Police Ethics-Chapter 11, Types of Police Misconduct Flashcards
“All power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”
Lord Acton, 1834-1902
Police deviance
when people deviate, they break norms of conduct that are prescribed for them.
Norms
cultural values, moral tenets, social customs, codified laws.
Cops as Legal Actors- Multiple Standards of Conduct
- Police are legal actors
- Police are political actors
- Police are administrative actors
in responding to the desires of their communities, the police must be ___
political actors…streetcorner politicians
Who labeled “streetcorner politicians”
William K Muir
Cops as Administrative Actors
police must live by the rules of conduct set down by police professionals in police dept General Order Manuals. This set makes up the “nuts and bolts” of police work
Cops as legal actors
police must know the codified law, charge appropriately, investigate effectively and write reports.
When dealing with suspects and citizens the police must also know ___or ___
procedural or case law
police must answer to three separate sets of standards.
observe the law
respond to community
follow professional regulations
Two questions must be asked of police misconduct for us to fit such misbehavior into its proper place in its typology
Once these two questions are answered, misconduct can be classified
- was the misconduct done in the name of personal gain.
2. did the misconduct involve the use of the police position of authority
corruption of authority
using their legal authority to obtain personal rewards. ex: payoffs to protect criminal enterprises
Shakedown
police demanding money from people in exchange for “letting them off easy”
Graft
accepted on an individual basis, from a motorist in exchange for not giving a ticket
Police Crime or professional crime
committing crimes while on duty. burlarizing busineses or residences. theft. This misconduct is to obtain personal gain, but they are not tradin goff their position of authority to do so
Grass eating- two types
1st. accepting cash in exchange for not writing a moving violation, obtaining police discounts, eating free food, drinking free coffee.
2nd- involves the acceptance by some officers of the larger-scale, organized misconduct of others (meat-eating). grass eating invovles looking the other way and not reporting/taking action with regard to the personal gain-related misconduct of others.
Meat Eating
involves proactive, systematic, organized payoffs. ex: narcotic officer accepting money on regular basis in exchange for not arresting certain drug dealers, Vice officers not arrested pimps, beat officers who shakedown businesses and demand protection money from them.
slippery slope
when officers begin to deviate, they do so in small, incremental ways. Person strays from the norms and rules of conduct, he begins to slide down a slope that leads to greater forms of deviance.
Slippery slope idea suggests that grass eating supports meat eating in two ways.
- first accepting small gifts such as free coffee or meals, eventually will begin to normalize accepting more significant gifts.
- grass eating involve looking the other way when meat eating occurs.
Involves police misusing their position of authority but not for personal gain.
Noble cause corruption
transgressions against departmental regulations that are considered to be police misconduct. While these are sometimes serious volations, they are neither criminal nor corrupt in their nature. they are merely the product of ___
ineptitude–sleeping on duty, showing up late, writing poor reports, failing to respond to calls, ignoring orders.
Being a ____ ___ involves having the intelligence, education, motivation and skill to get the job done and thus avoid ineptitude
competent police officer
if an officer lacks any or all these traits of a competent police officer, he should be
retrained, reeducated, or dismissed
Most techniques used for dealing with ineptitude involve proative, ___ strategies that bring change without impacting negatively upon an officers career
no-fault
Ineptitude often occurs almost inadvertently, usually without ____
malice
Personal misconduct is important and it has great significance in two ways
- it may be of general relevance to the image of a police dept.
- the way the officer behaves off duty is directly controlled by the kind of person that officer is.
___behavior is just as critical as on duty behavior as an indicator of police ethicss
off-duty
Presidential Misconduct
- Corruption of Authority- George H W Bush issued a pardon to everyone involved in Iran/Contra scandal. One of the pardoned indiv was going to argue in court that he was ordered to commit such crime. Bush saved his own skin
- Noble Cause Corruption- Pres Reagan allowed Oliver North to deliver arms to Contras using drug dealers to accomplish a criminal task.
- Criminal Behavior- Watergate scandal.
- Ineptitude- Pres Carter inability to solve Iran Hostage crisis
- Personal Misconduct- Clinton was impeached for getting a blow job in White House.
corruption of authority
police misconduct involving personal gain on part of errant officers and misuse of an officers power
general orders manuals
internal regulations constructed by all police depts
graft
acquisition of money, goods or services thru dishonesty and involving taking advantage of one s official position
grass eating
police misconduct that involves the acceptance of non-systematic graft or covering up of more serious corruption
ineptitude
incompetence, sloth, lack of training
meat eating
seriouis form of police corruption involving ongoing payoffs or graft
personal misconduct
deviance that is off duty. may or may not become the subject of internal, dept investigation
police crime
police misconduct involving personal gain, but not related to the official authority of the police
police deviance
police behavior that goes against either legal or professional standards of conduct or against input obtained from the community under COP
shakedowns
proactively obtaining money from citizens in exhcange for avoiding the performance of their official charge
slippery slope
idea that misconduct can begin with small types of misbehavior and then expand and change into major corruption
streetcorner politicians
Muir’s label for officers, refers to their exercise of power over citizens.
