Deck 2: Police Ethics: the Nature of Policing and Police Corruption

Question 1

Early policing in the United States was indicative of all of the following except:

A) Police had lots of training in law
B) Patrolman working on the streets with little supervision
C) Violence was accepted norm
D) They operated in neighborhoods as authority figures

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Manning (2007) defines as officers who make up the bulk of law enforcement.

A) Patrol officers
B) Middle managers
C) Higher administrators
D) Detectives and investigators

Answer 2

A

Question 3

First set of instructions to constables was published in England in:

A) 1804
B) 1829
C) 1847
D) 1866

Answer 3

B

Question 4

An officer who is characterized by Kleinig (1996) as the most satisfactory definition is a:

A) Crime fighter
B) Emergency operator
C) Social enforcer
D) Social peacekeeper

Question 5

An officer who sees criminal as the enemy, and the police and community as the "good guys" is a:

A) Crime fighter
B) Emergency operator
C) Social enforcer
D) Social peacekeeper

Question 6

Before the twentieth century in this country, police, in general:

A) saw their primary job as keeping the good will of the people.
B) were relatively immune from politics and corruption.
C) operated with few legal and ethical controls.
D) were well-trained, well-equipped and well-supervised.

Question 7

Which of Scheingold's (1994) dominant characteristics views that officers view all citizens with suspicion?

A) The new warriors
B) Cynicism
C) Force
D) The police are victims

Question 8

In his explanation of police culture, Crank (1998) characterizes as the notion that police view much of their work by reference to the use of force.

A) Coercive territorial control
B) The new warriors
C) Turbulence and edge-control
D) Cynicism

Question 9

The view that police are misunderstood and recipients of low wages was defined by Scheingold (1994) as:

A) The new warriors
B) Cynicism
C) Force
D) The police are victims

Question 10

An officer who advocates public service rather than crime fighting is a:

A) Crime fighter
B) Emergency operator
C) Social enforcer
D) Social peacekeeper

Question 11

An officer who sees their role as addressing many day-to-day problems is a:

A) Crime fighter
B) Emergency operator
C) Social enforcer
D) Social peacekeeper

Question 12

Manning (2007) defines as officers who enjoy higher status than patrol officers and are "information processors."

A) Patrol officers
B) Middle managers
C) Higher administrators
D) Detectives and investigators

Question 13

In his explanation of police culture, Crank (1998) characterizes as triumph over unpredictable events, and cultural themes of solidarity.

A) Coercive territorial control
B) The new warriors
C) Turbulence and edge-control
D) Cynicism

Question 14

Occupational culture is defined as:

A) The particular roles and experiences of the different occupational groups within the institution
B) The attitudes, values, and norms of an institution
C) Police professionalism
D) All of the above

Question 15

In addition to the formal rules and regulations of the job, police behavior is also heavily influenced by police:

A) demeanor.
B) mystique.
C) culture.
D) mythology.

Question 16

Some scholars of policing have suggested that police culture has changed with the advent of:

A) community policing
B) a greater focus on service to the public
C) enhancement of communication and interpersonal skills
D) all of these

Question 17

Manning (2007) defines as officers who rise through the ranks through seniority and examinations and supervise and handle paperwork.

A) Patrol officers
B) Middle managers
C) Higher administrators
D) Detectives and investigators

Question 18

An officer who is represented by the media as "fighters against evil" is a:

A) Crime fighter
B) Emergency operator
C) Social enforcer
D) Social peacekeeper

Question 19

Which model of policing was proposed by some as best reflecting a broad definition of policing as involving public service, rather than mere crime fighting?

A) the "emergency operator"
B) the "social peacekeeper"
C) the "snappy bureaucrat"
D) the "social enforcer"

Question 20

Which of the following is not typically seen as a component or value of police culture?

A) cynicism
B) emphasis on force
C) viewing themselves as victims
D) optimism about human nature

Question 21

Most police codes of ethics do not:

A) mention service to the public.
B) require respecting the rights of members of the public.
C) have enforcement provisions or procedures.
D) expect officers to increase their knowledge and competence over time.

