Drug Use amongst Police Officers - Essay Example

Drug Use Amongst Police Officers: Causes, Effects, and the Paradigm of Functionalism The issue of drug use by police officers is a charged one. This essay will compare police drug use against drug use in those in other fields and outline the causes of drug use by police officers. It will also detail the effects of drug use on individual officers, their departments, their families, and their employment. Finally, it will demonstrate the Durkheim's paradigm of functionalism can be applied to explain the causes and effects, and to suggest ways to reduce the incidence of drug use amongst police. Research indicates that police actually use drugs less often than those in other occupations. It also shows that key causes of the drug use that does exist include job-related stress, unique opportunity, and features of police culture. The effects of such drug use have negative impacts not just on the using officer, but also on colleagues and family. Durkheim's paradigm of functionalism is useful in analyzing this phenomenon. It helps explain how a poorly-functioning system can lead to increased police drug use, and a well-functioning system can reduce police drug use. Introduction What happens when the people we trust to keep law and order in our society break the very laws they are supposed to maintain This is precisely the question posed when police officers decide to use drugs. Brunet (2003) surveyed a wealth of drug literature published from 1984 to 2002. Most found that low numbers of officers used illegal drugs. Several studies showed that anywhere from .31% to 20% of tested police officers in departments across the US and Australia used drugs. By comparison, a U.S. Department of Justice survey (2008) found that, while 8.2 % of full-time workers across America are regular drug users, those in protective service occupations, such as police were least likely to be users, with a rate of 3.4%. While the number of officers who use drugs may actually be quite small, the cases the public finds out about often cause terrific backlash. These and other studies found that officers used drugs for several different reasons. Job-related stress, increased opportunity, and police culture can be major causes of drug use by police officers. Effects of such use are felt by the individual officer, the police department as a whole, and the officer's family. The consequences impact public safety, public trust, and the ability of police to assist in the prosecution of criminals. Other consequences include the potential for greater corruption, reduced job productivity, and more civil liability for departments. Police officers who use drugs also place their families at greater risk for dysfunction and put their jobs at risk. Durkheim's paradigm of functionalism is beneficial in understanding drug use amongst police. It also provides insights into why some who are sworn to uphold the law break it in the very worst ways. Durkheim focused on the interactions and interdependence of society. He proposed that a smoothly functioning society had roles for individuals and norms to guide behaviors. When there is equilibrium in the system, individual needs are met and society works. When there is disequilibrium, society and individuals in society can suffer greatly. It is just this situation with drug use amongst police. Causes of Police Officer Drug Use As with the rest of the population, the causes of drug use amongst police officers are wide and varied. Stress, opportunity, and police culture are cited in many studies as central causes of drug abuse by police. According to Gorta (2008), police in Australia indicated that stress in their work and personal lives sometimes led to drug use. Many officers cited stressful situations such as killing someone in the line of duty or chasing someone in a high-speed pursuit as causing inordinate amounts of stress (Brunet, 2003). Many note that organizational rules, regulations, and procedures are stressors. Shift work and working irregular hours, as well as poor supervision, can boost stress levels for officers. Police often feel stressed because they are held to a stricter standard of behavior than people in other professions. Sustained high amounts of stress sometimes lead officers to use drugs as a coping mechanism (Brunet, 2003). Many officers feel stress because the scope of their job seems to be constantly expanding, while the tools with which they can do their job are contracting. With more crime on the streets and a greater emphasis on due process and sometimes excessive civil liberties, police may feel that their hands are figuratively tied. Police often labor intensively for citizens who do not understand or appreciate the difficulty of their work. When an officer works hard to build trust with citizens, but is met instead with distrust, it can create additional stress that may make drug use seem like an acceptable coping mechanism. Opportunity also leads many officers to drug use. Because police work with deviant members of society, under little or no supervision, they have frequent exposure to illegal drugs and other illegal activities. Undercover agents, too, are prone to becoming participating members of the drug community because they must project an authentic image to the drug users and sellers they are investigating. Nalder and Kamb (2003) relate the story of Dan Ring, a secret federal detective working in Seattle to uncover details of the sex trade in King's County. Ring was provided with a decent salary, sophisticated electronic surveillance equipment, and an undercover car for his work, but he never filed a felony case and had only a few entries in the Sheriff's Office database over a ten-year period, compared with over 4000 for the other five detectives in the unit. He used Ecstasy and cocaine, and is alleged to have given a woman a "knock-out drug." In fact, police officers sometimes have to struggle to resist drugs because they have ready access to them in their regular workday. Officers take drugs from people in custody, and have the option of keeping some or all of them. Some officers work in or close to evidence rooms where large caches of illegal drugs are stored and