Understanding and Preventing Police Use of Excessive Force

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Understanding and Preventing Police Use of Excessive Force UNDERSTANDING AND PREVENTING POLICE USE OF EXCESSIVE FORCE: AN ANALYSIS OF ATTITUDES TOWARD POLICE JOB SATISFACTION AND HUMAN RIGHTS LAWS Huseyin Akdogan, B.A., M.S. Dissertation Prepared for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS December 2009 APPROVED: Lisa Dicke, Committee Chair David McEntire, Committee Member Kevin Yoder, Committee Member Robert Bland, Committee Member and Chair of the Department of Public Administration Thomas Evenson, Dean of College of Public Affairs and Community Service Michael Monticino, Dean of the Robert B. Toulouse School of Graduate Studies Akdogan, Huseyin. Understanding and preventing police use of excessive force: An analysis of attitudes toward police job satisfaction and human rights laws. Doctor of Philosophy (Public Administration and Management), December 2009, 178 pages, 22 tables, 7 figures, references, 82 titles. Although governments try to create strict policies and regulations to prevent abuses, use of excessive force is still a problem for almost every country including Turkey. This study is intended to help Turkish National Police administrators to understand and prevent police use of excessive force. Studies on police brutality categorize three factors that explain why police officers use excessive force; these are individual, situational and organizational. In addition to brutality theories, job satisfaction literature is examined in this study to understand the use of excessive force. Job satisfaction is found to be related with burnout, turnover, stress, commitment, and performance. The impact of officers’ attitude toward the criminal justice system and/or laws has not been tested widely. Police officers attitudes toward human rights laws are examined in this study to measure its impact on attitude toward use of excessive force. A secondary data collected in Turkey are analyzed by structural equation modeling which provides confirmatory factor analysis, path analysis, and causal relationships between variables. It is found that police officers’ attitude toward human rights laws is a significant predictor of their attitudes toward use of excessive force. Job satisfaction and education level are the other significant variables affecting attitude toward use of excessive force. Based on the analyses of findings, educational and policy implications are posed for Turkish police administrators to better understand and prevent police use of excessive force. Copyright 2009 by Huseyin Akdogan ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The completion of my doctoral education could not have been possible without the sponsorship of the Turkish National Police as well as the contributions of some distinguished people. First, I would like to thank my Organization, Turkish National Police for providing me this opportunity. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my chair, Dr. Lisa Dicke. I am grateful to Dr. Dicke for her excellent expertise, wisdom and leadership. She always expected my best, and kept me on track. My gratitude is also extended to Dr. Kevin Yoder. His knowledge and help in statistics was my guiding force. I would also like to sincerely thank to my other committee members, Dr. David McEntire, and Dr. Robert Bland for their commitment in working with me on this project and for their valuable contributions to this dissertation. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude with my love to my wife Dilek, my daughter Damla, and my son Hasan Mert. Their encouragement, understanding, and sacrifices provided me the necessary energy to pursue my doctoral education. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..............................................................................................iii LIST OF TABLES..........................................................................................................viii LIST OF FIGURES..........................................................................................................x Chapters 1. INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................... 1 Statement of the Problem .......................................................................... 1 Research Questions .................................................................................. 2 History of Use of Excessive Force and Human Right Violations in Turkey........................................................................................................ 3 Attitudes and Behaviors............................................................................. 7 Terrorism and Human Rights in Turkey ..................................................... 9 Significance of the Study ......................................................................... 10 Current Theories on Police Brutality ........................................................ 10 Conclusion of the Chapter ....................................................................... 11 2. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE.............................................................................. 13 Police Brutality and Excessive Use of Force: Legalities........................... 13 Theories of Police Brutality ...................................................................... 16 Individual Factors: Characteristics of Police Officers .................... 16 Situational Factors: Characteristics of Suspect and the Environment.................................................................................. 