Police use-of-force is a topic of interest to most Americans. High-profile shootings of minority citizens and the increase in ambush death rates of police officers has been problematic by dividing society into segments of harsh critics of an entire profession or supporters of the nation'€™s heroes. While use-of-force is highly researched, most existing work has typically forgone the examination of officer mindset in lieu of the more patent explanatory variables of race, sex, and method. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the psychological influences of officer motivation from those responsible for providing instruction to police officers. This quantitative study focused on perceptions of Public Attitude Towards Police (PATP) as held by police training officers, specifically Academy Instructors (AIs), Departmental Training Officers (DTOs), and Field Training Officers (FTOs) (N = 120). Conflict and organizational theories provided the theoretical foundation for citizen-police conflict, and departmental influence. Data were collected with a Likert scaled questionnaire to discover and present (a) the impacts of perceptions of (PATP) held by police training officers in eleven departments, and (b) variances of those impacts between the three types of trainers. Simple regression analysis revealed a significant statistical impact of use-of-force training by perceptions of PATP by all groups of police trainers, and one-way between groups analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed a significant difference between impacts of PATP on FTOs in comparison to AIs and DTOs. The present study'€™s results may have a positive impact on social change through the awareness in consideration of mitigating the frequency of use-of-force incidents and increasing safety to law enforcement and the citizenry.

The ability to use force by police officers is one of their defining features. Police officers have a monopoly on the legitimate use of coercive force in the United States. A police officer’s decision to use force in an encounter depends on the behavior of both officer and citizen in an officer-citizen encounter. Each party interacts with, and responds to, the other over the course of the encounter, with each behavior and subsequent response drawing the encounter closer to its ultimate conclusion. As representatives of government, police officers have perhaps greater control in steering the interaction towards or away from a forceful conclusion. Using various techniques, police officers often can de-escalate an officer-citizen encounter before use of force is required. These techniques include things such as explaining the purpose of the interaction, keeping a respectful and safe distance from citizens, providing an introduction to citizens, exhibiting a calm and controlled demeanor, speaking directly and concisely, repeating important information, engaging in active listening, and clearly explaining the consequences of the offenders actions. The current study utilizes police officer body camera footage to examine if and how these eight officer de-escalation practices predict whether or not officers’ resort to using force in an officer-citizen encounter. Furthermore, the eight techniques are divided into proactive and reactive techniques in order to test whether a specific set of de-escalation techniques are more effective than another.

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There is little academic research that examines whether there are differences between the ways probation officers and community members perceive the use of force on juvenile offenders. Failure to understand the differences in these perceptions negatively affected a probation department in California, which failed to address public concerns regarding the use of force in the juvenile hall, which resulted in a consent decree and a costly financial settlement. Using socialization theory as the foundation, the purpose of this study was to understand if there is a statistically significant difference between probation officers and civilians regarding their perceptions of use of force against juvenile offenders. Data were collected from a nonprobability sample of probation officers (n = 71) and community members (n = 125) in a Northern California community through an online survey that featured 5 scenarios of escalating behavior from a juvenile offender. Respondents were asked to evaluate whether the use of force was appropriate or excessive for each scenario. Data were analyzed using an independent samples t test and chi-square tests of independence. Findings indicated that, overall, there is a statistically significant difference in the perception of use of force between the 2 groups (p <. -4.04). Specifically, community members are more likely to have a lower threshold of tolerance for use of force than probation officers in 3 of the 5 scenarios in the survey. The positive social change implications of this study include recommendations to probation departments in California for enhanced collaboration and training with community members to better understand the expectations of each group related to use of force and the treatment of juvenile offenders.

This dissertation explores the role of public opinion in U.S. presidential decisions to employ various alternatives in response to an international crisis. Presidents may choose from a range of force alternatives, including non-force alternatives, troop mobilizations, air strikes or ground assaults. Using the Poliheuristic Theory, I argue that public attitudes toward the use of force in a given crisis play a key role in the decision making process leading to such choices. The direction and intensity of public opinion is driven by a relative value assessment by which the public determines whether the benefits of a use of force are worth the costs. Presidents are aware of this relative value assessment and rule out crisis responses that are likely to violate the public's preferences in the first stage of the decision making process. In the second stage, presidents choose among the remaining alternatives by weighing the relative merits of each with respect to military and international-strategic implications. To test hypotheses following from this theoretical argument, I employ two methodological approaches. The first is statistical analysis. I develop a new data set of presidential crisis response choices and expand an existing data set on U.S. public attitudes toward the use of force, from 1949 to 2001. Using two extant data collections identifying international crises, I conduct Ordered Logit analyses, which produce results that are largely supportive of the hypotheses. The second methodological approach is the case study method. I conduct two detailed case studies of decisions to use force in Bosnia (1995) and Afghanistan (2001). These analyses are also supportive of the theoretical argument. I conclude that presidents are largely responsive to public opinion in the selection of crisis responses.

