Problem officers and problem behavior: on the object of early intervention systems

The development, refinement, and assessment of early intervention (EI) systems for police misconduct turn on the conceptualization and operationalization of problem behavior. Recent research has applied different conceptualizations and operationalizations of problem behavior: behavior that results in involuntary separation or severe discipline, or a single “adverse event.” These constructs have the virtue of enabling measurement in terms of data that are normally available. However, their correspondence to problem behavior is questionable, raising the prospect that program development would be misdirected. In this paper we assess and compare these two definitions of problem behavior against a third: officers who meet an early intervention system threshold and are determined upon review to warrant intervention. We analyze the congruence of the three operationalizations and the patterns of risk-related outputs associated with officers thusly categorized through the operation of two agencies’ systems. We draw lessons for the further development of EI systems.