Police Ethics-Chapter 11, Types of Police Misconduct Flashcards
(40 cards)
“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
