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Reader Poll: What Type of Police Misconduct Will Be Most Reported This Month?

By David Packman

There's a new poll up. I wanted to see what readers thought would be the most common police misconduct problem for this, the first month, of our national police misconduct tracking project.

But, before you vote, some explanation...
First, the options listed are among the top ten most reported types of police misconduct so far this month, so you already have a 1 in 10 chance of getting it right.

Second, let me explain what the terms mean:
Assault - Physical violence that occurs while off-duty.
Brutality - The use of excessive physical force while on-duty.
Color of Law - The misuse or abuse of one's position of authority, such as false arrest, selective enforcement, or intimidating witnesses.
Domestic Violence - Assaults occurring against someone in a relationship with the officer.
Drug Abuse/Dealing - The abuse of or distribution of drugs or providing illegal assistance to those who do either.
DUI - Driving while under the influence, on-duty or off.
Racism/Discrimination - Applying prejudicial bias in the performance of duty, such as the use of racial profiling, use of racial slurs, homophobia, or discriminatory practices within a department.
Sexual Assault - This includes rape, groping, stalking for sexual purposes, and child molestation.
Shootings - On or off-duty use of a firearm against policy or while committing a criminal offense.
Theft/Fraud - Self-explanatory, the act of theft or fraud from businesses, individuals, or police organizations.

Lastly, the poll criteria is culled from this month's ongoing National Police Misconduct News Feed on Twitter, the poll ends on the 30th, soon after that I hope to have the stats compiled from the first month of this project and you can see how you did.

Full post as published by Injustice in Seattle on April 23, 2009 (boomark / email).