The pandemic and police use of force: an analysis of disaggregated metrics, concentrated disadvantage, and COVID-19 mitigation efforts in Chicago

Abstract

ABSTRACT The study examines the effects of COVID−19 on the use of police force in Chicago, IL. It utilizes various measures of police use of force, disaggregated by levels of severity, and explores how those metrics changed in high versus low concentrated disadvantage police districts in the city. The interrupted time series analysis found that low and intermediate uses of police force decreased significantly during the pandemic, although those results were conditioned by the stage of mitigation efforts and the level of concentrated disadvantage. The pandemic, however, did not significantly affect the use of police force involving firearms. From a public policy perspective, the results demonstrate the imperative to maintain consistent scrutiny on police uses of force, the policy that guides those actions, and how both have been affected by the pandemic, which has transpired during an ongoing crisis of police legitimacy in the United States.