Deck 14: Accountability of the Police

Question 1

What is the name for the code regarded as a major barrier to police accountability?

A)the code of commissioners
B)the code of silence
C)the police code of conduct
D)the code of police discretion

Answer 1

B

Question 2

One of the central tasks of police management primarily falling upon the Sergeant is

A)routine supervision.
B)delegation.
C)span of control.
D)mentoring.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

The office within a police organization responsible for investigating alleged misconduct by police officers is known as

A)Citizen Review Office.
B)Fair Discipline Unit.
C)Internal Affairs Unit.
D)Personal Integrity Section.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The unwillingness of police officers to report misconduct by other officers is called the

A)performance closure.
B)code of silence.
C)unity of silence.
D)brotherhood of blue.

Question 5

The Mapp and Miranda cases contributed to police accountability by

A)creating penalties for police misconduct.
B)creating the need for performance evaluations.
C)advancing the civil rights movement.
D)making police aware of criminals' rights.

Question 6

In an early intervention system, what happens to the officers who are identified by the computerized data base as having performance problems?

A)They are subject to an intervention.
B)They are demoted.
C)They are fired.
D)They receive heavy supervision for one year

Question 7

What is accreditation?

A)a process by which departments receive federal funding
B)a system that sets the maximum officer standards
C)a mandatory system setting department standards
D)a process of professional self-regulation

Question 8

The ruling in Miranda v.Arizona held that police must

A)advise a suspect of their rights in order to guarantee their Fifth Amendment right to protection against self-incrimination.
B)protect a person's Fourteenth Amendment rights.
C)not enter a suspect's home without a warrant.
D)make arrests in felonious assault cases.

Question 9

Programs through which officers can receive professional counseling related to the specific problems they encounter are called

A)stress relief units.
B)counsel relief programs.
C)pre termination wellness unit.
D)employee assistance program.

Question 10

Early intervention systems have several goals, each related to different target audiences.Which of the following is not one the target audiences?

A)individual officers
B)the criminal justice system
C)police-community relations
D)supervisors

Question 11

The most important court with respect to police accountability is the

A)appellate court.
B)court of public opinion.
C)supreme court.
D)municipal court.

Question 12

The program COMPSTAT was originally developed in

A)Philadelphia.
B)Milwaukee.
C)New York City.
D)Dallas.

Question 13

The program that assigns legal counsel to a police department for immediate legal advice is termed

A)benefit legal system.
B)city attorney assignment.
C)police legal advisor.
D)risk management attorney.

Question 14

The fact that only a small number of officers are accountable for a disproportionate share of citizen complaints led to the creation of what system?

A)the social control system
B)the performance evaluation system
C)the early warning system
D)the social work system

Question 15

The system which identifies officers with a disproportionate number of citizen complaints is called

A)Early Intervention System.
B)Problem Officer Program.
C)Troubled Officer Avoidance.
D)Officer Effectiveness Improvement.

Question 16

The term _______________ refers to police and other government agencies having to answer to the public.

A)oversight
B)accountability
C)responsibility
D)authority

Question 17

The program which rests on the assumption that because of the police subculture, police officers cannot objectively investigate complaints against fellow officers is referred to as

A)community overview.
B)citizen oversight.
C)independent review.
D)citizen complaint audit.

Question 18

The exclusionary rule has been largely confined to

A)robbery and rape cases.
B)murder and burglary cases.
C)drug and gambling cases.
D)rape and murder cases.

Question 19

In which court do civil suits against the police take place?

A)the criminal court
B)the Municipal Court
C)the Federal Court
D)the Supreme Court

Question 20

The ratio of sergeants to officers is referred to as the

A)routine supervision.
B)delegation.
C)span of control.
D)mentoring.

Question 21

Which of the following is not one of the problems with citizen review agencies?

A)It might intrude on professional independence.
B)It is expensive and duplicates other work.
C)They may not be qualified to make such investigations.
D)It undermines police authority and their ability to make arrests.

Question 22

One of the central tasks of police management is _________, a responsibility that falls primarily on the sergeants.

