Stress Exacerbates Shooting Errors Among Police Officers

Abstract

Numerous studies have demonstrated that racial bias influences the decision to fire weapons for non-police officer samples. However, little evidence exists about how these biases operate under stressful situations. We investigated police officers’ decisions to shoot Black and White targets carrying guns or objects in a computer simulation. Officers’ decisions were examined under a stressful context in which the two primary stress systems were activated and under no-stress conditions. Results revealed that under stress, officers made more errors in their shooting decisions compared to no-stress conditions. However, officers were no more likely to make errors based on target race under stress compared to no-stress. Instead, under stress as cortisol increased, officers made fewer errors with armed Black targets, suggesting that HPA activation exacerbates vigilance for threat cues. This study demonstrates the importance of examining how hot situations can influence decision making even among highly trained police officers.