ABSTRACT

This study examines if and how the promptness of reporting internal and external police misconduct influences the disposition and discipline of misconduct investigations. Data were collected from one midwestern agency. In all, 306 allegations of police misconduct spanning 12 years were collected. In addition to promptness, this study controlled for relevant police officer, complaint, and evidentiary characteristics. Although the promptness of reporting police misconduct did not influence either the disposition or discipline of the investigation, the analyses uncovered several statistically significant relationships between the independent and dependent variables. Examining the disposition, a complaint was more likely to be sustained in interactions involving one officer. In addition, internal complaints of misconduct were more likely to be sustained than complaints filed by citizens. Investigations that did not have video recordings to review were more likely to result in a sustained complaint. Regarding discipline, results showed that interactions with one officer were less likely to yield serious discipline. This is the first study to examine whether promptness in reporting police officer misconduct influences the investigation of police misconduct.

摘要

本研究探讨报告内部和外部警察不当行为的及时性是否以及如何影响不当行为调查的处置和纪律。数据是从一家中西部机构收集的。总共收集了 306 项跨越 12 年的警察不当行为指控。除了及时性之外，本研究还控制了相关警官、投诉和证据特征。尽管报告警察不当行为的及时性并没有影响调查的处置或纪律，但分析揭示了自变量和因变量之间的几个具有统计学意义的关系。检查处置，投诉更有可能在涉及一名官员的互动中持续存在。此外，对不当行为的内部投诉比公民提出的投诉更有可能持续下去。没有视频记录可供审查的调查更有可能导致持续投诉。关于纪律，结果表明与一名官员的互动不太可能产生严重的纪律。这是第一项研究及时报告警察不当行为是否会影响对警察不当行为的调查。