'Forget Everything You Learned at the Academy': Mentorship and the Social Structure of Police Misconduct

• In Event: Poster Session I

Abstract

The current study examines the social structure of police misconduct using a database of complaints against officers of the Chicago Police Department. From these data, we construct social networks where ties between officers are extracted from complaints in which multiple officers are named. We hypothesize that such networks provide social conduits through which misconduct may be learned and passed on between veteran officers and new recruits. Specially, we test whether being named on a complaint with a repeat offender affects the subsequent likelihood of complaints for police officers entering the force. Furthermore, we explore how one's position within this social network influences achievements as a police officer (e.g. commendations, salary, rank). We discuss the theoretical implications of our results and how they might inform how police departments respond to complaints against their officers.

Authors

• Jason Gravel, University of California, Irvine

• Sadaf Hashimi, Rutgers University, Newark

• Marie Ouellet, University of Montreal

• Andrew V. Papachristos, Yale University