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.

This thesis constitutes one of the first attempts to investigate police use of the electric-shock weapon the Taser in England and Wales, between 2004 – 2014. The research combines an inter-disciplinary approach—drawing on the criminology and policing literature, as well as on Science and Technology Studies (STS), Actor Network Theory (ANT) and Social Psychology—with mixed methods and novel data sources. It benefits from virtually unprecedented access to sources including internal police datasets, the College of Policing’s Lead Instructor Taser Training, Taser training in two forces, interviews with police officers and individuals subject to Taser. The thesis first explores how, and in what circumstances, Taser is used in selected forces in England and Wales, before looking at consequences of use for officers and subjects. It then discusses the broader legal, policy, training and accountability framework around the weapon, via an examination of three inter-related and widespread stories told about the weapon and its regulation: that Taser is a neutral tool, that appropriate use is a responsibility for, and at the discretion of, individual officers, and that it is subject to robust accountability mechanisms. It is argued that these stories, whilst not incorrect, are incomplete. Descriptions of the weapon as a neutral tool are understandable but not always convincing, decisions on its use are not just the preserve of individual officers, and accountability mechanisms are not always as robust as is claimed. The conclusions have implications for practitioners and for the literature on Taser. They also contribute to wider criminology debates around use of force, discretion and accountability, and to sociological debates about the relevance of STS and ANT approaches. Finally, the thesis not only highlights areas for future research, but also highlights some tentative recommendations for policy and practice.

abstract: Since the 1990s, stop and frisk activities have been a cornerstone of the New York Police Department (NYPD). The manner in which the NYPD has carried out stop, question, and frisks (SQFs), however, has been a focal point of discussion, resulting in public outrage and two major lawsuits. Recently, the Federal District Court Judge ruled that the NYPD was engaging in unconstitutional stop-and-frisk practices that targeted predominately Black and Latino New Yorkers. Questions surrounding the NYPD’s SQF practices have almost exclusively focused on racial and ethnic disproportionality in the rate of stops without necessarily considering what transpired during the stop. This study will fill that void by examining the prevalence and nature of use of force during those stops, along with testing the minority threat hypothesis. By combining micro-level measures from the NYPD’s 2012 “Stop, Question, and Frisk” database with macro-level variables collected from the United States Census Bureau, the current study examines police use of force in the context of SQF activities. The results should help judges, policy makers, police officers, and scholars understand the nature of police use of force in the context of SQFs. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Criminology and Criminal Justice 2015

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The increased number of video recordings circulating in the media that depict police officers exercising excessive use of force has led to recommendations to equip police officers with body worn cameras. Because a camera’s point of view may influence viewers’ perceptions and understanding of the recorded events, the angle at which a police use of force encounter is recorded may have important consequences. My program of research aimed to understand how various camera angles can impact interpretations of a police use of force scenario. A simulated police use of force incident was video recorded at three different camera angles (body worn camera, security camera, bystander camera). Study 1 (n = 330) examined factors that contribute to interpretations of the scenario such as camera angle, pre-existing attitudes about police, and information processing style. Results showed that camera angle did not have a general impact on viewer’s judgment of the scenario. However, pre-existing biases about the police and legal system guided interpretations of the scenario, and individuals who viewed the bystander video angle of the scenario rated the police officer more favourably when they endorsed positive attitudes about the police. In addition, a high need for cognition increased the likelihood of making judgments in line with participants’ attitudes about police. Study 2 (n = 576) examined the legal implications of video evidence in a depiction of a trial in which a police officer has been accused of assaulting and causing bodily harm to a complainant. Participants exposed to trial information without video evidence found the police officer less credible and more responsible for the complainant’s injury, and were more likely to recommend a guilty verdict and harsher punishment for the police officer. Individuals who were presented with trial information that included the body worn camera video evidence viewed the police officer as less credible. Attitudes and beliefs about the police and the legal system influenced decisions made regarding the police officer’s credibility, responsibility, and legal recommendations. Overall, camera perspective had an impact on interpretations of police use of force videos, but only when considering pre-existing attitudes about police, and video evidence in a criminal trial regarding police use of force impacted judgements. I discuss various practical implications of relying on police use of force videos, and present directions for future research.

