Part IV: OFFICERS AND ORGANIZATIONS
Chapter Twelve: Police Officers I: Entering Police Work
Lecture Outline
I. Introduction: the changing American police officer--the profile of the American police officer has changed dramatically over the past 30 years
II. Aspects of the personnel process
A. A career perspective
1. Examination of officers' progress from recruitment to retirement
2. Traditional focus is on recruitment alone; other aspects of the personnel process that affect quality of policing are often ignored
(EX: good recruitment, but poor training)
B. Beyond stereotypes of cops
1. Public image of policing is heavily influenced by stereotypes about officers
2. Negative stereotypes--uneducated, untrained, prejudiced, brutal, corrupt
3. Positive stereotypes
a. heroic
b. risking in their lives in the face of hostility from:
i. public
ii. media
iii. courts
4. "Rorschach" in uniform
a. police may be saviors to people in trouble
b. to others-may be viewed as "fierce ogres"
5. Neither set of stereotypes is accurate
a. most officers are average people with average values and beliefs
b. slightly more conservative than the population as a whole
c. special nature of police work does encourage certain attitudes and behaviors
C. The personnel process: a shared responsibility
1. Departments control some decisions and other agencies control other decisions
(EX: a police chief by him/herself cannot change recruitment standards)
2. Lack of control on part of chiefs is an emotional issue
3. Civil service agency roles
a. developing job descriptions
b. establishing minimum standards required for each position
c. developing tests for each position
d. announcing job openings
e. conducting some, but not all of the tests
f. certifying a list of persons to be hired or promoted
4. Police departments' roles
a. advising civil service agency on job descriptions, requirements, tests
b. conducting some recruiting
c. administering some of the tests
III. Recruitment
A. Process of attracting a pool of applicants
B. Elements
1. Minimum qualifications
2. Recruitment effort
3. Applicants' decisions to apply for a position
C. Minimum qualifications
1. Age
a. most departments require applicants to be 21 years old
b. concerns about raising age requirement--younger persons may not be considered mature enough to handle responsibilities of police work
c. few departments have maximum age requirements
2. Height and weight
a. past
i. used to require that officers be at least 5'8"
ii. reflected stereotype that officers need to be physically imposing
b. police work rarely involves physical confrontations; communications skills and good judgment are more important
c. old height requirements challenged by lawsuits
d. present
i. require weight be proportional to height
ii. many officers are overweight
iii. some departments enforce physical fitness standards
3. Education
a. most departments require only a high school education
b. applicants selected usually have more than minimum level; study shows that officers average two years of college
c. some argue all officers should have a college degree
d. college degree contributes to improved policing
i. shapes values of students--makes them better appreciate the role of police in a democratic society
ii. improves on the street performance--gives them resources to make better judgments
iii. requirement selects people who differ in better ways than those who did not go to college
iv. keeps pace with rising levels of education in society
v. officers are better prepared to perform tasks
(EX: planning and problem solving in community policing)
e. opposition to college requirement
i. limits the pool of applicants
ii. has disparate impact on racial minorities
iii. no conclusive evidence that college educated officers perform more effectively
f. federal courts have upheld educational requirements set by departments
g. some evidence suggests that college educated officers:
i. more dissatisfied due to lack of opportunities for career advancement
ii. more easily frustrated due to inability to use knowledge and skills
iii. may be informally punished--denied certain career opportunities
h. most departments have educational incentive pay programs
(EX: tuition assistance, incentive pay to college educated officers)
4. Criminal record
a. controversy over whether people with criminal records should be eligible for police employment
b. some argue criminal record indicates lack of ethical standards
c. others argue in favor of variable standard
(EX: depending on nature and time of offense)
d. most departments refuse to hire anyone with a felony record
e. drug offenses
i. most difficult problem related to recruitment standards
ii. evidence that drug history may make person more corrupt
iii. drug use is extremely prevalent
iv. rejecting every applicant for juvenile drug arrest severely limits application pool
v. some suggest "experimentation" or "soft" drug use is acceptable
vi. drug use that is not recent
5. Residency requirements
a. major controversy
b. some departments require officers live within the city or county
c. proponents
i. officers are more familiar with the city
ii. officers more committed to well-being of the community
d. opponents
i. infringes on officers' freedom to choose where they live
ii. residency does not predict officer behavior
e. should officers be encouraged to also live in neighborhoods where they work?
