The Network Structure of Misconduct

In this project, recent developments in network science are employed to investigate how the social connections of law enforcement officers affect misconduct. Misconduct may generate mistrust, cynicism, and estrangement between the community and law enforcement officers and, in some cases, between civilians and the state, in addition to trauma and pain directly caused.

This study complements prior explanations of misconduct as the failure of individual officers or as the consequence of organizational feature by investigating the crucial ways social networks influence the actions, behaviors, and attitudes of law enforcement officers and how understanding such networks might mitigate or exacerbate misconduct. Findings will help to inform decisions and interventions to minimize misconduct and thereby will benefit the public good.

In this study, a data-driven approach to analyzing the network structures of a large law enforcement agency is developed to determine how social networks affect officer behavior and misconduct. Partnership networks are recreated for the entire agency from 1980 to 2019 using data on officer assignments and arresting behavior; these data then are combined with records on more than 200,000 complaints filed against officers to create several network datasets.

Three research studies use these datasets. Study 1 examines the structure and nature of officer networks and analyzes how individual, departmental, and neighborhood factors are associated with misconduct. Study 2 analyzes the influence of network peer effects on misconduct. Finally, Study 3 creates and analyzes the development of officer trajectories of misconduct.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.