NCJ Number
138476
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 59 Issue: 8 Dated: (August 1992) Pages: 65-73
Date Published
1992
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This article suggests improved analysis of information on complaints against police, so police management can improve departmental policies and standards pertinent to police performance.
Abstract
Police departments rarely develop policy and departmental standards based on findings and statistics generated by complaints against the police. This is generally true because police departments do not consider most citizen complaints against police to be valid; a departmental focus on complaints against police is viewed as professional disloyalty; and the police consider themselves to be experts in their field, such that the public is deemed to be unqualified to critique police performance. The philosophy of "community policing," however, features a police department's partnership with the community it serves. Under such a philosophy, police effectiveness is directly yoked to a community's reaction to and support for police priorities and officers' behaviors. Citizen complaints against police should be considered priority public input that can help profile police-citizen interactions and suggest changes needed in police policies, procedures, and training. This implies that there should be feedback between the departmental division that investigates complaints against police and police managers who set policy and standards for officers' performance. This implies the existence of a complaints information system that not only produces statistics but also analysis of those statistics presented in a form that can provide input for management decisionmaking. Such information and analysis is an invaluable aid in the enhancement of police cooperation with the community in the provision of a safe community. 16 references