Police Behavior Research Articles

Majoritarian values and women’s rights: police and judicial behavior in Tajikistan and Azerbaijan

This paper analyzes judicial and police behavior in dealing with cases of family violence and divorce in Tajikistan and Azerbaijan. Police and judges deliberately violate existing legal provisions to prevent women from divorcing or filing charges against their husbands in cases of domestic violence. While the law does not recognize religious marriages in Tajikistan, judges often rule to protect women’s living space after the dissolution of such unions. Drawing on rich interview and archival data, this behavior is explained by showing that judicial and police behavior reflects their biases, which in turn are a reflection of majoritarian norms in these countries. Since current laws are derived from Soviet codes, which were never internalized by the population, police and judges bend them to fit their understanding of social justice.

Race, Gender, and Responses to the Police Among Ferguson Residents and Protesters

A large body of research has examined police behavior toward citizens and shown that police practices are geographically patterned. Disadvantaged neighborhoods are more likely to receive punitive p...

Impact of a Judicial System Reform on Police Behavior: Evidence on Juvenile Crime in Colombia

This paper uses a natural experiment to identify the impact of a judicial system reform on police behavior. The study finds that, after a decrease in the severity of judicial punishment imposed on Colombian adolescents, arrest rates for adolescents in most misdemeanor crimes decreased due to a change in police behavior. The magnitude of this effect ranged between 0.08 to 0.321 standard deviations. The uncertainty on how to operate the new system, the lack of training, and the potential disciplinary sanctions led police officials to reduce arrest rates. Nonetheless, police forces learned gradually how to operate within the new system and adjusted their operations, countervailing the initial negative impact on arrest rates. We present suggestive evidence that the reduction in arrest rates and the lower sanctions increased crime incidents in cities with a large proportion of adolescents in their population. Qualitative evidence collected in focus groups with police officials supports the principal quantitative findings and contextualize the obstacles that led to the decrease in arrest rates and the perceived increase of juvenile crime based on the officials’ experiences in the streets.

Acts that Legitimate: Widening the Array of Predicate Policing Practices

Procedural justice theory predicts a relationship between police behavior, individuals’ normative evaluation of police, and decisions to comply with laws. Yet, prior studies of procedural justice have rather narrowly defined the potentially relevant predicates of police behavior. This study expands the scope of procedural justice theory by considering a broad array of policing components, including unobserved actions such as electronic surveillance, respecting the limits of one’s legal authority, and the unequal or equal distribution of policing resources between different groups. Analyzing data from a national probability sample of adults in England and Wales, we (a) present a comprehensive investigation of the heterogeneous elements of policing related to legitimacy judgments and (b) contribute to debate about the nature of legitimacy.

Transparency and Truth during Custodial Interrogations and Beyond

Transparency and Truth during Custodial Interrogations and Beyond

Policing Race, Gender, and Sex: A Review of Law Enforcement Policies

Growing attention to the unique ways in which women of color’s bodies are racially profiled and policed has prompted questions concerning gender-specific impacts of law enforcement practices. Arrest statistics, patterns of enforcement, and high-profile cases of police violence against Black women and other women of color suggest that gaps in policy and implementation will disproportionately affect women of color. In the current research, the policies of 36 police departments across the country were examined to ascertain the degree to which they address profiling, police sexual misconduct, and other gendered experiences of policing. The findings reveal considerable divergence in attention to regulating police behavior in the context of interactions with women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, exposing important gaps in police policies, and highlight a need for further research and action specifically focused on intersectional factors at play in the context of policing women’s bodies.

Police ethics and integrity: can a new code overturn the blue code?

ABSTRACTThis paper analyses police officer perspectives on the seriousness of potential misconduct or unethical behaviour, and the factors that might shape whether they would report their colleagues’ misdemeanours. It compares responses from police officers in UK three forces, looking at potentially corrupt behaviours described in a series of scenarios. The discussion includes why some types of misdemeanour seem more likely to be reported and the potential effects of a newly introduced formal Code of Ethics. In terms of differences between ranks and roles, and different responses from different services, the study suggests that the way police culture operates is significant and needs to be more widely addressed. The study used scenario-based questionnaires to elicit views about the seriousness of certain police behaviours and to ask whether officers would report colleagues’ misdemeanours. It develops a previous survey by one of the authors which conducted a similar survey published in 2005. Using the same questionnaire the new study examined a larger and more diverse sample of serving officers (n = 520). This new study compares responses from police officers in three UK forces, geographically distributed across the country and have differing characteristics in terms of size, rurality, population density and policing priorities.

