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74 FBI L. Enforcement Bull. 14 (2005)
Early Detection of the Problem Officer

handle is hein.journals/fbileb74 and id is 225 raw text is: Focus on Personnel I Early Detection of the Problem Officer By Dino DeCrescenzo S adly, a disturbing trend has begun to emerge concerning the law enforcement profession. That is, allegations against those officers facing suspension or termination rarely seem to surprise members of their departments and, at times, many residents of their communities. Over the past sev- eral decades, investigative journalists have found that in some agencies, as few as 2 percent of officers held responsibility for 50 percent of citizen complaints.' In addition, numer- ous police chiefs reported that 10 percent of their sworn per- sonnel caused 90 percent of the problems.2 Also, studies on the issue repeatedly indicated that an extremely small and disproportionate number of officers incurred most of the accusations.' In reality, the majority of law enforcement officers are su- premely dedicated individuals severely offended by the behav- ior and acts committed by those few who have tamished the image of their profession.' These officers and the citizens they serve have begun to demand reasons for why such employees have re- mained on the job, even though they have violated departmental and societal rules. The awareness of these problem officers has existed for some time. In 1981, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights recommended that all police departments create an early warning system to identify problem employ- ees who often receive the highest number of com- plaints or display patterns of inappropriate behav- ior. In today's world of terrorists and increasingly violent criminals, such efforts may prove more important than ever before. Intervention Approach According to the U.S. Department of Justice, early warning systems take the form of databases that contain personnel information designed to identify problem behavior and allow early inter- vention to correct the misconduct. Generally nonpunitive, the systems include peer review, ad- ditional training, and counseling. They can provide supervisors and managers with information relat- ing to potential patterns of at-risk conduct. Most systems require intervention after recording a cer- tain number of complaints of a particular type within a specified time frame.6 Although a few departments use only citizen complaints to select officers for intervention, most C Mark C. iderely on a combination of behav- ior indicators.' Early warning systems should consider the to- tality of officer work histories, including accidents, pursuits, transfers, training, grievances, education, drug usage, civil suits, truthfulness, property damage, discourtesy, false arrest claims, and insubordination.' They should track all complaints, sick time used, resisting arrest inci- dents, assaults on officers, ob- struction of officer arrests, and disorderly conduct arrests made by officers.' These last four behavior indicators appear to be significant measuring de- vices of potential problem employees. A higher number of these types of arrests when compared with those of other officers may reveal personnel acting beyond their scope of authority. The theory behind an early warning system is that such incidents individually may mean nothing, but the combined totality of behaviors may signal a developing problem that needs atten- tion.o These indicators, compiled into a single place, can flag a potential pattern of problematic behavior and identify an officer at risk of engaging in misconduct. 14 / FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin

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