Dustin Goff Professor Wolcott ENC1102 October 23, 2013 Police Misconduct Police misconduct is a rampant issue in the

United States. The purpose of this annotated bibliography is to examine this issue and different factors that affect it. Every act a police officer commits sends out a ripple effect that influences public opinion. Public opinion is extremely important when it comes to police. It can determine how they are viewed by friends and family, and even can affect their ability to do their job. Why and how police perform acts of misconduct is an important study that is examined in this paper. The study of how public opinion and even police opinion fluctuate do to certain behaviors is also studied. There are key things that appear throughout the studies. Authors attempt to find out how misconduct is evolving and the views of specific demographics. They also attempt to explain what reforms need to implemented to help stop police misconduct. Studies dealing with the views and reasoning of these acts can enable police and the public to understand one another and create an atmosphere in which law enforces are doing the right thing and those viewing the enforcement comprehend it. The studies examined in this paper are written mostly by professors who have experience in law, criminal justice, and criminology fields. The studies are all done in the United States and take place from 1995 to 2012. The studies analyzed in this paper would be able to be understood by the public and could be useful to an assortment of people however they are aimed toward those who have influence and connections with the law enforcement. This annotated bibliography would be specifically useful towards police administration and those making reforms so that police misconduct could be eliminated as much as possible.

Attard, Barbara. "Oversight of Law Enforcement Is Beneficial and Needed -- Both Inside and Out." Pace Law Review 30.5 (2010): 1548-561. Print. Barbara Attard has been a private oversight and accountability consultant with law enforcement for the past twenty-five years. In this article for the Pace Law Review she discusses the importance and need of oversight of police departments both private and from within the department. She also discusses some steps that could be made toward making this possible. The author discusses that boards of civilians could be made to monitor police departments and their actions to determine if any misconduct occurs. Not only will these boards be effective in picking cases of misconduct, it will also help the public connect with police departments. Since the civilians would have insight to the departments they would feel more comfortable. Attard states that while oversight from within police departments can be useful it can also be very biased. Those in charge of the oversight tend to let somethings slip by since it is such a tightknit community. The author discusses what needs to be done to further oversight. The first part would be political will, without it there would be no power to back up the oversight. The next major hurdle would be funding. Oversight agencies would need major funding to hire consultants and other workers. Other factors such as outreach, mediation, and reporting would also be necessary for oversight to work. The author concludes that if an emphasis on oversight is made then police departments would be held more accountable and the public would feel more comfortable. The author however lacks to inform how some of these steps will come to pass. Bar-Gill, Oren, and Barry Friedman. "Taking Warrants Seriously." Northwestern University Law Review 106.4 (2012): 1609-674. Print.

Oren Bar-Gill and Barry Friedman are both professors of law at New York University. Together the authors exam how warrants have become a serious issue in the United States, due to police misconduct. They declare that issues have become evident due to unlawful searches. These unlawful searches have resulted in evidence being thrown out of court and even countersuits occurring to the department. Judges have become more cautious when it comes to allowing evidence from searches. The authors declare that accountability needs to be put more on the officer who performs the search. This however they deem is not enough. Back up to actual warrants needs to be made. The authors state that these warrants need to go through multiple channels before becoming usable. They also believe that even if an emergency warrant is deemed to be necessary an officer should make note of it before it occurs and possibly have witnesses sign it. This means that a police officer either has proof it was necessary or this helps prove the police officer was in the wrong and needs to be held accountable. The authors conclude that changes need to be made, otherwise courts trust in law enforcement officers will continue to decline. The authors point out why this is important however when they discuss putting more emphasis on officers for unlawful searches they never really discuss how this could be done. Brunson, Rod K., and Ronald Weitzer. "Police Relations with Black and White Youths in Different Urban Neighborhoods." Urban Affairs Review 44.6 (2009): 858-85. Print. Rod Brunson is a professor at Southern Illinois University. Ronald Weitzer teaches at George Washington University. Together they wrote this article for Urban Affairs Review. The authors found that many studies done of police interactions with the public were that of adults and officers. Few studies look into the interactions and views youth

have of police officers. In this article the authors compile a mixture of information from the United States Census and interviews done with fourty-five different youth from four different cities. The cities chosen had an average income of $23,000. The authors sought to not just view how youth view officers but also how poverty plays a role in this. From the interviews they found that both black and white youth in these poverty stricken areas have little respect for police officers and also believe they are targeted. Every black youth interviewed declared that they had at some time been stopped and questioned by a police officer and some also claimed they were searched. The white youth of the area when interviewed claimed they were sometimes questioned, however they declared that it became more likely if they were walking in a part of town that was known mostly to be black. When interviewed there was also a noticeable differences in stories told of how officers react to a situation whether it is a black or white suspect. This leads the authors to conclude that youth in these poverty stricken cities have little respect for police, attributing to this is the youths claim that police are overly intrusive to them and racially bias. The authors declare that reform is not a major aspect of their research, however they state some reforms would help repair relations between the youth and police officers. They state that tightening up on officers who perform unwarranted searches and abusive treatment during stops needs to be done. The research the authors have done is limited in size however the information is useful. In the future it could be useful to compare this study to a study of middleclass youth and their police relations. Gould, Jon B., and Stephen D. Mastrofski. "Suspect Searches: Assessing Police Behavior Under The U.S. Constitution*." Criminology Public Policy 3.3 (2004): 315-62. Print.