General strain and police misconduct: the role of organizational influence

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the utility of general strain theory in explaining the relationship between organizational stress and police deviance. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from a non-random sample of 1,389 police officers in three large cities in Texas. The survey instrument used for this research was the Police Work Experience Survey. Results from regression analyses are presented. Findings Findings showed that the organization influenced police misconduct, but misconduct was dependent upon the specific type of strain encountered. Research limitations/implications Results show that instances of police deviance depend on the types of strains encountered. Additionally, anger plays a significant role when examining organizational strain. Police administrators should move to reduce organizational strains to reduce instances of police misconduct. Originality/value Currently, there is very little theoretical work in understanding police misconduct. And no studies have drawn linkages between organizational stressors and self-reported officer misconduct. At a time when police behavior is at the forefront of the social policy reform, the examination of potential correlates of police misconduct is the first step toward controlling it.

American Policing and the Danger Imperative

Despite the fact that policing is growing safer in the United States, the danger associated with police work continues to structure departmental training and police behavior. This article describes how police are socialized into a cultural frame conceptualized as the danger imperative—the preoccupation with violence and the provision of officer safety—and the unintended, deadly consequences of their perception through it. Using nearly 1000 hours of participant observation and 94 interviews across three urban police departments, the author demonstrates that officers are formally and informally socialized into this frame, and learn both policy-sanctioned and policy-deviant behaviors to protect themselves from violence. However, policy-deviant behavior such as not wearing a seatbelt when driving, though justified as necessary to allow officers to defend themselves from violence, places officers at grave risk of injury and death in high-speed car crashes.

Policing in austerity: time to go lean?

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to consider the way in which the police service in England and Wales may be able to deal with significant cuts in government funding. The concept of “lean”, as developed in Japanese manufacturing in the 1950s, is proposed as a method by which waste can be reduced at the same time as improvements being made in policing outcomes. Characteristics of police culture and leadership are presented as potential blockages to the successful implementation of lean. Design/methodology/approach This paper reviews literature within the sphere of operations management, policing and organisational behaviour to make appropriate recommendations. A case study, considering the performance challenges facing the Metropolitan Police Service in London, is provided to aid understanding and act as a catalyst for further discussion and research. Findings This paper argues that the simplistic approach to managing austerity so far has been short sighted – rather than considering the longer term development of policing and how a methodology such as lean may be better placed to deliver genuine improvements in public service, whilst also meeting unprecedented fiscal challenges. Originality/value Consideration of lean within public sector management has received recent scrutiny, but very little is offered in terms of the opportunities that lean thinking can offer within policing.

The Revolution Might Not Be Televised (But It Will Be Lived Streamed)

Fiery nationwide protests in response to a recent string of dubious police killings of unarmed Black men have sparked a renewed social movement, drawing increased attention to fragile police–minority relations and allegations of racial bias in the criminal justice system. A wealth of research exists concerning African American youths’ accounts of poor treatment at the hands of police. To a lesser extent, prior scholarship reveals the importance of looking beyond citizens’ direct police experiences to family, peer, and mainstream media accounts of negative police encounters. Scholarly examinations of social media regarding how individuals make sense of their own and others’ experiences with, and attitudes toward police are limited, however. This is surprising given that social media has become especially important for youths and represents a new mechanism for the American public to learn about unsettling police behaviors. Moreover, social media represents a largely untapped, but potentially rich data source for researchers and policy makers. Special consideration is given to the role that the Black Lives Matter movement plays for obtaining improved understandings of police–minority relations and informing criminal justice.

“Get off me”: Perceptions of disrespectful police behaviour among ethnic minority youth gang members

Recent media accounts have highlighted issues of use and abuse of police force and policing practices targeted at ethnic minorities within inner city areas. To date, little research has focussed specifically on the experiences and perceptions of youth gang members in dealing with police. Using data from 253 in-depth interviews with ethnic minority San Francisco-based youth gang members, we examine perceptions of respectful and disrespectful police behaviour. Premised on a procedural justice model, we explore how frequently disrespectful police behaviour is reported and how these negative experiences shape gang members’ attitudes towards the police more generally. We refine our investigation by comparing adverse encounters to examples in which gang members are treated respectfully. Using a data-driven inductive and qualitative theory testing deductive approach, our data revealed that male and female gang members regularly experience disrespectful police behaviour in terms of physical and verbal abuse. Our findings indicate that these exchanges contribute to negative attitudes, fear and distrust of police, while respectful interactions are meaningful and can contribute to positive attitudes towards officers.

