Although most police activities do not involve the use of force, those that do reflect important patterns of interaction between officer and citizen. After a brief survey of prior research, this study presents new data and findings to examine these patterns. The force factor applied and the sequential order of incidents of force is included in the analysis. The authors also examine police use of force from the suspect's perspective, and create a new conceptual framework, the Authority Maintenance Theory, for examining and assessing police use of force.
Author(s): Geoffrey P. Alpert, Roger G. Dunham
Series: Cambridge Studies in Criminology
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2004
Language: English
Pages: 202
Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Series-title......Page 5
Title......Page 7
Copyright......Page 8
Contents......Page 9
Acknowledgments......Page 11
INTRODUCTION The Context of Police Use of Force......Page 13
The Era of Nonregulation......Page 16
The Era of Self-Regulation......Page 18
The Courts as Police Overseers......Page 21
Citizen Review of the Police......Page 23
Federal Consent Decrees......Page 24
Social Science Research during the Third Era......Page 25
References......Page 27
An Imperfect World: Necessary Force......Page 29
Issues Surrounding the Use of Force......Page 30
The Difficulty of Defining the Use of Force......Page 31
Some Definitions of the Use of Force......Page 32
The U.S. Supreme Court......Page 33
Reiss and Situational Definitions......Page 34
Official Records: The Police Point of View......Page 35
Limited Choices......Page 37
Who Provides the Information?......Page 38
Supervisors’ Control-of-Persons Reports......Page 39
Observational Research: Observations of Police Behavior by Researchers......Page 41
Citizen Complaints and Attitudes......Page 44
Citizen Review......Page 45
Citizen Surveys......Page 46
Minorities: The Problem of Perception......Page 48
What the Police Think with Regard to the Use of Force......Page 49
The Role of Definitions......Page 50
Conceptual Models for the Use of Force: A Brief History......Page 51
The Move toward Better Data......Page 54
Relevance of the Data......Page 56
Response Rates......Page 57
Frequencies......Page 58
Cross-Tabulations......Page 59
The Shift to an Interactive Model......Page 60
References......Page 61
Miami-Dade Police Department......Page 66
Metropolitan Police Department, Washington, D.C.......Page 68
Community......Page 69
The Development of a Research Protocol......Page 70
Data Collection and Management......Page 71
Critical Developments......Page 72
Metropolitan Police Department, Washington, D.C.......Page 73
The Richmond, Virginia, Police Department (RPD)......Page 74
References......Page 76
CHAPTER THREE Findings from Miami-Dade Police Department Study......Page 77
Suspect Characteristics and Actions......Page 78
Officer Characteristics and Actions......Page 79
Patterns of Interaction between Officers and Suspects......Page 80
Linking Officer Characteristics and Behavior......Page 81
Officer and Suspect Ethnicity......Page 82
Type of Call for Service and Officer/Suspect Interactions......Page 84
The Force Factor......Page 87
Force Factor from Miami-Dade Police Department......Page 88
A More Detailed Force Factor......Page 90
The Force Factor and Suspect Characteristics......Page 92
The Force Factor and Ethnic Matches between Officers and Suspects......Page 93
Multivariate Analysis......Page 94
The Benefits of Using the Force Factor in Research......Page 96
Further Development of the Force Factor......Page 97
References......Page 98
CHAPTER FOUR The Sequential Steps in Use-of-Force Incidents in the Miami-Dade Police Department......Page 99
The Sequence of Events......Page 100
Force Factor Scores across the Sequence of Actions......Page 106
Independent Variables......Page 107
Analysis......Page 108
Administrative......Page 109
Property Offense Calls......Page 110
Domestic Disturbance Calls......Page 111
Age of Suspect......Page 112
Anglo Suspects......Page 113
African-American Suspects......Page 114
“Other”......Page 115
Unimpaired Suspects......Page 116
Violent Resistance......Page 117
Anglo Officers......Page 118
African American Officers......Page 119
Officers Less Than Thirty Years Old......Page 120
Officers More Than Thirty Years Old......Page 121
Officer Experience......Page 122
Traffic Offense Calls......Page 123
Violent-Crime Calls......Page 124
Suspect Ethnicity......Page 125
Nonviolent Resistance......Page 127
Officer Ethnicity......Page 128
Officer Gender......Page 129
Age of Officer......Page 130
Officer Experience......Page 131
Series 3: First Officer Action Is Physical, Suspect First Action Is Verbal......Page 132
Officer Gender......Page 133
Summary......Page 134
References......Page 135
CHAPTER FIVE Miami-Dade Police Department: Inconsistencies between Officer and Suspect
Accounts of the Use of Force......Page 136
Suspect Resistance......Page 137
Ethnic Matches......Page 138
Interviews with Suspects as an Addendum to the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring Study......Page 139
Data from ADAM Interviews......Page 140
The Alleged Use of More Force Than Necessary......Page 141
Inconsistent Versions between Suspects and Officers......Page 142
Case 3......Page 143
A Follow-Up on the ADAM Arrestees......Page 144
Summary of Conclusions from These Three Sets of Data......Page 146
CHAPTER SIX Findings from Prince George’s County Police Department......Page 147
The Effect of Alcohol and/or Drug Impairment on Suspect Behavior......Page 148
Officer Characteristics and Actions......Page 149
Patterns of Interaction between Suspects and Officers......Page 150
Injuries to Officers and Suspects......Page 151
Officer Characteristics and Force......Page 153
Officer and Suspect Ethnicity......Page 154
Type of Call for Service and Officer–Suspect Interactions......Page 156
Prince George’s County Police Department Force Factor......Page 158
The Force Factor and Suspect Characteristics......Page 159
The Force Factor and Officer Characteristics......Page 160
The Force Factor and Ethnic Matches between Officers and Suspects......Page 161
Multivariate Analysis......Page 162
Conclusions......Page 165
CHAPTER SEVEN Findings and Summary......Page 167
The National Survey......Page 168
Miami-Dade Police Department......Page 169
MDPD: Sequential Actions in Use-of-Force Encounters......Page 171
Inconsistent Reports......Page 172
Prince George’s County Police Department......Page 174
PGPD: Sequential Actions in Use-of-Force Situations......Page 175
PGPD: Officer and Suspect Ethnicity......Page 177
PGPD: The Force Factor......Page 178
A Final Comment on the Data from MDPD and PGPD......Page 179
CHAPTER EIGHT Explaining Police Use of Force: The Breakdown of an Authority Maintenance Ritual......Page 182
Interactions......Page 183
The Theoretical Tradition......Page 184
The Authority Maintenance Theory......Page 188
General Concepts......Page 189
Proposition Two: Police–Citizen Encounters Are a Unique Type of Social Interaction Because the Major Criterion Regulating the Interaction…......Page 190
Proposition Three: Police–Citizen Encounters Are More Asymmetrical with Respect to Authority Than Most Other Types of Interactions......Page 191
Proposition Four: Police–Citizen Encounters Are a Unique Type of Social Interaction Because Expectations and Behaviors Often…......Page 192
Proposition Five: Officers Respond to Goal Blockage with Varying Degrees of Regulation Depending on the Type of Blockage......Page 194
Conclusion......Page 195
References......Page 197
Appendix......Page 200
Index......Page 201
