Police officers are invested with awesome powers and may use physical force to take a citizen into custody. These powers help the police enforce laws and control suspects, but they also have the potential to be abused. The police must be responsive and accountable about crime and safety, but they must also be responsive and accountable to the law and the rights of citizens. Police abuse of power has a long and unfortunate history in the United States, often because of the failure to develop meaningful procedures to ensure police accountability. This book introduces the reader to a unit of the police department that has been secretive and lacking transparency, despite being an integral part of policing for a number of years. Noble and Alpert clearly explain the structure and function of internal affairs or professional compliance units and provide guidance for establishing an effective unit that will benefit both the police and the community. One recent trend is to make internal affairs more proactive than reactive. The authors provide comprehensive coverage of this trends objectives: implement procedures to identify and modify improper actions by police officers; change policies and procedures that negatively affect citizens quality of life; take appropriate action so that the misconduct of a few officers does not detract from the overall mission and reputation of the agency; and conduct fair, thorough, and accurate investigations to protect police employees against false accusations of misconduct.

The subject of police accountability includes some of the most important developments in American policing: the control of officer-involved shootings and use of force; citizen complaints and the best procedures for handling them; federal 'pattern or practice' litigation against police departments; allegations of race discrimination; early intervention systems to monitor officer behavior; and police self-monitoring efforts. The Second Edition of The New World of Police Accountability covers these subjects and more with a sharp and critical perspective. It provides readers with a comprehensive description of the most recent developments and an analysis of what works, what reforms are promising, and what has proven unsuccessful. The book offers detailed coverage of critical incident reporting; pattern analysis of critical incidents; early intervention systems; internal and external review of citizen complaints; and federal consent decrees.

Informed by the author's extensive personal experience in consulting, researching, and writing about various aspects of the law enforcement profession, as well as serving as a police officer, Police Accountability: Common Sense Discussions provides readers with a comprehensive examination of police conduct and responsibility. From ideas on ethics to professionalism to community-oriented policing efforts, the text features rich information to help law enforcement professionals develop and improve individual and systemic conduct. The book is divided into three distinct parts. In Part I, readers consider ethical principles; discretionary decision making; the experiences, perceptions, and portrayals of police officers; and issues pertaining to reform. Part II focuses on proactive strategies, including professionalism and community policing, increasing educational requirements, thoughtful selection of candidates, and more. The final part discusses reactive strategies, with special emphasis on the development of leadership and management, evaluating and improving police review systems, reactive strategies to the use of force and deadly force, and the future of the profession. Police Accountability is a valuable and well-researched text that is ideal for courses and programs in law enforcement and policing. Douglas W. Perez is a professor emeritus in the Criminal Justice Department at the State University of New York, Plattsburgh, where he taught courses in criminal justice, focusing on the police, law and society, the drug war, and introductory courses. Previously, he served as a deputy sheriff and correctional officer at the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office in California. Dr. Perez is the author of The Paradoxes of Policy Work, Common Sense about Police Review, and Police Ethics: A Matter of Character.

This volume presents the new contexts and challenges for contemporary police leaders and managers in the changing landscapes of policing. The governance of contemporary police organisations requires leaders and managers, even at the local level, to work in and understand complex social, political and organisational environments. The wide range of topics in this collection explores what is changing, what is known about the impact of these changes and what leaders and managers now need to be able to do or anticipate as a consequence. Operational policing is no longer the militaristic singular activity it once was, but embraces new models of 'partnership' and 'community' to manage crime and disorder. Equally, while command and control models are still an essential of many aspects of policing, managing police officers and staff increasingly depends on their professional development and encouraging enthusiasm and innovation. Policing takes place under conditions of intense scrutiny from the media and from the community; and crime and disorder is the subject of much political debate. Each of these broad areas are addressed and present a surprising range of perspectives. The volume is aimed at every level of management and leadership in policing, researchers of policing and students of police management and leadership.

Exploring the complex and controversial topic of civilian oversight of police, this book analyzes the issues and debates entailed by civilian oversight by using worldwide perspectives, in-depth case studies, and a wealth of survey data. It integrates and summarizes decades of research from many locations around the globe to present a best practices model for managing police conduct. It also describes the impact of oversight agencies on police policy, including innovative means by which agencies can work with police departments to improve police conduct.

Exploring the complex and controversial topic of civilian oversight of police, this book analyzes the issues and debates entailed by civilian oversight by using worldwide perspectives, in-depth case studies, and a wealth of survey data. Integrating and summarizing decades of research from many locations around the globe, Civilian Oversight of Polic

The law enforcement profession is well aware of the need for performance-based management. Results are what count and programs are increasingly required to demonstrate that activities and programs are viable and worthy of budgetary support. This emphasizes the necessity of ensuring that the managerial processes foster accountability. To ensure success, it is essential that organizational leaders encourage and constantly supervise this management process. Performance improvement occurs when there is an ongoing process that creates strategic performance objectives, such as measures performance, collects, and analyses, which result in the reporting of performance data that can focus on improvement. The key chapter in the text is entitled “Accountability for Performance” inasmuch as it circumscribes the remainder of the concepts discussed, and reviews the necessity of creating an accountability environment fostered by positive communications. The pivotal aspects of accountability are discussed, and each of the five levels reviewed. Chapters deal with a range of potential evaluation tools to include logic models, crime mapping, program evaluation techniques, and problem solving. Considerable attention is given to performance measurement, the different types of measurement and commonly used measures in law enforcement. There is also a brief discussion of CompStat and its four principles with special emphasis on relentless follow-up and assessment. In addition, attention is given to the utilization of performance information and the research measurements that create process improvements. Within the proactive problem-solving process, the reader will find basic questions for the scanning process, objectives, means of defining a problem, environmental surveys, and the recognized sequence of analysis. Consideration is given to the discussion of data quality, verification, validation, and information sources. Law enforcement professionals, re-searchers, planners, policymakers, and stakeholders at all levels can use this text as a significant resource in the development of performance-based management that stresses accountability, competence and performance.