19 Organizational Factors: Characteristics of the Police Organization....................................................................... 23 Police Brutality Theories and Turkey ....................................................... 29 Police Job Satisfaction............................................................................. 30 Individual Factors Associated with Job Satisfaction...................... 30 Job Satisfaction Related to Stress, Burnout, Commitment and Police Use of Force....................................................................... 34 iv Organizational Factors Associated with Job Satisfaction .............. 35 Police and Human Rights Laws ............................................................... 38 Conclusion of the Chapter ....................................................................... 40 3. DATA AND METHODOLOGY.................................................................................. 42 Research Background ............................................................................. 42 Structure of the Turkish National Police (TNP) ........................................ 43 Proposed Model....................................................................................... 44 Hypotheses.............................................................................................. 45 Characteristics and Data.......................................................................... 46 Definitions and Terms.............................................................................. 51 Measurement of the Concepts................................................................. 52 Endogenous (Dependent) Variable: Police Officers’ Attitudes toward Halting the Use of Excessive Force ......................................................... 53 Exogenous (Independent and Control) Variables .................................... 53 Demographic Variables................................................................. 53 General and Job Satisfaction Questions ....................................... 55 Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)........................................................ 56 Analytic Strategy...................................................................................... 59 Conclusion of the Chapter ....................................................................... 59 4. FINDINGS ................................................................................................................ 67 Threshold Values for Statistical Analysis ................................................. 67 Descriptive Analysis................................................................................. 68 Descriptive Statistics for Control Variables ................................... 69 Descriptive Statistics for Exogenous Variables ............................. 72 Descriptive Statistics for the Endogenous Variable....................... 74 Bivariate Correlations............................................................................... 76 Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) ........................................................ 79 CFA for Attitude toward Halting the Use of Excessive Force ........ 79 v CFA for Job Satisfaction ............................................................... 84 CFA for Attitude toward HR Laws ................................................. 87 CFA for All Latent Variables.......................................................... 91 Structural Equation Model........................................................................ 95 Conclusion of the Chapter ..................................................................... 101 5. ANALYSIS OF FINDINGS...................................................................................... 102 Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) ...................................................... 102 The Analysis of CFA for Attitude toward Halting the Use of Excessive Force.......................................................................... 103 The Analysis of CFA for Job Satisfaction
Recommended publications
  • Chicago Police and the Labor and Urban Crises of the Late Twentieth Century
    The Patrolmen’s Revolt: Chicago Police and the Labor and Urban Crises of the Late Twentieth Century By Megan Marie Adams A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Robin Einhorn, Chair Professor Richard Candida-Smith Professor Kim Voss Fall 2012 1 Abstract The Patrolmen’s Revolt: Chicago Police and the Labor and Urban Crises of the Late Twentieth Century by Megan Marie Adams Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Berkeley Professor Robin Einhorn, Chair My dissertation uncovers a history of labor insurgency and civil rights activism organized by the lowest-ranking members of the Chicago police. From 1950 to 1984, dissenting police throughout the city reinvented themselves as protesters, workers, and politicians. Part of an emerging police labor movement, Chicago’s police embodied a larger story where, in an era of “law and order” politics, cities and police departments lost control of their police officers. My research shows how the collective action and political agendas of the Chicago police undermined the city’s Democratic machine and unionized an unlikely group of workers during labor’s steep decline. On the other hand, they both perpetuated and protested against racial inequalities in the city. To reconstruct the political realities and working lives of the Chicago police, the dissertation draws extensively from new and unprocessed archival sources, including aldermanic papers, records of the Afro-American Patrolman’s League, and previously unused collections documenting police rituals and subcultures.
