Pathways of police misconduct

"Previous research has found that there is a small percentage of officers, called problem officers, who account for a disproportionate amount of misconduct. Despite this, little empirical research has been done on problem officers, and such research has not been adequately driven by theory. Before such research can be undertaken, researchers must develop a theoretical framework where one could understand the misconduct of police officers over time." "Pathways of Police Misconduct presents analyses of a retrospective, longitudinal data set of police personnel complaints and related misconduct indicators from a large police agency. Borrowing lessons learned from the criminal career paradigm and developmental criminology, it seeks to determine if there is a relationship between experience and misconduct of officers at the aggregate level, and whether distinct trajectories of misconduct, such as that of a problem officer, underlie this aggregate curve." "The results indicate that experience and misconduct are related in an orderly way in the aggregate. What's more, there are distinct trajectories of misconduct underlying this curve. The book also discusses implications of these findings for both police scholars and police administrators."--Jacket.