Off-Duty and Under Arrest

• Author: Philip Matthew Stinson,John Liederbach,Tina L. Freiburger
• Published date: 01 June 2012
• Date: 01 June 2012
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0887403410390510
• Subject Matter: Articles

Criminal Justice Policy Review

23(2) 139 –163

© 2012 SAGE Publications

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DOI: 10.1177/0887403410390510

http://cjp.sagepub.com

1Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH

2University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee

Corresponding Author:

Philip Matthew Stinson Sr., Criminal Justice Program, Bowling Green State University,

Bowling Green, OH 43403-0148

Email: stinspm@bgsu.edu

Off-Duty and Under

Arrest: A Study of

Crimes Perpetuated

by Off-Duty Police

Philip Matthew Stinson Sr.1, John Liederbach1,

and Tina L. Freiburger2

Abstract

The findings of independent commissions and research derived from a data set of

career-ending misconduct among New York Police Department (NYPD) officers

suggests that police engage in a wide variety of crimes while they are off duty including

domestic violence, bar fights, drunk driving, burglary, and sex offenses (Fyfe & Kane,

2006; Kane & White, 2009; Mollen Commission, 1994). The off-duty misbehavior

of police is an important concern for police agencies exposed to potential liability

costs, and scholars engaged in debates about whether studies on police deviance

should include acts committed while an officer is technically off duty. The problem

for scholars interested in understanding off-duty police misconduct is that virtually

all of the existing data describes the misbehavior of NYPD police. The purpose of

the current study is to explore the nature and character of off-duty police crime in

the United States through a content analysis of news articles on arrested off-duty

police officers. Data are presented in terms of the arrested off-duty officer(s), his or

her agency, and case outcomes including legal and/or employment dispositions. The

article includes a discussion regarding the generalizability of existing data on off-duty

police crime and the policy implications of our research.

Keywords

police crime, police misconduct, off-duty police misbehavior

Articles

140 Criminal Justice Policy Review 23(2)

In August 1998, the Commission to Combat Police Corruption (CCPC) released a

comprehensive report on the misconduct of New York Police Department (NYPD)

officers. The commission found that a significant number of cases arose out of mis-

conduct that occurred while the officers were off duty. More than 80% of the 163

NYPD officers arrested during the preceding year were charged for off-duty miscon-

duct and crimes (CCPC, 1996). These cases most often involved officers who used

their service weapons to threaten or even fire at others during private, off-duty con-

frontations, as well as officers who engaged in domestic or other forms of off-duty

violence. The report also highlighted the pervasive role of alcohol in off-duty miscon-

duct. Intoxicated cops were involved in roughly one third of the cases of off-duty

violence reviewed by the commission (CCPC, 1998).

The CCPC’s report echoed the findings of the Mollen Commission’s (1994) inves-

tigation of wide-scale corruption within the NYPD, as well as some of Fyfe’s (1980,

1987, 1988) earlier research on the misuse of weapons by off-duty police. The Mollen

Commission focused on the illegal drug trade, including cases where off-duty NYPD

cops robbed local drug dealers and subsequently sold the booty to friends and neigh-

bors. Fyfe (1980) focused on cases that involved off-duty violence, including one

where an officer used his service weapon to murder his wife, and another that involved

an intoxicated off-duty cop who was ejected from a bar and fired six shots onto the

premises. More recently, Fyfe and Kane (2006) and Kane and White (2009) found

that NYPD officers engaged in off-duty crimes as varied as those committed by more

typical criminals, including domestic violence, bar fights, drunk driving, burglary,

and sex offenses.

The problem for scholars interested in understanding off-duty police misconduct is

that virtually all of the existing data describes the misbehavior of NYPD cops. The data

are based on either the findings of independent commissions designed to investigate the

city’s unique cycle of police scandals or published research derived from a data set on

career-ending misconduct among NYPD officers from 1975 to 1996 (Fyfe & Kane,

2006; Kane & White, 2009). The formation of local “blue ribbon” commissions occurs

rarely—even in New York City; and, police departments do not usually expose agency

data on misconduct to outside scrutiny whether it occurs on or off duty. The existing

line of research provides coverage on the off-duty misbehavior of NYPD officers, but

the absence of data on the phenomenon as it occurs elsewhere raises legitimate con-

cerns in regard to generalizability.

Another factor that has contributed to the lack of information on the misbehavior

of off-duty police relates to a scholarly debate about whether studies on “police devi-

ance” and/or “police crime” should include acts committed while an officer is techni-

cally off duty. Kappeler, Sluder, and Alpert (1998) provide examples to make the

case for the exclusion of off-duty crimes where police engage in acts “that have little

to do with their employment” (p. 20). Others including Fyfe and Kane (2006) how-

ever present a compelling argument for the inclusion of off-duty crimes because it is

often difficult to distinguish between on and off-duty police behavior. More data on

cases of off-duty crimes could help to resolve this debate; but so far, the scholarly