NCJ Number
105599
Journal
University of Detroit Law Review Volume: 63 Issue: 3 Dated: (Spring 1986) Pages: 361-391
Date Published
1986
Length
31 pages
Annotation
In advocating a legislatively mandated approach to police rulemaking, this article discusses the background and development of police rules, the creation of model rules, empirical evidence on the impact of rules, and the case for legislatively mandated rulemaking.
Abstract
State legislatures or city councils should enact legislation or city ordinances requiring law enforcement agencies to perform systematic rulemaking. Rulemaking adovcates have assumed that rules would be developed either voluntarily by police agencies or imposed by the courts. Neither approach has proven effective. In the area of the police use of deadly force, empirical evidence suggests that administrative rules do achieve their intended objectives. Evidence pertaining to the effects of police rulemaking on domestic violence management, police intelligence gathering, and police corruption suggest that the success of administrative rulemaking in controlling police use of firearms may not be so easy to replicate in other policing areas, primarily because of the difficulty of monitoring rule compliance. A properly drafted statute on police rulemaking would specify those critical areas of policing where rules are required, such as the use of physical and deadly force; arrest and arrest alternatives; stopping, questioning, and frisking citizens; handling disorders; and the use of intrusive investigative techniques. The statute should also specify the rulemaking process and mechanisms for monitoring rule compliance. 145 footnotes.