Deck 11: Types of Police Misconduct

Question 1

Police review systems

A) are like mini-criminal justice systems
B) investigate allegations of misconduct and make findings about the guilt of accused officers
C) operate after the fact
D) all of the above

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Police misconduct falls into four distinctive category types.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Police are legal, political, and administrative actors.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

What institution(s) attempt(s) to internalize standards of behavior?

A) family
B) schools
C) churches
D) all of the above

Question 5

When we consider police misconduct we ask: was the misconduct done in the name of personal gain? and did the misconduct involve the use of the police officer's position of authority?

Question 6

For police officers,

A) internalized ethics are more important than prescribed rules
B) prescribed rules are more important than internalized ethics
C) internalized ethics are equally important to prescribed rules
D) internalized ethics are irrelevant to prescribed rules

Question 7

When people deviate, they

A) are always the subject of a criminal investigation
B) are always the subject of a criminal prosecution
C) are never caught
D) frequently are the subject of only disapproval

Question 8

Police may be held accountable by

A) police review systems
B) internal affairs units
C) civilian review boards
D) all of the above

Question 9

Noble cause corruption involves police officers misusing their positions of authority for personal gain.

Question 10

Police must

A) know the codified law
B) charge appropriately
C) investigate effectively
D) all of the above

Question 11

When people ask the police to do things that are not legal, they

A) put legal and political standards of conduct in conflict
B) put legal and political standards of conduct in harmony
C) put legal standards of conduct before any political standards of conduct
D) none of the above

Question 12

Frequently deviance is only informally sanctioned.

Question 13

When people deviate, they

A) break norms of conduct that are prescribed for them
B) are always caught
C) are never caught
D) break norms of conduct that are prescribed for others

Question 14

Ineptitude is when police use their legal authority (badges) to obtain personal rewards.

Question 15

Standard police academy consideration of police ethics often is nothing more than a set of warnings about the sorts of misconduct into which police officers sometimes fall.

Question 16

When people deviate, they follow norms of conduct that are prescribed for them.

Question 17

Police officers are

A) legal actors
B) political actors
C) administrative actors
D) all of the above

Question 18

Grass eating involves proactive, systematic, organized payoffs.

Question 19

Police officers, like people in any other line of work, are sometimes guilty of misbehaving.

Question 20

To avoid social disapproval, we are careful how we

A) dress
B) talk
C) act
D) all of the above

Question 21

Police officers can be the subjects of

A) either criminal investigations or administrative investigations
B) either criminal investigations or administrative investigations, but not both
C) criminal investigations but not administrative investigations
D) administrative investigations but not criminal investigations

Question 22

Discuss the nexus between noble cause corruption and grass eating. Why is it that noble cause corruption is so very difficult to deter and investigate today? What do the authors mean when they say that meat eating is gone in most places but grass eating is alive and well?

Question 23

Construct an essay that discusses the five types of police misconduct. Explicate how the typology differentiates between them. Then, discuss why it is that for all of the discussion about internal affairs systems and civilian review boards, the overwhelming majority of allegations of police misconduct are generated internally and handled internally and informally. (Hint: This is about focusing upon the general orders and ineptitude.)

Question 24

Discuss the fact that personal misconduct might or might not be "the police department's business." What is it that might make an otherwise private behavior pattern into something that is relevant to the chief of police and the department?

Question 25

Corruption of authority occurs when

A) police misuse their legal authority to obtain personal rewards
B) police misuse their political authority to obtain personal rewards
C) police misuse their administrative authority to obtain personal rewards
D) none of the above

Question 26

When people discuss police misconduct, they have historically confused several types. In particular, people lump together corruption of authority and police (or professional) crime. What is the difference? What are examples of each?

Question 27

When police misbehavior is discovered, the consequences, methods of investigation, punishments, and political fallout are

A) always the same, harsh
B) not a consideration as the issue is quickly swept under the rug
C) only a problem if an outside commission is appointed
D) different, sometimes very different

Question 28

As is true of the various roles of the police, there are multiple, conflicting, and vague sets of standards to which they must answer. Discuss how legality and democracy in particular can conflict. What are examples of how the requirement that everything the police do be legal conflict with the contemporary, COP-driven idea that the police must be responsive to their communities.

Question 29

Police officer misconduct during off duty-hours

A) is irrelevant to the image of a police department
B) may be of general relevance to the image of a police department
C) is ignored by the typical police department
D) is irrelevant to the on-duty behavior of the officer

Question 30

Two questions must be asked about police misconduct to fit it into its proper place in typology: (1) was the misbehavior done for personal gain? and (2)

A) was the misbehavior criminal in nature?
B) was the misbehavior done on or off duty?
C) did the misconduct involve use of the officer's position of authority?
D) did higher up authority assist in the misconduct?

Question 31

Sleeping on duty, showing up habitually late, writing poor reports, failing to responds to calls, and ignoring orders are all examples of

A) ineptitude
B) corruption of authority
C) noble cause corruption
D) police crime

Question 32

Police officers who are subject to criminal investigations may be targeted by

A) internal affairs
B) departmental detectives
C) local prosecutors and their investigative staff
D) all of the above

Question 33

The "Dirty Harry problem" is also known as

A) Clint Eastwood's laundry basket
B) Noble cause corruption
C) out of control patrol officers
D) addiction to police movies

Question 34

Examples of corruption of authority include

A) payoffs
B) shakedowns
C) graft
D) all of the above

Question 35

Obtaining police discounts, eating free food, drinking free coffee, etc., are examples of

A) ineptitude
B) meat eating
C) grass eating
D) the slippery slope

Question 36

Grass eating and meat eating are examples of

A) the animal kingdom
B) police crime
C) noble cause corruption
D) ineptitude

Question 37

Police misconduct falls into __________ distinctive category types

A) three
B) four
C) five
D) six

Question 38

The difference between grass eating and meat eating is

A) meat eating involves actively seeking graft, while grass eating is passive
B) there is no difference between the two
C) grass eating is proactive
D) grass eating involves shaking down citizens for money

Question 39

Who sets the rules of conduct for police as administrative actors?

A) the public
B) police professionals through department general order manuals
C) sergeants
D) individual officers create their own rules of conduct

Question 40

Alcoholism, cohabitation, off-duty drunk driving, etc., are all examples of

A) ineptitude
B) corruption of authority
C) noble cause corruption
D) personal misconduct