Explaining Dosage Diffusion During Hot Spot Patrols: An Application of Optimal Foraging Theory to Police Officer Behavior

Drawing from the concepts of optimal foraging theory, this paper presents and tests the assumptions of a foraging theory of police behavior during hot spots patrols. The theory explains why, over time, officers involved in hot spots policing interventions would leave the hot spots they are assigned to police and begin working within other locations. We test what factors influence the amounts of activity that officers undertake outside of their assigned hot spots and at nearby streets using data gathered as part of the Philadelphia Foot Patrol Experiment. Officers performed more activity outside of their beats as the experiment progressed. Several theoretically relevant variables predict the level of activity that officers perform outside their beats, including the size of the target area and the amounts of crime occurring within and outside of the target area. “Dosage diffusion” might be one reason why hot spot interventions have diminishing effects over time. From an optimal foraging theory perspective, hot spots requiring police officers to constrain their actions to pre-defined areas can be perceived as counter-intuitive by the officers, especially over extended periods of time. The results of this study support the suggestion that hot spots patrols should be short-term and randomly rotated across hot spots.

Evaluating the relative impact of positive and negative encounters with police: a randomized experiment

Examines the influence of positive, negative, and neutral police behavior during traffic stops on citizen perceptions of police. Participants were randomly assigned to view a video clip of a simulated traffic stop in which the officer communicates with the driver in a positive (procedurally just), negative (procedurally unjust), or neutral manner. After viewing the video, participants completed a survey about their perceptions of police, including their level of trust in police, obligation to obey police orders, and willingness to cooperate with police. Observing positive interactions with police enhanced people’s self-reported willingness to cooperate with police, obligation to obey police and the law, and trust and confidence in police, whereas observing negative interactions undermined these outcomes. The effects of these interactions were much stronger for encounter-specific outcomes than for more general outcomes. The results from this randomized experiment confirm that procedural justice can enhance people’s prosocial attitudes toward police, whereas procedural injustice can undermine these attitudes. While positive (procedurally just) interactions tend to have weaker effects than negative (procedurally unjust) interactions, this study finds little support for the notion that only negative experiences shape people’s views about the police.

Bringing War Home: Violent Crime, Police Killings and the Overmilitarization of the US Police

The withdrawal from the Afghan and Iraqi war led to the arrival of huge quantities of military equipment to the US. Many of this equipment, now unused by the military, have been redistributed to police departments via a program called 1033. In this paper I study the causal effect on criminal activity and police behavior of the militarization of the police through this program. I do so by taking into account that military equipment are stored in various disposition centers. Police departments do not pay for the cost of item but have to cover all transportation costs. I then use the distance to a disposition center and the timing of the US withdrawal from the wars in an instrumental variable setting. Estimates show that military equipment reduces violent crime and is responsible for 60% of the rapid drop observed since 2007. More than one third of the effect is caused by the displacement of violent crime to neighboring areas. Because police departments do not take into account this externality when making militarization decision they overmilitarize. Finally, I show that police militarization increases police killings and that all of the recent increase is due to program 1033. Because of militarization, the police has killed 2200 people.

Expanding Appropriatee Police Behavior Beyond Procedural Justice: Bounded Authority & the Legitimation of the Law

This paper draws upon recent work in the field of legal socialization (Trinkner & Tyler, in press; Tyler & Trinkner, in press) to expand previous conceptualizations of appropriate police behavior beyond procedural justice. The focus of the current study is on the role of bounded authority – i.e. respecting the limits of one’s power – and its association with perceptions of police legitimacy, legal legitimacy, and compliance. Using survey data from a nationally representative sample of US adults, we show that concerns over bounded authority, respectful treatment, and neutral decision-making combine to form a strong predictor of police and legal legitimacy. Additionally, legal legitimacy is associated with greater compliance behavior, even while controlling for personal morality and perceived likelihood of sanctions. Our conclusions address some future directions of research, particularly in the extension of procedural justice theory.

