The New World of Police Accountability

by Samuel Walker

• ISBN13: 9781412909440
• ISBN10: 1412909449
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-01-04
• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc

Summary

Police misconduct is nothing new in the United States. Use of excessive force, unjustified shootings, race discrimination, and a general lack of accountability for officer conduct have been serious problems since the first police departments were created in the early nineteenth century. Although todaya??s media coverage of these major police offenses portrays otherwise, significant progress has been made in reducing police misconduct. The New World of Police Accountability is the first book to provide an original and comprehensive analysis of some of the most important developments in policing over the past ten years. Esteemed author Samuel Walker synthesizes the major developments in the area of police accountability and argues that these developments represent a new period in the history of police reform that promises to address the historic problems of police abuse. This text assesses both the achievements and limitations of police accountability and reshapes the conventional wisdom on this topic. The book covers such issues as federal law suits against the police, consent decrees, citizen oversight of the police, and early intervention systems. Key Features Examines timely and up-to-date coverage of current police controversies Discusses important new mechanisms of accountability, such as comprehensive use of force reporting, citizen complaint procedures, early intervention systems, and police auditors Provides extensive coverage of racial profiling Includes a helpful list of Web sites for further research on the topics covered in the book The New World of Police Accountability is designed as a supplementary textbook for undergraduate and graduate policing courses in the departments of Criminal Justice and Criminology. The book will also be of interest to scholars, police officials, citizen oversight officials, and community activists.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Acknowledgments	ix
1. Introduction to the New Police Accountability	1	(19)
The New Police Accountability at Work: Three Examples	1	(2)
New Directions in Police Accountability	3	(2)
The Goal of This Book	5	(1)
Source Material	6	(2)
A Definition of Police Accountability	8	(9)
Conclusion: The Challenge of Changing Police Organizations	17	(3)
2. The Accomplishments and Limitations of Traditional Police Reforms	20	(21)
Past Police Reform Strategies	21	(17)
Conclusion: The Lessons of the Past	38	(3)
3. Use of Force Reporting	41	(30)
Accounting for One's Actions	41	(1)
The Origins of Use of Force Policy	42	(4)
The Administrative Rulemaking Model	46	(3)
Controlling Police Conduct in Critical Incidents	49	(4)
Culmination: The Use of Force Continuum	53	(4)
Controlling Other Critical Incidents	57	(5)
Investigating Use of Force and Other Critical Incidents	62	(6)
The Challenge of Implementing Use of Force Policies	68	(2)
Conclusion	70	(1)
4. An Open and Accessible Citizen Complaint System	71	(29)
Citizen Complaints and the New Police Accountability	71	(4)
The Citizen Complaint Process	75	(24)
Conclusion	99	(1)
5. Early Intervention Systems	100	(35)
The Concept of EI Systems	101	(5)
The Background and Development of EI Systems	106	(2)
The Components of an EI System	108	(9)
Goals and Potential Impacts of EI Systems	117	(4)
EI Systems and Other Police Reforms	121	(2)
The Effectiveness of EI Systems	123	(6)
Problems in Implementing and Managing EI Systems	129	(4)
Conclusion	133	(2)
6. The Auditor Model of Citizen Oversight Police Auditors	135	(36)
Police Auditors in the United States	136	(25)
Sustaining Reform	161	(2)
The Limits of the Auditor Model	163	(4)
The Conditions of Success	167	(1)
Conclusion	167	(4)
7. The Future of the New Police Accountability	171	(24)
Improving on Past Reforms	171	(5)
Applications	176	(2)
An Uncertain Future	178	(5)
The Challenge of Comprehensive Organizational Change	183	(3)
Getting It Right: Proactive Self-Assessment and Public Disclosure	186	(5)
Toward the Future	191	(4)
Notes	195	(30)
Index	225	(18)
About the Author	243