Paul Detrick|
The April 2014 Reason-Rupe poll
found that half of Americans think law enforcement officers are not held
accountable for misconduct. That number rises to 64 percent for Hispanics and
66 percent for African Americans.
Do you think police officers
are generally held accountable for misconduct, or not?
• Yes: 46 percent
• No: 50 percent
• Don't know: 4 percent
Police misconduct is reviewed
through internal affairs investigations, a process that has officers
investigating other officers. In February 2013, Los Angeles Police Department
officer Sunil Dutta wrote in the Washington Post about his time working as an
internal affairs investigator. Dutta criticized the process, saying that it
didn't help a community's perception of the police and didn't help officers
either:
[When] I interviewed community
members who had filed complaints against officers, I was disappointed to learn
that, despite my reassurances and best efforts to conduct impartial inquiries,
many complainants believed that a fair investigation was simply not possible.
Nor do misconduct investigations satisfy a skeptical public. If an officer is
exonerated, the community often believes that malfeasance is being covered up.
Police serve the community—any
concerns about their integrity must be transparently, expeditiously and
judiciously resolved. Relying on cops to police cops is neither efficient nor
confidence-inspiring.
Dutta argued that video may be
one way to change the perception of police departments.
There's just no excuse for not
recording police contacts with the public. Technology has made cameras
effective and affordable. Some officers already record their arrests to protect
themselves against false allegations of misconduct. This should be standard
operating procedure.