We have long heard how the vast majority of police officers are doing a good job under extremely difficult circumstances. According to Fox News commentator Sean Hannity, the figure is over 99 percent.
If we could just weed out the bad apples, the argument goes, we would solve the problem of “police reform.” National Security Advisor Robert C. Obrien echoed the same theme: “…we got a few bad apples that have given law enforcement a bad name.” Ashiah Parker, a member of a commission created by the Maryland General Assembly to offer recommendations for police reform in Baltimore, observed: “The narrative is always: it’s only a few bad apples.”
But how do we know this is true?
A few have argued that problems run deeper, that there are cultural issues which must be addressed. As Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus put it, “The problem of policing isn’t bad apples. It’s a diseased tree.”
Baltimore’s Parker observed that “the police department has issues that need to be addressed.”
These voices argue for major reductions in the size of the police force and a re-orientation to police work. Still, the dominant narrative continues: The vast majority of the nation’s 800,000 cops are “good cops.”
But where is the evidence to support the bad apple narrative?
Are there any studies where scholars/investigators have systematically followed a random sample of police officers over a period of time and documented their behavior – both good and bad? Is there a dataset containing the number and percentage of officers who have had complaints against them upheld, which shows only a tiny percentage have had conflicts with the communities they serve?
Do we have surveys of various police departments and communities they serve that show no differences across cities in terms of police-community problems and where just a handful of officers are involved in those issues that have arisen?
The answer to these questions is simply “no.”
There has been scholarly research and investigations about the “blue code of silence,” “blue shield,” “blue flu,” and more recently about a “Ferguson effect”—where officers refuse to fulfill their sworn duties—which does suggest there is a dark culture at play.
Going back at least to the 1968 Kerner Commission report which examined police practices nationwide, Peter Maas’s biography and subsequent movie of New York police officer Frank Serpico’s attempt to root out police corruption in that city in the 1970s and, more recently, investigations into the Rodney King beating in Los Angeles, the Michael Brown shooting in St. Louis and many other incidents, the U.S. Department of Justice, among others, have called for wide-ranging reforms on hiring and training of police, de-escalation techniques, use of force, and more.
Charges of systemic racism have been levelled with increasing frequency in recent weeks, culminating in calls to defund and eliminate police forces as presently constituted. But countering those claims is the still-dominant “few bad apples” narrative.
Clearly, we need to find out how many bad apples there are.
We know the number is not zero. As noted in a recent New York Times article, communities are torn between the need for effective and humane police services and “rampant police misconduct.”
At a minimum, our local officials (mayors, city and county councils) should immediately and independently determine how many of their cops have been disciplined and/or terminated for misconduct in the past three years, what the level of misconduct was, and why these officers are allowed to stay on the force.
Independent audits of the very large police department budgets should be funded this year by mayors and county executives to determine just how many police officers are really needed. Such audits would include analysis of how officers are deployed in various communities, observing police officers on their shifts to see how they spend their time, interact with the community, and respond to calls for service which is producing only one or two arrests a month per officer.
The records of misconduct and findings of these audits must be made public.
Implementation of meaningful community ride-along programs should be mandatory for each department, to better inform the public about policing practices.
It is time to get to the bottom of this, and not simply depend on talking heads about the assumed universal good behavior of police departments.
We are spending about $150 billion a year on 800,000 police officers to make about 10 million arrests (mostly misdemeanor crimes and traffic infractions) which comes to about $15,000 per arrest. Police departments are not going to disappear any time soon.
Now is the time to find out just how well that money is being spent.
Gregory D. Squires is a Professor of Sociology and Public Policy & Public Administration at George Washington University. James Austin is a Senior Associate with The JFA Institute. James Austin is a Senior Associate with The JFA Institute.
11 Comments
Don’t expect any cooperation from the police. They don’t make mistakes because the police always follow their training and if a cop does do something illegal then they can blame it on improper training. It’s a circle of corruption used to avoid paying the consequences when cops break the law, brutalize or murder people.