A)planning
B)routine supervision
C)strategic planning
D)budgeting
E)span of control

Question 23

Who said the following: "The nature of the police function is such that primary dependence for the control of police conduct must continue to be placed upon internal systems of control"?

A)Sir Robert Peel
B)James Q.Wilson
C)Herman Goldstein
D)Jerome Skolnick
E)August Vollmer

Question 24

The purpose of Risk Management (RM) systems is to

A)provide assistance to officers with performance issues.
B)systematically collect data on litigation costs, analyze the causes of the lawsuits, and takes steps to reduce or eliminate the causes.
C)assess the risk of not applying for departmental accreditation.
D)measure the risk of losing federal funding.

Question 25

In the text, having someone answer for his or her conduct is called

A)accountability.
B)answerability.
C)liability.
D)dependability.
E)taking care of business.

Question 26

Which of the following is not a problem with using civil suits as an accountability measure for the police?

A)Trend data on settlements and judgments are misleading.
B)Some departments get sued more because of lawyer availability.
C)Suits filed might reflect a history of the department settling on lawsuits.
D)Lawsuits filed are an accurate reflection of the amount of misconduct.

Question 27

Who brings most pattern or practice suits against police departments?

A)district attorneys
B)individual citizens
C)public interest groups
D)the U.S.Justice Department

Question 28

Which police department concluded that "Our personnel evaluations have little or no credibility at any level in the organization"?

A)New York
B)Chicago
C)St.Louis
D)Los Angeles
E)Houston

Question 29

Which of the following is an example of a blue-ribbon commission?

A)the American Civil Liberties Union
B)the Christopher Commission
C)the Justice Department
D)the Civil Protection Commission

Question 30

Which of the following is a weakness concerning internal mechanisms of accountability?

A)They are too remote from the activities they are supposed to monitor.
B)They are biased and interested in public opinion.
C)They are an elective mechanism and therefore not always used.
D)They run the risk of being too close to the officers they have to monitor.

Question 31

Which of the following is one of the several roles played by citizen oversight agencies?

A)They provide counseling services to officers with performance difficulties.
B)They assist the IA in identifying problem officers in need of intervention.
C)They engage in policy review.
D)They give assistance to citizens desiring lawsuits against a department.

Question 32

Which public interest group provided briefs that became the basis for the Supreme Court's decisions in the Mapp and Miranda cases?

A)the Warren Commission
B)Mothers Against Drunk Driving
C)Risk Management
D)the American Civil Liberties Union

Question 33

What is a consent decree?

A)a formal statement issued to the press after a civil trial
B)a formal agreement by both sides to settle a suit
C)a means by which police avoid civil suits
D)an injunction issued by a judge to stop misconduct investigations

Question 34

In what manner are police who violate the law prosecuted?

A)Police are brought to civil trial.
B)Police are not prosecuted; the whole department is sued.
C)Police are not prosecuted; they lose their jobs.
D)Police are prosecuted as criminals.

Question 35

According to _________, the demand for effective crime control often conflicts with the requirements of the law.

A)Clarence Darrel
B)James Q.Wilson
C)Janet Reno
D)James Madison
E)Jerome Skolnick

Question 36

The media contributes to police problems by

A)overemphasizing the heroism of policing.
B)providing too much coverage of routine police activities.
C)emphasizing sensational stories, especially police misconduct.
D)reporting on policing accurately and focusing on community relations.

Question 37

A newspaper report described the midnight shift in the Suffolk County Police Department as the

A)thin blue line between us and them.
B)the combat zone.
C)Ft.Apache.
D)last residence of heroes.
E)lost battalion.

Question 38

Citizen oversight was designed to

A)assess police misconduct in civil rights proceedings.
B)provide an internal review of police misconduct.
C)provide some independent citizen input into the complaint process.
D)allow the police chief special insight into the department.

Question 39

The Justice Department can bring lawsuits against police departments under a section of the law known as the

A)Violent Crime Control Act.
B)Police Brutality Act.
C)Police Misconduct Act.
D)Civil Rights Guarantee Act.

