Chapter 7 Review

Relative to the police profession, what is the meaning of the term the blue curtain?

The clannish, cynical, secretive culture isolating police from the rest of society.

Among factors that influence police use of discretion, which are categorized as "officer characteristics"?

The officer's education, experience, gender.

What is a concern of some experts about the police culture?

The police culture could create a mindset in police officers that the citizens they serve are their adversaries.

Definitive evidence is lacking that higher education makes police officers more effective at fighting crime. The text authors cite reasons that formal education may not improve police street performance. Which is NOT among these reasons?

Citizens' and police administrators' views about it.

A 2005 Gallup Poll found that 31 percent of respondents felt police brutality was a problem where they lived. A 2008 U.S. Justice Department report found that of people having had police contact during one year, what percent reported that police used or threatened to use force against them?

1.4 %

Which is NOT a core belief of the police culture?

Basically, members of the public are supportive of police officers.

As police forces gain more minority officers, these officers experience job-related stress similar to that of white officers. How are minority police officers more likely to cope with this stress, according to research findings?

By seeking help from their fellow minority officers.

In a typical use-of-force continuum for teaching police officers to apply amounts and types of force commensurately with suspect behaviors, which reasonable officer response corresponds to a suspect whose behaviors the officer perceives as actively resistant?

Compliance techniques

Statistics on deaths of police as victims show that in 2014, 51 police officers were killed feloniously. Of this total, in which kinds of situations were the most officers killed?

During responses to disturbance calls

Researchers find higher education correlates positively with more self-assurance and confidence in police officers, and believe it also improves public communication, particularly with minorities. What best accurately reports additional research findings, and/or police administrators' beliefs?

Educated officers display more initiative, perform more effectively, act more professionally, get fewer citizen complaints, are better decision makers, have fewer discipline issues, write more clearly and better, and are less likely to use force.

Police psychologists have categorized sources of stress for police officers into four types. What are examples of external stressors?

Justice system inefficiency, verbal abuse by the public, and court rulings favoring criminals

What is true about the requirements of today's law enforcement agencies for new police recruits?

More local police departments require a two-year than a four-year college degree. Around 23 percent require a two-year college degree; and 2 percent require a four-year college degree.

What correctly identifies a core belief of the police culture?

No one, except officers, understands the true nature of police work. Core beliefs of the police culture include that no one, except officers, understands the true nature of police work and that police are the only real crime fighters, not other agencies.

In distinguishing between deadly and non-deadly force used by police, what statement is most accurate?

Non-deadly force is not likely to cause death, but in some instances it does do so.

If a police officer releases a drug dealer in exchange for valuable information, he or she is using legitimate and lawful discretion. However, if the officer releases the dealer in exchange for money, he or she is abusing police power. Police experts identify this as which type of corruption?

Selective enforcement - Selective enforcement involves police officers' abuse of their discretion.

Among the four basic police styles, which one is most compatible with community policing models?

Social agent - Social agents see themselves as community problem-solvers.

What is most accurate regarding the relationship between recent changes to state marijuana laws and the recruitment of new law enforcement hires?

Some federal and state agencies require no marijuana use for three years, others for one year. Even states that have legalized it still have three-year or one-year restrictions on prior use. Some states report significantly reduced police job applications due to these restrictions. Applicants are disqualified for recent use even in a neighboring state where it is legal.

One reason American police departments have been making concerted efforts to attract minority officers is to dispel minority views of police departments as biased or bigoted. Another reason is to improve police performance. What is most directly related to the latter reason?

Some minority officers help with community languages or cultures. Minority officer knowledge of community languages and cultures is directly related to improving police performance through special officer attributes.

In the discussion of racial profiling, what represents an alternative approach recently proposed by economists?

The "outcome test," i.e., not focusing on whom they stop, but on the outcome of the stop.

According to author Nicholas Alex (Black in Blue, 1969), what is the definition of double marginality?

The social burden of African-Americans in being both members of a minority and police officers. Alex coined the term double marginality to describe the social burden of being both a minority member and a police officer.

What most accurately describes police weapons classified as less-lethal weapons?

The weapons that fall into the category of non-deadly force, but may have caused some deaths. (Less-lethal weapons e.g., impact munitions, Tasers, pepper spray).

Civil rights legislation and court decisions have limited some of the discrimination against female police officers, such as entrance requirements for height and upper-body strength. What does your text say about such requirements?

They eliminated nearly all women, but could not be proven to predict job performance.

Regarding racial profiling, multiple empirical research studies have found that police routinely treat motorists differently by race. What do police use more with white than minority drivers?

Warnings instead of issuing a citation.

Before recent and current changes, what was the traditional composition of police departments?

White males who had a high school education

Research in Washington, D.C., found this about policewomen's job performance?

Women were found more likely to receive support from the community.