A Glossary of Key Police Accountability Vocabulary
A few terms you should know when discussing police accountability
This is a painful time for America. The murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers has sparked outrage and mass protests nationwide. Suddenly, many people are, perhaps for the first time, talking candidly and passionately about systemic racism and police accountability.
It is really easy to become overwhelmed by the sheer scope and complexity of these issues. But we cannot shy away from complexity in this moment. I believe that the first critical step to understanding the path to necessary reform is to become better informed—to understand the key laws, systems, and institutions that make it so difficult to hold police officers accountable for misconduct. A baseline vocabulary helps those who want to advocate for better policies and systems to formulate specific, actionable demands from our elected and appointed leaders.
To that end, I have created this glossary of key police accountability vocabulary. This list is by no means intended to be exhaustive. But, I hope it will provide you with the terminology you need to dig deeper and to feel more confident in your advocacy efforts.
Image credit: CC-BY-SA-3.0/Matt H. Wade at Wikipedia
Key Terms in the Police Accountability Conversation
(in alphabetical order)
Civilian Oversight
Civilian oversight is a police accountability model that allows non-police civilians to participate in the oversight of local police departments. The primary mechanism of civilian oversight is the civilian review board, which serves as an independent alternative to the police’s internal affairs process (see below). The scope and power of civilian oversight boards varies widely by jurisdiction. Some boards have broad power to conduct independent investigations of citizen complaints of police misconduct while others play more of a review role of internal investigations conducted by police departments. The City of Miami has a civilian oversight board called the Civilian Investigative Panel, which was established by voters in 2002. Advocates have been renewing their calls for the establishment of a similar civilian review board for Miami-Dade County, which were most recently vetoed by County Mayor Carlos Gimenez. In response to more recent calls to establish civilian oversight, Commissioner Barbara Jordan introduced a new civilian oversight proposal to be considered by the Board of County Commissioners at the next meeting of the full board.
Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA)
A CBA is a written legal contract between an employer and a union representing employees. Many public sector workers are represented by a union, which is responsible for negotiating benefits, such as wages, hours, health and other benefits, and terms of employment. Many of these CBAs contain provisions that protect officers from accountability for misconduct, such as erasure of or restrictions on disclosure of disciplinary records. A 2017 Reuters investigation examined 82 CBAs in large cities and found similar provisions in agreements across the board.
Federal Funding for Local Police
Most police departments are funded by taxes and fees collected by local governments. However, in more recent years, the federal government has taken on a much greater role in local policing by providing millions of dollars in financial assistance to police departments. The most well known of these programs is the COPs grant program, created as part of a huge wave of the 1994 crime bill, which provides funding to hire police officers. After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Congress significantly expanded the role of the federal government in local policing and authorized the Department of Homeland Security to administer millions of dollars in federal funding for terrorism preparedness. Similarly, 1033 program, which has existed since 1990, authorizes the military to transfer excess equipment to local police forces for counter-drug and counter-terrorism. Each of these programs, and numerous other federal programs, have significantly bolstered local police budgets and inventory of military grade equipment.
Internal Affairs (IA)
An Internal Affairs division of a police department is responsible for receiving and investigating complaints of officer misconduct and other violations of departmental policy. IA divisions serve as a “self-regulating” function within police departments and typically report to the highest ranking officer within the department, although some IA divisions also report to civilian oversight boards. IA investigations are performed by sworn officers, who are responsible for gathering evidence, interviewing witnesses, and producing a report of findings. Many police accountability advocates criticize IA procedures as lacking independence and transparency, and point to its deficiencies as a reason for instituting civilian oversight.
LEOBOR Laws
LEOBOR, which stands for Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights, are state laws that provide police officers, and in some cases, corrections officers, with a vast array of legal protections and impose a variety of procedural requirements in order to investigate and discipline officers. Florida is one of over a dozen states that has adopted a LEOBOR law. Located in Florida Statutes Section 112.532, this law provides law enforcement officers and corrections officers with additional procedural protections when they are under investigation for misconduct. For example, under Florida’s LEOBOR, an officer may not be disciplined, suspended, or fired for misconduct if the investigation into that misconduct is not completed within 180 days the police department receives the complaint. This provision allows police misconduct to go unpunished just by running the clock on an investigation.
No-Knock Warrant
Police are required to obtain a warrant from a court in order to conduct a search on someone’s property. Generally, police officers are required to knock and announce themselves before executing a search warrant. The no-knock warrant is an exception to this rule, and it allows police officers to execute a search warrant without knocking and announcing themselves in situations where knocking could lead to destruction of evidence or create danger for the officers. Critics cite numerous civilian deaths and injuries as a direct consequence of no knock warrants, including the March 13th death of 26-year old Breonna Taylor in Louisville.
Police Union
Police unions first emerged in the early 20th century and evolved from fraternal and benevolent associations. Founded in 1915, the Fraternal Order of Police is now the largest police union in the United States with over 330,000 members and 2,200 lodges. There are multiple police unions in Miami-Dade County representing different law enforcement agencies, including the South Florida Police Benevolent Association, the Miami Fraternal Order of Police, the Miami Beach Fraternal Order of Police, and the Hialeah Fraternal Order of Police. Each of these unions is responsible for negotiating CBA terms with mayors, city managers, or other administrators on behalf of union members, including pay schedules, benefits, drug testing, and disciplinary procedures. Police unions are also often very active in lobbying efforts and electoral politics, donating money and offering members as campaign volunteers in races for state and local officials, who are responsible for approving CBAs and police budgets.
