Several States Ill-Equipped to Keep Bad Cops Off Streets

"The abuse of power by police officers has created social unrest in America," Puro said. "We have found that traditional methods to control police misconduct have been unsuccessful."

The researchers focused their attention on cases of police officers who were fired or resigned in the wake of major misconduct like offering to fix traffic tickets in exchange for sex or physically abusing individuals in custody. Despite this inexcusable behavior, other departments often hired these officers, who sometimes engaged in misconduct again.

In light of these cases, Goldman and Puro recommend that these states -- Hawaii, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island -- should adopt decertification laws that remove police licenses. They also recommend that states with existing decertification laws should take additional steps to improve them.

Unlike traditional remedies, which do not address the problem of an officer with a pattern of egregious conduct, decertification bars these individuals from being hired as police officers, or other law enforcement professionals, within that state.

Now many of the officers who have engaged in misconduct can move to another state and be employed as a police office. To address this, Goldman and Puro propose that additional steps be taken to create a national data bank of decertified police officers to prevent them from moving and being employed in a different state than the one that revoked their license.

"States should treat law enforcement professionals as they do other professionals, like doctors and lawyers," Goldman said. "If minimum standards of performance are not met, the person loses the privilege of practicing that profession."

The Saint Louis University Law Journal recently published the professors' article on the subject, "Revocation of Police Officer Certification: A Viable Remedy for Police Misconduct?" To help get these laws enacted, Goldman and Puro also are willing to discuss their findings and recommendations with members of the media, law enforcement professionals, legislators and civil liberties groups.

Goldman and Puro are available to discuss this issue with the media. Goldman may be reached in his office at (314) 977-2780 and Puro at (314) 977-3037.

Saint Louis University is a leading Catholic, Jesuit research institution ranked among the top fifty national, doctoral universities as a best value by U.S. News & World Report. Founded in 1818, the University strives to foster the intellectual and spiritual growth of its 11,000 students through a broad array of undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs on campuses in St. Louis and Madrid, Spain.

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