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Police Practices and the Preservation of Civil Rights

NCJ Number
88964
Date Published
1978
Length
183 pages
Annotation
This transcript presents the statements and comments from the 35 speakers at a 2-day conference on police misconduct, its effect on individuals' civil rights, and police agency policies and procedures designed to control it.
Abstract
Held in December 1978, the meeting was sponsored by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Representatives of national organizations of blacks, homosexuals, and Hispanics gave their perceptions of the problem, illustrated with case examples. Researchers and criminal justice practitioners discussed the police role, selecting and training individuals for this role, the regulation of police practices, and the evaluation and monitoring of police performance. Other sessions focused on agency sanctions governing police performance, legal and administrative remedies, and research and data needs. The discussions emphasized the problems of verbal abuse, police brutality, police use of deadly force, and discriminatory actions toward minority groups. Methods for dealing with citizen complaints against the police, police education, and police management to prevent police misconduct were also examined. No references are cited.