The Influence of Police Profanity on Public Perception of Excessive Force

Previous research has examined elements of police performance impacting community policing and police-citizen relationships, but no study has considered the impact of police use of profanity during arrest on public rating of force. Police profanity may negatively bias police-citizen interactions, and this bias could shape later interactions with community members, impact the quality of police-community relations, or even result in public outcry over excessive use of force. The aim of this study was to determine whether officer use of profanity during arrest led to public perception of excessive force and to examine whether gender of the officer or subject affected this relation. Force was evaluated as more excessive when profanity was used, when the subject was a female, and when the officer was a female. Participants who rated force as excessive had significantly more negative attitudes about police and police use of force. These findings have direct implications for police training and suggest that if police avoid the use of profanity, this could result in more positive relationships with the public and fewer allegations of excessive force. Future researchers should further evaluate the nature and impact of gender biases against female police, as they may contribute to reduced opportunities, less frequent promotion, and reduced self-efficacy in female officers.     

Striking Out: Race and Support for Police Use of Force

This research examines whites’ and blacks’ support for police use of force using a survey‐based experiment that varies the race of the offender across four different scenarios. Bivariate results show that the race of the offender influences blacks’ approval for the use of force by police, but does not affect whites’ approval. Multivariate analyses examine whether the factors influencing support for police use of force vary depending on the race of the offender. Results indicate that the predictors for approval of police use of force differ by the race of respondent, the race of offender, and the appropriateness of the use of force. The implications of the results for police–community relations are discussed.     

Women in Law Enforcement and Police Use of Deadly Force

We test the hypothesis that law enforcement agencies that have a larger share of female officers should experience lower rates of police use of deadly force. We use the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics 2013 survey of police and sheriff departments (N?=?1,983). We measure police-involved violence as the number of civilians killed by law enforcement officers from 2013 through 2015 as reported by the website Mapping Police Violence. Using a variety of empirical estimators to take into consideration the structure of the distribution of police-caused deaths, we find consistent results that a higher share of female officers is associated with a higher likelihood of police-caused deaths. These results are consistent with prior findings within the literature and implies that in order to “fit in” with their male counterparts female officers will use coercive tactics to the same extent.     

Police Powers and Accountability in a Democratic Society: Introductory Report

This article by general rapporteur Joachim Kersten introduces the reports which were presented at the Twelfth Criminological Colloquium, organised by the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, from 24-26 November 1999. Europe is undergoing a phase of rapid change. This affects the conditions of policing in each country and on the European continent as a whole. It is actually the legal, political and cultural context of policing that is undergoing rapid change. This colloquium and earlier ones carried out by the Council of Europe served a crucial purpose: they are an assessment in the European context of what is happening in relation to the police, police ethics and human rights in democratic societies.     

警察武力之善法良治——论警察武力法的正义价值标准

警察武力法的正义价值标准由标示正义价值方向的基本理念和标示正义价值尺度的基本原则两项基本要件分级承担并贯彻。中国警察武力法有:社会正义与法律正义有机统一、保权与控权有机统一和价值、规范、事实有机统一三个居位"法上之法"的基本理念和危害行为与武力行为法定、危害行为与武力行为相当、武力行为克减和多样化和正当程序四个居位"法上之法"的基本原则。上述基本理念和基本原则,对系统理解、把握中国警察使用武力的基本原则和构成要件、各种规范的内在关连性,以及构思未来的、"应然"的中国警察武力立法具有不可或缺的重要意义。     

Technological Innovation and Police Officers' Understanding and Use of Force

Today, the TASER is a ubiquitous less‐than‐lethal force technology lauded for its ability to curb police officers' use of excessive and lethal force. Although less injurious than other weapons, concerns exist that the TASER can still be misused by police officers. This article uses ethnographic observations and unstructured interviews across three urban police departments to describe how the TASER affects officers' understanding and use of force in beneficial and unintended ways. I find that officers understand and use the TASER as a device that can enhance safety for themselves and suspects, including in cases where the TASER is used in lieu of lethal force that officers believe would have been justified. Despite these benefits, understanding of the TASER as a safety‐enhancing technology also influences the use of excessive force via TASER by young, inexperienced officers, ultimately contributing to the very problem TASERs were intended to ameliorate.     

Police Perceptions of Irrational Unstable Behaviours and Use of Force

Police identification of people experiencing mental illness is usually based on either the person having an official contact history with police or through observing behavioural indicators commonly associated with mental illness during an encounter. Police have voiced concerns with their ability to identify and respond to people experiencing mental illness in a timely way and report that they commonly resort to more coercive tactical options to resolve encounters. The present study employed a mixed method design to examine 286 police use of force incidents to investigate the association between force used on and by offenders displaying irrational-unstable behavioural characteristics. The irrational-unstable offenders were two times more likely to be perceived by police to have an apparent mental disorder and almost four times more likely to have a known mental health history; one in six had an official record of contact with mental health services. There were few differences in police and offender use of force, considering force as both a categorical and a continuous variable, while incident-level comparisons suggested that police force was generally proportional to offender resistance. Implications are discussed in terms of the need to redress limitations with the traditional police approach style.     

Toward a Balanced Approach: Defining Police Roles in Responding to Domestic Violence

Responding to domestic violence poses unique challenges to law enforcement officers. Prior research has focused on issues such as officer safety and arrest policies but overlooked a critical component—the officers’ perception of their role in responding to domestic violence incidents. This study explores how police officers define their roles through the use of focus group interviews with detectives assigned to a domestic violence unit. Findings include the identification of three role perspectives. Recommendations for a more balanced approach of these role perspectives in responding to domestic violence crimes through the use of more effective training, supervision, and evaluation are proposed.     

