Police Leadership In Question
By David Packman, on February 18th, 2010
The story of former NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik being sentenced to 4 years prison for tax fraud and lying to White House officials has headlined a lot of news reports today, but misbehavior by people in law enforcement leadership positions isn’t unusual by any stretch. In fact, the issue has been a bit of a running theme here on this site. (see here and here)
Last year, the NPMSRP tracked 261 reports of police misconduct and criminal activity that involved people in police leadership positions, which averaged to about 30 reports per month for the 8.5 months we tracked last year. So far this year that trend doesn’t appear to have changed much since we tracked 44 such reports so far this year.
Given that there are an estimated 17,000 law enforcement agencies in the US, that gives us a roughly estimated misconduct rate of 2167 per 100,000 police leaders, which is significantly higher than our NPMSRP police misconduct rate of 980.6 per 100,000 officers last year.
Law enforcement leadership problems aren’t isolated to large cities like New York either, they range the gambit from sheriff’s running large county operations to small town police chiefs that also work as the sole officer in town. But, one thing is clear, when the leader of an entire department goes bad, you have to wonder at how good a job those leaders did at disciplining the officers underneath their command. Which is troubling if the misconduct rate for police leadership is over double the standard misconduct rate.
Some of the police leadership issues the NPMSRP has tracked so far this year include:
Riverside California Police Chief Russ Leach is taking a medical retirement after he wrecked a city vehicle into a fire hydrant and utility pole after drinking at a strip club, then drove for 3 miles on two rims until other Riverside cops pulled him over. The incident sparked not only one investigation into the chief’s conduct, but also into the department itself for the appearance of a cover-up since officers did not appear to administer a sobriety test.
Inman Kansas Police Chief Mike Akins was arrested last month on 17 felony charges and 2 misdemeanors that include rape, battery, and indecent liberties with at least 4 children under the age of 14.
Ethridge Tennessee Police Chief Esley Shelton is under investigation on allegations that he pointed a gun at a motorist during an off-duty road rage incident.
Danube Minnesota Police Chief Lester Schneider took a plea deal to charges of theft and misconduct by a public official for stealing over $4,000 from a charity event. The agreement allowed him to remain in is position within that department and will clear his record in a year.
Kingstown North Carolina Police Chief Richard Junior Hopper plead guilty last month to forging a signature and cashing checks that were meant for a subordinate officer and to misdemeanor assault charges for strangling a minor female family member. He got a suspended sentence and 2 years probation for his plea, but the conviction means he supposedly can’t be a cop in that state again.
Brookneal Virginia Police Chief Ricky Cousins resigned for health reasons the same day he was arrested for shoplifting $28 worth of items at Walmart in January.
Vergennes Vermont Police Chief Michael Lowe plead guilty to fraudulently obtaining prescription drugs and driving under the influence in deal dropping embezzlement and drug possession charges that stemmed from him wrecking a police cruiser in June 2009.
Pleasant Point Maine Police Chief Joseph Barnes was indicted this month on felony theft charges and misuse of entrusted property that allege he took over $10,000 from the Passamaquoddy Tribe before he resigned for personal reasons in 2009.
As I always say when these cases come up on a nearly daily basis, how can we expect law enforcement officers to be accountable for their actions when so many law enforcement leaders aren’t?
One of the problems that everyone who is interested in shining light on police misconduct should take into healthy consideration is this.
How much official misconduct is actually being reported?
Most of us looking for incidents of misconduct are reduced to surfing or searching news related web sites daily looking for stories that come from either an official press release from an agency or from a story a reporter uncovers either thru investigative journalism or someone involved in the incident tips the reporter. Either way if the incident isn’t publicly reported by press release or news event its never known and therefore never counted.
In my experience the smaller the departments the less likely there will be a press release.
And the simple fact is the vast majority of police agencies in the USA are of 25 officers or less. Most don’t even have an Internal Affairs unit let alone a Public Information Officer. Someone from within is simply appointed to conduct these duties when the need arrises. Or an outside agency is brought in to conduct the investigation, usually a state agency.
So just how many events are slipping through our fingers, going uncounted for lack of public reporting due to this?
I say somewhere between 25% and 50% of all misconduct events are taking place and the public never knows anything about it.
Unless you are involved in the incident or complaint.
Not everyone runs to the nearest reporter when an incident of excessive force is raised.
Not every police agency issues a press release when an officer is suspended or fired.
Typically the only media attention this type of case will attract will be if criminal charges are filed and indictments are secured by the prosecutor and unsealed when presented.
In small towns these cases more often than not, are never even presented to the DA let alone to a Grand Jury for indictment if the officer is fired or just resigns in lieu of termination.
Allowing him or her to just move onto another department to continue their crime spree under color of law.
So I contend that any misconduct rates will be lower than the actual rate and by a significant amount due to the fact that the greater portion of incidents go unreported and undiscovered by the public at large. And an included variable to this personal experience based analysis would be the factor of dirty and corrupt leadership.
Those so corrupt themselves are going to work extra hard to hide the corruption of those below them, further reducing the reported rates of police misconduct.
And how many people fail to report incidents for fear of retaliation by the cops? Its not at all a stretch of the imagination to assume if a cop is so violent and corrupt that he or she is willing to commit a crime on duty for whatever reason. They won’t commit a bigger one to silence or coverup their initial actions.
Well John, that is a point I bring up a lot, mostly when I publish the statistical reports. There is undoubtedly an unknown amount of under reporting involved in our statistics, and there would be no matter what methods we used of those currently available to gather these statistics. It is, as you say, an intentional problem introduced for a myriad of self-serving reasons ranging from fear of liability from local government officials to fear of negative electorate perceptions by politicians, to fear of accountability from police officials and unions.
There’s a reason we cannot accurately gauge the true extent of police misconduct in the US, and it’s not done that way with the intent to better serve the people.
But, the big question is… what is the true multiplier that we could reasonably use to get to an estimate that is reliably close to the potential actual misconduct rate? How do we go about determining that number should be in a scientific way that would stand up to rational argument and sufficiently withstand biased criticism from those who would prefer to keep the true misconduct rate a secret?
This is the problem… and sure, I’ve been thinking about it ever since I started this project… but it’s proven to be an unsolvable variable up to this point.
But… it is important to note just how the fraction of incidents that we do hear about add up over a period of time to reveal just how extensive police misconduct in the US might just be. Even if the statistics are considered too low an estimate to be reliable, it’s still significant when you look at just how many cases, how many officers, and how many victims that underestimated number translates into.
Thanks for the comment.
Absolutely, you hit the nail on the head.
In the absence of complete data, the need to keep track of those incidents that do get reported becomes that much more important. Along with a well founded argument supporting and showing that serious under reporting is, infact taking place.
When those two points are combined, paints a bleak picture of a wider problem. Like you say, when the numbers that we do know about are shocking, the arguable facts of underreporting becomes that much more important to the bigger picture.
Well, our white wash probe continues in Riverside. What a joke. I’m doing my own research through my site and it’s actually working out quite well. Precisely because people from all corners are thoroughly disgusted.