Category: CRJ301 Police Mgt

Understanding and preventing police corruption: lessons from the literature

This is an excellent publication on police corruption and ethics.

This work aims to provide a common level of knowledge and understanding of police integrity and corruption, its causes and the efficacy of strategies for its prevention. Other issues of relevance include the links between integrity (and lapses in it) and the development of corruption, and strategies for instilling organisational values and integrity in staff. It is not an aim of this report to provide an assessment of the current extent or nature of police corruption in the United Kingdom. It is hoped this work will provide an essential base for the development of robust prevention strategies in the longer term.

By definition, a literature review is necessarily historical and shaped by available material. The review covers the main English language literature on the issues of police corruption and police ethics over the past 20 years. It includes the sociological and criminological literature, together with a review of the main ‘official inquiries’ from the United States and Australia.

citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download

Assessment Colorado Springs Police Department – Use of Force

Using both qualitative and quantitative methods that explore official police data, community and officer surveys and focus groups, and comparisons to peer agencies, we address the following research questions:

 What factors contribute to the use (and severity) of force by CSPD officers?

 How does CSPD use of force policy and training compare to similarly situated (i.e., peer) cities?

 Does the rate and severity of force align with racial/ethnic groups’ representation at risk for having

force used against them by police?

 What are possible explanations for any disparities found in police use and severity of force?

 What factors contribute to the likelihood of officer and citizen injuries?

 How do community members perceive use of force and police-community relations?

 How do CSPD officers perceive police use of force and police-community relations?

 What improvements should be made to CSPD’s use of force policies, training, and data collection

and analysis to meet current best practices?

coloradosprings.gov/sites/default/files/inline-images/cspd_use_of_force_final_transparency_matters_report_april_2022.pdf

REIMAGINING PUBLIC SAFETY IN THE CITY OF ST. LOUIS A VISION FOR CHANGE

The investigation uncovered the following key problems in the current state of public safety in St. Louis:

• Racial disparities in the harms inflicted by policing;

• Gaps and inconsistencies in SLMPD policies (especially related to use of force, pedestrian and vehicle stops, and interactions with people experiencing mental health emergencies);

• A need for non-police alternative responders for certain call types;

• Inefficiencies in the allocation of SLMPD patrol staff and resources, which create inequities in service levels;

• A need for accessible, affordable out-of-school time programming for St. Louis youth;

• Insufficient community engagement on the part of the City and SLMPD; and.

• A lack of robust accountability systems for SLMPD.

policingequity.org/images/pdfs-doc/Reimagining_Public_Safety_in_St._Louis_Final_Report.pdf

Investigation into the City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Police Department

This is an investigation into discrimination by the Minneapolis Human Rights Department.

Findings of Discrimination

The Minnesota Department of Human Rights finds there is probable cause that the City and MPD engage in a pattern or practice of race discrimination in violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act.

Specifically, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights finds that MPD engages in a pattern or practice of discriminatory, race-based policing as evidenced by:

• Racial disparities in how MPD officers use force, stop, search, arrest, and cite people of color, particularly Black individuals, compared to white individuals in similar circumstances.

• MPD officers’ use of covert social media to surveil Black individuals and Black organizations, unrelated to criminal activity.

• MPD officers’ consistent use of racist, misogynistic, and disrespectful language. The pattern or practice of discriminatory, race-based policing is caused primarily by an

organizational culture where:

• MPD officers, supervisors, and field training officers receive deficient training, which emphasizes a paramilitary approach to policing that results in officers unnecessarily escalating encounters or using inappropriate levels of force.

• Accountability systems are insufficient and ineffective at holding officers accountable for misconduct.

• Former and current City and MPD leaders have not collectively acted with the urgency, coordination, and intentionality necessary to address racial disparities in policing to improve public safety and increase community trust.

Without fundamental organizational culture changes, reforming MPD’s policies, procedures, and trainings will be meaningless.

mn.gov/mdhr/assets/Investigation into the City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Police Department_tcm1061-526417.pdf

Mapping gun violence: A closer look at the intersection between place and gun homicides in four cities

The rise in gun homicides in the United States is having reverberating political ramifications at the federal, state, and local levels, with many elected officials falling back into “tough on crime” policies to curb the violence. This punitive turn can be seen in President Joe Biden’s proposed federal budget, in which he calls for “more police officers on the beat” and allocates an additional $30 billion for state and local governments to support law enforcement. Many local leaders are mirroring this approach, centering their gun violence prevention strategies on increasing funding for police and rolling back criminal justice reforms.  

What these enforcement-based approaches fail to recognize is that the recent rise in homicides is more nuanced than it appears. Rather than a widespread dispersal of gun violence within cities, the increases in gun homicides are largely concentrated in disinvested and structurally disadvantaged neighborhoods that had high rates of gun violence to begin with. This geographic concentration is a persistent challenge, not a new one—and it requires targeted solutions to improve outcomes in disinvested places rather than reverting to the old “tough on crime” playbook. 

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