Police internal affairs units: results from a national survey
Policing: An International Journal
ISSN: 1363-951X
Article publication date: 19 July 2022
Issue publication date: 15 November 2022
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to obtain information regarding the personnel, policies and practices of Internal Affairs (IA) units in large, municipal, US police departments.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors administered an 85-question survey to 436 departments that employed 100 or more full-time sworn officers in 2019 to inquire about their IA units, and 198 (45.4%) responded.
Findings
The authors find considerable variation in terms of the organization and management of IA units, frame policy findings in terms of IA’s best practices specified by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services and find variation in adherence to these practices as well; some policies and practices are almost universally adopted, while others are much less frequently followed or even go against best practices.
Originality/value
There has only been a single study conducted of IA units and that is over three decades old. This study provides a much-needed expansion and update regarding the form and function of IA units in the US.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the National Internal Affairs Investigators Association and an IA instructor from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Law Enforcement Executive Development Association for their help with drafting the survey. The authors also thank the anonymous reviewers for their feedback and insights.
Citation
Harris, C. and Perry, S. (2022), "Police internal affairs units: results from a national survey", Policing: An International Journal, Vol. 45 No. 6, pp. 972-988. https://doi.org/10.1108/PIJPSM-03-2022-0040
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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