In the News: How Would an Ethical Officer React? The New York Times wrote an article about 
ethical policing. Tobkin often asked his recruits, in any given situation, “How would an ethical officer 
react?” All recruits were required to take an ethics class called Police Legitimacy, which deals with how 
officers are viewed by the public and what they can do to improve or erode those perceptions. “There is 
about one patrol officer for every thousand citizens, so if the public does not see us as legitimate and they 
do not acknowledge our authority, then we are in big trouble,” Tobkin said. Recruits also closely study the 
department’s “use-of-force continuum,” which dictates what level of force is appropriate in response to a 
suspect’s behavior: tasers and batons on when a suspect is kicking or punching an officer, but generally not 
when a suspect is simply trying to get away. 
4 
Samuel Walker referred to the criminal justice system as a funnel. In 1967, The President’s Commission on 
Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice published a report on the funneling effect of the criminal 
justice system. 
5 The criminal justice system is often referred to as a funnel because most cases do not go 
through all steps in the system, some because of discretion, and a large portion because they are unknown 
to police. The question remains: is the criminal justice system effective at catching, prosecuting, convicting, 
and punishing offenders? Does the system properly do its job at all levels? Walker was critical of this report 
and said the report did not account for the crimes unknown to police, often referred to as the dark figure of 
crime. He also recognized that the most serious crimes are often reported the most, which may confuse the 
public about the reality of other crimes. 
6 Others also criticized the report for only looking at reported crimes 
and adult crimes, but those issues will be highlighted in our next chapter on data in the criminal justice 
system. It is important to recognize that the disparity between crimes that were reported and not reported. 
This discrepancy was a shock in the 1970s, especially after the United States started asking people about their 
victimization. The number of crimes people say they experienced far exceeded the crimes they reported to 
the police. 
7 
The main idea to understand is that the funnel effect is said to represent how cases move through the 
system by the offenses unknown to police verse known, arrests then made, prosecutions, plea bargains or 
trials, sentencing, and whether the individual receives probation, prison, or parole. 
8 
In the News: The Crime Funnel The New York Times wrote an example of the crime funnel. 
Federal agencies publish numbers of crime that constitute a big funnel. For example, the “35 million 
crimes committed each year pour in at the top that can include everything from shoplifting, auto theft and 
drunken fights to rapes and murders. Of these, about 25 million are serious, since they involve violence or 
4. Sessini, J. (2016). How would an ethical officer act? The New York Times. 
5. The challenge of crime in a free society. 1967. NCJRS. https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/42.pdf 
6. Walker, S. (2006). Sense and nonsense about crime and drugs. Cengage: Wadsworth. 
7. Anderson, D. (1994). The crime funnel. The New York Times. 
8. The challenge of crime in a free society. (1967). NCJRS. https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/42.pdf 
ALISON S. BURKE, DAVID CARTER, BRIAN FEDOREK, TIFFANY MOREY, LORE RUTZ-BURRI, AND SHANELL
SANCHEZ
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