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Washington, DC - A majority
of African-American police officers believe that police treat whites better
than African Americans and other minorities, and that police officers are
more likely to use physical force against minorities or the poor. Few white
police officers, however, share these views, according to a study released
today by the Police Foundation.
Other major findings
of the report, The Abuse of Police Authority: A National Study of Police
Officers' Attitudes, include:
- Police in the
U.S. believe that extreme cases of police abuse of authority occur infrequently.
However, a substantial minority of officers believe that it is sometimes
necessary to use more force than is legally allowable.
- Despite strong
support for norms recognizing the boundaries of police authority, officers
revealed that it is not unusual for police to ignore improper conduct
by their fellow officers.
- Police believe
that training and educational programs are effective means of preventing
police from abusing authority. They also argue that their own department
takes a "tough stand" on the issue of police abuse. Finally,
they argue that a department's chief and first-line supervisors can
play an important role in preventing abuse of authority.
- Police officers
believe that the public and the media are too concerned with police
abuses of authority.
- Police officers
support core principles of community policing; they generally believe
that community policing reduces, or has no impact on, the potential
for police abuse.
"Values in police
agencies come not just from documents that describe them, but also from
traditional police culture," said Police Foundation President Hubert
Williams. "Too often, there is a disconnect between policies and practices,
a failure of police management to monitor behavior and to respond appropriately.
As this study reaffirms, if police leadership does not assume an aggressive
role in ensuring that the police culture is one of integrity and accountability,
officers will continue to cultivate their own culture in their own way."
In the first national
study of this type, the views of America's rank-and-file police officers
are presented on a range of issues concerning abuse of police authority,
including:
- Whether abuse
of police authority is a necessary byproduct of efforts to reduce and
control crime;
- What types of
abuse and attitudes toward abuse are observed in their departments,
including the code of silence, whistle blowing, and the extent to which
a citizen's race, demeanor, and class affect the way police officers
treat them;
- What strategies
or tactics-including first-line supervision, community policing, citizen
review boards, and training-do police officers consider to be effective
means of preventing police abuse of authority.
Officer responses
are also analyzed according to rank, race, region of the US, and size
of department.
The 197-page report,
written by David Weisburd, Rosann Greenspan, Edwin E. Hamilton, Kellie
A. Bryant, and Hubert Williams, was conducted by the Police Foundation
under a grant from the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services,
US Department of Justice. The report is available from the Police Foundation
for $24.95 plus shipping and handling.
The Police Foundation
is a private, independent, not-for-profit organization dedicated to supporting
innovation and improvement in policing through its research, technical
assistance, and communications programs. Established in 1970, the foundation
has conducted seminal research in police behavior, policy, and procedure,
and works to transfer to local agencies the best new information about
practices for dealing effectively with a range of important police operational
and administrative concerns. Motivating all of the foundation's efforts
is the goal of efficient, humane policing that operates within the framework
of democratic principles and the highest ideals of the nation.
For more information
about the Police Foundation, its programs, publications, and services,
please visit its Web site at www.policefoundation.org.
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