Police Integrity: Guides & Reports

• General Ethics and Integrity
• Early Intervention
• Citizen Complaints and Mediation
• Traffic Stop Data
• Accountability and Monitoring

General Ethics and Integrity

Building Strong Police-Immigrant Community Relations: Lessons from a New York City Project
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) and Vera Institute of Justice, August 2005.
This document describes a COPS-funded project with the Vera Institute of Justice, who worked in conjunction with the New York City Police Department to strengthen relations between police and new immigrant communities. Police officials met with members of three immigrant communities in a series of forums to discuss barriers to trust, strategies for building better police-community relations, and broader policy concerns affecting the police-community relationship. The report will assist police departments, local-level government officials, and community groups interested in building good relations between the police and immigrant communities.

Ethics Toolkit: Enhancing Law Enforcement Ethics in a Community Policing Environment
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) and International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP).
This toolkit, a joint partnership between COPS and the IACP, addresses police ethics and serves as a call to action and a resource for law enforcement agencies.

Institutional Integrity: The Four Elements of Self-Policing
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), November 2001.
This article, originally published in the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, presents the four key elements within an internal disciplinary program: code of conduct, adjudication process, reporting process, and internal investigation necessary in law enforcement organizations to maintain a high level of institutional integrity. (NCJ 192747)

Lengthening the Stride: Employing Peace Officers from Newly Arrived Ethnic Groups
Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC), November 1995.
This guide examines and addresses the issues surrounding hiring police officers from immigrant ethnic groups. It uses information from several law enforcement agencies that have recruited and hired from such groups in their areas. The guide is intended for use by both experienced and newly hired nonnative police officers, and law enforcement administrators and trainers, police academy personnel, and citizens. (NCJ 159738)

Measuring What Matters; Part Two: Developing Measures of What Police Do
National Institute of Justice (NIJ), November 1997.
This report summarizes the proceedings and papers of the second and third meetings sponsored by the National Institute of Justice and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services to consider how police departments know that what they are doing matters and how they measure what matters. (NCJ 167255)

Police Integrity: Public Service with Honor - A Partnership Between the National Institute of Justice and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) and National Institute of Justice (NIJ, January 1997.
The 1996 National Symposium on Police Integrity resulted in a joint action plan to generate improved responses to the police integrity issue. This plan and related conference recommendations are detailed that pertain to training, research and other program initiatives, and model program elements. Appendixes contain a list of conference attendees, selected issue papers on plenary panel presentations, and a bibliography of related sources. (NCJ 163811)

Principles of Good Policing: Avoiding Violence Between Police and Citizens
U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) - Community Relations Service, September 2003.
This guide discusses values for good policing, some contemporary issues in policing, effective police leadership, and procedures for effective policing in the context of community policing. Other issues discussed are the management of potentially violent situations, a conflict-management approach, negotiation versus confrontation, areas of special concern, and responding to incidents that involve allegations of excessive use of force. The guide includes a checklist for effective policing. (NCJ 202942)

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Early Intervention Systems for Law Enforcement in a Community Policing Environment
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), August 2003.
This publication explores the benefits and risks of early intervention systems. Written by Professor Sam Walker, Ph.D., of the University of Nebraska at Omaha, this guidebook discusses successful early intervention systems all over the country, focusing on large agencies.

Early Warning Systems: Responding to the Problem Police Officer
National Institute of Justice (NIJ), July 2001.
A study of early warning systems designed to identify police officers who may be having problems on the job, and to provide those officers with appropriate counseling or training. Findings were based on information from a survey of 832 police agencies and site visits to three agencies with established early warning systems. (NCJ 188565)

Police Integrity and Accountability in Philadelphia: Predicting and Assessing Police Management
National Institute of Justice (NIJ), December 2004.
This study explored indicators of potential problem behavior in police officers, as well as officer attitudes and beliefs concerning police work. The study drew on police officer background files and academy records of nearly 2,000 officers within the Philadelphia Police Department to identify differences in characteristics associated with future disciplinary problems as an officer. (NCJ 207823)

Principles for Promoting Police Integrity: Examples of Promising Police Practices & Policies
U.S. Department of Justice (USDOJ), January 2001.
This booklet presents principles for police practices that build community trust, enhance police accountability, and reduce police misconduct. For each of six topics-use of force; complaints and misconduct investigations; promoting accountability and effective management; training; nondiscriminatory policing and data collection; and recruitment, hiring, and retention-the booklet presents principles for police behavior and instruction under varying circumstances.

