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Federal investigations of police misconduct: a multi-city comparison

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Abstract

Over the past two decades, high-profile federal investigations have examined the policies and practices of several American police departments where civil rights violations and police misconduct were deemed serious by the Department of Justice. This paper focuses on four recent investigations: Baltimore, Chicago, Ferguson, and New Orleans. We examine the specific types of misconduct highlighted by the investigation of each department. Findings reveal both important similarities and differences across the four cases.

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Notes

  1. A consent decree is an enforceable settlement, monitored by a district court, designed to ensure a police department’s compliance with the terms of the decree.

  2. According to DOJ, “The Division’s pattern-or-practice cases contribute to nationwide police reform by promoting a model of constitutional policing applicable to any size department, in any part of the country” (DOJ, [9]: 40).

  3. Stops and arrests were not examined in depth in the Chicago report, due to its primary focus on use of force, police-community relations, and accountability. The report does, however, detail how unlawful stops led to pursuits that often resulted in the use of excessive force. An earlier report by a Police Accountability Task Force went into more detail regarding stops, searches, and arrests (Chicago Task Force[26]).

  4. None of the other reports discussed strip searches.

  5. The study also found that Ferguson was hardly alone in its revenue-policing orientation. Indeed, it ranked fifth among all municipalities in St. Louis County in the collection of revenue from traffic fines and court costs [13].

  6. In 2013, Ferguson’s Finance Director wrote to the City Manager: “Court fees are anticipated to rise about 7.5%. I did ask the Chief if he thought the PD could deliver 10% increase. He indicated they could try” (quoted in Ferguson, 2).

  7. For example, “In 2013, the court issued over 9000 warrants on cases stemming in large part from minor violations such as parking infractions, traffic tickets, or housing code violations. Jail time would be considered far too harsh a penalty for the great majority of these code violations, yet Ferguson’s municipal court routinely issues warrants for people to be arrested and incarcerated for failing to timely pay related fines and fees” (Ferguson, 3).

  8. Investigative stops require merely that police have reasonable suspicion that a crime may have been or will be committed, based on the circumstances. A higher legal standard – fact-based probable cause that a crime has been or will be committed – is needed before an officer is justified in making an arrest. Thus, reasonable suspicion provides officers legal standing to question and frisk suspicious persons when they lack probable cause to make an arrest. Reasonable suspicion is a standard established in a 1968 Supreme Court ruling, Terry v. Ohio.

  9. In Chicago, DOJ stated, “Of particular concern to us were officers who did not appear to recognize when profiling was unlawful. One sergeant told us that ‘if you’re Muslim, and 18 to 24, and wearing white, yeah, I’m going to stop you. It’s not called profiling, it’s called being pro-active’” (Chicago, 144).

  10. Disparities in policing practices were measured in several ways and controlled for a range of variables: city demographics, location of stop, officer experience, and number of stops per person.

  11. “Several CPD officers posted social media posts contain disparaging remarks about Arabs and Muslims, with posts referring to them as “seventh century Islamic goat humpers,” “Ragtop,” and making other anti-Islamic statements. . . . Supervisors posted many of the discriminatory posts we found, including one sergeant who posted at least 25 anti-Muslim statements and at least 43 other discriminatory posts, and a lieutenant who posted at least five anti-immigrant and anti-Latino statements. . . . Even when CPD learns of overtly discriminatory statements, its response reflects a lack of sufficient concern about such conduct” (Chicago, 147).

  12. Racial disparities in use of force was less of a focus in the New Orleans report than in the other three reports.

  13. A national poll of police officers reported that one-quarter believed that whistle blowing “is not worth it” and two-thirds said that an officer who reports another officer’s misconduct would likely get “the cold shoulder” by other officers [27].

  14. This practice is also documented in some other cities: e.g., St. Louis [3].

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Criminal Justice, Rutgers University, 123 Washington Street, Newark, NJ, 07102, USA

    Amanda D’Souza & Rod K. Brunson

  2. Department of Sociology, George Washington University, Washington, DC, 20052, USA

    Ronald Weitzer

Authors
  1. Amanda D’Souza
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  2. Ronald Weitzer
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  3. Rod K. Brunson
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Correspondence to Amanda D’Souza.

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D’Souza, A., Weitzer, R. & Brunson, R.K. Federal investigations of police misconduct: a multi-city comparison. Crime Law Soc Change 71, 461–482 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-018-9797-4

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