Jon B. Gould is a professor for the Criminology and Criminal Justice department for American University. Stephen D. Mastrofski teaches Criminal Justice classes at George Mason University. Together they discuss how often police misconduct occurs during searches. They examine multiple cases involving searches and compare it to the United States constitutions definition of lawful search and seizure. They also seek to identify the reason behind unconstitutional searches and deem whether they are necessary or not. The date the authors compile shows that fourty-five percent of searches police are involved in are unconstitutional. This being so the majority of citations given are given after legal searches. This means that police officers doing these illegal searches usually make no arrests or give a citation. The authors try to determine whether these illegal searches are widespread or due to a few officers. They discovered from the data that 16 percent of the officers attribute seventy percent of these unconstitutional searches. This means that there are specific officers that can be targeted for doing unconstitutional searches. When asked about these specific officers other administrators and officers declare they take their job very seriously and do not seem rogue or out of control in anyway. The authors conclude that unconstitutional searches occur on a regular basis however the only solution they give is better education to officers. The data compiled from these searches comes from the Middleburg police department in 1990. Hassell, Kimberly D., and Carol A. Archbold. "Widening the Scope on Complaints of Police Misconduct." Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management 33.3 (2010): 473-89. Print. Kimberly D. Hassell is head of the Helen Bader School of Social Work at the University of Wisconson-Milwaukee. Carol A. Archbold is part of the Department of Criminal

Justice and Political Science at the North Dakota State University. This article is a study of how officers characteristic, situational context, productivity levels, and misconduct are all related. The authors analyze data collected from formal and informal complaints filed against officers. They also examine how these complaints are filed. These complaints are acquired from a Midwestern police department whose name is not released. The town has a mixed economy, racially though the town is 94.8 percent white. The data analyzed showed that the police officers who make the most arrests and give the most citations receive the majority of complaints. The authors declared officers who have more frequent and serious interactions with citizens have a higher chance of receiving a formal complaint. This does not necessarily mean the officers are doing anything wrong, the authors believe the fault is in the formal complaint system. The authors then look to informal complaints filed. The data received was very similar to that of formal complaints. The authors state that they believe these complaints are hard to read however at the same time are necessary. The claim that while the reports are somewhat bias there is the possibility that slight abnormalities could help pinpoint police misconduct in departments. This study would benefit from a bigger demographic, as of now there is a lack of diversity. Hatch, Ryan P. "Coming Together to Resolve Police Misconduct: The Emergence of Mediation as a New Solution." Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution 21.2 (2005): 1-38. Print. Ryan P. Hatch is a graduate from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. In this article he discusses how mediation can be used to repair public opinion of police. The mediation discussed is that when a police officer personally offends a citizen and the citizen has a complaint both parties and a mediator must meet discuss what happened.

This enables both parties to reach closure when an unnerving incident occurs. This is an alternative to the now in place complaint system in which a citizen who feels they have been wronged can complain to the internal affairs department. This leads to a third party determining the outcome of the situation. Both parties are interviewed separately and have no interaction to each other. The author discusses how this is an invalid technique in determining the outcome of these situations. He believes that there should be no other influences. The two parties should be able to meet with a mediator and discuss the events that have unfold and how they would like to progress. The author discusses how there is a lack of studies done on mediation. This means that he has developed a hypothesis yet there is lack of support. In the future though more studies could be done to provide support to his argument and possibly influence the way police and the public interact. Hunter, Ronald D. "Officer Opinions on Police Misconduct." Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 15.155 (1999): n. pag. Print. Ronald Hunter is a professor at Jacksonville State University. He contributed this article in the Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice. The research was mainly done through analyzing previous journals, interviews, and surveys. The author is seeking to find out the general view police officers have on police misconduct. He studies a large demographic of police officers from all over the United States. The demographic consists of different age groups, races, and officers at different levels of the police systems such as officers or captains. Hunters findings declare that a large majority of officers agree that police misconduct is a major issue. The officers also agree that a new set of procedures and higher standards for officers should be implemented. They also agree that punishment for police misconduct should be swift and justice, however they believe punishment from the