Question 22

Individual character, institutional culture, and societal (systemic) pressures on the police have all been suggested as explanations for:

A) police use of excessive force
B) the police subculture
C) police discretion
D) police corruption

Question 23

International Association of Chiefs of Police recommended:

A) providing ethics instruction for all ranks throughout an officer's career
B) incorporating decision-making models in instruction
C) discussing values, and developing critical thinking exercises
D) all of these

Question 24

Studies have identified all of the following factors when assessing work place problems as stressors except:

A) Bias and harassment
B) Unsatisfactory interactions with fellow officers
C) Over and under estimates of physical capabilities
D) All of the above are factors

Question 25

Which of the following are not individual coping strategies discussed in the chapter?

A) Access to a dependable support system
B) Improved communication skills
C) Taking regular vacations
D) Violent outbursts

Question 26

Of the three types of stress officers face, those that corrode confidence and resilience are known as:

A) Explosive events
B) Daily tensions
C) Implosive events
D) None of the above

Question 27

Police work involves a lot of flexibility and options. The formal term for this is:

A) discretion.
B) compulsion.
C) mandates.
D) directionality.

Question 28

Which form of corruption is understood to include accepting payments for not making an arrest or issuing a summons that in ordinary course of events would have been made or issued.

A) Kickbacks
B) Opportunistic theft
C) Shakedowns
D) Traffic fix

Question 29

Ethical codes have a "rhetorical function" in that:

A) they establish grounds for discipline
B) they establish norms of behavior
C) they assure the public that police are required to follow certain standards
D) they create rules the public can rely upon

Question 30

What theory seeks to explain the use of extralegal as opposed to excessive force by police?

A) Use of force theory
B) Extralegal force theory
C) Angry aggression theory
D) Use of aggression theory

Question 31

Most professions commonly have:

A) codes of ethics.
B) ombudsmen
C) strict supervision of day-to-day operations
D) few educational requirements.

Question 32

According to Kraska (2007), what is "an ideology focused on the best means to solve problems"?

A) SWAT
B) Militarism
C) Enforcement
D) Deployment

Question 33

According to Felknes (1984), in one study, more than what percent of officers surveyed responded that they depended mostly on their own personal ethics rather than law enforcement ethics to guide them in their professional activities?

A) 25%
B) 50%
C) 65%
D) 75%

Question 34

In a study by Morash et al. (2006), they found that the violent crime rate had predictive value in explaining police stress.

A) Low
B) No strong
C) High
D) Moderate

Question 35

Which of the following is not an argument against receiving gratuities?

A) Police officers are underpaid and deserve them
B) Police officers accepting them are on a "slippery slope"
C) Police officers who accept them may not provide equal protection
D) Merchants giving them may expect favoritism from the police

Question 36

Which of the following is not one of the ways that the use of police discretion is regulated?

A) judicial rule-making
B) legislative regulation
C) internal codes and regulations
D) police promotions

Question 37

Which rule adopted in 1878 prohibited military involvement in domestic law enforcement in the United States?

A) Posse Comitatus Act
B) Posse Militarius Act
C) Domesticus Militarius Act
D) Domesticus Comitatus Act

Question 38

Many argue that if police are permitted wide discretion, a high level of should match it.

A) Professionalism
B) Accountability
C) Subjectiveness
D) Ethics

Question 39

Which form of corruption involves a police officer taking money or other reward for disposing of traffic citations?

A) Misdemeanor fix
B) Traffic fix
C) Internal payoffs
D) Protection of illegal activities

Question 40

The first American police code of ethics was not formulated until:

A) 1829.
B) 1866.
C) 1903.
D) 1928.

Question 41

Controlling police corruption is difficult because officers in many agencies have created and enforced a wall or code of silence.

Question 42

One of Scheingold's dominant characteristics of police culture is sympathy.

