Who Is At-Risk? An Examination of the Likelihood and Time Variation in the Predictors of Repeated Police Misconduct

• Published date: 01 December 2021
• DOI: 10.1177/10986111211013048
• Date: 01 December 2021
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Who Is At-Risk? An

Examination of the

Likelihood and Time

Variation in the

Predictors of Repeated

Police Misconduct

Christi L. Gullion

1

, Erin A. Orrick

1

,

and Stephen A. Bishopp

2,3

Abstract

Increasing transparency and accountability in policing is a top priority for police

administrators, community groups, academics, and many others. The internal affairs

process is an accountability tool designed to hold officers and agencies accountable

to the citizens they serve, yet very little is known about the effect of internal inves-

tigative units on such outcomes as subsequent complaints and temporal distances

between complaints. This current study examines two critical aspects of the internal

affairs process, the likelihood of subsequent complaints and temporal distance

between the first and a subsequent complaint of misconduct. Officers’ complaint

data were collected from the internal affairs unit of a large, metropolitan police

agency in the southwestern United States. Results indicate that a longer time to

initial complaint and regional patrol assignment were related to a reduced likelihood

of receiving future complaints. Moreover, of those officers who received a subse-

quent complaint after their initial complaint, more than half did so within the first

1

College of Criminal Justice, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas, United States

2

Dallas Police Department, Dallas, Texas; University of Texas School of Public Health—Houston (Dallas

campus), USA

3

University of Texas School of Public Health—Houston (Dallas Campus), Texas, United States

Corresponding Author:

Christi L. Gullion, College of Criminal Justice, Sam Houston State University,Huntsville, TX 77341, United

States.

Email: clg084@shsu.edu

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2021, Vol. 24(4) 519 –546

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year, and 94% did so within the first three years of receiving their initial complaint.

Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings on policy and training opportuni-

ties, supervision, mentoring, accountability, and Early Intervention (EI) systems.

Keywords

police misconduct, discipline, complaints, survival analysis, accountability

As police agencies strive to ensure a culture of accountability and transparency

in their police agencies, reducing officer misconduct is the focal point of their

efforts. A key mechanism in this effort is the internal affairs (IA) process, which

is responsible for investigating complaints and other incidents of potential offi-

cer misconduct to determine appropriate outcomes, including disciplinary

action (Harris & Worden, 2014; U.S. Department of Justice, Office of

Community Oriented Policing Services, 2019). However, while the internal

affairs process can result in disciplinary action, progressive police agencies use

this supervision and accountability tool as an opportunity to educate and

mentor officers rather than to punish them (Harris, 2014; Hassell &

Archbold, 2010; Lersch & Mieczkowski, 1996; U.S. Department of Justice,

Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2019; Walker & Archbold,

2000; Walker & Archbold, 2013). An effective internal affairs process is trans-

parent and ensures investigations are thorough, consistent, and timely. This

allows the opportunity to provide at-risk officers with additional training, men-

toring, and guidance to prevent future misconduct.

Research concludes that a small percentage of officers are responsible for a

majority of problematic behavior and high-risk incidents (Christopher

Commission, 1991; Goldstein, 1977; Harris, 2011, 2014; Walker, 2001; Walker

et al., 2000). Overall, studies examining complaints, find that officers who are

male, non-white, young and inexperienced, have previous military experience, or

less education (i.e., without a four-year college degree) receive more citizen

complaints relative to officers who are female, white, older and experienced,

have no prior military experience, or more education (i.e., a four-year college

degree) (Brandl et al., 2001; Harris, 2014; Harris & Worden, 2014; Manis et al.,

2008; Terrill & Ingram, 2016). Also, officers’ assignments and productivity

increase the likelihood of receiving a complaint. Officers who are assigned to

patrol, conduct more arrests, field interviews, and traffic citations, or are

assigned to busy or high crime areas receive more citizen complaints as com-

pared to officers not assigned to patrol, have fewer incidents, or assigned to less

busy or lower crime areas (Harris, 2009, 2014; Hassell & Archbold, 2010;

Hickman & Poore, 2016; Terrill & McCluskey, 2002).

There is a dearth of research examining factors that impact the likelihood and

timing between repeated police misconduct. Results of the few studies examining

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