f. proponents
i. officers will better understand neighborhood problems
ii. officers will feel a greater commitment to neighborhood residents
g. opponents
i. officers would quickly "burn-out"
ii. all employees need to get away from stress of the job
iii. officers may be considered "on-call" by residents
iv. may interfere with transfer or promotion
h. some programs subsidize housing for officers who live in the city
D. Recruitment effort
1. Active effort will produce larger applicant pool, more of whom will be qualified
2. History
a. departments did not engage in active publicized recruitment efforts
b. approach gave advantage to people with political or family ties to departments
3. Present
a. open recruitment efforts required by law
b. most departments have special recruitment strategy for minorities
IV. Choosing law enforcement as a career
A. Motivations
1. The nature of police work
a. opportunity to help people and the community
b. work is non-routine
2. Motivations between males and females do not differ significantly
3. Material benefits of the job
a. pay
b. benefits
c. job security
4. Contrary to stereotypes, officers not primarily motivated by:
a. desire to enforce the law
b. use force against other people
5. Appeal of jobs with police department depends on state of economy and
6. How the pay and benefits compare with other jobs available to applicant
7. Police officers enjoy high degree of job security-it's difficult to terminate officers
8. Minorities and females motivated by same factors as whites
9. Family connection--relative is a police officer
10. Some individuals "drift" into police work--often try other jobs first
11. Expectations--individuals with clear goals to go into policing
a. find police work is not as exciting as many expect
b. believe they do not receive enough public support
c. find that their attitudes change significantly once they are on the job
B. People who do not apply
1. African-Americans-- may not apply due to negative image of police in their community
2. Women
a. policing has masculine tone, emphasizes aggressiveness, physical strength
b. do not want to try and "break and enter" to fit in
V. Selection
A. Selection tests
1. All big city police departments
a. conduct background checks
b. written exams
c. medical exams
d. interview finalists
e. 70% use polygraph or lie detector
2. Process
a. takes many months
b. delayed by various administrative or economic factors
c. delays cause applicants to drop out (find other jobs or lose interest)
3. Drug testing
a. 90% test applicants for drugs
b. many departments require drug tests of all officers--mandatory, random or when drug use is suspected
B. Oral interviews
1. Used by almost all large departments
2. Positive aspects
a. good opportunity to detect attitudes not comparable with good police work
(EX: arrogance, inability to listen, racial bias)
b. can explore common sense, verbal communication, quick thinking, etc.
3. Negative aspects
a. time-consuming
b. expensive
c. opportunity for interviewer bias
4. Questionable if interview can determine who will be a good police officer
C. Background investigations
1. Identify factors
a. work record
b. ability to get along with people
c. disciplinary problems
d. criminal record--prior involvement with drugs
e. behavior problems in school or at work
2. Improper background investigations
a. subjective judgments
b. discrimination
3. Failure to conduct proper investigations may have serious consequences
VI. Predicting who will be good police officers
A. Many argue the keys to hiring good officers are the right set of tests and selection criteria
B. Background characteristics--research has found no strong relationship between:
officer performance and background characteristics
C. Psychological tests
1. Not successful in predicting future officer behavior
2. Problems
a. police performance cannot be explained by pre-existing personality traits
b. screen out only those with serious problems
c. do not identify people with good judgment
D. Police performance measures are weak, subjective: may reflect values and/or biases of supervisors
E. Some argue best predictor of performance is on the job performance
1. Probationary period
2. Early warning systems
VII. Equal opportunity employment
A. The law of equal employment opportunity
1. Discrimination on basis of race, ethnicity and sex is illegal
a. 1964 Civil Rights Act
b. 1972 Equal Employment Opportunity Act
2. Under employment of minorities and women in policing-major controversy
3. Federal, state and local laws prohibit employment discrimination
B. Job-related qualifications
1. Equal employment opportunity laws and affirmative action do not guarantee a job to every person in a protected class
2. Employers may establish bona fide occupational qualifications (BFOQ)
a. BFOQ: requirement that is reasonable, necessary to the normal operation of that particular business
b. employers can refuse to hire those who do not meet BFOQ
3. Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)--concerned with disability issues that may disqualify police applicant
C. Employment of racial and ethnic minorities
1. Representation of minority officers has increased significantly in recent years
2. Aggregate data on minority employment is misleading--are not evenly distributed throughout the U.S.
(EX: African Americans are concentrated in the South and big cities)
3. Most useful measure of employment practices--extent to which department reflects composition of community it serves
4. Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Index
a. divides the % of a particular minority group on police force by % in the population of the local community
b. useful for:
i. measuring the employment performance of individual cities
ii. measuring change over time
iii. taking into account the changing minority composition of cities
5. Some departments still lag behind in the hiring of minorities
6. In other departments, people of color represent majority of all sworn officers
D. Hispanic and Latino officers
1. Hispanic population is growing rapidly in the U.S.
2. Departments increasingly serve communities with large number of Spanish-speaking residents-- ability to communicate with Spanish-speaking people is important
3. Increasing number of Hispanic officers
a. actively recruit Hispanic applicants
b. offer incentive pay for officers who are bilingual
E. Women in policing
1. Prior to late 1960s
a. departments did not hire women on equal basis with men
b. few women were hired
c. restricted to separate job category of "policewoman"
d. excluded from many assignments-including patrol
e. in some departments, not eligible for promotion above a certain rank
2. 1964 Civil Rights Act--official discrimination against women was outlawed
3. Many forms of covert discrimination still exist-- women more underrepresented in departments than minorities
4. Female officers are concentrated in lower ranks
F. Barriers to women in policing
1. Entrance examinations that emphasize upper body physical strength favor men
2. On-the-job discrimination
a. sexual harassment
b. discriminatory assignments
c. discourage female applicants or encourage them to resign
3. Recruit policies that favor men
(EX: military recruitment-male dominated occupation)
4. Old-fashioned model of policing
a. aggressiveness
b. authoritarianism
G. Gay and lesbian officers
1. Some departments actively recruit gay and lesbian officers
2. Some jurisdictions: state and local laws prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation
3. Can serve as liaisons to help advance police department's mission
H. Employment discrimination litigation
1. Results of successful lawsuits against discrimination
a. direct benefit to plaintiffs--financial damages
b. court orders eliminating tests or procedures that were discriminatory
c. court-ordered affirmative action plans
2. Increasing number of minority officers
a. designed to end discrimination, ensure EEO compliance
b. minority officers will better relate to minority citizens, reduce discrimination and reduce police-community tensions
c. improve public opinion about the department
VIII. The affirmative action controversy
A. The law of affirmative action
1. Employer must take positive steps to remedy past discrimination
2. All employers and agencies receiving federal funds must have affirmative action plans
3. Affirmative action plan
a. conduct a census of current employees
b. identify underutilization or concentration of minorities and women
c. develop recruiting plan to correct any underutilization
B. The issue of quotas
1. Some hiring quota plans are adopted voluntarily
2. Most affirmative action plans are court-ordered, often settled through a consent decree
3. Supporters: necessary to correct past employment discrimination
4. Opponents:
a. reverses discrimination against whites and/or males
b. lowers personnel standards
5. Supreme Court rulings support some plans while rejecting others
(EX: California, Proposition 209)
6. Outcome may depend on how plans are implemented
7. Conflicting evidence on whether affirmative action achieves its goals
IX. Training
A. Significant changes in the last 30 years--training
1. Is longer
2. Covers more subjects
3. Is required by state law
B. Police academy training
1. Formal and informal functions
a. formal training
b. process for weeding out unqualified recruits
c. rite of passage that socializes recruits into the police subculture
2. Content
a. less emphasis on technical aspects
(EX: effecting an arrest, firing a weapon)
b. more training devoted to criminal procedure, race relations, domestic violence, ethics
3. Academy instructors vary by background, expertise, orientation toward education
a. police academics
b. police careerists
c. maladaptive generalists
d. legalists
e. civilians
C. Field training
1. Practical experience under the supervision of field training officer (FTO)
2. Varies in quality
D. State training and certification
1. First adopted by California and New York
2. By 1980s every state had some form of mandatory training
3. Impact has been greatest among small police agencies
a. cannot afford to operate their own training academies
b. most send new officers to state certified training
4. State certified academies
a. some operate through community colleges
b. minimum hours lower than academies operated by big cities
5. De-certification
a. 39 states have procedure to revoke police officer license in the state
b. helps mitigate problem of "gypsy cops"-officers who move from one department to the next, despite bad performance histories
c. may not extend to other states--gypsy cops may still be hired elsewhere if work history is not checked
E. Shortcomings of current police training
1. Many programs still do not cover important subjects
(EX: discretion, use of informants, ethics)
2. Pre-service training by itself may not adequately prepare officers
3. Cultural diversity training
a. content has not changed much since the 1960s
b. perpetuates negative stereotypes about minorities
c. may focus on individual attitudes and ignore department policies
d. classroom training is insufficient
X. The probationary period
A. Probationary status may last from 6 months to 2 years
B. Officer can be dismissed without cause; after probationary period, dismissal must be based on cause
C. Experts argue probationary period should be longer
1. Allows more time for observing performance
2. Better opportunity to dismiss officers with unsatisfactory performance
XI. Summary
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2002 McGraw-Hill Higher Education