Câmeras corporais de uso policial: política, governo e verdade

PROTOCOL: Police Training Interventions to improve the democratic policing of protests

Research QuestionCan requiring police to wear body-worn cameras (BWC) on duty restrain police misconduct in contexts such as a favela in Rio de Janeiro, where police use militaristic and highly aggressive tactics?DataWe collected quantitative and qualitative data on a wide range of behaviors, including police wearing BWC, turning on the BWC for recording citizen contacts, use of force by and against police officers, stop and search, responding to citizen requests for police assistance, and police supervisors wearing BWC. A total of 857 different police officers were tracked during the 1-year study, with a mean of 470 officers each month participating in the test of BWC across 52,000 officer shifts.MethodsBWC status was randomly assigned by shifts to all officers in the shift, within five different kinds of police units. Analyses focused on intent-to-treat effects, with high compliance of wearing BWC but less than half of measured encounters recorded. Regression analyses provided estimates of different effects for officers who had previously been injured or had injured civilians.FindingsCamera assignment, regardless of whether police turned cameras on, reduced stop-and-searches and other forms of potentially aggressive interactions with civilians. Cameras also produced a strong de-policing effect: police wearing cameras were significantly less likely to engage in any activity, including responding to calls and dispatch and street requests for help. These changes in police behavior occurred even when in 50% of the registered interactions with civilians, officers disobeyed the protocol that required them to turn their cameras on. Yet when officers’ supervisors wore cameras, policing activities and camera usage increased. Police surveys, interviews, and focus groups strengthen the findings.ConclusionThe potential of BWC to reduce police abuse finds limitations where an organizational culture that perpetuates a lack of compliance with internal protocols and violence persists.

Police use of force must be strictly guided and regulated by State Legislature because of its serious impact on citizens when erroneously used. Although prior research addressed several loopholes in the Act on the Performance of Duties by Police Officer with respect to police use of deadly force, no amendment has been attempted to revise the Act in accordance with research suggestions. As police use of force takes up a great amount of police recruit tests as well as promotion tests, wrongful interpretation by the Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) regarding police use of force regulations can lead to direct infringement of citizens’ constitutional rights. Nevertheless, few research studies in this field have examined potential errors in police recruit and promotion tests conducted by the KNPA. In this regard, the present study reviewed the tests for the last 10 years, finding five problematic questions regarding legal limits of police use of force based on the Act on the Performance of Duties by Police Officer. The current study found that police officers can be misguided by a few sections in the Act regarding police use of deadly force, police use of non-deadly equipment, and chemical agents or irritants. In an effort to minimize the wrongful applications of the Act, the current study reviewed police use of force regulations in state laws of 43 states and Washing DC in the United States. Finally, the present study proposed several research implications with respect to revision of the Act.

Traditionally explanations of police use of force have relied on a racial threat perspective. Tests of this perspective, however, typically offer a single indicator of threat (the relative size of the black population) and fail to adequately take into account the complex relationship between racial threat and police use of force. Drawing on racial threat, social disorganization, and police use of force literature, this study hypothesizes that macro-level patterns in police use of force are embedded in the racial and structural composition of cities and the organizational climate of local politics and police departments. The present study examines these relationships using official police use of force data collected in 73 large U.S. cities. Structural equation analyses suggest that structural indicators associated with racial threat and social disorganization/disadvantage impact police use of force indirectly through the influence of police organizational factors. On the other hand, the political climate and the level of social disorganization in urban areas have a direct bearing on the rates of police use of force. The implications of these findings for research and theory on police use of force are discussed.

Police use of force is at the forefront of public awareness in many countries. Body-worn videos (BWVs) have been proposed as a new way of reducing police use of force, as well as assaults against officers. To date, only a handful of peer-reviewed randomised trials have looked at the effectiveness of BWVs, primarily focusing on use of force and complaints. We sought to replicate these studies, adding assaults against police officers as an additional outcome. Using a prospective meta-analysis of multi-site, multi-national randomised controlled trials from 10 discrete tests with a total population of +2 million, and 2.2 million police officer-hours, we assess the effect of BWVs on the rates of (i) police use of force and (ii) assaults against officers. Averaged over 10 trials, BWVs had no effect on police use of force ( d = 0.021; SE = 0.056; 95% CI: –0.089–0.130), but led to an increased rate of assaults against officers wearing cameras (d = 0.176; SE = 0.058; 95% CI: 0.061–0.290). As there is evidence that cameras may increase the risk of assaults against officers, more attention should be paid to how these devices are implemented. Likewise, since other public-facing organisations are considering equipping their staff with BWVs (e.g. firefighters, private security, traffic wardens), the findings on risks associated with BWVs are transferrable to those occupations as well.

