chap 10

FORCE AND COERCION CHAPTER TEN

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Police–Citizen Interactions • Two prominent studies captured the context of police use of

force • Reiss (1967)

• Reactive versus proactive • Sykes and Brent (1983)

• Identified three methods of regulation: • Definitional • Imperative • Coercive

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Police–Citizen Interactions

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• Bayley (1986) studied interactions between police and citizens in Denver

• focused on domestic disturbances and traffic stops • contact stage involves the tactical choices made when police approach

citizens • processing stage is concerned with decisions made during the interaction • exit stage describes strategies used to end the contact

• Terrill (2001, 2003) studied police use-of-force in 3544 police encounters

• verbal force used in about 60% of the encounters • pat-downs and handcuffing used in about 10% of the encounters • greater levels of force in about 5% of the encounters

The Police-Public Contact Survey (PPCS) • Developed by the BJS in 1995 to assess police use of force

• 43.5 million citizens had face-to-face contact w/police • 760,000 citizens had forced used or threatened against them

• Majority reported feeling force used against them was excessive • In 2005, PPCS Was Combined w/Survey of Inmates in Local Jails

• Combination showed 1.7% of 45.7 million contacts involved force/use of force • PPCS alone underestimates the use of force by police

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Learning to Use Force • Officers learn about the use of force in two ways

• Formally through training • Informally through officers on the job

• Most officers are trained to use a continuum of force 1. Mere presence 2. Verbalization 3. Command voice 4. Firm grips 5. Pain compliance 6. Impact techniques 7. Deadly force

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Reengineering Training • Training on use of force is inadequate in most departments

and proposed fairly extensive changes in police training and tactics

• A greater emphasis on de-escalation and the incorporation of crisis intervention (CIT) training is necessary

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Areas of Training • Force can be used in a variety of ways, so various areas of

training are required of officers • Firearms • OC spray • Taser • Self-defense • Deescalation • Officer survival • Flashlights • Canines

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Police Culture and the Use of Force • Despite formal expectations about the use of force, police

culture also exhibits an informal influence • On occasion, police use of force may conflict w/various

expectations or standards • There is controversy in these three areas:

• Type 1: Conflicts with the community • Type 2: Conflicts over policy • Type 3: Conflicts between norms

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Inappropriate Force • The misuse of force comes in a variety of different forms but two

common approaches to defining such misuse exist • Police brutality • Excessive force

• What is the difference between these two standards? • Extra-legal police aggression as an alternative definition

• Why is this preferable?

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Physical and Psychological Force in Police History • It is essential to note the different forms of force that have

proved to be an issue over the years • Physical force • Psychological force

• “Third Degree” • Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

• Of what significance was this decision? • Deception is still commonly used by police

• What are some examples?

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Frequency of Excessive Force and Brutality • Three important studies have captured how widespread extra-

legal police violence and aggression is • Barker (1986) • Carter (1985) • Friederich (1980)

• What conclusions did these studies arrive at? • Official complaints about police use of force

• Rodney King incident

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• Attention to the issue of police brutality continues in the 21st century

• Interestingly, there are two opposing views on violence and police brutality • View 1: Brutality is a problem • View 2: Brutality is not a problem

• What arguments/points are made by each of these camps?

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Brutality in the 21st Century

Use of Deadly Force • Police violence/brutality is one issue, but deadly force is another • Deadly force is defined as force used with the intent to cause

great bodily injury or death • 3 categories required if extent of deadly force is to be determined

• Category 1: Death • Category 2: Injury • Category 3: Non-injury

• A fourth category relates to the total number of times an officers fires his/her weapon

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Use of Deadly Force • A host of individual and situational factors have received attention

from researchers interested in killings of citizens • The decision to use deadly force is primarily the result of

perception of whether a threat exists and how frequently the officer is exposed to threats • Off-duty officers are heavily involved in such shooting as well • African American officers are more likely to kill and to be killed

• Those killed either live or are assigned to high-crime areas

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Use of Deadly Force • In addition to individual and situational influence, other

meaningful influences also exist • Environmental influences

• Factors pertaining to the neighborhood/community being policed • What are examples of this type of influence?

• Departmental influences • Values, policies, practices of the department

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Deadly Force • Unfortunately, deadly force still disproportionately affects minorities

• African American and Hispanic minorities are more likely to be shot by police than are whites

• Legal and policy changes have occurred to curtail the use of force • What are the five changes in present-day laws identified by Blumberg? • Defense-of-life shooting policy

• The use of force is justifiable only in those situation in which an officer’s life, or another person’s life, is in jeopardy, or to prevent the escape of someone who is extremely dangerous

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Summary • The use of force is central to the police role and an unavoidable

aspect of policing • Both formal and informal methods of training exists

• Unfortunately, the misuse of force still occurs • Two schools of thoughts exist about police brutality

• 1) Rogue officers and lack of accountability are to blame for brutality • 2) Brutality isn’t a major issue and needs to be contextualized to understand

• The causes of deadly force have received great attention recently • Departmental efforts to create policies to curtail the use of force continues

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