U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Sexual Misconduct by Police Officers (From Police Deviance, P 139-152, 1991, Thomas Barker, David L Carter, eds. -- See NCJ-128045)

NCJ Number
128053
Author(s)
A D Sapp
Date Published
1991
Length
14 pages
Annotation
Interviews and conversations with metropolitan police officers and supervisors in seven states and with former police officers and deputy sheriffs formed the basis of an analysis of the nature and extent of police sexual misconduct and measures to reduce or eliminate it.
Abstract
The seven categories of sexual misconduct considered were nonsexual contacts that were sexually motivated, voyeuristic contacts, contacts with crime victims, contacts with offenders, contacts with juvenile females, sexual shakedowns, and citizen-initiated sexual contacts. Results indicated that a concerted effort by police administrators and supervisors will be needed to reduce or eliminate sexual misconduct and sexual harassment of female citizens by male law enforcement officers. Therefore, police officers should be educated about sexual misconduct and its effect on the department and the public. In addition, secrecy about the existence of the problem must be eliminated, and appropriate disciplinary action taken when police sexual misconduct occurs. 11 references and 7 study questions