NCJ Number
214219
Date Published
2004
Length
188 pages
Annotation
This national study examined the use of police legal advisors and risk managers by U.S. law enforcement agencies as a means to reduce officer exposure to liability risks.
Abstract
Telephone interviews with 354 law enforcement agencies found that half were using police legal advisors, risk managers, or some combination of both to manage police liability issues. The other half of the agencies relied only on city/county attorneys to handle liability issues. Data showed that the adoption of police legal advisors and risk managers occurred slowly but steadily from the early 1960s through 2000. Several agencies (14 out of 53) reported that an increase in lawsuits and resulting payouts prompted the implementation of liability-related programs. The most common change since the initiation of risk management and/or police legal advisors has been the addition of more personnel to the program. Findings on the characteristics of the programs pertain to their location in the organization, the education and experience of risk managers and police legal advisors, collaboration between risk managers/police legal advisors and other agencies, and their relationship with police oversight boards. Other findings address the role of risk managers and police legal advisors and their perceived impact on agency costs related to police liability. Regarding the latter finding, only 38 percent of the agencies with police advisers and/or risk managers reported that they kept official data on the financial impact of such personnel on the organization's financial payouts. These findings were derived from telephone interviews with agency representatives, a national survey of agencies that reported the use of police legal advisors and/or risk managers in the initial telephone interviews, and case studies of four agencies that used various combinations of risk management and police legal advisers. 3 tables, 112 references, a subject index, and appended study instruments