Use Of Force Incidents Research Articles

Police body worn cameras: a mixed method approach assessing perceptions of efficacy

Purpose The importance of body-worn cameras (BWC) in policing cannot be overstated. This is not a hyperbolic statement – use of force incidents in Ferguson and Baltimore, the ensuing riots, coupled with critical long term implications for police community relations demonstrate the need for BWC data. Few studies have been published on the use of BWCs and little is known about officer perceptions, administrator decision making, and agency use of BWC data. No published studies incorporate qualitative data, which lends important context and depth, in the interpretation of officer survey data. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach The current study presents a mixed-method study of a large university police agency prior to full implementation of BWC. A survey of patrol officers and supervisors, using a census approach with near full participation, coupled with focus group interviews, produced data on perceptions, concerns, and expectations of full BWC implementation. Findings Findings point to officer concerns regarding the utilization of BWC data and administrative expectations regarding complaint reduction and officer assessment. Originality/value Important implications regarding training and policy are presented. BWC data represent an important tool for agency decision makers but have numerous potential negative uses. Understanding officer concerns juxtaposed with administrator expectations, through both survey and qualitative data, advance the knowledge on BWC.

Cheapening Death

The police have come under fire recently as videos showing their use of force are heavily publicized in public and social media. The President's Task Force on 21st-century policing, though useful in reviewing current issues, fails to effectively address the use of force problem by not considering the power of informal police culture and the way in which street police perceive dangers. Exaggerating the dangers of the job, perception and responses to dangers by street police, and a lack of legal and managerial oversight of use of force and shooting and arrest situations are pointed to as major factors in why deadly use of force incidents occur. Recommendations on how to minimize such incidents even further are delineated.

The impact of law enforcement officer perceptions of organizational justice on their attitudes regarding body-worn cameras

Civil unrest following recent questionable officer involved shootings and other use of force incidents has prompted public demands for police officers to be equipped with body-worn video cameras (BWCs). As a result of these demands, agencies across the US are rapidly acquiring the devices. While BWCs are widely assumed to be effective tools to document police/citizen encounters, increase law enforcement transparency, and improve both officer and citizen behavior, relatively little research has been conducted in regard to their actual impact. While some preliminary studies have examined officer attitudes concerning the devices, specific factors that potentially affect officer attitudes concerning BWCs and ultimately their level of ‘buy-in’ have not been examined. The concept of organizational justice is likely one such factor. Through the administration of a survey to a sample of 201 law enforcement officers from four Midwestern and Southern region agencies and those in attendance at regional continuing education venues, the relationship between organizational justice and officer attitudes regarding BWCs is examined. Analysis with structural equation modeling indicates that officer perceptions of organizational justice are a significant factor in terms of their attitudes regarding BWCs.

Body-worn video: A systematic review of literature

Law enforcement use of video-based technology has substantially increased over the past decade. This systematic review examines the current evidence base for efficacy of body-worn video and the current case for implementation. Five articles were identified as pertinent to this review from a search of five electronic databases, with a further six articles of grey literature included. Inter-rater reliability was high amongst three independent screeners of literature. Articles were short listed for review if they explicitly identified police and recording devices as topic areas. Articles were then excluded if they did not involve an operational trial of body-worn video. Eleven articles were included for review; of the five peer-reviewed studies, two were randomised controlled trials. An abundance of evidence was provided; however, the majority of articles were methodologically weak. Body-worn video was shown to reduce use of force incidents, crime rates for certain crime types and court costs. Public response to body-worn video was varied, as was police officer and public opinion. Due to methodological limitations evident in most studies and the general lack of peer-reviewed material, further research is required; however, there are some considerable benefits reported in the current literature.

Beyond Section 49: Control of the use of lethal force

Prominent incidents of the misuse of lethal force have contributed to the issue becoming a focus of concern in South Africa during 2011. Proper control of the use of lethal force needs to be prioritised by the South African Police Service and other police agencies in South Africa because of the serious consequences that can result from its use, but also because it is so important to police safety. The legal framework relating to the use of lethal force is the subject of a Bill which is due to come before Parliament. There are various options for amending the law but irrespective of which ones are chosen, the end result is likely to be unsatisfactory. Improvements in the control of the use of lethal force and how professionally it is used by SAPS members will ultimately depend on a reorientation of the SAPS in its approach to managing the use of lethal force by its members. A use of force policy, and a new system for reviewing use of force incidents could form part of such a reorientation, with potential benefits for police and civilian safety and for overall police effectiveness. These changes would require the support of police leadership in order to be implemented effectively.

Police Use of Less Lethal Force: Does Administrative Policy Matter?

Scholars have long theorized that constraining police officer discretion via organizational policy improves decision-making. Empirically, prior research shows that more restrictive lethal force policies result in a reduction in the number of police shootings and in racial disparity. Yet, researchers have never examined the impact of less lethal force policies in relation to the full spectrum of less lethal force tactics. In addressing this research void, we examine 3,340 use of force incidents from three US agencies, each varying in terms of policy direction and restrictiveness. The results consistently show that officers working within the most restrictive policy framework used force less readily than officers who operated within more permissive policy environments. Hence, police administrators wishing to reduce coercion should consider the potential effect that a more restrictive policy may have on such behavior.