Qualified Immunity
Under a federal law known colloquially as “Section 1983,” individuals can sue state and local governments for violations of constitutional rights (e.g. excessive force). Qualified immunity is a form of legal immunity, which protects government officials like police officers from these lawsuits. This legal doctrine was created by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1960s during the height of the American civil rights movement. Under the doctrine of qualified immunity, a court may only allow a person to sue a police officer for violation of that person’s constitutional rights when the officer violated a “clearly established” statutory or constitutional right. In order to sue, a person must show that an officer’s conduct violated a constitutional right clearly established in previous case law. If there is no precedent that matches the situation, the lawsuit will be dismissed. This highly deferential legal standard creates a high bar to asserting a violation of constitutional rights in courts. As of the date of this writing, Congress is currently considering several bills that would eliminate the doctrine of qualified immunity for police officers.
Reform vs. Defund vs. Disband vs. Abolish
Calls for changes to policing in the United States fall along a spectrum from modest to transformative. Reform refers to modest, long-term changes to police departments, such as community policing, body cameras, training, and limiting officers’ use of force. Congress is currently considering a variety of changes to law that would reform police practices without fundamental institutional changes. Similarly, the #8CantWait campaign that has been shared widely across social media can be classified as a reformist agenda. Defunding the police refers to the gradual reallocation of public resources away from policing and into other services, such as housing, transportation, health, and other public resources. Cities like Los Angeles and New York City have committed to defunding efforts by moving some funding for police to other services. Disbanding or dismantling the police is the elimination and replacement of an existing police department. The most prominent example is when Camden, New Jersey disbanded its police department in 2012—although it did so out of financial exigency and ultimately reconstituted its police department, albeit in a different way. A majority of members on the Minneapolis City Council has agreed to dismantle the City’s police department, but what comes next is unclear. Abolition refers to a complete transformation of society’s framework for responding to crime. The goal of police abolitionists is to eliminate the need for policing by instead addressing underlying social issues, such as lack of access to health care, housing, and jobs. Abolitionists often advocate for alternative models to addressing crime, such as restorative justice.
Terry Stop
Also known as stop-and-frisk, a Terry stop refers to a type of “brief, non-intrusive” stop, which allows a police officer to stop and pat down someone if the officer has a “reasonable suspicion” that a crime is being committed. The term originates from a U.S. Supreme Court case called Terry v. Ohio, which held that stop-and-frisk does not violate the Fourth Amendment prohibition on unreasonable searches if a “reasonably prudent officer” believes that the person is armed and dangerous. New York City’s stop-and-frisk policy earned national notoriety for the way in which it disproportionately targeted Black and Brown residents.
Use of Force Policy
A use of force policy refers to a police department’s internal rules for when an officer is allowed to use lethal or non-lethal force. Policies vary widely from department to department. For example, some departments (including Miami Police Department) prohibit the use of chokeholds or strangleholds while others do not. Some departments require that officers try to use de-escalation strategies or before resorting to force. The Use of Force Project examines several major police department use of force policies.
If you want to dig a little deeper…
Now that you have some vocabulary, here are a few videos, podcasts, and articles that can help you put them into context.
From the New York Times Daily podcast, “The Systems that Protect Police” provides a good overview of the various systems that shield police officers from accountability
The podcast Today, Explained by Vox did a deeper dive into the role of police unions in “The problem with police unions.”
If you want to dive into state LEOBOR laws, check out the 2015 article “Blue Shield” by Eli Hager of The Marshall Project. Note: since this article was published, more states have adopted LEOBOR laws.
For the true nerds who want to dive into the data, check out this law review article by Professor Stephen Rushin, who analyzed a dataset of 656 police union contracts to examine the disciplinary appeals process afforded to officers accused of misconduct and how those processes impede accountability.
Thanks for reading. As always, I welcome your feedback and your questions. You can reply to me directly by replying to this e-mail or leaving a comment on the web version of the newsletter.
—Leah
Civilian oversight is far under-leveraged.
One night last week, my wife & I were driving home on a surface street when a police cruiser flew past us going well above 50, in a 35 mind you (I have been ticketed for this), and no lights or sirens on.
Prompted by recent events, something rose up inside of me, and I called 911 to report it.
To my great surprise, the 911 operator was immediately apologetic, and without hesitation assured me that she was looking into it immediately. She even reported the identification number of the vehicle, informed me that the officer was responding to a stolen car alert nearby, and explained that they sometimes avoid sirens/lights when responding to reports of crime.
I thanked her, and am still pleasantly shocked by her reaction (I was expecting defensiveness and/or disregard) as well as how much information she openly shared with me.
Civilian oversight is one of our most powerful assets as citizens!
Thanks for writing this. Some of these terms were eye-opening and enraging. I discovered you through a Substack search for “voting,” and I look forward to more from you! You are inspiring me to start my own newsletter for Phoenix AZ.
This is excellent Leah sincere thanks for sharing the knowledge in such a clear and substantial way.