Judging Police Misconduct: “Street-Level” versus Professional Policing

Abstract

In their interactions with citizens, police officers are prohibited from (1) using unnecessary Force, (2) Abusing their authority, (3) speaking Discourteously, or (4) using Offensive language, all captured by the acronym FADO. However, acts of police misconduct are complex social phenomena that involve both following legal guidelines and responding to extralegal or mitigating circumstances. Using a factorial survey of police-civilian interactions that introduce various dimensions of FADO and surrounding circumstances, respondents are asked to rate from zero to ten the seriousness of police misconduct in an encounter. Findings show that respondents' judgments of the seriousness of misconduct consider both legal and extralegal dimensions. On the legal side of the ledger, officers' unnecessary use of force and use of offensive language significantly increase judgments of serious misconduct; on the extralegal side of the ledger, civilians' confrontational demeanor significantly reduces judgments of serious misconduct. The findings suggest that citizens expect officers to behave professionally, or by the book, but with a recognition that ''streetlevel'' discretion has a place in an officer's toolkit. Citizens' expectations that street-level discretion has its place is also demonstrated by findings for the dimension abuse of authority: Abuse or threatening behavior by officers is not a significant predictor of serious police misconduct. In addition, characteristics of the respondents explain propensities to observe different degrees of police misconduct. Controlling for the social status, political orientation, and prior experience of respondents with the police, we find that (1) blacks rate police misconduct significantly higher than their white counterparts, and (2) liberals rate police misconduct significantly higher than their conservative counterparts. Differences in judgments by blacks and whites and by liberals and conservatives concerning judgments of police misconduct have important implications for the legitimacy of police authority.

Police Attitudes about the Use of Unnecessary Force: An Ecological Examination

“…While these descriptions may seem subtle, this study settled on using unnecessary force in vignettes, and the types of unnecessary force used here have a foundation in both the empirical and theoretical literature on the topic. Serone et al (2004) describe offensive language as a minor type of verbal force that other officers may consider unnecessary. A minor form of physical force, slapping the suspect once in the back of the head, is considered unnecessary force at an intermediate level.…”

“…A minor form of physical force, slapping the suspect once in the back of the head, is considered unnecessary force at an intermediate level. Police administrators consider slapping to be unnecessary and more serious than offensive language (Serone et al 2004). Patrol officers may not consider slapping a suspect in the back of the head unacceptable if they believe the suspect's behavior justified or warranted this action.…”

“To Protect and to Serve?”: An Exploration of Police Conduct in Relation to the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Community

“…While some studies have shown that the public believes force is sometimes necessary, citizens have also expressed concern over the use and overuse of coercive measures as a police tactic (Paoline et al 2000;Seron et al 2004;Vaughn 1996). As more communities adopt a community policing approach, which emphasizes a change in the role of law enforcement to one focused on problem solving and preventative approaches as ways to stop crime and conflicts, the necessity of force is under renewed scrutiny (Engel and Worden 2003).…”

“…These ''negative'' incidents ranged from police acting disrespectful, rude, in an inappropriate manner, engaging in harassment, and denying services to victims, to officers acting as the actual perpetrators of anti-LGBT verbal harassment, intimidation, and physical assault. There is debate within public opinion as well as literature on policing and police behavior as to the appropriate use of force particularly when officers encounter a dangerous situation (Seron et al 2004;Terrill et al 2003). This was taken into consideration when cases were rated using callers' experiences.…”

Exploring Causes of Bribery: A Case Study in a Public Organization in Malaysia

“…In answering questions as why law enforcement officers engage in bribery, researchers (Seron, 2004;Maher, 2008;) have identified minimum education as a cause of misbehavior. While other researchers (Kane, 2002;Weitzer & Tuch, 2004;Lersch, bazley, Mieczkowski & Childs, 2008;Ivkovic, 2009;) mentioned race as an antecedent of misbehavior followed by Schafer (2010) and Gordon (2010) found ineffective leadership is also a cause of misbehavior.…”