In our society, police officers have been called upon to ensure compliance with the law and preserve social order. To complete this task, there are situations in which officers must use force. Since they must use force in some situations and because not every citizen is cooperative with the police, they are at risk for injury. Multiple studies have shown that tasers are beneficial to police officers in many ways, including a reduction in officer injuries. Most studies, however, observed injuries in only a few departments before and after implementation. This study examines whether or not agencies that authorize the use of tasers have lower injury rates compared to agencies that do not authorize the use of tasers in a large sample. This will be done through a cross-sectional research design using secondary data analysis. The data for this study comes from two sources, the 2008 Uniform Crime Reports and the 2007 Law Enforcement Management Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey. Results showed that the authorization of tasers by police departments was not a significant predictor of police injury rates. Although it is not a significant predictor in this study, an argument can still be made that tasers are effective at reducing injuries to police officers.

Distraction while using mobile technology devices such as a cell phone or tablet computer is a common occurrence within the civilian population of the United States. U.S. police officers are increasingly utilizing these types of devices within the patrol environment. However, little is known as to how distraction affects police officers while they interact with these devices in the course of their daily duties. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how officers process potential officer safety issues on patrol, while interacting with mobile technology, by questioning participants' perception of distraction. This was accomplished through a phenomenological paradigm that was framed within the concepts of unintended consequences (a subset of systems theory) and load-induced blindness (a subset of cognitive load theory). Data were collected through 10 semi-structured interviews, 2 extensive observations, and researcher-authored memos in conjunction with police officers of a medium-sized city in a western state. These data were analyzed in order to discover themes using a modified Van Kaam methodology. Results were expressed in 7 themes: conflicts with policy intent versus application, uncertainty in chain-of-command communication, reluctance to take tablets outside patrol vehicles, technology distraction's relationship to stress, presence of load-induced blindness, depressed ability to self-assess levels of distraction, and active engagement in risk-lowering strategies related to technology distraction. Implications for social change include informing police administrators and policy creators about research outcomes applicable to: modifications of policy, work-flow optimization, and technology use.