Why cops kill: The psychology of police deadly force encounters

The use of any kind of physical force is by far the exception in most police–citizen interactions, and deadly force encounters are rarer still. Police officers use deadly force when they believe they have no choice in order to protect human life—their own or that of other citizens. Any force, however mild or severe, that goes beyond the level necessary to preserve life, prevent injury, or safely control the scene constitutes excessive force. Police officers characteristically restrain their use of force with citizens, sometimes at the cost of their own safety. However, certain types of attitudes, personalities, and job experiences may render some officers more prone to use force in police–citizen encounters, and certain emotional and behavioral features of police–citizen confrontations may eventuate in a tipping point, where force is then deployed. Special circumstances may attend suicide by cop incidents, where disturbed citizens manipulate officers into killing them. Altered patterns of thought and perception often occur in the minds of officers during a deadly force encounter, and the aftermath of such an incident may include both administrative and psychological consequences. Certain racial and ethnic groups—of both police and citizens—may be disproportionately represented in use of force incidents. However, these are mainly related to the demographics of criminal behavior and officer assignment in various communities, and there is no evidence that police systematically target members of certain ethnic groups for more forceful confrontations, unless the situation itself requires it. Certain features of selection, education, training, discipline, and supervision of police officers can help weed out bad cops, improve police–citizen communication, and further reduce the incidence of use of force, including deadly force, encounters.

Citizen complaints and gender diversity in police organisations

Using data from 464 law enforcement agencies drawn from the Law Enforcement Administrative and Management Statistics survey, the purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the number of institutional rules and organisational structures an agency has in place to identify, collect and manage information on the use of force incidents explains the previously reported findings that greater levels of female officer representation is associated with more police use of force. Agencies reported receiving a total of 18,711 citizen complaints in 2003 and 22,146 complaints in 2007. Approximately 6.7% of the complaints were sustained in 2003 and 8% in 2007. In 2007, women made up approximately 11% of the sworn officers in the agencies under examination, ranging from 1.4% to 40.1%, up slightly from 2003 when the average was 10.1% Based on the disruption thesis, we hypothesise that increasing female representation in police organisations is a catalyst by which norms and practices become formalised and embedded in the organisation's institutional structure. The findings confirm this connection and suggest that the relationship between gender diversity and citizen's complaints of inappropriate use of force is a function of the number and quality of rules, policies and mechanisms designed to capture and quantify complaints. These results have implications for the increased representation of women in law enforcement. A more robust research agenda on women and policing is needed to explore ways to reduce the negative conflict associated with increasing gender diversity while maintaining a police force that accurately represents the diversity in modern society.

Controlling Use of Force: Identifying Police Use of Excessive Force through Analysis of Administrative Records

Law enforcement agencies have a responsibility to control the use of force by police so as to minimally impact the liberty of citizens while ensuring both officer and public safety. Yet, there is an alarming disconnect between how the police, the public, and the courts view use of force. How can police administrators reliably distinguish justifiable applications of force from unnecessary force, or the use of excessive force, and do so in a manner that balances these differing views while ultimately adhering to legal doctrine? We propose a model and administrative process for identifying and addressing potential incidents of unnecessary force or use of excessive force by combining force factor methodology [Alpert, G. and Dunham, R. (1997). The Force Factor: Measuring Police Use of Force Relative to Suspect Resistance. Washington, DC: Police Executive Research Forum.] with the operationalization of the core test and mitigating factors delineated in Graham v. Conner. We provide a preliminary empirical test of this approach using administrative data on use of force incidents in the Seattle Police Department during a recent two-and-a-quarter year period. RESULTS based upon both quantitative and qualitative analyses of administrative records suggest that the proposed model may assist in the identification of potentially excessive force incidents. Implications for policy and practice are discussed. Language: en

Injuries associated with law enforcement use of force

Prehospital personnel and physicians working in acute care settings need to be cognizant of the issues related to law enforcement use of force in order to properly evaluate and manage these patients. Types of force used by law enforcement range along a spectrum from physical presence to lethal use of firearms. Although the vast majority of use of force incidents does not lead to significant injury, certain weapons and situations may require more extensive evaluation and higher levels of concern.

Weekend Warriors and Sun Block: Game Wardens and the Use of Force

While the field of research related to game wardens is growing, there is almost no empirical research related to game wardens and the use of force. This study adds to this virtually non-existent, but important field. The data come from 261 self-reports from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Division of Law Enforcement from 2002 to 2009. The incidents were analyzed based on following factors: the time of the day, the day of the week, the season of the year, and the activity the suspect was engaged in prior to the contact. The results demonstrated the majority of use of force incidents occurred from 6:01 p.m. to midnight, during Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays or national holidays, during the summer, and when the suspect was participating in a non-hunting or fishing activity. While this research addresses a missing component of the literature, the generalizeability of the findings are limited. Still, additional research is needed in this area before more firm conclusions can be reached.