Responding to the Problem Officer: A National Study of Early Warning Systems, Final Report 
National Institute of Justice (NIJ), August 2000.
This study investigated early warning (EW) systems in three police departments-Miami, Minneapolis, and New Orleans-to assess the programmatic nature of each EW system and the impact of EW intervention on police officer performance. The study defined an EW system as a data-based police management tool designed to identify police officers who exhibit problem behavior, as indicated by high rates of citizen complaints and use of force incidents and by other evidence. (NCJ 184510)

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Citizen Complaints and Mediation

Civilian Oversight of Police in Philadelphia: The First 50 Years
Philadelphia Police Advisory Commission, November 2003.
This paper traces Philadelphia's history and experience with the civilian oversight of police, beginning in the 1950's as a "pioneering venture" to the present. It contains 52 references and appended description of community lines of police accountability and sample complaint forms. (NCJ 203850)

Coping with Police Misconduct in West Virginia: Citizen Involvement in Officer Disciplinary Procedures - A Review of Existing Law, Legislative Initiatives, and Disciplinary Models
West Virginia Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, January 2004.
Based on a background paper produced by the West Virginia Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, this paper summarizes the Committee's research to date and addresses three major themes: the ongoing problem of police brutality and existing disciplinary structure in the state; past legislative attempts to reform disciplinary procedures and the experiences of two recent review boards established in Bluefield and Charleston; and alternative models and methods used successfully in other parts of the country. (NCJ 204135)

Evaluation of the Lincoln, Nebraska Police Department's Quality Service Audit: The Impact of Citizen Feedback on Individual Officers  
National Institute of Justice (NIJ), December 1999. The Lincoln Police Department (LPD) and the University of Nebraska at Omaha Criminal Justice Department established a working partnership that was successful in designing and implementing a randomized experiment to study the impact of the LPD's program of giving citizen feedback to individual police officers. Using a number of measures of officer attitudes and performance, this evaluation was unable to detect any differences between the experimental and control groups after 9 months of giving members of the experimental group monthly feedback from citizens with whom they had contact. (NCJ 179975)

Mediating Citizen Complaints Against Police Officers: A Guide for Police and Community Leaders
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), August 2002.
This guide addresses the implementation, expectations, and evaluation of police/citizen mediation programs. It addresses how to overcome obstacles to mediation such as police and citizen resistance. Key issues discussed include eligibility, cultural barriers, and creating a level playing field. The guide presents examples of successful mediation processes for communities thinking about developing a mediation program.

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Traffic Stop Data

By the Numbers
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) and Police Executive Research Foundation (PERF), May 2005.
PERF and the COPS Office have partnered to provide the guidance that is needed to ensure the responsible analysis and interpretation of vehicle stop data. This detailed how-to guide for analyzing race data from vehicle stops provides a social science framework for understanding the challenges of trying to measure racial bias in policing and presents methods for law enforcement professionals, researchers, and other stakeholders to consider when interpreting the vehicle-stop data.

Kentucky Vehicle Stops Database 2001 Report
Kentucky Justice Cabinet, November 2001.
Based on information available in the Kentucky Vehicle Stops Database for 2001, this report summarizes limited and exploratory findings concerning the nature of vehicle stops conducted by the agencies participating in this project. The author cautions that the data presented cannot be used to draw conclusions about the presence or absence of biased policing and/or racial profiling within an agency or unit within an agency. (NCJ 202819)

Racially Biased Policing: A Principled Response
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) and Police Executive Research Foundation (PERF).
This report, funded by COPS and produced by PERF, will assist agencies in meeting the challenge of eradicating racially biased policing. It provides the first step in assisting law enforcement professionals, in collaboration with the community, to consider the issues and develop approaches for their community's specific needs. The report guides law enforcement agencies in their response to racially biased policing and to the perceptions of its practice, thereby helping to strengthen citizen confidence in the police and improve police services in the community.

Racially Biased Policing: Guidance for Analyzing Race Data from Vehicle Stops Executive Summary
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) and Police Executive Research Foundation (PERF), August 2005.
The Executive Summary describes two COPS- and PERF-produced publications about responsible analysis and interpretation of vehicle stop data. The publications are "By the Numbers" and "Understanding Race Data from Vehicle Stops: A Stakeholder's Guide." The guides discuss the challenge of benchmarking, various benchmarking options that jurisdictions can choose, and how to interpret the research results responsibly.

Resource Guide on Racial Profiling Data Collection Systems: Promising Practices and Lessons Learned
Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), November 2000.
This document provides an overview of the nature of racial profiling; a description of racial-profiling data collection and its purpose; current activities in California, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Great Britain; and recommendations for the future. This guide is a blueprint that police and communities can use to develop racial-profiling data-collection systems. (NCJ 184768)

Suggested Approach to Analyzing Racial Profiling: Sample Templates for Analyzing Car-Stop Data
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), March 2005.
Decisions regarding the merits of racial profiling concerns are important and should not be based on either anecdotal evidence or incomplete analysis. This pamphlet describes the general approaches used, and illustrates them with sample templates of the analytical output. These templates represent examples of how to display and evaluate results from various methods of analysis.

