The author(s) shown below used Federal funds provided by the U.S. Department of Justice and prepared the following final report: Document Title: Bad Cops: A Study of Career-Ending Misconduct Among New York City Police Officers Author(s): James J. Fyfe ; Robert Kane Document No.: 215795 Date Received: September 2006 Award Number: 96-IJ-CX-0053 This report has not been published by the U.S. Department of Justice. To provide better customer service, NCJRS has made this Federally- funded grant final report available electronically in addition to traditional paper copies. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Bad Cops: A Study of Career-Ending Misconduct Among New York City Police Officers James J. Fyfe John Jay College of Criminal Justice and New York City Police Department Robert Kane American University Final Version Submitted to the United States Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice February 2005 This project was supported by Grant No. 1996-IJ-CX-0053 awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of views in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Abstract This is a study of New York City police officers whose careers ended in dismissal, termination, or forced resignations or retirements for reasons of misconduct. The research compares the personal and career histories of all 1,543 officers who were involuntarily separated from the New York City Police Department (NYPD) for cause during 1975-96 with a randomly selected sample of their Police Academy classmates who have served honorably. The study uses confidential NYPD files as its major data sources. It employs bivariate techniques to test 37 hypotheses and sub-hypotheses suggested by the literature, two expert advisory committees, and several focus groups of NYPD personnel. In addition, the research employed appropriate multivariate techniques (Principal Component Analysis; Logistic Regression Analysis) which, with some exceptions, generally supported bivariate findings. Key findings of the research include: - Traditional definitions of police misconduct, especially Apolice corruption,@ are imprecise. In the past, police scholars have classified acts of police misconduct as Apolice corruption,@ Apolice brutality,@ and Adrug-related misconduct.@ We found, however, that these classifications are not mutually exclusive, and that determining whether profit-motivated criminality by police officers involved job-related police corruption frequently is impossible. - Pre-employment history matters. Officers whose life histories include records of arrest, traffic violations, and failure in other jobs are more likely than other officers to be involuntarily separated from the NYPD. - Education and training matter. Officers who hold associate or higher degrees are less likely than those who do not to be involuntarily separated. Those who do well in the Police Academy=s recruit training program are less likely than marginal recruits to be separated as unsatisfactory Fyfe and Kane --i This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. probationers. Subsequently, they also are less likely to be involuntarily separated for cause after successful completion of their probationary periods. - Diversity matters. As the NYPD has become more diverse, it has become better behaved. We found a very strong inverse correlation (r=-.71; r2 .50) between the percentage of white male NYPD officers and the department=s annual rate of involuntary separations. - Race still matters, but apparently only for black officers: As the representation of Hispanic and Asian officers in the NYPD has increased, their involuntary separation rates have decreased and become virtually indistinguishable from those of white officers. Black officers= representation in the NYPD remained relatively flat during the years studied. Black officers= involuntary separation rates have also decreased, but remain higher than those for other racial groups. The study concludes with recommendations for policy formulation and further research. Fyfe and Kane --ii This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. New York City Police Department Staff Beverly L Anderson Gene R. Johnson George Ayala, Jr. Gerard J. Joyce Kettly Barthelemy Troy Kirschner Claudia Bellavia Robert F. Larke Diane A. Biondo Kristine T. Lawless Betty Braxton-Omaro Terril V. Lesane Yolanda Caraballo Gloria Lynch Karen A. Carter John Marsico Jean W. Chen Catherine Montaruli Patricia A. Clements Michelle Moultrie Mildred E. Collins Gerald L. Neidick Marilyn N. Coston Audrey Phillips Carol A. Ficarella Sharece S. Phillips Patricia Ann Francis Lillian M. Santamaria Awilda Fraguada Vilma L. Santiago Barbara Freeman Todd E. Singleton Robert T. Gasperetti Ernest S. Takacs Dawn L. Gonzales John Totaro Clara Hemmingway Dorothy Wallace Bettie Hickson Wendy E. Watson Chandra Jairam Trita B. Williams Police Advisory Committee Walter P. Connery Michael Julian Attorney at Law Madison Square Garden Centerport NY Corporation Henry DeGeneste Jerome H. Skolnick Prudential-Bache New York University School of Law Methodological Advisory Committee Michael Maxfield Joan McCord Rutgers University Temple University School of Criminal Justice Department of Criminal Justice Fyfe and Kane --iii This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Table of Contents Page I. Introduction 1 II. Defining and Identifying Police Misconduct 8 III. Prior Research on Police Misconduct 21 IV. The Research Setting 53 V. The NYPD, 1975-1996 78 VI. Research Methods 97 VII. Research Questions 112 VIII. Hypothesis Testing 127 IX. Multivariate Analysis 272 X. Discussion 288 Sources 295 Cases Cited 309 Appendix I Fyfe and Kane --iv This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. List of Tables Page VIII-1 Principal Component Analysis of New York City Crime Rates 142 VIII-2: Initial Hierarchical Poisson Model Estimates of Within- and Between-Precinct Police Misconduct in New York City 144 VIII-3 Hierarchical Poisson Estimates of the Influence of Homicide, per Capita Income, and Percent Minority Population on Within- Precinct Police Misconduct in New York City (No Control Variables Included) 147 VIII-4 Hierarchical Poisson Estimates of the Influence of Index Crime, per Capita Income, and Percent Minority Population on Within- Precinct Police Misconduct in New York City (Control Variables Included) 148 IX-1 Comparisons Between Study and Comparison Officers Along Predictor Variables of Interest 273 IX-2 Principal Component Analysis of Criminal History Variables 277 IX-3 Principal Component Analysis of Work History Variables 278 IX-4 Principal Component Analysis of Social Condition Variables 279 IX-5 Logistic Regression Estimates and Odds Ratios Predicting Police Misconduct 282 List of Figures Fyfe and Kane --v This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Figure Title Page II-1 NYPD Misconduct Codes 9 IV-1 NYPD Organization Chart 58 IV-2 Characteristics of NYPD Precincts 62 IV-3 Integrity Test Failures, 1999-2001 70 IV-4 EDIT Program Operations, 1999-2001 72 V-1 Police Officer Appointments to the NYPD, 1946-1996 88 V-2 Precinct Officers and Supervisors, 1975-1996 89 VIII-1 Primary Charges against Study Officers 128 VIII-2 All Specifications against Study Officers 130 VIII-3 Profit-Motivated Charges Against Study Officers 121 VIII-4 On-Duty Abuse Charges Against Study Officers by Year 151 VIII-5 Mean Annual Rate per 1,000 Officers of Separations for On-Duty Abuse, by Mayor 153 VIII-6 Mean Annual Fatal Shooting Rates per 1,000 Officers in Ten Largest U.S. Cities, 1990-2000 155 VIII-7 Mean Annual Civil Rights Complaint Rates per 1,000 Officers in Ten Largest U.S. Cities, 1985-1990 157 VIII-8 Officers Hired 1965-1995 and Class Separation Rates During 1975-1995 162 VIII-9 Years in Service Prior to Separation, Study Officers Appointed 1979-1996 164 List of Figures (continued) Figure Title Page Fyfe and Kane --vi This document is a research report submitted to the U.S.