Policing Police

Abstract

Democracy requires constraining the police. We identify a risk of imposing constraints on police power: that police supervisors will sabotage the new rules by substituting one form of abuse for another. Police in Venezuela responded to new restrictions on arrests by using more extra-judicial force, and police in Chicago responded to new restrictions on pedestrian stops by making traffic stops instead. But in Colombia, where supervisors supported new restrictions on arrests, officers accepted them without substitution toward other types of abuse. This comparative evidence informs longstanding debates about the origins of and remedies for police abuse of power.

Keywords: Police, Delegation, Criminal Justice, Reform, Violence, Conflict, Venezuela

JEL Classification: D02, D82, D73, D74, K42