NCJ Number
144545
Date Published
1994
Length
15 pages
Annotation
After identifying five patterns of police deviance not directly linked to police "corruption" (no monetary reward or gain from the deviant behavior), data are presented on the prevalence of these five patterns in one medium-sized police organization.
Abstract
The five patterns of police deviance identified are police perjury, police brutality, sex on duty, sleeping on duty, and drinking on duty. The author views these patterns of police deviance as "occupational deviance," which he defines as "all deviant acts, i.e., rule violations, which occur during the course of occupational activity and are related to employment." The empirical research focused on the prevalence of these five patterns of deviance in a southern police department that serves a population of just over 25,000. The department has 50 employees. The researcher received permission to administer a questionnaire to all personnel, and all but seven of the officers participated. Each subject was asked to estimate what percentage of officers in the department engage or have engaged in each of the five patterns of police deviance. Perceived peer support for each behavior was measured by asking each subject about the "wrongness" of each deviance pattern. Each subject was also asked how often an officer would report another officer for engaging in the behavior at issue. Regarding the prevalence of the five deviance patterns, the subjects estimated that 39.58 percent of the officers had slept on duty, 39.19 percent had engaged in brutality, 31.84 percent had engaged in sex on duty, 22.95 percent had committed perjury, and 8.05 percent had engaged in drinking on duty. Peer support for these behaviors was inversely related to the perceived prevalence of the behavior; i.e., the higher the estimate of prevalence, the less likely was the behavior to be perceived by peers as "wrong" or serious enough to be reported. 3 tables, 27 notes, and 5 study questions