Domestic Violence and Police Response in a Pro-Arrest Jurisdiction

ABSTRACT

The Minneapolis Experiment indicated that police could have a positive impact on domestic violence. Though these results are presently being challenged, the time seems ripe to look at factors affecting the likelihood of police to arrest in a jurisdiction with pro-arrest legislation supported fully by departmental policy. The following factors were studied in terms of their impact on self-reported likelihood to arrest when responding to a domestic violence call: officers' demographics and attitudes towards women; the amount of domestic assault training received; their understanding of the departmental domestic assault policy; the degree to which they view police involvement as beneficial in responding to these calls; and their use of violence in their own homes. Results indicate that belief in the utility of police involvement, knowledge of the department's policy, and attitudes towards women are all significant in accounting for the variation in the likelihood of police to arrest.     

Police Attitudes about the Use of Unnecessary Force: An Ecological Examination

An unexplored explanation for police opinion about their use of unnecessary force can be framed within the research examining police behavior in the context of its geographic location. Using Klinger’s (1997) theory of social ecology as a guide, a vignette research design was employed to survey officers in four departments of varying size and structure. It was hypothesized that officers assigned to higher crime areas would more likely accept the use of unnecessary force by another officer as well as be unlikely to believe that the use of unnecessary force would be reported to a supervisor. Bivariate results and multivariate analyses show support for both hypotheses. Implications for future research and theoretical development are discussed.     

Explaining the Disparity in Results Across Studies Assessing Racial Disparity in Police Use of Force: A Research Note

In the spring and summer of 2016, seven studies that examined the impact of subject race on police use of force were announced in the media and the paraphrased headlines ranged from “there is bias in the use of force,” “there is no bias in the use of force,” and “there is bias in some types of force, but not others.” The purpose of this research note is to examine these disparate findings and the methods that might explain them, with attention to sample characteristics, the types of analyses, the number and character of agencies studied, and how concepts are operationalized. This analysis will help research consumers analyze critically the results from race-and-force studies and, hopefully, add to our understanding of this important national issue.     

The Effect of Police Use of Lethal Force on Murder Levels in American Cities Before and After Ferguson

We assess the effects of police use of lethal force on subsequent murders by victim race and armed status before and after the August 2014 death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO. We regress monthly murder levels on instances of police use of lethal force by race and armed status controlling for fixed effects, population, unemployment, and murders in the prior month using city-level data for 93 cities from 2013 to 2015. For 2013–2015, we find that a police lethal force incident predicts a 1.8% increase in murders 2 months following the incident. However, prior to Ferguson, a police lethal force incident increases murders by 4.5% (after 2 months) and we are unable to find any evidence of differential responses to police use of lethal force based on victim race. However, we find evidence of differential responses to police use of lethal force based on victim armed status. Post-Ferguson, police use of lethal force is associated with significant differential responses based on victim race. In addition, we see a shift in the aggregate-level response to police use of lethal force. Post-Ferguson, a police lethal force incident decreases the murder level by 3.8% 3 months following the incident. In addition, lethal force incident involving a non-black victim decreases the number of murders by 4.3% while an incident involving a black victim increases the number of murders by 2.1% (after a 2-month lag). Changes in policing following the events of Ferguson had a generally positive but uneven effect.     

Masculinity and Spousal Violence: Discursive Accounts of Husbands Who Abuse Their Wives in Ghana

This study investigated the influence of cultural notions of masculinity and its enactments on husband-to-wife abuse in Ghana from a discursive psychological perspective. Two focus group discussions and four in-depth personal interviews were conducted with 16 perpetrators (husbands) from rural and urban Ghana. Participants’ discursive accounts revealed that social anxieties of husbands, their fear of being perceived by others as weak or emasculated, and their disappointment with unfulfilled notions of masculine sovereignty influence conjugal violence. Perpetrators constructed a wife’s expression of dissent to her husband’s wishes and commands as an encroachment on masculine spaces, a gender-norm violation, or as providing a public challenge to male identity and thus violence could be used as an obligatory passage to manhood. Perpetrators also mobilized shifting and ambivalent discourses that draw upon culturally familiar notions of maleness to both resist and authorize a patriarchal privilege in marriage.     

The Effects of a Police/Victim Assistance Crisis Team Approach to Domestic Violence

A police/victim assistance crisis intervention program was evaluated over a 6-month period for its effect on police-related outcomes. Police report data on crisis team cases (N = 96) were compared to a random selection of family violence cases (N = 80) that were not served by the crisis team. The crisis team cases generated more arrests; however, victim cooperation was lower than in noncrisis intervention cases. Implications for work with family violence and victim assistance are discussed, as well as needs for future research.     

Context Matters: Violence Against Women and Reporting to Police in Rural, Suburban and Urban Areas

Despite plentiful efforts to identify perpetrator, victim, and incident characteristics correlated with reporting violence against women to police, few studies have addressed the contexts that shape such reporting. Even fewer have examined variations in these contexts across geographic areas. Drawing upon National Crime Victimization Survey data from 1992 through 2009, this paper uses conjunctive analysis of case configurations to identify and investigate the dominant situational contexts of reporting of violence against women to police across rural, suburban, and urban areas. Our findings show that context matters and the importance of incident, perpetrator, and victim characteristics vary across geographic areas.     

群体性事件中警力整合战术研究

依据实战经验和理论研究,群体性事件中的警力整合应遵循四大原则：讲求实效、权责对等、统一指挥、优化使用等原则。提出了警力整合的一系列策略,并详细探究了警力整合的方法,明确了整合后的警组类别及其任务。通过对警力布局的调整整合,将多个部门、多个层级的警力进行优化组合,以此提高警力的整体作战水平,使公安机关在处理危机事件时更高效、更科学、更有战斗力。