available. Police know they can steal large sums of money from drug dealers who can not report the crime because of how they got the money in the first place (Brunet, 2003). Some police departments contribute to increased drug use among officers by failing to provide integrity and ethics training (Brunet, 2003). Without explicit instruction about the temptations they will be faced and strategies on how to avoid wrong-doing, many officers, especially those who are young and/or inexperienced, fall into the drug use trap. Increased opportunity for drug use can come as the result of the poor supervision, too. Police officers often work alone or perhaps with one partner, with whom they have a special and close relationship. Some officers feel the chances of being caught using drugs on- or off-duty are very low (Brunet, 2003). Gorta (2008) notes that the conduct of non-drug using peers can influence some officers to use drugs. She studied officers who knew about drug use by their peers, but ignored it because they did not want to cause tension in the department or be portrayed as a "rat." In a profession where colleagues often put their lives in each other's hands, it seemed disloyal to those officers to tell a superior about such misconduct. Some even failed to turn in drug suppliers with whom they associated, or provided those drug suppliers with information that helped them avoid being caught. Gorta reported that many officers acknowledged placing the safety and well-being of their friends and family before their duty as a police officer. Other officers faked arrests so they could steal drugs or drug money from dealers, or faked police records so they could steal drugs from a crime scene. Brunet (2003) notes that many internal affairs divisions are notoriously ineffective, so police do not have much to fear from the watchdog groups charged with keeping an eye out for drug use and other illicit activity by police officers. The culture of police officers can also work to encourage, or discourage, drug use amongst officers. These cultures are maintained by the use of peer pressure, which can be extremely strong in the group. A traditional culture, where strong morality amongst police and strong drug laws exist together, could discourage officers from drug use. On the other hand, an apathetic culture can be completely indifferent to moral and ethical ideals usually present in police cultures. These cultures often protect drug-using officers in their group, and advance on- and off-duty drug use by supplying drugs to users and ignoring those who violate drug laws (Brunet, 2003). Drug use within any group can have serious consequences. But police are a unique group, and drug use there can have special ramifications. Effects of Police Officer Drug Use Drug use amongst police officers affects the users, the police force, and the officers' families, too. Substantially effected areas include reduced public safety, less trust from the public, potential corruption, and a decreased ability to give credible testimony in court. Also, police drug use can have negative effects on other officers, causes reduced productivity, and exposes police departments to civil liability. Drug-using officers often must fear for their jobs and cause their families to suffer, too. One significant effect of police drug use is reduced public safety. Police officers are depended upon to have excellent judgment. They may have to use their weapon in the line of duty, or pursue someone in a high-speed chase in their vehicle. Drug use will affect their ability to respond quickly and properly to public threats (Brunet, 2003). When police are found to use drugs, it also serves to reduce public trust. Police are better able to fulfill their mission when they have the support, cooperation, and trust of the community. For this to happen, the public needs to perceive the police as honest, capable, and responsible. When police officers break the law, it severely reduces their credibility with the public and makes it harder for them to offer trust and cooperation. When an officer uses illegal drugs, he is, in fact, violating three types of laws because he has purchased them, owns them (perhaps even transferring them in a police vehicle), and uses them (Brunet, 2003). Police drug use also expands the potential for corruption. Police who are known to be breaking laws can be blackmailed and forced into performing more illegal services to protect themselves from discovery (Brunet, 2003). Morale often declines in police departments where there are many known users who are not disciplined for the infractions. For police who work hard to maintain their integrity, it is discouraging for them to be forced to place their safety in the hands of someone who might be drug impaired. It is also difficult for them to have to bear the stigma that often falls upon a whole department because of the well-publicized indiscretions of a few officers. Since these officers know that failing to maintain high ethical standards results in negative public perceptions, they are forced to choose between staying quiet to maintain department unity, or challenging their superiors' failure to address burgeoning drug problems (Brunet, 2003). Also, police officers, like any other drug users, are likely to suffer from decreased productivity while on the job. Perhaps because of drug-induced tiredness, or a desire to stay still to keep from being discovered in an intoxicated state, officers may choose to patrol less while under the influence. Even when they do perform their job, they are more likely to make errors that make it difficult for them to achieve their mission. Furthermore, if a police officer injures a person or someone's property and is found to be intoxicated, a department might find itself on the wrong end of a civil liability suit (Brunet, 2003). Smalley (2006) studied police drug use in Boston from 1999 to 2006. She found that 75 officers did not pass drug tests during that time, and 26 of them failed a second time, leading to their dismissal. The acting police commissioner, Albert Goslin, noted that 20 more officers who failed the test left the department on their own, presumably because they could not pass the