media is not necessary. These findings are consistent throughout all demographics. While this study is useful do to the wide demographic surveyed for the study, however it is a fairly old study at the age of fourteen years old. This study would be best implemented today as a base for a more modern study. Ivkovic, Sanja Kutnjak. "Police (mis)behavior: A Cross-cultural Study of Corruption Seriousness." Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management 28.3 (2005): 546-66. Print. Sania Kutnkak Ivkovic is a Criminal Justice and Criminology professor for Florida State University. In this article published by, Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, Ivkovic analyzes the differences in opinions for three different police forces of the world. Over 5000 police officers from Croatia, Finland, and the United States were administered a survey in which eleven scenarios of police misconduct are to be evaluated. The officers are to rate the scenarios on a one to ten scale based on the seriousness of the offence, one being not very serious and ten being extremely serious. The officers are then told to organize the eleven scenarios from which they deem is the least serious to the most serious. The conclusion that Ivkovic reached from this survey is that Police from different areas greatly disagree on the level of seriousness for each scenario. The closest agreement to the level of seriousness was found in theft from a crime scene. The rest of the scenarios levels of seriousness greatly fluctuate from country to country. While these levels differ, the actual order that each country rank the scenarios is extremely close. Ivkovic concludes that each country has different views on the seriousness of misconduct; however there is a general understanding of which misbehavior is worse. The author also states that this difference is found due to

differences in cultures, politics, and number of other factors. He declares that future studies should be done to further confirm these theories and to find out other possible links to changes in opinions. This can help citizens more easily understand their police force and enable police administration to determine effective ways to handle police misconduct. As of now his research is limited to do the limited demographic that was surveyed. Johnson, Terrance A. "Police Ethics: Organizational Implications." Public Integrity 7.1 (2005): 67-79. Print. Terrance A. Johnson is a member of the Lincoln University faculty and teaches criminal justice courses at the university. Raymond W. Cox is a professor and chair of the Department of Public Administration and Urban Studies at the University of Akron. They discuss the change that needs to be made to police organization. The authors analyze previous reforms of police departments and point of the little effect it has had on the number of cases of police misconduct. They discuss the organization of police departments allow for little change. This is due to a strict hierarchy that is in place. This in high administrative positions help determine those of succeed them. This creates a loop in which few ideals change. The authors claim that a change needs to be made to the organizational structure of the United States. They declare that there is no easy and direct way to do it. Instead they claim that since rules and reforms have little effect, change needs to come from teaching. The authors propose that more ethics based teachings should be applied to police officers and administrators. This could be done through workshops or even during police academy training. With this implemented the authors believe it would create new reform from within the police departments. These authors

unfortunately provide little back up to their ideas. Research could be done in the future such as analyzing police academies teaching methods to determine whether ethics training would be effective. Lopez, Jose J., and Pedro M. Thomas. "The Geography of Law Enforcement Malpractice: National Patterns of Official Misconduct in the United States." Journal of American Studies 30.3 (204): 371-90. Print. Jose J Lopez is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at Minnesota State University. Pedro M. Thomas is an Assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and corrections at Minnesota State University. Together they compile research to exam the relationships between geographical location and police corruption. The authors analyze data gathered from the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. This agency gathers information from all misconduct trials of police officers throughout the fifty states. The agency shared cases from 1989 to 1999, the rest were confidential. After analyze of these cases they were able to compile which state had the most prevalent police misconduct issues. The authors then compare these numbers to the amount of cases mentioned in the media. They found that the media highlights misconduct trials in more populated areas. In reality the discovered that population had nothing to do with the number of cases per officers. It became apparent that the cases had a link to areas in which poor communities and racial minority groups were in large numbers. This leads them to conclude that there is need to put emphasis on individual police departments to make reform. They however state that there research was limited to only a few years of cases and that some bias might have affected case numbers. Since there is one small department that examines these cases it leaves room for errors. Also

some of the incidents of misconduct never make it to trial therefor there is no case to record. This means that there acts of misconduct that have occurred but will not be able to be analyzed. Potere, Michael. "Who Will Watch the Watchmen: Citizens Recording Police Conduct." Northwestern University Law Review 106.1 (2012): 273-316. Print. Michael Potere is a graduate from the Northwestern University School of Law. His article discusses how police misconduct is becoming exposed by the increase in technology. Potere tells of how with the increase of technology there has become an abundance of cameras citizens can quickly access, such as their smartphones camera. This leads citizens being able to record incidents of police misconduct and have proof of this when in the court of law. The author also questions the way police departments have handled this increase in exposure and even declares it unconstitutional. Numerous arrests have been made of citizens who recorded police interactions. The police departments declare that they have a right to arrest anyone who records their actions. They believe this right comes from the wiretapping statutes which declare no recording can be made unless both parties consent. The author points out that citizens have the right to film when in public areas. This is protected by the first amendment. He also points out that these citizens record incidents in which the officers are at fault and should be punished however it is turned on the citizens. Potere concludes that a clear line needs to be draw stating that citizens have these rights. He explains that this might take time since court cases are still being conducted on many of these arrests.