    [Show full text]
  • Police Ranks
    Policing and Crime Bill Factsheet: Police Ranks Current rank structure 1. Presently, the police rank structure is set out in the Police Act 1996 (“the 1996 Act”), the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 (“the 2011 Act”) and regulations made under the 1996 Act. The 1996 Act allows the Secretary of State to make regulations on the police rank structure, subject to their being prepared or approved by the College of Policing. However, various provisions in both Acts require those regulations to include a number of police ranks. The statutory ranks below the chief officer ranks in all forces in England and Wales are set out in sections 9H and 13 of the 1996 Act. They include: Constable Sergeant Inspector Chief inspector Superintendent Chief superintendent 2. Additionally, the 2011 Act requires every force to have at least one officer at each of the chief officer ranks. The chief officer ranks in all English and Welsh forces, other than the Metropolitan Police and City of London Police, are: Assistant chief constable Deputy chief constable Chief constable 3. Chief officer ranks in the Metropolitan Police are: Commander Deputy assistant commissioner Assistant commissioner Deputy commissioner Commissioner 4. Chief officer ranks in the City of London Police are: Commander Assistant commissioner Commissioner In these provisions the Home Secretary has very little flexibility in the rank structure that she may provide for in regulations and, accordingly, regulation 4 of the Police Regulations 2003 simply specifies those ranks already stipulated in primary legislation. 1 The Leadership Review 5. In an oral statement on 22 July 2014 (House of Commons, Official Report, columns 1265 to 1277), the Home Secretary announced that she had asked the College of Policing to conduct a fundamental review of police leadership.
    [Show full text]
  • Shift Work and Occupational Stress in Police Officers
    SHAW68_proof ■ 11 November 2014 ■ 1/5 Safety and Health at Work xxx (2014) 1e5 55 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect 56 57 Safety and Health at Work 58 59 60 journal homepage: www.e-shaw.org 61 62 63 Original Article 64 65 1 Shift Work and Occupational Stress in Police Officers 66 2 67 3 1,* 1 1 1 1 68 Q10 Claudia C. Ma , Michael E. Andrew , Desta Fekedulegn ,JaK.Gu , Tara A. Hartley , 4 Luenda E. Charles 1,2, John M. Violanti 2, Cecil M. Burchfiel 1 69 5 Q1Q2 70 6 1 Biostatistics and Epidemiology Branch, Health Effects Laboratory Division, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, WV, USA 71 2 7 Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, School of Public Health and Health Professions, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, 72 8 New York, NY, USA 73 9 74 10 75 article info abstract 11 76 12 77 Article history: Background: Shift work has been associated with occupational stress in health providers and in those 13 78 Received 26 March 2014 working in some industrial companies. The association is not well established in the law enforcement 14 79 Received in revised form workforce. Our objective was to examine the association between shift work and police work-related 15 3 October 2014 stress. 80 16 Accepted 6 October 2014 Methods: The number of stressful events that occurred in the previous month and year was obtained 81 17 using the Spielberger Police Stress Survey among 365 police officers aged 27e66 years. Work hours were 82 Keywords: 18 derived from daily payroll records.