In the last 20 years, the number of incidents involving police use of force (UOF) has nearly doubled in Canada (Marcoux & Nicholson, 2018). There have been at least 460 documented fatal police encounters across Canada between the years 2000 and 2017 and at least 1,860 police UOF investigations specifically in Ontario (Dunn, 2018; Ontario Human Rights Commission, 2018). According to a 2019 annual report by Ottawa Police Service (OPS, 2019), a municipal police service in Ontario, between the years 2018 and 2019, OPS reported a 21% decrease (from 767 to 607) of applications of force among officers and a 15% increase (from 529 to 609) of UOF reports. Although the latter data is relevant to Ottawa, to better understand and potentially minimize negative police-civilian encounters, both specifically and on a larger scale, this Canadian-focused study centers on policing as well as the context at OPS and explores the extent to which professional education (PE) influences professional practice (PP). It does so by reviewing OPS’s UOF training and gathering perspectives from patrol officers and UOF educators. Using a qualitative instrumental case study (QICS) research design, the study analyzes the UOF training materials that OPS used to certify and recertify officers between the years 2010 and 2021. It also incorporates semi-structured interviews with officers and educators to gather insights on how participants define UOF, their perspectives on their pre-service and in-service training, as well as how they relate their PE to their police-civilian encounters, particularly when they used or did not use force. A document analysis of the data revealed that OPS’s UOF training uses both traditional as well as progressive and collaborative approaches to educate and relate to officers. Such approaches also aim to promote appropriate communication and de-escalation skills. At the same time, the learning objectives found in the lesson plans lack the detail needed to signify that officers have achieved the intended goal of the training. Among the important themes that emerged from the interviews were 1) the differences in priorities, between the officers and educators, concerning UOF training, 2) the value that officers place on their instructors’ experiences, 3) the challenges that educators face while adhering to provincial expectations, and 4) the integral role that training and life experiences play during police-civilian encounters. The relevance of social media was another significant theme that emerged within the study, particularly considering the participants’ views on the current social climate of policing (i.e., how the public perceives the police as well as the contentious debate about defunding the police). With limited research on police perspectives and issues specific to policing in Canada, the present study, by virtue of access to OPS’s training materials, patrol officers and UOF instructors, seeks to initiate rich and meaningful discussions about PE and PP. It also aims to encourage reflection among educators, policy-makers and society so as to address and deepen our understanding of issues related to education.

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Au Québec, le policier a l’autorité de faire respecter plusieurs lois et d’assurer le maintien de l’ordre. Puisque le policier peut être confronté à une multiplicité de problématiques, il est, dans certaines circonstances, contraint à employer une force pour se protéger lui-même ou pour protéger toute autre personne contre la mort ou contre des lésions corporelles graves. Cependant, bien que l’usage de la force par la police soit l’un des éléments les plus visibles et les plus controversés de l’intervention policière, les connaissances sur ce sujet spécifique demeurent limitées. Afin de pallier à certaines lacunes de la recherche et de la théorie, l’objectif général de ce mémoire vise à identifier les facteurs individuels, situationnels et contextuels liés au niveau de force utilisé par la police lors d’une intervention dans les postes de quartier et dans les secteurs de recensement. Les données dans le cadre de cette étude proviennent des rapports d’incidents déclarés d’usage de la force d’un service de police canadien pour une période couvrant les années 2007 à 2011, les données issues du recensement canadien de 2006 et les données criminelles issues du Programme de déclaration uniforme de la criminalité (DUC). La stratégie analytique privilégiée est la modélisation hiérarchique qui permettra de tester les liens entre les différents niveaux d’analyse. Au terme des analyses multiniveaux, les résultats indiquent que plusieurs facteurs ont un impact sur le niveau de force utilisé par le policier. Au niveau des déterminants individuels du sujet, c’est le fait d’être un homme, de résister physiquement à l’intervention et de posséder une arme qui est associé à des niveaux plus élevés de force. Au niveau des facteurs contextuels, on découvre que la proportion de minorité visible et le désavantage social ont un impact appréciable sur le niveau de force utilisé par le policier. Ces résultats nous amènent donc à conclure que les policiers tiennent surtout compte de la situation immédiate (facteurs individuels et situationnels) pour évaluer le degré de dangerosité ou de menace, mais qu’ils sont également influencés par l’endroit où ils se trouvent. D’autres études sont toutefois nécessaires pour vérifier la constance de nos résultats. / In Quebec, the officer has the authority to enforce various laws and to maintain order. Since the police officer may be faced with a multiplicity of problems, he is, in certain circumstances, forced to use physical force to protect himself or to protect any person against death or serious injury. However, although the phenomenon of police force raises a good number of criticism and it is widely publicized, only a few studies have connected individual, situationnal and contextual factor to police use of force practices. The purpose of this thesis is to examine and to understand the phenomenon of police use of force in Quebec by identifying individual, situational and contextual factors on levels of police force. The data for the current study are derived from three primary sources : the incident reports of use of force of a Canadian police force for a period covering the years 2007 to 2011, 2006 Canadian Census and Uniform Crime Reporting Survey (UCR). The use of multilevel models reveals that several factors have an impact on the level of police use of force. Individual and situationnal findings suggest that police are more likely to use higher level of force when they encounter males, citizens who physically resist and citizens who possess or display a weapon. Contextual findings indicate that the proportion of racial heterogeneity and concentrated disadvantage have an impact on levels of police force. Findings lead us to conclude that the nature of the immediate situation (individual and situational factors) is one of the most prominent explanations for police decision making, but police behavior can also be accounted for by variation in demographic and institutional characteristic of communities. However, further studies are needed to verify the consistency of our results.