officer Brutality and Criminality. In: Albrecht, J.F., den Heyer, G. (eds) Police Use of Force. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22705-9_14
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