The Efficacy of Factors Considered to be Indicators of the Probability of Obtaining Results in Internal Investigations

Abstract

One hundred ten investigations of police corruption which had been conducted by the New York City Police Department were selected for a correlational study to identify factors likely to be predictive of obtaining results. The factors included: a quantitative measure of information available prior to investigation, judgments of investigative adequacy, the use of surveillances and the amount of time spent on surveillances. The results of the study suggest that information available prior to investigation is predictive of the likelihood of obtaining results and that investigations requiring surveillances are less likely to be closed with results than those in which surveillances are not required. It is suggested that thesefindings can be useful in determining which complaints should be investigated and which should not.