Identifying misconduct-committing officer crews in the Chicago police department.

ABSTRACT: Explanations for police misconduct often center on a narrow notion of "problem officers," the proverbial "bad apples." Such an individualistic approach not only ignores the larger systemic problems of policing but also takes for granted the group-based nature of police work. Nearly all of police work is group-based and officers' formal and informal networks can impact behavior, including misconduct. In extreme cases, groups of officers (what we refer to as, "crews") have even been observed to coordinate their abusive and even criminal behaviors. This study adopts a social network and machine learning approach to empirically investigate the presence and impact of officer crews engaging in alleged misconduct in a major U.S. city: Chicago, IL. Using data on Chicago police officers between 197

SUBMITTER: Jain A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9067648 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature