The Abuse of Police Authority

Book excerpt: Video of Rodney King being beaten by Los Angeles police officers and reports of the torture of Abner Louima by New York City police capture public attention and raise troubling questions about the limits of legitimate police authority in a democratic society. Are such events aberrations or are they extreme examples of a more general problem that plagues American police departments? Although such questions have been raised by the media, politicians, and police scholars and administrators, this is the first study to present a nationwide portrait of how rank-and-file police officers view these and other critical questions of police abuse of authority. Officers provided information on what types of abuse and attitudes toward abuse are observed in their departments, including the code of silence, whistle blowing, and the extent to which a citizen's race, demeanor, and class affect the way police officers treat them; what strategies (including first-line supervision, community policing, citizen review boards, and training) do police officers consider to be effective means of preventing police abuse of authority; and whether police abuse is a necessary byproduct of efforts to reduce and control crime. Responses are also analyzed according to rank, race, region of the U. S., and size of department.