NCJ Number
186503
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 28 Issue: 6 Dated: November/December 2000 Pages: 457-471
Editor(s)
Kent B. Joscelyn
Date Published
2000
Length
15 pages
Annotation
A random sample of 612 official files on members of the Israeli National Police (INP) was selected to examine organizational characteristics of police officers suspected of committing offenses involving the illegal use of force.
Abstract
Data were taken from the INP department concerned with investigating complaints against police officers. From more than 10,000 excessive force files opened, investigated, and completed between 1993 and 1998, 612 files involving 813 suspect police officers were randomly sampled. Analysis of these files was conducted on two main levels, relative proportion of suspect police officers and relationship between suspect police officers and situation, complainant, and file characteristics. Findings revealed no salient differences between the proportion of suspect police officers serving in the different geographic police districts of the sample and their proportion in the total police force. Complaints tended to be submitted against police officers in operational and investigative functions, especially against those of middle and low ranks. Regarding file characteristics, many significant differences were found between files opened against regular police officers who fulfilled traditional police functions and those opened against officers of the Border Police (BP) who fulfilled mainly internal security tasks among the Arab population. These differences were primarily attributed to factors related to organizational features of the BP. The author discusses his findings in the context of police management and organizational measures to reduce the use of excessive force by police officers. 51 references, 6 notes, and 3 tables