    [Show full text]
  • Bangladesh: Getting Police Reform on Track
    BANGLADESH: GETTING POLICE REFORM ON TRACK Asia Report N°182 – 11 December 2009 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS................................................. i I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 1 II. THE LEGAL AND POLITICAL CONTEXT................................................................ 3 A. THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK ............................................................................................................3 B. THE POLITICAL MILIEU: OBSTACLES TO REFORM ........................................................................5 1. The bureaucracy...........................................................................................................................5 2. The military..................................................................................................................................6 3. The ruling elite.............................................................................................................................7 III. THE STATE OF THE POLICE ...................................................................................... 8 A. STRUCTURE AND ORGANISATION.................................................................................................8 B. THE BUDGET ...............................................................................................................................9 C. RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING ...................................................................................................10
    [Show full text]
  • Communique September 2002
    Editorial Boar d Deputy Commissioner T.P. Fitzgerald Professor Dervilla Donnelly Mr Joe Jennings Chief Superintendent David Roche Dr. Mark Morgan Superintendent Eamon Lynch Dr Tom Collins Kieran O’Dwyer Nacie Rice Noel Galwey Peter Fitzgerald Thomas Conway Michael Murphy 1 AN GARDA SÍOCHÁNA MANAGEMENT JOURNAL NOTES ON THE CONTRIBUTORS CHIEF SUPERINTENDENT MICHAEL MURPHY is a native of Waterford and joined An Garda Síochána in 1967. He is currently the Divisional Officer in charge of Wexford/Wicklow Division. He has previously served in Blanchardstown, Cabra, Crime Task Fo rce, Special De t e c t i ve Unit, Crime and Security at H.Q. and Enniscorthy. He was Police Commissioner, UNOSOM 11 in Somalia in 1994. He has attended at the Dutch Senior Police College and holds a B.A. Degree in Police Management and a Masters Degree in Law from Trinity College Dublin. ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER NACIE RICE, a native of Co. Mayo, is in charge of the Eastern Region. He is the holder of a BA Degree in Police Management and a Graduate of FBI National Academy in Quantico Virginia (Fo reign St u d e n t s Programme). Assistant Commissioner Rice previously served in the Emergency Response Unit, was Officer in charge of the National Surveillance Unit, and a Divisional Officer of Dublin North Central (Store Street) and Donegal Division. He 2 was also the Project Manager for the Garda Air Support Unit. SUPERINTENDENT THOMAS CONWAY is a native of Ennistymon, Co. Clare who joined An Garda Síochána in August 1974. He is currently the Superintendent in charge of the B District, Dublin Metropolitan Region (South Central Division) comprising the stations of Pearse Street and Harcourt Terrace.
    [Show full text]
  • 80570NCJRS.Pdf
    If you have issues viewing or accessing this file contact us at NCJRS.gov. ., .. ~" .~-~-- -~---;-------- (; National Criminal Justice Reference Service nCJrs ,=,'; This microfiche was produced from documents r€d~ived for inclusion in the NCJRS data base. Since NCJRS cannot exercise control over the physical condition of the documents submitted, the individual frame quality will vary. The resolution chart on this frame may be used to evaluate the document quality. ! I t 1.0 1.1 25 111111. 111111.4 111111.6 ,. MICROCOPY RESOLUTION TEST CHART NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS-l~6:H . Microfilming procedures used to create this fiche comply with the standards set forth in 41CFR 101-11.504. Points of view or opinions stated in this document are' '", those of the allthor(s) and do not represent the official position or policies of the U. S. Department of Justice. y . ' . National Institute of Justice 3/8/82.,': . "'. " United States Department of Justice "\)." (.c" Washington, D.C. 20531 () , ••..••.. :,; ; '- . - ., ?, Q .................•..... '. ...•\\) ': ',l :~' ' •• . " " '.' 1)- -= - ,f I ,c. {) " .' .J .,--, r .~ htj til ; [ i :,,[ , ' ; .' '[, -, About O~r Cover..... On a patriotic background, a ,[ ,cycle officer patrols the Renaissance Center area duringth~ 1980 Republican National-Convention in [ Detroit. The line drawing was prepared by Police Officer [ Eugene Shaffer, Graphic Services Unit, based on photographs'taken during the [ convention, to commemorate \1 the excellent services rendered by each individual officer assigned to convention I coverage. U.S. Department of Justice 80570 National Institute of Justice TAB~ OF CONTENTS This document has been reproduced exactly fis recei~e~ from the I person or organization originating It. Points of view or OPIniOnS stat~d Board of Police " In this document are those of the authors and do.