최근 시행에 들어간 우리나라 경찰청의 ｢경찰 물리력 행사의 기준과 방법에관한 규칙｣에는 ‘객관적 합리성의 원칙’이라는 물리력 사용 대원칙이 포함되어 있다. 이 원칙은 우리나라 ｢경찰관직무집행법｣ 규정, 대법원 판례와 더불어 미국 연방대법원 사건 Graham v. Connor(1989)에서 정립한 미국 경찰의물리력 사용 적법성 심사기준을 기반으로 설정되었다. 미국 연방대법원은 경찰물리력 사용의 적법성 심사 시 반드시 치안 현장의 긴박성, 불확실성, 급변성으로 인하여 경찰관이 촌각을 다투는 결정을 내림으로써 객관적으로 합리적인실수를 범할 가능성을 고려하도록 하였으나 실제 그 적용에 있어서 허용 범위는 국내에 잘 알려져 있다. 이러한 배경에서 이 연구에서는 미국 민권법 제1983조 민사소송 사례 중 경찰 물리력 사용 관련 가장 대표적인 실수라 할 수있는 모의 총기 사건 관련 객관적으로 합리적인 실수에 관한 판례 77건을 분석하였다. 분석 결과, 미국 연방법원은 대상자가 소지한 물건이 모의 총기에불과하더라도 대상자의 행위가 경찰관이나 무고한 제3자의 안전에 대한 급박한 위해라고 인정할 만한 상당한 이유가 있는 때에는 경찰관이 대상자를 살상무기 사용으로 사망케 하더라도 미국 민권법 제1983조 상의 민사배상책임을 부여하지 않고 있다. 또한 “합리적인 현장 경찰관의 관점”에 이러한 주변 상황의 긴박성, 불확실성, 급변성을 포함하여 대상자가 실제로는 모의 총기를 휴대하였더라도 만약 진짜 총기일 수 있다는 현장 경찰관의 판단과 그러한 판단을 내리게 된 시간적, 공간적 제약, 현장 상황의 급박성을 모두 고려한 객관적합리성의 원칙을 적용하는 것으로 나타났다. 결론적으로 경찰 물리력 사용 상황에서 경찰관이 객관적으로 합리적인 실수를 범할 가능성의 인정 여부는 경찰 물리력 사용의 불가피성을 그 현장에 있는 합리적인 현장 경찰관의 관점에서 판단하느냐의 문제로 귀결된다The new police use of force guidelines in the Korean National Police Agency contains “objective reasonableness standard” as a major principle that guides its officers regarding proper use of police force. The standard has root in the Korean Police Law, the decisions of the Supreme Court of Korea as well as Graham v. Connor (1989), the landmark decision on police use of force by the U.S. Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court in Graham emphasized that police officers are often forced to make split-second judgment with respect to when to use force and how much force to use when the police-citizen encounters become tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving. However, the concept of objectively reasonable mistake has not been introduced in Korean policing. In this regard, the current study analyzed a total of 77 cases involving police use of force against subjects with a toy gun that were sued under the 42 U.S. Code Section 1983. Upon review, the present study found that police officers who use deadly force to subdue the subject with a toy gun are exempted from liability when the subject causes an imminent danger to police officers or others. The present study also found that the objective reasonableness standard established by the U.S. Supreme Court considers the totality of the circumstances even when police officers used deadly force against citizens who were resisting with a toy gun. In sum, the objective reasonableness standard makes it a rule for the court to consider the circumstances through the immediate perspective of a reasonable police officer on the scene.