The use of force by police has been explored through a range of social science perspectives. However, the majority of those perspectives have failed to account for the impact that situational factors have on the use of coercion by police. While situational perspectives have been utilized, they have primarily focused on solitary features of the situation; thus, ignoring a situation’s various component parts. The general absence of consideration given to situational force is exhibited within the sociological literature more generally. This absence contributes to a diminished appreciation for the circumstances that transpire within the context of the situation. This thesis explores the role that the situation plays in the generation of police use of coercion. In addition, this thesis observes whether contemporary theoretical developments can elaborate the explanatory value of the situation in studying the use of violence by police. Specifically, this thesis utilizes Collins’ (2004) micro-situational theory of violence and his concept of forward panic. To examine the utility of Collins’ theory, eight theoretical propositions are used. This research examines the extent to which the propositions were empirically observable and whether they had a value added impact. The propositions examined were: 1) cross-purpose, 2) tension/fear, 3) the prolonged building of tension/fear, 4) docile lingering, 5) suspect in a position of weakness, 6) suspect outnumbered, 7) overkill and piling on of violence, and 8) rhythm. To observe the propositions a multiple case study analysis was conducted using Internet videos and newspaper articles. It was found that in all nine cases each of the propositions as described by Collins (2004) were present. The findings suggest general support for using Collins’ theory to explain police violence. In addition, his theory was found to have value added capability, as each of the situational components of the theory combined to impact on police violence. / Thesis (Master, Sociology) -- Queen's University, 2010-06-01 12:01:57.453

abstract: This dissertation integrates concepts from three bodies of literature: police use of force, neighborhood/ecological influence on police, and police culture. Prior research has generally found that neighborhood context affects police use of force. While scholars have applied social disorganization theory to understand why neighborhood context might influence use of force, much of this theorizing and subsequent empirical research has focused exclusively on structural characteristics of an area, such as economic disadvantage, crime rates, and population demographics. This exclusive focus has occurred despite the fact that culture was once an important component of social disorganization theory in addition to structural factors. Moreover, the majority of the theorizing and subsequent research on police culture has neglected the potential influence that neighborhood context might have on officers’ occupational outlooks. The purpose of this dissertation is to merge the structural and cultural elements of social disorganization theory in order to shed light on the development and maintenance of police officer culture as well as to further specify the relationship between neighborhood context and police use of force. Using data from the Project on Policing Neighborhoods (POPN), I address three interrelated research questions: 1) does variation of structural characteristics at the patrol beat level, such as concentrated disadvantage, homicide rates, and the percentage of minority citizens, predict how an officer views his/her occupational outlook (i.e., culture)?; 2) do officers who work in the same patrol beats share a similar occupational outlook (i.e., culture) or is there variation?; and 3) does the inclusion of police culture at the officer level moderate the relationship between patrol beat context and police use of force? Findings suggest that a patrol beat’s degree of concentrated disadvantage and homicide rate slightly influence officer culture at the individual level. Results show mixed evidence of a patrol beat culture. There is little support for the idea that characteristics of the patrol beat and individual officer culture interact to influence police use of force. I conclude with a detailed discussion of the methodological, theoretical, and policy implications as well as limitations and directions for future research. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Criminology and Criminal Justice 2016

Police officer and community relations tensions have heightened with increases in publicized deadly use-of-force incidents on social media platforms. Though some deadly force encounters have been justified because officers stated they feared for their lives, little is known about the impact fear has on police officers' actions. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the impact fear plays when officers implement use-of-force continuum practices during encounters with civilians. Schacter and Singers' two-factor theory of emotion was used as the conceptual framework for this study. The key research question examined the influence of police officer fear as a factor in decision making during use-of-force incidents. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with 9 active police officers. Colaizzi's descriptive phenomenological method was used for data analysis. The four emergent themes were: (a) wall of blue, characterized by police culture, (b) being brave not invincible, characterized by civilians expecting police officers to not be human, (c) policing has evolved for the worse, characterized by policing practices to be good in theory but not realistic in practice, and (d) wearing body-worn cameras are a great tool. The key findings of this study were fear of the unknown and fight-or-flight actions are common amongst police officers when they are engaged in use-of-force incidents, and body-worn cameras are a contributing factor in how officers respond. The positive social change implications stemming from this study include recommendations for police leaders where they achieve their mission of partnership with the community and impartially enforce the law by enhancing community relations.

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Police officer use of force in the United States is a growing concern to the American people. Although not based on solid empirical evidence, President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing proposed several policies that address violent policing and the use of excessive force. In this study, I examine the relationship between policy recommendations and variations across police departments in their reported use of force. This study draws on measures of use of force, community policing, education, and officer demographics from the 2013 Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey, combined with county-level demographic information from the American Community Survey, and information on local crime rates from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report. Cross-sectional findings reveal that more college-educated officers are associated with lower counts of use of force, that officer diversity is not strongly related to use of force, and that most community policing indicators are associated with higher counts in use of force.