Tension of interaction order: infringement and mobilization of the umbrella movement

Purpose This study aims at exploring the mobilization of the Umbrella Movement and examining how the interplay of emotion and meaning contribute to a mass occupation via the mass media and social media. It proposes a model of emotional mobilization and explains how and why the perception of eviction is capable of triggering the subsequent collective political action through moral shock on bystanders. Design/methodology/approach The paper is an exploratory study and adopts the method of semi-structured interview. It interviewed 31 participants of the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong. The data were complemented by discourse analysis of video clips and participation observation of conflict scenes between protestors and police. Findings This study provides insights on how a potential participant can be motivated to participate in a social movement, after perceiving violent behaviors of police on other people. It suggests that moral outrage can be generated when people realizes a dramatic difference between expected behaviors and perceived behaviors of police officers through watching live broadcast or video clips. It also suggests that the shared social identity between protestors, police and perceivers provides the ground for the perceivers to feel angry and believe they are obliged to response to the situation. Research limitations/implications Because of the method and approach, the study may lack generalizability. However, researchers can test the proposed propositions by applying the model to other unexpected mobilization of social movement in history, or expand the model by studying the mobilizing power of direct and indirect perception of eviction, and the examine responses of the same physical conflict from people with different social identities. Originality/value This study explains how the mobilization of a social movement is possible despite the failure of mobilization by activists. It also complements the idea of moral shock by grounding such process on interaction order.

‘I’d like to see your identity cards please’ – Negotiating authority in police–adolescent encounters: Findings from a mixed-method study of proactive police practices towards adolescents in two German cities

Next to exclusionary and discriminatory practices in other live domains, tense police–adolescent relations and the treatment of ethnic minority adolescents by the police are discussed as the foremost trigger for urban riots across Europe. Discretionary identity checks and ‘stop and search’ practices are particularly contentious. Situated in a country that has not experienced urban riots by marginalized and ethnic minority young people yet, our study investigates the impact of police behaviour, in particular stop and search practices, on the quality of interactions between police and young people in Germany. The study is based on extensive participant observation of police patrols, in-depth interviews with police officers and a large-scale standardized youth survey. Qualitative and quantitative evidence unequivocally suggest the absence of discriminatory practices by the police based on the ethnic background of adolescents and an overall positive character of police–adolescent relations. However, transparency – explaining the reasons for police actions – and adhering to formal rules cannot be said to be the primary attributes of the proactive control actions we observed. Rather, informal adaption strategies seemed to prevail. These findings shed new light on the question of how police authority is negotiated on the streets and contribute to the search for causes of violent protests against the police.

Sexual Orientation Bias Crimes

LGBT hate crimes are typically more violent and involve greater victim injury as compared to other victimizations, but they are substantially underreported. Victim reluctance to contact law enforcement may arise from perceptions of police bias. This study explores victim–police interactions, specifically reporting to the police, perceived police bias among victims who did not report, and differential police behavior among victims who reported. Using multiple years of National Crime Victimization Survey data, sexual orientation bias victimizations are compared with other forms of victimization. Logit regression models are examined before and after the Matthew Shepard Act. The pattern of results indicate that in the years following progressive policy reforms, LGBT bias victims continue to perceive the police as biased. Results do not significantly differ between sexual orientation bias victims and victims of other types of crime regarding police reporting and differential police response. Implications for policing efforts with the LGBT community are discussed.

An Insurance-Based Typology of Police Misconduct

Not all police misconduct is the same, and different institutional regimes might manage different sorts of misconduct most effectively. This Article surveys the universe of police malfeasance from the perspective of an important but underappreciated regulatory regime: liability insurance. Nearly all but the very largest municipalities buy insurance that covers claims alleging police misconduct. In assuming the financial risk of bad police behavior, the insurers become motivated to prevent it. Criminal procedure scholarship almost entirely overlooks the salutary regulatory influence these insurers may have on police activity. Yet insurance is no panacea. Indeed, a principal aim of this Article is to probe the limits of the insurance mechanism — the places where the effects of insurance on policing are likely weak or even perverse. This exercise points us toward a typology of misconduct, along with a corresponding set of plausible approaches for reducing the occurrence of each of the types identified. In particular, the Article distinguishes varieties of police misconduct based on (1) the dollar-value of the legal claims to which they give rise and (2) the length of the delay between when the misconduct occurs and when a legal claim is typically filed. The typology suggests, among other things, that the insurance regime is a plausible surrogate for some governmental regulation of police violence but not, at present, of the sorts of misconduct that lead to wrongful convictions.