Community Policing Policies and the Use of Lethal Force: Revisiting the Effects of Policing Policies on Police Department Organizational Culture

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this research, we examine whether community policing policies (CPPs), community policing training for new recruits or regular community policing training, impact who is killed by a law enforcement officer in terms of the victim’s race. We seek to present one of the few empirical studies of evidence on whether community policing has the potential to address racial disparities. Using a unique dataset and multinomial logistic models, we found that the presence of community policing policies does not reduce the relative likelihood of law enforcement officers using lethal force against minority citizens. However, we did find evidence that white police officers who received at least eight hours of community policing training were negatively associated with using lethal force against black suspects. We suggest that strategies to improve the effectiveness of CPPs are necessary, and these efforts will contribute to improving the perceived legitimacy of policing agencies and addressing the disproportionate killings of minority residents.