Abstract
Little is known about the potential health impact of police encounters despite a ubiquitous police presence in many disadvantaged urban environments. In this paper, we assess whether persistent or aggressive interactions with the police are associated with poor mental health outcomes in a sample of primarily low-income communities of colour in Chicago. Between March 2015 and September 2016, we surveyed 1543 adults in ten diverse Chicago communities using a multistage probability design. The survey had over 350 questions on health and social factors, including police exposure and mental health status. We use sex-stratified logistic regression to examine associations between persistent police exposure (defined as a high number of lifetime police stops) or aggressive police exposure (defined as threat or use of police force during the respondent's most recent police stop) and the presence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or depressive symptoms. Men reporting a high number of lifetime police stops have three times greater odds of current PTSD symptoms compared with men who did not report high lifetime police stops (OR 3.1, 95% CI 1.3-7.6), after adjusting for respondent age, race/ethnicity, education, history of homelessness, prior diagnosis of PTSD and neighbourhood violent crime rate. Women reporting a high number of lifetime police stops have two times greater odds of current PTSD symptoms, although the results are not statistically significant after adjustment (OR 2.0, 95% CI 0.9-4.2). Neither persistent nor aggressive police exposure is significantly associated with current depressive symptoms in our sample. Our findings support existing preliminary evidence of an association between high lifetime police stops and PTSD symptoms. If future research can confirm as causal, these results have considerable public health implications given the frequent interaction between police and residents in disadvantaged communities in large urban areas.
Highlights
Aggressive policing tactics, such as stop-and-frisk and excessive use of force, routinely occur in many urban environments, disadvantaged communities of colour (Ayres and Borowsky, 2008; American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, 2015; Department of Justice, 2017)
Using a population-based survey, we examine associations between persistent or aggressive police exposure, measured as number of lifetime police stops or threat or use of force during the respondent’s most recent police stop, respectively, with current post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depressive symptoms among men and women in several diverse Chicago communities
Our findings suggest a potential association between persistent police exposure and current mental health status
Summary
Aggressive policing tactics, such as stop-and-frisk and excessive use of force, routinely occur in many urban environments, disadvantaged communities of colour (Ayres and Borowsky, 2008; American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, 2015; Department of Justice, 2017). Such tactics can trigger mistrust and emotional distress among marginalised populations that disproportionately experience them, including racial/ethnic minority groups and immigrants (Fagan and Davies, 2000; Brunson, 2007; Ayres and Borowsky, 2008; Brunson and Weitzer, 2009; American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, 2015). Repeated exposure to discrimination may increase stress levels, activating a perpetual stress response (Williams and Williams-Morris, 2000; Sawyer et al, 2012)
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