If You Build It, They Will Come: Consequences of Improved Citizen Complaint Review Procedures

• NCJ Number: 195800
• Journal: Crime & Delinquency Volume: 48 Issue: 3 Dated: July 2002 Pages: 355-379
• Author(s): John L. Worrall
• Date Published: 2002
• Length: 25 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article examines whether improvements in police agency’s citizen complaint procedures will have the unanticipated effect of increasing citizen complaints.

Abstract

The author begins this article by explaining that police departments have a responsibility to allow its citizens to lodge complaints about police officer conduct, as well as law enforcement agencies in general. Without such a complaint mechanism, public unrest about police abuse of power may lead to undesirable consequences such as outside agencies taking on the task of investigating police misconduct. While there has been adequate research conducted on the characteristics of citizen complaints and on citizen complaint review procedures, little research has focused on whether improvements to citizen complaint procedures affects a citizens’ decision to complain. In this article, the author investigates the hypothesis that improved citizen complaint procedures would result in an increase in citizen complaints. In order to probe this question, the author focuses on four complaint review mechanisms: (a) specialized internal complaint review positions, (b) citizen review, (c) early warning systems, and (d) electronic complaint databases. The author mailed a survey to 700 randomly selected municipal police chiefs and county sheriffs in 1998 that asked about their complaint procedures and the types of complaints they received in the past 3 years. The response rate was 60 percent, with results reported on 415 of the agencies. Negative binomial regression analysis indicated that the author’s hypothesis was supported; improvements in citizen complaint procedures increased the number of complaints lodged against the agency. As a consequence of these results, the author cautions policy makers to be aware that an increase in citizen complaints does not necessarily mean there is an increase in police misconduct. The author similarly cautions police agencies to be careful of the fact that improving their complaint procedures may have unanticipated consequences. Tables, notes, and references