frequently-scheduled follow-up tests that are mandatory once an officer has failed a drug test. This results in fewer experienced officers on the street. Certainly, the public would not want drug-reliant officers on the street anyway, but the bottom line is a reduction in staff and public visibility that could not possibly have a positive effect on crime reduction. Drug-using police officers not only put additional stressors on their departments: they also put additional stressors on their own families. Brunet (2003) notes that police officers are more likely to die from heart attacks and suicide than most others in the population. They are also more inclined to suffer from alcoholism and become divorced from their spouses. Adding drug use to this mix makes it even more serious. Dawe et al. (2006) note that parental drug use also impacts the children of the users. Increased behavior problems, a greater number of childhood disorders, and more physical and psychological problems have been found in children whose parents are substance abusers. Those children are more likely to suffer from major depression, oppositional defiance disorder, poor conduct, ADHD, and future alcohol and drug use. Some researchers even suggest that post-traumatic stress disorder results in children whose parents use drugs. Also, children of drug-using police officers are at heightened risk of neglect and abuse. In a job that is already stressful, with a sometimes erratic work schedule, a drug dependency can lead a parent to neglect physical and emotional needs of their children, or even to physical abuse. Problems in the family will increase for officers who find themselves unemployed as a result of their drug use (Dawe et al., 2006). Sociological Implications Drug use amongst police can be well explained by Durkheim's sociological paradigm of functionalism. Functionalism views social institutions and practices as essential ways to fulfill one's biological and societal needs. When institutions and individuals work well together, needs are met, and the system functions fluidly. For example, in a police department where a traditional strong morality exists, police seeking to resist drug use would find support and encouragement to maintain that track. Likewise, an officer whose family functioned well could find support and encouragement there. But when a department is apathetic, or a family fails to provide the support and other things an officer needs, dysfunction can result. That dysfunction may result in drug use by police officers. Also, officers rely on the superiors for the modeling and communicating of appropriate behavior. When superiors act as they should, the system functions to let know officers know drug use is wrong and that their fellow officers have a duty to report such use. Strong leadership can even override inappropriate behavior and choices from police officers' peers and colleagues. When the public becomes less trustworthy of police, it leads to a spiral of dysfunction. First, an officer may commit (or be perceived to commit) an illegal act. Then, community members respond with dysfunction, with less trust and cooperation for the officers. Those officers become increasingly upset with a public that becomes less and less trusting, and the cycle continues. Conclusion Research indicates that Durkheim's functionalism paradigm offers insight and understanding to the problem of police drug use. A central role of police officers is to keep peace in the community. Since functionalism's main tenet is based on societal equilibrium, it is critical for those in positions of power and judgment, such as police officers, perform their roles with unquestionable ethics and integrity. Unfortunately, the nature of police work presents many unique challenges and often makes it difficult for officers to feel like an effective part of the organism of society. The many and increasing stresses of police work, combined with frequent exposure to drugs, drug dealers, and other deviants, can undermine the best intentions of officers. Police culture can either discourage or encourage drug use among officers. The devastating effects of drug use by police reaches into every corner of society. Citizens who see police breaking the laws they are supposed to uphold suffer a steady erosion of trust, tend to cooperate less with police, and ultimately lead officers to feel more ostracized and dysfunctional in the society they are charged with protecting. Durkheim's functionalism helps explain why officers may be especially susceptible to drug use. It also explains why the infraction is seen as more significant than when other members of society break the same laws. Finally, it may offer insights into ways to prevent officers from becoming involved in drug use in the first place. References Brunet, J. (2003). Determinants of drug testing policies in law enforcement agencies: Building and testing a theory of public sector drug testing. Retrieved September 20, 2008, from http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-04182003-120639/unrestricted/etd.pdf Dawe, S., Frye, S., Best, D., Moss, D., Atkinson, J., Evans, C., Lynch, M., and Harnett, P. (2006). Drug use in the family: Impacts and implications for children. Australian National Council on Drugs. Retrieved 20 September 2008, from http://www.ancd.org.au/publications/pdf/rp13_drug_use_in_family.pdf Gorta, A. (2008). Understanding and minimising police illegal drug use. Police Integrity Commission. Retrieved September 21, 2008, from http://www.icac.org.hk/newsl/issue27eng/button1.htm. Nalder, E., & Kamb, L. (2005). Conduct unbecoming: Reports of sex, drug abuse - and little police work. Seattlepi.com. Retrieved September 20, 2008, from http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/234837_ring02.asp Smalley, S. (July 30, 2006). 75 officers failed city drug tests. The Boston Globe. Retrieved September 21, 2008, from http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/07/30/75_officers_failed_city_drug_tests/. U.S. Department of Justice. (2008). Drug use. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Retrieved September 23, 2008, from http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/dcf/du.htm. Read More