There ARE NO SUCH THINGS as good cops!!! This country is run by the mafia and corrupt law enforcement. Major cities have chiefs, mayors and even governors busting up drug dealers, then turning around and reselling those very same drugs. If you THINK you are a good cop, find another profession. You and I know, if you do not do as “they” tell you, we’ll most likely find you in a ditch somewhere with a gunshot, self inflicted, to the back of your head! I TRUST NO ONE, POLITICIANS OR COPS!!!
Wow, you are soooo smart! Tell me how successful you are in life then if you “trust no one”! What do you think this is, the apocalypse?
I haven’t seen COUNTLESS police officers saving babies, getting that BS fentanyl off the streets, etc, no, it doesn’t happen. Do NOT come asking for help when your home is broken into, I do not want to hear it. Grow up, please.
I also forgot, literally every cop ever will drag you into a dusty ditch to torture you for hours if you don’t listen. I’m headed for a career in law enforcement, and I really don’t care how much you think cops are inhuman scum.
The police do much more than make arrests. Thus, calculating the cost of policing based on arrests is inaccurate at best and deceptive at the most. According to police scholars like the late Herman Goldstein, 80 percent of policing are service calls. These include things like traffic enforcement, welfare checks and noise complaints. There are three types of lies according to Mark Twain, lies, damn lies and statistics. Let’s be honest folks.
I agree that we need to know the scope of the problem. As more body cam video is released on the George Floyd murder, it is apparent that the officers are not connected to the reality of what is happening. That in itself is training. It is not normal to have someone under your control die without any reaction; it has to be trained into one.
How many officers are routinely trained, formally or informally, that offenders are not human? Is this racial or something else?
Accountability has to happen and metrics around what acceptable performance needs to be developed (metrics around performance of any kind in fact – good or bad).
Police unions may fight it, but as individual officers put themselves in the position of the “Minneapolis Four”, some will quit out of fear but others will step up to the reforms that have to happen.
This is how you make healthy criticism! Unlike some people in this comment section who seem to think we are living in the apocalypse. I would even agree that our criminal justice system needs reform. People learn from constructive critiscism, unlike the disgusting hatred I see coming out of other people.
I am a registered republican, I agree with the party 90% of the time, however ON law enforcement tactics/issues I absolutely 100% disagree with the party. Defunding the police is an incredibly dumb idea. There should be reform from everything from longer paid training (very minimum of one year) to ride alongs for no less than six months, and video/audio recording of every second of every minute that the officer is on duty. I have had the unfortunate experience of a few rogue police officers several years ago, I went to their commander, I was laughed out of his office. There is no transparency whatever. I want to donate to to an organization called tunnel to towers, however proceeds go to police families and I refuse to help them knowing that the officer was more than likely a person that violated citizens rights on a regular basis. I am only interested in helping falling soldiers families. Until something is cleaned up with power hungry, narcissistic, condescending, police I can’t in good faith donate to a cause that benefits them or theirs.
I’m 82 and have had my share of run ins with the police (I was a hippie in my youth . . . eventually became a psychologist). All but one of my many encounters were very proper.
YOU were lucky. Or white (even if you were a hippie).I’m an 81 yr old ,college-educated white woman from Baltimore but I’ve seen some stuff. I was a therapist (mental health) for 25 years and also did years of protective service for kids so I worked w/ cops from several counties …I’ve seen good and bad but I’ve definitely seen evidence of cops harassing females and black people, including children.
Some whites, esp. look but do not see.
Wayne, every second of every minute you want audio/video of police? Does that include bathroom breaks? Hmmm,should be interesting. What if every second of every minute YOU were recorded at work?
I don’t trust cops because I don’t know which ones are good and which ones are corrupt. That’s why I prefer to take matters into my own hands when it comes to fighting crime. I don’t trust anyone, especially not cops. I don’t trust anyone because I don’t know who I can trust. In fact, the only person I can trust is me. If you don’t know who you can trust, it’s best never to trust anyone except yourself. I mean, really, what’s the point?