Simmons, Kami C. "Cooperative Federalism and Police Reform: Using Congressional Spending Power to Promote Police Accountability." Alabama Law Review 62.2 (2011): 351-405. Print. Kami C. Simmons is the Associate Professor of Law at Wake Forest University Law School. In this article she discusses police reform and its need to continue. In the beginning of her article she critiques reforms of the past fifteen years. She points out flaws and how they could be better improved. At the same time she states that while some reforms have flaws, many of these reforms could be effective. The problem is these reforms are implemented by the federal government. The federal government lacks the resources to ensure all of these reforms are followed. She declares that two things need to occur. State government should push reform and a bigger budget should be set aside so that federal reforms could actually be enforced. She states how some funding could come from the COPS program. This program implemented by Bill Clinton gives a certain budget to police departments to put priority on hiring new officers. Simmons proposes that a chunk of this budget could go to helping reform departments. The author concludes that reform has come a long way over the years however reform needs to become more of a priority on a federal, state, and local level. Son, In S., and Dennis M. Rome. "The Prevalence and Visibility of Police Misconduct: A Survey of Citizens and Police Officers." Police Quarterly 7.2 (2004): 179-204. Print. Dennis Rome is a professor at Indiana University and In Soon Son teaches at Lehman College, both contributed research to the police quarterly. The authors compiled past cases and surveys to come to a conclusion in the journal. The survey asked multiple questions about multiple forms of police misconduct and whether they have been seen by

the survey takers. The survey was administered to 988 Oregon citizens and 665 Oregon police officers in 1992 and 1993. The survey attempts to compile the answers to determine the most prevalent police misconduct in Oregon. The answers to the survey showed that a large number of police officers viewed some form of misconduct. Citizens of Oregon viewed a much smaller number of these misconduct incidents. It was determined that seventy percent of police officers viewed small acts of misconduct such as accepting free meals and speeding when it is not an emergency. Only seventeen percent of the citizens surveyed declared they witnessed these acts being committed. Around seventeen percent of officers viewed more serious misconduct such as racism or using excessive force. This number is again smaller with citizens at fourteen percent. The survey itself is twenty years old however the authors then go on to compare it to more recent surveys and journals. Every study analyzed backs up the information given from the survey. The survey is also confined to Orlando and a fairly small group of citizens and officers. Again the other studies help expand and add to this journal article as all of the percents match up with the study done by the authors. Strauss, Marcy. "Reconstructing Consent." Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology 92.2 (2002): 211-70. Print. Marcy Strauss is a professor of law at Loyola Law School. The author discusses the topic of consent and how it is implemented. Strauss discusses how she believes the system of consent is outdated and causes confusion. She talks about how some citizens think they have no right to refuse a search and this later causes issues during court cases. Not only this but how police sometimes believe it is absolutely necessary to perform a search and then the evidence has to be thrown out during the case. The whole system of consent

during searches is skewed. The author analyzes multiple cases of searches and how they impact courts decisions and how they determine whether the police was in the right or not. The authors answer to how this can be fixed is a drastic one; she states that consent should be removed. This means that officers if they deem it is necessary can perform searches when necessary. She states that the only way this would work would be to make the consequences of unnecessary searches drastic. The author believes that this would cause officers to be more deliberate and thoughtful as to whether they do a search or not. They also would be required to explain the nature of the search to the suspects. Strauss believes that this would lead to less incidents of police misconduct when it comes to searches and a smarter police force. This however is a very drastic measure that seems to go against the United States constitution. Weitzer, R. "Incidents of Police Misconduct and Public Opinion." Journal of Criminal Justice 30.5 (2002): 397-408. Print. Ronald Weitzer is part of the Department of Sociology for the George Washington University. His work involves analyzing data and doing research for a number of journals, specifically the Journal of Criminal Justice. Weitzer discusses how police misconduct directly influences public opinion of police services. He uses telephone surveys compiled over twenty-four years in and fifteen years from New York to back up his theories. The author also breaks down the change in opinion by specific races; Blacks, Hispanics, and Whites. Weitzer came to the conclusion that specific instances of police misconduct such as; the Rodney King beating, the shooting of Eulie Love, and the scandals within the police Rampart Division have a direct correlation with dramatic drops in public perception of police departments. This drop is seen throughout all racial groups,

while some spikes are larger for Black and Hispanic racial groups. The author compiles over 20,000 surveys throughout the years which have led to his conclusion for the journal entry.