No Police Department In The Country, Or The World, Is Free From Deviant Officers

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Term Paper Title	No Police Department In The Country, Or The World, Is Free From Deviant Officers
# of Words	1859
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	7.44

     No police department in the country, or the world, is free from deviant officers.
Offenses can be something as minor as a department policy infraction such as being out of
uniform or as major as a criminal violation such as assault.  Since the earliest police
departments were formed, society has tried to find a way to “police the police”.  Today,
this is done through internal affairs or a similar office inside the department and civilian
review boards which are independent from the police.

     Each department has some way to discipline those officers who find themselves on the
other side of the law.  The decision to suspend an officer, or to take any other action
against them, can come form the chief or a board of officers.  Complaints may come form
citizens, fellow officers, or from superiors.  Most small departments will leave the handling
of these complaints to the chief or the commissioner’s discretion.  Larger departments
usually will have some type of review board to handle complaints.  These boards would be
made up of a number of officers and supervisors, and have the ability to conduct
investigations, hold hearings and pass disciplinary decisions.  Some boards may work as an
advisorial group to the chief, who would have final decisions.  This is one of today’s most
widely used ways to keep law enforcement officer in check.  In his article, Herman
Goldstein points out that:

          However strongly committed an agency may be to disciplining the conduct of its employees, it is not
          likely to criticize the actions of an officer which, though of questionable legality, are in accord with
          a practice knowingly and consciously engaged in by the agency.  This suggests that department-
          wide policies, as distinct from the individual conduct of police officers, can be adequately
          controlled only from outside a police department (1967, p.164).

     This now raises questions as to an internal board’s ability to stop police misconduct.  In
comparing the Police Advisory Board (external) and the Police Board of Inquiry (internal)
for the city of Philadelphia, James Hudson points that the board of inquiry works best
when “directed inward toward the police organization (1972, 429)”, meaning it should
deal with policy violation within the department, not complaints from citizens.

     External review is now shown as a necessary measure.  Boards are made up of
interested citizens who advise th...

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