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Article 3.1

Alpert, G., & Noble, J. (2008). Lies, true lies, and conscious deception. Police Quarterly, 12(2), 237-254.

Police officers often tell lies; they act in ways that are deceptive, they manipulative people and situations, they coerce citizens, and they are dishonest. They are taught, encouraged, and often rewarded for their deceptive practices. Officers often lie to suspects about witnesses and evidence, and they are deceitful when attempting to learn about criminal activity. Most of these actions are sanctioned, legal, and expected. Although they are allowed to be dishonest in certain circumstances, they are also required to be trustworthy, honest, and maintain the highest level of integrity. The purpose of this article is to explore situations when officers can be dishonest, some reasons that help us understand the dishonesty, and circumstances where lies may lead to unintended consequences such as false confessions. The authors conclude with a discussion of how police agencies can manage the lies that officers tell and the consequences for the officers, organizations, and the criminal justice system.

Article 3.2

Brandl, S. G., & Stroshine, M. S. (2012). The role of officer attributes, job characteristics, and arrest activity in explaining police use of force. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 24(5), 551-572.

While numerous studies have examined the causes, correlates, and control of police use of force, many questions remain. This study contributes to the literature on police use of force by examining the role of officers’ background characteristics, job characteristics (patrol area and shift assignment), and arrest activity in explaining variation in the frequency with which officers use force. Analyses were conducted on 1,084 police officers employed in a large municipal police department. Use of force data were obtained from 477 official departmental reports from 2010. Results suggest that a small proportion of officers are responsible for a large proportion of force incidents, and that officers who frequently use force differ in important and significant ways from officers who use force less often (or not at all). Policy implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Article 3.3

Nelligan, P. J., & Taylor, R. W. (1994). Ethical issues in community policing. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 10(1), 59-66.

Community policing requires fundamental changes to the philosophy and organization of police work. Among these changes will be substantial reduction in the political and social isolation of police departments and police officers as well as the granting of more autonomy and discretion to individual police officers. Just as the traditional, professional model of police work presents ethical challenges to police departments and officers, so will community policing. Reduction of the political and social isolation of the police may increase the risk of corruption and favoritism and greater autonomy and discretion for police officers increases the risk of police officers being beyond the effective control of their departments. By anticipating these unintended consequences of police reform, steps may be taken to avoid them.