OXFORD, Miss. ( WJTV ) – Research done in part by two from the University of Mississippi (UM) discovered common factors at play and present among police officers investigated for crimes.

UM criminal justice associate professor Francis Boateng and graduate Alan Cuff , MA 2022 in criminal justice, were among five academics who published a joint article in the American Journal of Criminal Justice. Other contributors included Old Dominion University associate professor Daniel Pryce , Kent State University assistant professor Michael Dzordzormenyoh and University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire associate professor Ming‑Li Hsieh .

Boateng already knew that the police largely investigated themselves. The questions that became relevant to him were how effective self-policing was and what types of cops committed crimes.

“In 72% of the cases where an officer was charged, that officer was convicted,” Boateng said. “That is significant. That shows that the criminal justice system is responsive to these cases.”

The team studied 6,724 incidents from 2005-2011. About 95% of offending officers were men. The average age of the officer in question was about 37 years old; at the time of the complaint, they had been a police officer for about 10 years. The officer in question was likely off duty, as roughly 42% of officers committed any alleged infractions on the clock.

More than 40% of officers knew their victims in some capacity. About 61% of victims were female and 24% were children. The youngest victim was less than a year old and the oldest victim was 92. Cases involving children, women or drugs often brought harsher punishments for officers. The numbers below describe departmental and judicial decisions related to criminal complaints brought against them.

Departmental decisions

• No action
  • 12.9%
• Suspended
  • 33.1%
• Resigned
  • 25.4%
• Terminated
  • 28.5%

Court decisions

• No conviction
  • 27.7%
• Conviction
  • 72.3%

Pryce asserted the importance of ensuring the public that all people are held accountable for their crimes, not just regular citizens.

“If we know that when an officer commits a crime, that person will be held responsible for their actions, that makes us feel more confident as citizens,” Pryce said.

Still, the writers conceded that law enforcement officers are statistically more likely to get away with crimes than civilians. Additionally, police officers often face less severe punishment than civilians once convicted. Qualified immunity and police officer unions were two noted reasons why. Boateng advocated for reforms to the former.

“That is probably one of the reasons why some of these police officers are quick to shoot, quick to kill, engage in all kinds of behavior, and so many of them go free,” Boateng said. “The qualified immunity clause simply puts the officer above the law.”

Pryce noted that despite the obstacles that police unions often present, they are not insurmountable.

“It’s true that police unions will quickly fall behind and support an officer – even bad officers – but we also know that when a prosecutor decides to prosecute a case against an officer, it’s likely to go through the entire legal process,” Pryce said.

Despite the discrepancies, the study acknowledged that not all police departments are the same. It admitted that even though further analysis is needed to address systemic issues, some solutions can still be ruled out.

“While police departments and officers should be accountable to the public, the former should not be subjected to unnecessary oversight unless it is clear that an agency’s internal mechanisms for oversight, or self-regulation, are absent or inadequate,” the article said.

Earlier this year, a former Richland police officer and five deputies from the Rankin County Sherriff’s Department were sentenced on federal and state charges related to the racially charged torture of two Black men. Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey has resisted multiple calls to step down. An unrelated federal lawsuit was filed in late April against Rankin County, Bailey and others for excessive force against a man in custody.

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