Kanovitz, Constitutional Law for Criminal Justice, 14th Edition
Multiple-Choice Examination and True/False Questions
Chapter 10: Constitutional and Civil Rights in the Government Workplace
Multiple-Choice Questions
1. Police officers are most likely to receive First Amendment protection when they:
a. prepare routine reports using normal departmental procedures
b. raise their concerns up the chain of command
c. contact outside agencies to report problems in their workplace
d. circulate questionnaires to co-workers concerning internal office matters
2. The following Supreme Court ruling eliminated First Amendment protection for speech that
takes place pursuant to a public employee’s official duties:
a. Nixon v. City of Houston
b. Garcetti v. Ceballos
c. City of San Diego, California v. Roe
d. O’Connor v. Ortega
3. Police officers can be compelled to answer questions pertaining to criminal activity without
resulting in a violation of the Fifth Amendment, as decided in:
a. Garrity v. New Jersey
b. Kelley v. Johnson
c. Ricci v. DeStefano
d. Johnson v. Cannon
4. Challenges to minimum height and weight restrictions for police departments have succeeded
in court, due to:
a. Fourteenth Amendment considerations
b. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Equal Employment Opportunities)
c. Hatch Act
d. none of the above
5. The justification for heightened regulation for police departments is that they are:
a. paramilitary organizations
b. civil service bureaucracies
c. both a & b
d. none of the above
6. When an officer cannot be fired without cause, that officer is said to have:
a. quid pro quo
b. a right under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Equal Employment Opportunities)
c. a property right in his or her job
d. none of the above
7. The following are legitimate discrimination claims, except for:
a. affirmative action
b. harassment
c. disparate treatment
d. disparate impact
8. In Griggs v. Duke Power Company, the Supreme Court recognized:
a. disparate treatment discrimination
b. qualified immunity
c. property rights to a job
d. disparate impact discrimination
9. “Under color of state law” refers to:
a. quid pro quo
b. regulations police officers submit to as officers of the law
c. an appearance or pretense of authority used to deprive individuals of constitutional rights
d. discrimination found unconstitutional under Ricci v. DeStefano
10. Detective Jones sent a memorandum to his supervisor stating that he believed that a detective
on his drug investigation task force had tipped the target of the investigation off about an
impending drug bust. Jones was subsequently demoted and transferred. He filed suit claiming
his First Amendment rights were violated. The most likely outcome is that:
a. Jones’s claim will fail because he wrote the memorandum pursuant to his official duties.
b. Jones’s claim will fail because the police department’s interest in keeping undercover
operations hush outweighed Jones’s interest in reporting his suspicions.
c. Jones’s claim will succeed because the First Amendment encourages police officers to
raise their concerns up the chain of command before going public.
d. Jones’s claim will succeed if he had a property right in his job because officers who have a
property right in their job cannot be demoted.
True/ False Questions
11. Police officers have the same First Amendment protections as ordinary citizens.
a. True
b. False
12. Police department restrictions on how much a police officer can weigh violate due process.
a. True
b. False
13. The police department’s need for diversity cannot be met by taking a job from a white male
and giving it to a woman or a member of a minority group.
a. True
b. False
14. Police officers cannot be required to reside in the jurisdictions in which they work.
a. True
b. False
15. Police officers can be sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for wrongs committed for personal
reasons, even though they do undertake or purport to undertake official capacity, if the
wrongs are committed while they are on duty and in uniform.
a. True
b. False
Scenario for use in Questions 16 through 19:
Officer DeSleezio shared an office with co-worker. Each had their own assigned desk,
computer, and file cabinet in which department records and files were stored. The bottom
drawer of their file cabinet was assigned to their personal use and they alone had a key. The
Whosville Police Department’s computer usage policy provided that computers were issued
solely for WPD’s official use, that officers were not to use their computers for personal
business, and that the department reserved the right to monitor an officer’s Internet usage,
and to access any information stored on the officer’s computers at any time without notice.
Officer DeSleezio was addicted to child pornography. He surfaced the Internet for porn every
day at lunch time while his co-worker was away. His downfall came when he took a week off
for vacation. His supervisor, Officer Primrose entered his office to retrieve a needed report.
She used her own key to open the top drawers of the file cabinet, as she often did when he
was away from work. When she was unable to locate the report in the file cabinet, she
accessed his computer, thinking she could find a copy on his hard drive. She clicked on a file
with a promising name and was shocked by what she saw. Officer Primrose did not have a
key to Officer DeSleezio’s personal file cabinet drawer, but a locksmith was able to open it.
She discovered a large stash of child porn inside and turned her findings over to internal
affairs. An investigation was conducted, and Officer DeSleezio was dismissed. He has filed
suit claiming that his Fourth Amendment rights were violated. Below are four statements
about a police officer’s Fourth Amendment rights in the workplace. You are to decide
whether they are true are false.
16. A police officer has no Fourth Amendment grounds to object a supervisory search of a
department-issued computer if the police department computer usage policy provides notice
that the department reserves the right to monitor a police officer’s Internet usage and to
access information stored on his computer at any time without notice.
a. True
b. False
17. A police officer has no Fourth Amendment grounds to object to a supervisory search of his
department-issued computer if the search is conducted for a noninvestigative work-related
reason.
a. True
b. False
18. A police officer’s personal file cabinet can be searched for evidence of work-related
misconduct whenever the department has reasonable suspicion that such evidence will be
found.
a. True
b. False
19. A search warrant is necessary to search for evidence of work-related misconduct that is also a
crime, even if the purpose of the search is to obtain evidence that will be used in a
disciplinary proceeding.
a. True
b. False