Police Misconduct in Brooklyn ― Documenting, Understanding and Preventing

Using Brooklyn, New York as a case study, the author of this Brief uses lawsuits that resulted in a settlement or jury award, over a five-year period, as its measure of police misconduct. Police misconduct has many tangible and intangible consequences for a community, such as violations of the law, police brutality, social consequences, and long-term public trust of the police. On a very practical level, as the author demonstrates, the up-front financial costs of prevention, training, and support to curb police misconduct are less expensive than the costs of civil liability payments for lawsuits.

This perspective creates a strong argument for policymakers for enhancing police training and police misconduct prevention programs. This work will be of interest to researchers in police studies, as well sociology and public policy.