    [Show full text]
  • A Case of Laikipia County, Kenya Gedion Miriti Nyam
    IMPLICATIONS OF REGIONAL POLITICS ON YOUTH EMPLOYMENT IN THE POLICE SERVICE: A CASE OF LAIKIPIA COUNTY, KENYA GEDION MIRITI NYAMU C159/CTY/PT/23363/2012 A RESEARCH PROJECT SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF SECURITY, DIPLOMACY AND PEACE STUDIES, IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF REQUIREMENT FOR MASTERS DEGREE IN SECURITY MANAGEMENT AND POLICE STUDIES IN THE DEPARTMENT OF SECURITY AND CORRECTION SCIENCE, KENTATTA UNIVERSITY MARCH, 2019 DECLARATION This research project is my original work and has not been presented to any other university or institution for an award of a Masters Degree. Signature___________________________ Date ______________________ GEDION MIRITI NYAMU C159/CTY/PT/23363/2012 Declaration by the Supervisor This proposal has been submitted for examination with my approval as the university supervisor Signature.................................................... Date................................ Dr. Casper Masiga Department of Gender and development studies Kenyatta University ii DEDICATION This research project is dedicated to almighty God, the source of all goodness and virtues who has seen me this far. To my family, relatives and my friends together with all my supervisors and benefactors who supported in one way or another to ensure my successful completion of this project. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First and foremost, I am grateful to the almighty God for His unconditional love and support ad for the continued health, guidance and protection during my writing of this research project. Sincere gratitude goes to my supervisors; Dr. Casper Masiga for his constructive criticism, resourcefulness and methodological input in this research and whose encouragement and guidance has helped me develop an understanding of the subject matter under investigation in this project. I am grateful to my lecturers in the department of Security and Correction Science for the knowledge they have imparted on me during my course work at Kenyatta University.
    [Show full text]
  • Researchspace
    “This is the peer reviewed version of the following article which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/crq.21235. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.” Gavin, P. and MacVean, A. (2018) 'Police perceptions of restorative justice: findings from a small‐scale study’, Conflict Resolution Quarterly, 36 (2), pp. 115-130. ResearchSPAce http://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/ This version is made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the reference above. Your access and use of this document is based on your acceptance of the ResearchSPAce Metadata and Data Policies, as well as applicable law:- https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/policies.html Unless you accept the terms of these Policies in full, you do not have permission to download this document. This cover sheet may not be removed from the document. Please scroll down to view the document. Police perceptions of restorative justice: findings from a small-scale study Paul Gavin & Allyson MacVean ABSTRACT This paper considers the views and perceptions of police officers and staff from a local police force in England, on the training provided in, and use of, restorative justice. These views were obtained through the use of an online questionnaire as well as the recording of comments made by police officers and staff after one training session. While the overall sample is too small to draw any concrete conclusions, participants appeared to share views expressed in similar, larger studies. This study adds to the literature on restorative justice as police views in this area are underresearched in England and Wales.
    [Show full text]
  • ACT of 6 April 1990 on the Police
    Dz. U. of 2002 No 7, item 58 as amended ACT of 6 April 1990 on the Police. Chapter 1 General provisions Article 1. 1. The Police shall hereby be established as a uniformed and armed force serving the society and aiming at the protection of people’s safety and the maintenance of public safety and order. 1a. The name “Police” shall apply solely to the force referred to in Paragraph 1. 2. The main tasks of the Police shall comprise the following: (1) protection of people’s life and health and protection of property against lawless assaults which might cause damage to those goods, (2) protection of public safety and order, including ensuring peace in public places and in public means of transport, road traffic and on waters allocated for common use, (3) initiation and organisation of activities aimed at preventing crimes and petty offences and crime-related events, and cooperation with state authorities, local governments and social organisations in that regard, (4) detection of crimes and petty offences and prosecution of perpetrators thereof, (5) supervision of gmina (municipal) guards and specialised armed security forces within the scope laid down in separate provisions, (6) controlling whether administrative provisions and codes of order related to public activity or binding in public places are observed, (7) cooperation with Police forces from other countries and their international organisations on the basis of agreements and international treaties and separate regulations, (8) gathering, processing and forwarding criminal information, (9) (repealed), (10) running a database with information on the results of the analysis of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).
