Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Document Type

Presentation

Abstract

Police officers are generally exempt from law enforcement (Reiss, 1971) and it is widely known that police officers who drive drunk are rarely arrested, even when they are pulled over in a traffic stop for driving drunk. Using data from a larger study on police crime arrests, this is an exploratory study of 763 cases from years 2005-2010 of on- and off-duty police officers arrested for driving under the influence (DUI). The officers arrested for DUI were employed by nonfederal law enforcement agencies located in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Preliminary findings indicate that almost half of the cases involve a DUI-related traffic accident, 14% of the arrests occurred as a result of driving a police vehicle while DUI, and in 20% of the cases the arrested officer refused to submit to blood alcohol content (BAC) tests. Logistic regression analyses of adverse employment outcomes and DUI case outcomes while be presented and policy implications discussed.

Publication Date

11-12-2012

Publication Title

American Society of Criminology Conference

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