CRIM 251 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Serpico, Police Misconduct, Perjury
3 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Crim 251
Lecture 3 – Police Ethics and Accountability
When Cops Go Bad
- Biker gae hell’s agels
- The detetie as ad, he as sellig iforatio to the hell’s agels
Rampart
- Biggest U.S. Scandal (LAPD, 1990s)
- Guns, gangs; busting gangs in LA
- David Mack is a part of some bad things
- Rafael One police officer has been selling cocaine from the evidence locker.
- Haar Riera got out of jail started gag agig agai
When Cops Go Bad
- They engaged in strong arm robberies
Serpico
- The top profile of cops going bad, officers at the npd
- Serpico was shot in the face, before he could testify about the corruption
- They are engaging in unethical behaviour.
What are ethics?
- Values that e’e gro to follo, ho e do that
- Code of Ethics – police acts, manuals; individual codes on ethics
o Guide for what police are supposed to do
- Ethical codes mainly focus on individual codes.
- Their job brings them to ethical predicaments
o They seize money, drugs, they get paid to be dirty; but they have to follow the
code of ethics.
- They have to fill out a mcneil report, where they have to document every aspect of the
person.
Police Wrongdoing
- High degree of discretion exercised by police creates potential for misconduct or
corruption
- Frontline police officers operate with a great degree of freedom and power
- Actual degree of police wrongdoing is hard to fully know
- Wrongdoing due to a variety of factors – poor recruiting/training; lack of
oversight/accountability; permissive police department or culture.
- We expect them to do the right thing.
- Have the discretion to stop whoever they want.
- Discretion: training, person, their own experience
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Studying Corruption
- Few studies have been able to measure extent and prevalence of corruption
- Key barrier: reluctance of officers to admit
- Confidentiality of police service records another issue
- Difficult to observe corruption during field research (Hathorne Effect): when someone is
being observing you, they will act in their best interest.
Just a Harmless Coffee?
- “LIPPERY “LOPE ARGUMENT: offee toda, hat’s et tr. It’s rier to gie
something for free.
Types of Corruption
- Grafts, gratitude’s, tiket fiig
- You’re gettig this offee for free / ou’re doig soethig for the
- Physical Abuse: excessive force, harassment
- Legal Abuse: unlawful search and seizure, destroying evidence, perjury in court
(testalying)
The Noble Cause I’ doig this ad thig for a good ause
- An extremely difficult type of misconduct to manage
- The Mindset or Subculture that has the belief that the ends justify the means
- Klokar’s 13 Dirt Harr Prole
- Facilitates practices such as testilying backfilling of notebooks and manipulating
evidence
The Role of the Police Culture in Wrongdoing
- Iforal ode of odut; estalished through soializatio Blue Wall
- Includes certain principals, such as
o Neer gie up aother op (In group solidarity)
o Do’t leae ork for other ops
o Do’t trust aageet/Higher Ups
- Encourage loyalty to the job and the people.
The Task Environment
- Police task environment is also a cause of police corruption (Newburn, 1999)
- Research has shown that neighbourhood context within a patrol division is significantly
related to police misodut eessar eil, ho’s goig to eliee a riial oer the
police)
- Officers working in higher crime districts are less likely to believe that other officers
would report the use of excessive force
- Certain types of police work may attract corruption (e.g., undercover work, narcotics,
gang environment).
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
The dete(cid:272)ti(cid:448)e (cid:449)as (cid:271)ad, he (cid:449)as selli(cid:374)g i(cid:374)for(cid:373)atio(cid:374) to the hell"s a(cid:374)gels. David mack is a part of some bad things. Rafael one police officer has been selling cocaine from the evidence locker. Ha(cid:448)ar ri(cid:448)era (cid:894)got out of jail started (cid:862)ga(cid:374)g (cid:271)a(cid:374)gi(cid:374)g(cid:863) agai(cid:374)(cid:895) The top profile of cops going bad, officers at the npd. Serpico was shot in the face, before he could testify about the corruption. Values that (cid:449)e"(cid:448)e gro(cid:449)(cid:374) to follo(cid:449), ho(cid:449) (cid:449)e do that. Code of ethics police acts, manuals; individual codes on ethics: guide for what police are supposed to do. Ethical codes mainly focus on individual codes. Their job brings them to ethical predicaments: they seize money, drugs, they get paid to be dirty; but they have to follow the code of ethics. They have to fill out a mcneil report, where they have to document every aspect of the person. High degree of discretion exercised by police creates potential for misconduct or corruption.