    [Show full text]
  • Police Competences' in Preventing, Investigating and Combating
    Police Competences’ in Preventing, Investigating and Combating Hate Crimes in Poland — Part I Justyna Jurczak Police Academy in Szczytno, Poland Abstract. The article is divided into two main parts. It refers to selected data on hate crimes recorded in Poland and Police effectiveness regarding preventing, investigating and combating such kinds of crimes. Based on available sources there is no problem with extremist activity in a large-scale in Poland nowadays, but for sure there is an urgent one with the increasing number of hate- motivated incidents, both with its social impact. Awareness-raising and educational campaigns that aim at promoting respect for human rights and tolerance for diversity are much needed in this matter. Also, law enforcement agencies, including Police, play a key role while tackling racism and bias. An uncontrolled and unpunished manifestation of hate, both with the lack of an appropriate and unequivocal state response to such incidents, also quiet, social approval to hate-motivated behaviours, seem to be t he main components of extreme movements growing. Thus, the main aim of the article was to describe the phenomenon of hate-motivated incidents that were reported in Poland within the past years and to diagnose Polish police officers’ skills, knowledge and qualification in this field, both qualitative analyses of accessible training programmes. Selected terms (racism, discrimination, intolerance, xenophobia and hate speech) and symbols (the Celtic Cross, the SS-Totenkopf and the Triskele) that promote hate were defined (part 1) both with Police officers’ identification accuracy. Research results presented in this article were gathered by using a variety of methods and techniques, both theoretical and empirical (part 2).
    [Show full text]
  • Handing Back Responsibility to Timor-Leste's Police
    HANDING BACK RESPONSIBILITY TO TIMOR-LESTE’S POLICE Asia Report N°180 – 3 December 2009 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS................................................. i I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 1 II. BUILDING TIMOR-LESTE’S POLICE........................................................................ 2 A. EARLY WEAKNESSES IN INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT .............................................................2 B. THE POLICE AND THE 2006 CRISIS ...............................................................................................3 C. RESPONSE TO THE CRISIS .............................................................................................................4 III. UNWILLING, UNABLE PARTNERS............................................................................ 5 A. STRUGGLING FOR JOINT OWNERSHIP WITHOUT A PLAN...............................................................6 1. Vetting .........................................................................................................................................6 2. Mentoring and advising ...............................................................................................................7 3. Training........................................................................................................................................8 B. NEW GOVERNMENT, SOVEREIGN POLICIES ..................................................................................9
    [Show full text]
  • A HISTORY of the DUBLIN METROPOLITAN POLICE and ITS COLONIAL LEGACY Anastasia Dukova World Histories of Crime, Culture and Violence
    W H C, C V A HISTORY OF THE DUBLIN METROPOLITAN POLICE AND ITS COLONIAL LEGACY Anastasia Dukova World Histories of Crime, Culture and Violence Series Editors Marianna Muravyeva University of Helsinki Finland Raisa Maria Toivo University of Tampere Finland Palgrave’s World Histories of Crime, Culture and Violence seeks to pub- lish research monographs, collections of scholarly essays, multi- authored books, and Palgrave Pivots addressing themes and issues of interdisciplin- ary histories of crime, criminal justice, criminal policy, culture and vio- lence globally and on a wide chronological scale (from the ancient to the modern period). It focuses on interdisciplinary studies, historically con- textualized, across various cultures and spaces employing a wide range of methodologies and conceptual frameworks. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/14383 Anastasia Dukova A History of the Dublin Metropolitan Police and its Colonial Legacy Anastasia Dukova Brisbane , Australia World Histories of Crime, Culture and Violence ISBN 978-1-137-55581-6 ISBN 978-1-137-55582-3 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-55582-3 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016953884 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 The author(s) has/have asserted their right(s) to be identifi ed as the author(s) of this workin accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfi lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
    [Show full text]