Police organisations have a wealth of experience in responding to emergencies, but COVID-19 is unprecedented in terms of the speed, scale and complexity of developing doctrine and its implementation by officers. The crisis also threw into sharp relief the fact that police policy and, crucially, practice are always implemented within wider social, political and economic contexts. Using online survey data collected from 325 police officers based at forces operating across different UK contexts (cities, conurbations, towns and rural areas), we seek to understand officer experiences and perceptions of policing COVID-19. In particular, we examine whether (internally) organisational climate and (externally) the UK government’s response to COVID-19 were important to (a) officers’ support for police use of force at times of emergency, (b) officer’s support for procedurally just policing at times of emergency, and (c) their health and well-being; and whether identification and perceptions of self-legitimacy mediate the associations between these variables. We show that a positive organisational climate was associated with less support for police use of force, more support for procedurally just policing and increased police officer health and well-being. Our results, however, suggest potential negative correlates of police officer self-legitimacy: higher levels of self-legitimacy were associated with poorer police officer health and well-being and increased support for police use of force. These results have important implications for our understanding of police officer well-being and police officers’ commitment to democratic modes of policing when faced with policing a pandemic.

Police officers have the capacity to use legitimate force to attain compliance, and the gravity associated with officers’ decisions to use force has generated a number of studies of the influences on these decisions. Very few studies, however, have focused on the consequences that exposure to police use of force has on suspects. In this study, we use data collected from a nationally representative sample of prison inmates to examine whether exposure to police use of force during their arrest contributes to mental health problems among these inmates, after controlling for relevant covariates including pre-existing mental illness. Findings indicate inmates who were exposed to police use of force during their arrest experienced a greater number of manic and depressive symptoms than inmates who were not exposed to police use of force. The implications of our findings for correctional policy include a consideration of police use of force in needs assessment and recognition of the potential treatment needs of inmates exposed to police use of force during their arrest.

This thesis examines how the tactical decision making of (mainly) German Police Officers was influenced by several factors that are salient in training and operational environments. First, the effects of conventional ammunition (CA) versus non-lethal training ammunition (NLTA) in training settings on psychophysiological parameters and working memory were compared. It was found, that there is no difference in psychophysiological response to a demanding training exercise with regards to different ammunition used. This indicates that there are no differences between CA and NLTA with regards to representativeness of training. Second, a tactical scenario and a physical exercise were compared with regards of the effects on executive functioning. The findings yielded that executive functioning was equally enhanced due to a physical exercise compared to tactical scenario. This leads to the conclusion that cognitive adaptions are probably caused by physical demand. Third, the effects of previous experience in (simulated) violent confrontations on threat-related attentional biases and risk taking were investigated. The results showed, that previous experience as a police officer or a martial artist had no effect on threat-related attentional biases or risk taking. Fourth, the impact of ego depletion on police officers when provoked by a role player in a scenario were quantitatively assessed. The findings revealed that a state of ego depletion shortened the time when police officers displayed offensive aggression towards a provocative role player compared to non-depleted officers. Taken together the current work provided evidence, that: (a) tactical decision making of officers is influenced by physiological load and ego depletion, and (b) the use of CA and NLTA does not influence psychophysiological demand. In line with previous research on human defensive behaviour, the observed cognitive shifts under conditions of threat can be interpreted as an adaptive behaviour in order to cope with the demand at hand. However, the current results indicate that these cognitive shifts may be mediated by physiological arousal. Further research is needed to further clarify this relationship. With regards to threat-related attentional bias, the current work indicates that current paradigms probably are not capable of capturing functional threat- related attentional bias. Furthermore, it could be argued, that current training settings do not provide enough valid cues in order to learn functional threat- related attentional bias. Therefore, future work should employ more valid cues in the context of police use of force to further investigate the development of functional threat-related attentional bias. Concerning ego depletion and self-regulation, the current work for the first time demonstrates that depleted self-control resources transfer to observable physical aggression. Since there is evidence that self-control performance varies across contexts the obtained results are important for both the aggression and the police use of force domain. As such the results are in line with current theories of self-control. From a practical perspective the results shed light on the design of representative learning and testing environment in the police of force domain: The use of NLTA in the police use of force training should be broadened at the expense of CA, allowing for safer and more representative training settings. Furthermore, police training should emphasize enhancing physical fitness and self-control. However, further research aiming at developing self- control in the police use of force context is clearly needed.