Estimated rates of mental disorders in, and situational characteristics of, incidents of nonfatal use of force by police

To examine the estimated rates of mental disorders and associated situational characteristics in people involved in nonfatal use of force incidents with police in VIC, Australia. A random sample of 4,267 cases between 1995 and 2008 from a dedicated police Use of Force Register were linked with the state-wide public mental health database and a police contacts database. Rates of ICD 9 and ICD 10 mental disorders recorded on the public mental health database were examined, as well as rates of criminal offending and the characteristics of force used by both parties. More than a third of people on whom the police resorted to using force (n = 1,621, 38%) had a history of mental disorder. Significant overrepresentations of the estimated prevalence of psychosis [12.5%, OR = 9.03, 95% CI (7.41, 11.01), p < 0.001] and schizophrenia [9.1%, OR = 9.73, 95% CI (7.59, 12.47) p < 0.001] were found. Those diagnosed with mental disorders were 1.52 times more likely to use or threaten to use weapons on police, even after taking into account age, sex, substances intoxication and violent behaviour [95% CI (1.23, 1.91), p < 0.001]; however, they were no more likely to injure or be injured by police than those without a recorded history of mental disorder. There was a noted trend for police to use, or threaten to use, weapons on people with a history of psychosis (other than schizophrenia) [OR = 1.40, 95% CI (1.11, 1.78), p = 0.005]. Psychoses and schizophrenia are dramatically overrepresented in cases where police resort to using force. Situational characteristics evident in the encounters are suggestive of a sub-group of people with mental disorders presenting with aggressive and otherwise problematic behaviours coupled with histories of criminal offending; this presents significant ongoing challenges for the police.

Officer Down: Implications of Three Strikes for Public Safety

This article examines the impact of California's 1994 Three Strikes law on front line law enforcement personnel—specifically whether there is a greater risk of injury by criminal suspects resisting arrest and contact with law enforcement due to Three Strikes. The authors evaluated data collected from six major police agencies and district attorney offices in California between 1990 and 2001, including total arrests, resisting arrest charges, assault on a peace officer, officer injuries or deaths, use of force incidents, officer-involved shootings, vehicle pursuits, and three-strike case filings. Although the resulting analysis did not evidence a statewide increase or trend, in the Los Angeles area (where there is a higher concentration of repeat offenders and three-strikes prosecution has been more actively pursued), there is a notable increase in arrest rates, resisting and assaulting officers, and a significant increase (113% between 1996 and 2001) in two and three-strikes crimes with a police officer victim.

The Politics of Force: Media and the Construction of Police Brutality. By Regina G. Lawrence. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000. 254p. $45.00 cloth, $17.95 paper.

Regina Lawrence makes a major contribution to the criminal justice policy literature in her book, The Politics of Force: Media and the Construction of Police Brutality. She helps observers of the criminal justice system understand one of the reasons the crime control model is the dominant one in the United States. To do this she studies two major police departments, New York and Los Angeles, and the reporting of police use of force incidents in the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, respectively. Generally, the viewpoint of the police is presented in the newspaper accounts of the incidents. The police explanation involves blaming the individual wrongdoer without any serious discussion of systemic problems in the operation of the police department. In other words, the police view reinforces the crime control model, with its stress on the rapid and efficient removal of wrongdoers from the streets of this country. Thus Lawrence helps the reader understand why the views of police critics do not receive the same level of coverage as does the official view presented to the press by the police bureaucracy. In her concern with the definition of public problems, she contributes to a theory of issue construction. The significance of her findings is reinforced by her data sources: two major American newspapers including the New York Times, which is read by political elites throughout the United States. The data in the book are based on a content analysis of the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times from 1984 to 1995. Also, an extensive analysis of the Rodney King case is presented. The information about the King case was garnered from a variety of newspapers and magazines. In addition, Lawrence gathered information for her study by interviewing reporters and police experts in New York, Los Angeles, and other cities.

The impact of race on the investigation of excessive force allegations against police

One response to the recurring crises arising out of police use of force incidents is the establishment of procedures to review allegations of police misconduct. These procedures and their outcomes, however, often become ensnared in controversy themselves. In particular, accusations regarding the impact of race often play a significant role. To ascertain the role of race and other factors in the disposition of complaints against police, this study examines allegations of excessive use of nondeadly force by Chicago police officers. Using models from social psychology, numerous dimensions regarding complaints of police brutality and the investigation of those complaints are tested to determine their impact on complaint disposition. Two variables — evidence and duty status — have widespread significance in these models. The only significant racial effect in any of the models is the interactive variable reflecting the race of the investigator and the race of the complainant. Investigators of both races — African American and Caucasian American — when deciding a case involving a complainant of the other race, were less likely to make a definitive, negative judgment about the complaint than when the complainant was of the same race. The pattern of findings seems to support the hypothesis which states that the social situation of the decision maker may inhibit the impact of stereotypes.