Question 40

Who issued the report "Principles for Promoting Police Integrity"?

A)Police Executive Research Forum (PERF)
B)U.S.Justice Department
C)American Bar Association
D)Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences
E)American Correctional Association

Question 41

Officers' performance evaluations are directly related to their prospects for promotion.

Question 42

In his classic work, Justice Without Trial, Jerome Skolnick argues that the demand for effective crime control often conflicts with the requirements of the law and considerations of legality.

Question 43

Studies have found that the exclusionary rule does not limit the crime-fighting capacity of the police.

Question 44

Because of many civil suits against the police, the police have adopted a policy of risk management.

Question 45

Edward Littlejohn's study of police misconduct litigation in Detroit through the 1970s found that suits

A)produce many reforms and changes.
B)produce few reforms.
C)produce changes in who is the chief of police.
D)produce changes in how the police academies trained their recruits.

Question 46

A process of professional self-regulation that is used in virtually in all professions is called

A)accreditation.
B)approval.
C)endorsement.
D)professionalization.
E)authorization.

Question 47

Michael Dowd was a highly decorated police officer for New York City who exposed corruption while testifying to the Knapp Commission.

Question 48

Four New York City police officers were convicted of manslaughter for the shooting of an unarmed man named Amadou Diallo in 1999.

Question 49

Which of the following is not one of the Miranda warnings?

A)the right to remain silent
B)the right to have an attorney
C)the right to trial by a jury of 12 people
D)the right to have a court appointed attorney

Question 50

One officer in the LAPD had been accused of striking a handcuffed suspect with the butt of a shotgun for no apparent reason.His performance evaluation read

A)"This officer has anger management problems."
B)"This officer has had a series of major complaints against him."
C)"This officer has an easy going manner which he used to his best advantage in the field."
D)"This officer needs to be retrained in interpersonal communication."

Question 51

Police officers who violate the law in the performance of their duties cannot be prosecuted as criminals.

Question 52

The first case in which the court applied the exclusionary rule was

A)Miranda v.Arizona.
B)Gideon v.Wainwright.
C)U.S.v.Dickerson.
D)Mapp v.Ohio.
E)Weeks v.United States.

Question 53

This officer was one of the most corrupt and brutal officers in the entire NYPD

A)Frank Serpico.
B)Patrick Murphy.
C)Michael Dowd.
D)Joe Rossi.
E)Bobby Simone.

Question 54

When a police department is sued, the court may require a "consent decree" allowing the department to agree to make changes in policy and to institute a system to measure and monitor those changes.

Question 55

What are the key elements of the COMPSTAT program discussed in this chapter?

Question 56

What is the name of the New York Times reporter who exposed one of the biggest corruption scandals in the New York City Police Department, resulting in the Knapp Commission investigation?

A)David Burnham
B)Frank Serpico
C)Mike Smith
D)David Brinkley
E)Sue Reid

Question 57

In the Cassell study, what percentage of defendants voluntarily waived their Miranda rights?

A)54 percent
B)64 percent
C)74 percent
D)84 percent
E)94 percent

Question 58

The cases of Weeks v.U.S.and Mapp v.Ohio were decided based on which amendment to the Constitution?

A)first
B)second
C)fourth
D)fifth
E)sixth

Question 59

Police departments suffer numerous penalties for not being accredited.

Question 60

The rule that states "all evidence obtained by searches and seizures in violation of the Constitution is, by that same authority, inadmissible in a state court" is usually called

A)the search and seizure rule.
B)the exclusionary rule.
C)the evidence rule.
D)the Miranda ruling.
E)the fairness doctrine.

Question 61

What are the advantages and disadvantages of accreditation for law enforcement agencies?

Question 62

What are the four basic models of citizen oversight?

Question 63

What are the limitations of the Supreme Court as a mechanism of accountability for the police?

Question 64

What are the differences and similarities between civilian review boards and police auditors?

Question 65

What are some of the major issues with the internal affairs division?

Question 66

What are the four goals of EI systems?

Question 67

What are consent decrees, and what has been their impact on police departments?

Question 68

Explain "the blue wall of silence."