This paper examines how U.S. adults define police use-of-force and what these understandings of police violence mean for police–civilian interactions. Our findings show that public attitude is split between pro- and anti-law enforcement stances. Pro-law enforcement individuals see use-of-force as something that is part of the job for police officers, associate the term with positive emotions, and give the benefit of the doubt to police officers while engaging in victim blaming. Anti-law enforcement individuals associate the term with negative emotions, weapon imagery, injustice, racial bias, abuse of power, and harm or death. Young, democratic-leaning, lower socio-economic status individuals with prior police contact are most likely to express anti-law enforcement attitudes. Using communication accommodation theory, we recommend police officers adapt their communication to be more accommodating to the needs, concerns, and fears of civilians, particularly marginalized individuals. This approach may help create more accommodating, less violent police–civilian interactions.

최근 들어 경찰 물리력 사용과 관련하여 지구대 파출소 외근경찰관 휴대무기 체계의 흠결로 인하여 경찰 과잉 물리력 사용 및 현장 대응 능력 저하 가능성을 지적하는 연구가 발표되고 있다. 선행연구에 따르면 지난 2014년 30대 만취 여성에 대한 경찰 총기 사용 사건, 2015년 파출소장 공기총 피격 사망 사건, 2016년 서울 오패산 경찰관 사제총기 피격 사망 사건에서 발생한 경찰의 물리력 과다 사용 및 현장 대응 능력 부족의 근본 원인으로 현행 외근경찰관 2인 1조 조별 근무 및 권총, 테이저건 등 필수휴대무기 분리 휴대, 경찰봉 선택휴대 정책이 지적된다. 이에 대한 대책으로 미국 내 절대다수의 경찰관서에서 실제 채택하고 있는 “경찰 물리력 사용 연속체”를 따라 우리나라 역시 외근경찰관 1인이 권총, 테이저건, 호신용 최루액 분사기, 삼단봉 일체를 휴대하는 개선안이 등장하였다. 이 연구에서는 우리나라 지구대 파출소 외근경찰 휴대무기 체계 개선안이 과잉 물리력 사용을 억제하고 현장 대응 능력을 향상시킬 수 있는지에 대해 일선 지구대 파출소 외근경찰관들을 상대로 가상 시나리오를 활용하여 휴대무기 체계 조합에 따른 대처 방법의 차이를 계량적으로 분석하였다. 분석 결과, 외근경찰관 1인이 단독으로 깨진 유리병을 들고 저항하는 피의자를 경찰관이 권총만 휴대한 경우에 비해 경찰관이 권총 및 삼단봉을 휴대한 경우 총기 의존도가 상당 수준 감소하고 피의자에게 적절한 대응을 하지 못해 경력 지원을 요청하고 현장 상황만 그대로 유지하겠다는 소극적 대응 역시 감소하여 보다 강력한 법집행이 가능한 것으로 나타났다. 이러한 결과는 외근경찰관이 테이저건만 휴대한 경우와 테이저건과 삼단봉을 동시에 휴대한 경우 비교에서도 동일하게 나타나 지구대 파출소 외근경찰관이 실제 휴대하는 경찰장비의 종류를 다양화함으로써 불필요한 물리력 사용을 억제하고 대상자 및 경찰관의 부상을 최소화할 수 있는 경찰 휴대무기 체계 개선 필요성을 계량적으로 증명한다 하겠다. 이 연구는 향후 경찰 물리력 사용과 관련된 정책적 제안 및 후속연구의 필요성에 대해서도 논의하였다.Recently, a paucity of research has continued to suggest that the deficit in the police weapon-carrying system of the Korean Police Agency may contribute to not only officers’ use of excessive force but insufficient response to citizens’ resistance to the police. According to prior research analyses, a series of police use of force incidents involving two deaths of police officers implicate the problems of the current police weapon-carrying system where a single police officer carries either a handgun or a taser while he or she selectively carries a baton. As a countermeasure, prior research has suggested that the Korean National Police Agency should adopt the practices of “police use of force continuum” in American policing and implement a policy that requires each police officer to carry a handgun as well as a variety of non-lethal force options including a taser, an Oleoresin Capsicum spray, and a baton. The current study, using hypothetical police-citizen encounter scenarios, attempted to analyze the effectiveness of the police weapon-carrying proposal with respect to its ability to minimize police use of excessive force and to widen officers’ options when responding to citizens’ resistance. Upon analysis, the current study found that police officers, encountering a citizen holding a broken bottle, are less likely to rely on the deadly force option when they carry both a handgun and a baton compared to when they carry only a handgun. Furthermore, the present study also found that police officers equipped with more force options are less likely to retreat and just wait for backups to arrive. In case of the comparison between officers carrying only a taser and a taser and a baton, the current analysis showed the exactly same pattern. Therefore, the present study confirmed that the revision of the current police weapon-carrying system can reduce chances of using excessive police force and maximize the police ability to handle citizen resistance in a safer manner. Finally, the current study discussed policy implications and future research suggestions.