Traffic Stop Data Collection Policies for State Police, 1999
Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), February 2000.
This report provides findings from the 1999 Survey of State Police Agencies Information Inventory. Discussed are the circumstances under which demographic data are collected for traffic-related contacts and violations. The survey also asked if the data collected were stored in an electronically accessible format. (NCJ 180776)

Understanding Race Data from Vehicle Stops: A Stakeholders Guide
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) and Police Executive Research Foundation (PERF), August 2005.
This guide, funded by COPS and produced by PERF, addresses the same topics as "By the Numbers," but is written for policy makers who will make or have an impact on the decisions regarding data collection as a response to concerns about racial bias in policing their jurisdiction. This guide will provide realistic expectations about vehicle stop data and describe the ways that the data could be analyzed.

WSP Traffic Stop Data Analysis Project Report
Washington State University, June 2003.
This document provides the results of a literature review, a search for sources of traffic stop-related denominator data, and data analyses performed on the Washington State Patrol's traffic stop data. The Traffic Stop Data Project has facilitated complex contextual analyses of traffic stop data to enhance the relationship between the Washington State Patrol (WSP) and the citizens of Washington. This analysis explores more deeply the initial observations revealed in WSP internal analyses using a combination of statewide census demographic comparisons and comparisons based on accident records. (NCJ 202993)

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Accountability and Monitoring

Can Federal Intervention Bring Lasting Improvement in Local Policing?
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) and Vera Institute of Justice, April 2005.
Ten years ago, Congress gave the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department new powers to sue state and local governments in federal court to correct a "pattern or practice" of police misconduct. In Pittsburgh-the first city to enter into a consent decree with the Justice Department-most provisions of the decree were lifted after the Bureau of Police was judged to be in substantial compliance. Pittsburgh, therefore, is the first place we can look to see how the police can satisfy the Justice Department and whether this new kind of federal intervention can make a lasting difference. To answer those questions, the COPS Office funded a report produced by the Vera Institute of Justice. This report is a follow-up study to another COPS Office publication, "Turning Necessity into Virtue," which is an examination of the Pittsburgh Police Department while it was under the consent decree.

Chicago Police Department's Information Collection for Automated Mapping (ICAM) Program
National Institute of Justice (NIJ), January 2000.
The Chicago Police Department has put together one of the most accessible and easy to use programs in the United States. Since its implementation in May 1995, city police officials, beat officers, and the public have praised the ICAM program. Because ICAM was created in conjunction with Chicago's community policing program, the maps represent an effective way of working with city residents on crime problems in their neighborhoods. (NCJ 160764)

Collaboration Toolkit: How to Build, Fix, and Sustain Productive Partnerships  
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), 2001. This toolkit provides practical guidance to law enforcement agencies as they develop and sustain partnerships that support community policing. The toolkit will benefit law enforcement personnel, community-based organizations, educators, youth, government officials, and others seeking to combine efforts to reduce crime and social disorder problems.

Demonstrating the Analytical Utility of GIS for Police Operations: A Final Report  
National Institute of Justice (NIJ), January 2000. This report discusses a three-part project involving a partnership between the Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina, Police Department and Southern Illinois University at Carbondale to demonstrate the analytical usefulness of geographic information systems (GIS) for police operations. (NCJ 187104)

Internal Auditing - A Management Tool 
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), March 1981.
The use of internal auditing to inform police management about the conditions and problems within a department is explained, and the auditing activities of the Bureau of Management Analysis within the St. Louis County Police Department are described.

Turning Necessity into Virtue
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) and Vera Institute of Justice, January 2003.
This report, funded by the COPS Office and produced by the Vera Institute of Justice, examines specific elements of the Pittsburgh experience that helped to bring the police department into compliance with the consent decree and highlights issues that require continued attention, such as community relations and employee morale. This publication is a companion publication to another COPS Office-funded report entitled, "Can Federal Intervention Bring Lasting Improvement in Local Policing?" which examines the Pittsburgh Police Department after the consent decree was lifted.

The Use of Computerized Mapping in Crime Control and Prevention Programs
National Institute of Justice (NIJ), July 1995. 
This paper focuses on some organizations that use mapping technologies in crime control and prevention programs, assesses the overall utility of these technologies, and identifies some obstacles to increased use of mapping.

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