Question 43

Which type of whistle-blower report misconduct to another person inside an organization?

A) Internal
B) Exculpatory
C) External
D) Domestic

Question 44

Which of the following is not an argument in favor of citizen review:

A) Individual complainants and public will have higher level of confidence in integrity of police practice
B) Involving citizens is likely to deter police misconduct
C) Involving citizens will ensure more citizen's arrests are made, thereby helping the police
D) Involving citizens is likely to result in more objective and thorough investigations

Question 45

Whistle-blowing is one of the most frequent types of crimes committed by police.

Question 46

Extralegal force refers to the deliberate, knowing, and wrongful use of force by police, such that they are aware they are abusing their power.

Question 47

Which type of whistle-blower expose abuses to outside agents?

A) Internal
B) Exculpatory
C) External
D) Domestic

Question 48

When looking to combat corruption, which aspect of policing states that it is essential that only those with the highest moral character be recruited to be officers?

A) Reducing opportunities for corruption
B) Detecting and deterring corruption
C) Reinforcing motivation to act normally
D) Recruiting

Question 49

Organizational tensions within policing arise from officer perceptions that their organization is "capricious, unpredictable and punitive rather than democratic and fair."

Question 50

The form of police oversight in the shape of a police auditor emerged during which decade?

A) 1960s
B) 1970s
C) 1980s
D) 1990s

Question 51

Noble cause corruption involves payoffs and bribery of the police.

Question 52

The public may become complicit in noble cause corruption if:

A) it also engages in "dirty" means to achieve an end.
B) it fails to insist on punishing police officers who engage in it
C) it insists on punishing police officers who engage in it
D) it demands that supervisors be accountable for it

Question 53

Police officers do not normally use their wide powers of discretion and their authority to perform acts of misconduct.

Question 54

A weakness of contemporary civilian review bodies is that:

A) they have limited funding
B) they have no subpoena power
C) they do not have the power to impose discipline
D) they are difficult to staff

Question 55

Which model of policing emphasizes coercion as the central feature of police work?

Question 56

The use of paramilitary weapons and tactics have primarily impacted whites.

Question 57

Which group in New York City found that the most salient forms of police corruption included groups of officers protecting and assisting drug traffickers for often sizeable profits?

A) Warren Commission
B) Mollen Commission
C) Jeffers Commission
D) President's Comission

Question 58

The slippery slope explanation for police corruption assumes that corruption:

A) starts out involving small amounts or harms and then slowly increases/escalates
B) is a function of defective officers.
C) results from poor leadership in the department.
D) is caused by pressure from the public to solve crime by any means available.

Question 59

One of the arguments against allowing police to accept gratuities is that it will lead officers down the slippery slope.

Question 60

In the United States, officer safety appears to be the primary justification for the expansion in the deployment of SWAT units.

Question 61

What is the term used when police select a person for a vehicle stop, use of force or other police intervention solely because of that person's race?

Question 62

What refers to the deliberate, knowing, and wrongful use of force by police, such that police are aware they are abusing their power?

Question 63

Compare and contrast the "wall of silence" in US policing and other countries.

Question 64

Describe one way of combating corruption in US law enforcement.

Question 65

What refers to the particular roles and experiences of the different occupational groups within an institution?

Question 66

Discuss four reasons why police corruption is difficult to control. Please give an example of each and a possible strategy for combating each of these conditions.

Question 67

Discuss the various option police departments have with regard to gratuities for police. Which approach do you prefer? Briefly explain your position.

Question 68

What is "whistle-blowing?"

Question 69

How is it proposed that we change police culture?

Question 70

By law, police are given a lot of power to deprive citizens of their freedom. This power is known as:

Question 71

Discuss, describe, compare and contrast the personalistic, institutional and systemic explanations for police corruption.

Question 72

Briefly describe the slippery slope theory of police corruption.

Question 73

In the context of police, briefly define "gratuities."

Question 74

Briefly describe the "rotten apple" theory of police corruption.