Debates on key features of policing are far from settled and are highly politicized. However, a majority of the public favors the use of body cameras when asked whether they favor or oppose their use. Knowing that “favoring” overall might encompass several perspectives, we sought to document how frequently the public thought police should use body cameras: all the time with no exceptions, all the time with minimal exceptions, some of the time, or never. We were then confronted with a perennial survey design issue—how to order these response options in our web survey? We randomly assigned respondents to receive one of two response option orderings: from “never” to “all the time with no exceptions” and the reverse. Because we asked respondents about their support for or attitudes about items related to policing, we had the opportunity to examine the concurrent validity of each of the two versions of the item by examining their correlation with the related items. Overall, the results suggest when polling about police use of body cameras in terms of relative frequencies, the response options should be ordered starting with “never” or the lowest frequency.

The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) of Ontario is a civilian police oversight agency responsible for investigating serious incidents involving police officers and civilians, with the power to charge police officers with criminal offences. Created in 1990, the SIU is considered a pioneer in civilian-led oversight, however, little is known about how the SIU conducts investigations, the complainants in these investigations, and the routine work of this oversight agency. This article examines a variety of indicators to document the work and activity of the SIU, illustrating important aspects of the agency’s performance in the process. Important trends regarding the nature of police misconduct, violence, and use of lethal force are analysed. Our study uncovers previously unknown trends regarding complainants in SIU investigations, including the prevalence of certain characteristics like known mental health disabilities and the relationship between the substantiation of complaints by the SIU and the criminal activity of the complainant. This study empirically documents the nature of police cooperation with oversight. By analysing different indicators of agency performance and work, this study makes an important contribution to the study of police oversight in general, and the findings hold value for understanding police use of force, the nature of police criminality and misconduct, and the functioning of civilian police oversight in practice.

The Justice in Policing Act of 2020 propose mandatory body cameras for all uniformed federal officers in the United State. Advocates of this policy insist the practice will enhance police accountability and has the potential to also reduce police misconduct. In the same vein, advocates of mandatory liability insurance for police officers argue the policy will likely deter police officers from engaging in misconduct. How effective these policies are in enhancing police accountability and reducing police misconduct remains debatable. This paper examined the arguments for whether or not police body cameras have positively influenced police officers’ behavior based on an extensive literature analysis of the issue and some informal interviews with police officers. We make a case in this paper however, that body cameras alone will not deter police officers from engaging in misconduct. In line with the Rational Choice theories, police officers are more likely to restrain their actions if they know they will be held personally liable for their actions, and that is why we concur with the advocates of mandatory police liability insurance. Other provided arguments for the increase in police misconduct and that need to be addressed, include lapses in screening out psychologically unstable police applicants must be undertaken. Further contributing to police misconduct according to some critics is the unintended consequences of recent court pronouncements that seem to have watered down the exclusionary rule.

Body-worn cameras (BWCs) are small devices that police officers can affix to their person—in a head-, shoulder-, or chest-mounted position—that can audio and video record their interactions with community members. BWCs have received strong support from the public and, in recent years, widespread buy-in from police leadership and officers because of their ability to improve accountability and transparency and enhance the collection of evidence. Implementation guidelines recommend that officers activate their BWCs during each officer–citizen interaction and inform the people they encounter that they are being recorded. Early research on this technology found that officers equipped with body cameras were significantly less likely to engage in force and receive citizen complaints. However, more recent studies with larger samples have had mixed findings about the impact of body cameras on use of force, citizen complaints, and other police activities and behaviors. Numerous legal and ethical considerations are associated with BWCs, including their implications for privacy concerns and public disclosure. However, police officials, policymakers, civil rights groups, and the public must continue to weigh these privacy concerns against the potential for BWCs to enhance police accountability and transparency. Future scholarship should focus on the degree to which BWCs can improve police–community relations and yield valuable evidence for both criminal cases and internal investigations.