NCJ Number
188472
Date Published
2002
Length
12 pages
Annotation
Based on interviews with police officers and police supervisors in numerous large metropolitan police departments as well as with many municipal and State officers, eight categories of sexually motivated misconduct by police officers were identified and discussed, followed by recommendations for controlling police sexual harassment and misconduct.
Abstract
This study focuses solely on male police officers who commit inappropriate sexual behaviors with female citizens. The typology of sexually motivated behaviors by police officers developed from this study was preliminary. Eight categories of sexually motivated police behaviors were suggested: sexually motivated nonsexual contacts, voyeuristic contacts, crime victim contacts, offender contacts, juvenile female contacts, sexual shakedowns, citizen-initiated sexual contacts, and sex crimes by police officers. The problem of sexual misconduct was apparently pervasive in police departments from the smallest to the largest, in all areas of the United States, and at all levels of law enforcement, from Federal to local. Only when police administrators and supervisors made it clear to every member of the department that sexual misconduct and sexual harassment would not be tolerated in any form or any degree was the behavior likely to decrease. Police officers should be instructed about sexual misconduct and its effect upon the department and the public. The secrecy surrounding sexual harassment and other forms of police sexual misconduct must be removed. Once such misconduct has been determined, disciplinary action must be taken. Dismissal and/or criminal charges were within the range of appropriate responses to some of the more serious forms of sexual harassment and misconduct. 30 references