Bad cops

Research Summary Police scholars and public policymakers throughout generations have sought to identify reliable correlates of police misconduct. Despite these efforts, general statements as to the etiology and epidemiology of police misconduct remain inconclusive, in part because of the inconsistent definitions of misconduct and the difficulty of obtaining the data required to make such statements. This research attempts to fill these gaps through a comparison of the personal and career histories of all 1,543 officers who were involuntarily separated from the New York City Police Department (NYPD) for cause during 1975–1996 with a randomly selected sample of their police academy classmates who served honorably. The study uses confidential NYPD files as its major data sources, which include extensive biographical and career information. The study finds that career‐ending misconduct rarely occurs in the NYPD and that the types of misconduct do not match well with existing definitions. Several factors emerge as significant predictors of misconduct, including officer race, minimal education, records of prior criminality and prior poor employment, failure to advance in the NYPD, and histories of citizen complaints. Policy Implications This study shows that existing definitions of police misconduct are difficult to apply to actual cases of police malpractice, which leads the authors to create a new eight‐category classification scheme. The rarity of misconduct, especially on‐duty abuse, confirms prior research indicating that most police officers do their jobs without engaging in serious malpractice. These findings suggest that the NYPD has become better behaved as it has become more diverse along race and gender dimensions and that the link between black officers and misconduct might be explained by persistent “tokenism.” The findings related to race have important implications for continued efforts to build racially representative police departments. Personal history findings highlight the importance of conducting background investigations that disqualify candidates with arrest records and employment disciplinary histories, whereas the inverse relationship between college education and misconduct provides strong support for continued emphasis on pre‐ and post‐employment educational requirements.     

Examining fatal and nonfatal incidents involving the TASER

Research Summary According to TASER International, nearly 10,000 police departments in the United States have deployed the TASER as a less lethal force alternative in some capacity. Despite the TASER's increasing popularity, serious questions have been raised about the device's physiological side effects; in particular, Amnesty International has reported that more than 300 people have died after being subjected to the TASER. Although a growing body of research has examined the physiological effects of the TASER on animals and healthy human volunteers in laboratory settings, there has been virtually no empirical analysis of “real‐world” fatal and nonfatal TASER cases simultaneously. This article examines all media reports of TASER incidents from 2002 to 2006 through a comprehensive review of LexisNexis and New York Times archives. We compare TASER incidents in which a fatality occurred to TASER incidents in which a fatality did not occur and then employ multivariate analyses to identify the incident and suspect characteristics that are predictive of articles describing TASER‐proximate deaths. Policy Implications Several suspect factors were significantly associated with the reporting of a fatal TASER incident, including drug use (but not alcohol), mental illness, and continued resistance. Multiple deployments of the TASER against a suspect was also associated with the likelihood of the article describing a fatality—especially if the suspect was emotionally disturbed—which raises the possibility that the risk of multiple shocks might not be uniform for all suspects. More research is needed to explore the relationship between mental illness, drug use (illicit or therapeutic), continued resistance, and increased risk of death. In the meantime, police departments should develop specific policies and training governing the use of multiple TASER shocks against individuals who could be in these vulnerable physiological and psychological states.     

袭警原因十论

由社会转型而引发的社会矛盾使民警成为民众不满情绪的发泄对象;利益冲突使民警成为直面危机的群体;警务工作的强制性和镇压性决定了民警与违法犯罪嫌疑人及其家人存在对立;民警素养不足成为诱发袭警的导火索;装备不足及枪械管理不善人为地增加了民警受袭的风险性;认识上的错误相对纵容了袭警行为;被严管的民警与个体权利意识日益膨胀的公民之间的法治失衡制约了警察权的有效发挥;权力袭警使民警受到深度伤害;恶意投诉则扩大了袭警后果。     

袭警的类型、特点及危害

袭警是行为人对正在执法或从事其他警务工作的公安民警实施的人身攻击和精神刺激行为的简称。虽然根据不同的划分依据和划分标准,袭警有不同的表现类型及相应的特点,但都给社会、公众以及警察的正常执法活动带来很大危害。     

信息主导警务的新模式：林祥春社区警务工作法

公安部提出“情报信息主导警务”战略,提高了我国公安工作的现代化水平,全国各地涌现出不少好的创意和新的做法。福建基层民警林祥春利用卫星地图软件“GoogleEarth”建立“谷歌地理信息平台”管理社区,就是该战略指导下涌现的新模式,其突出特点是信息与实景地图相结合,相当直观,特别适合基层民警使用,在公安工作中发挥了特效。     

实行通识教育 培养全人警官——台湾“中央”警察大学通识教育及其启示

台湾“中央”警察大学是实施与警察有关的专业教育的单科性大学,为了避免专业教育所导致学生片面发展的弊端,推行通识教育,不仅能拓宽学生知识视野,培养思维能力,更为重要的是通过通识教育,提升学生人文素养,增进他们对社会的爱心与关怀。使学生在警察专业教育外,还能拥有广博的知识、深切的人文社会关怀和宏观的视野,成为具有健全人格的现代优秀警官。     

福清市行政、边防派出所“联合警务”的实践与思考

福清市行政、边防派出所“联合警务”打破了行政派出所与边防派出所辖区和警种的界限,施行“警务联勤、巡查联动、信息联通”,构建行政、边防派出所“同调度、同办案、同巡查、同分析、同培训、同考评、同保障”的警务机制。“联合警务”构筑了行政、边防派出所警务协同的有机平台,建立了务实高效的警务运行机制,达到了“警力互补、业务互学、信息互通、工作互助”的实际效果。“联合警务”对优化当前派出所警力的配置、推进边防派出所警务体制的改革、推广“联合警务”的经验起到了至关重要的作用。     

警察权利的内涵辨析

警察的一般权利和特殊权利共同构成了警察享有的权利体系,二者紧密相连。警察权利和警察权力两者属于不同的概念范畴,两者的主体、特征、范围不同,但是警察权力和警察权利仍是互为关联。在当前,采取有效措施保障警察权利具有多重现实价值。     

浅谈我国警察服务职能的建设——以构建服务型政府为背景

在构建服务型政府的执政理念指导下,作为政府的重要职能部门之一的公安机关在新时期理应凸显其服务职能。然而一直以来理论界对警察的服务职能缺乏权威准确的界定,更在服务理念上存在着一些误区。当前我国警察服务职能的建设要在廓清警察服务职能的基础上,对警察服务职能的理念予以提升,法制予以完善,警察素质予以提高,公安管理体制上予以理顺。     

各国警察执法保障对策比较研究

对比研究中外部分国家警察执法保障相关立法规定。在借鉴国外警察执法保障相关立法经验和我国警察执法保障现状的基础上,探索完善我国警察执法权益保障的对策。其中包括：建议单独增设袭警罪;建议修改《人民警察法》第三十第五条规定,加大对侵犯警察执法权力的处罚力度：规范合法警用暴力的使用标准。完善警察执法保障的其他建议是：建立完善人民警察维权的机构;充分发挥警用装备的作用;提高民警自我防护意识;强化民警执法素质和执法活动效能的训练。