De-Escalation Training Receptivity and First-Line Police Supervision: Findings from the Louisville Metro Police Study

2021 ◽  
pp. 109861112110498
Author(s):  
Robin S. Engel ◽  
Gabrielle T. Isaza ◽  
Ryan T. Motz ◽  
Hannah D. McManus ◽  
Nicholas Corsaro
Keyword(s):  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Police Department ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Linear Regression Models ◽  
First Line ◽  
Police Reform ◽  
Field Supervision ◽  
Research And Policy

Despite calls for police reform that include changes to use of force training and field supervision, evidence regarding their impact is sorely lacking. This study examines survey data collected from first-line supervisors in the Louisville (KY) Metro Police Department after department-wide de-escalation training. Presented as part of a larger randomized controlled trial study, descriptive results from this survey demonstrate that, despite high levels of reported confidence in supervisory ability, supervisors infrequently engage in the activities that support and reinforce subordinates’ use of de-escalation skills. Results from multivariate ordinary least squares (OLS) linear regression models further show that only supervisors’ receptivity to de-escalation training is a significant predictor of engaging in activities that support the training tenets for subordinates. Combined with previous findings, the emerging research and policy implications suggest that training receptivity is critical, and further, that field supervision continues to be an under-utilized mechanism to reduce police use of force.

Measuring the impact of police representativeness on communities

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 773-790 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maren B. Trochmann ◽  
Angela Gover
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Police Department ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Police Departments ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Us ◽  
Community Conflict ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the representativeness of police departments, i.e. the extent to which the demographics of sworn police officers mirror their local constituency’s demographic makeup, has an effect on communities. The study seeks to explain whether community complaints about police use of force are related to the representativeness of the police department. Design/methodology/approach The study examines the relationships between use of force complaints lodged against a police department and the representativeness of the police vis-à-vis their community using ordinary least squares regression and city fixed-effects models. The stratified sample of 100 large US cities uses data from the US Census Equal Employment Opportunity Survey and the Bureau of Justice Statistics Law Enforcement Management and Administration Statistics Survey from several points-in-time. Findings The analysis suggests that racial makeup and, to a lesser extent, local residency of police departments might matter in reducing community conflict with police, as represented by use of force complaints. However, the fixed-effects model suggests that unobserved community-level characteristics and context matter more than police departments’ representativeness. Originality/value This study seeks to provide a unique perspective and empirical evidence on community conflict with police by integrating the public administration theory of representative bureaucracy with criminal justice theories of policing legitimacy. The findings have implications for urban policing as well as law enforcement human capital and public management practices, which is essential to understand current crises in police-citizen relations in the US, especially in minority communities.

Understanding police officer resistance to body-worn cameras

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 482-495 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Huff ◽  
Charles M. Katz ◽  
Vincent J. Webb
Keyword(s):  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Organizational Justice ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Police Department ◽  
Binary Logistic Regression ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Citizen Complaints ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Body-worn cameras (BWCs) have been adopted in police agencies across the USA in efforts to increase police transparency and accountability. This widespread implementation has occurred despite some notable resistance to BWCs from police officers in some jurisdictions. This resistance poses a threat to the appropriate implementation of this technology and adherence to BWC policies. The purpose of this paper is to examine factors that could explain variation in officer receptivity to BWCs. Design/methodology/approach The authors assess differences between officers who volunteered to wear a BWC and officers who resisted wearing a BWC as part of a larger randomized controlled trial of BWCs in the Phoenix Police Department. The authors specifically examine whether officer educational attainment, prior use of a BWC, attitudes toward BWCs, perceptions of organizational justice, support for procedural justice, noble cause beliefs, and official measures of officer activity predict receptivity to BWCs among 125 officers using binary logistic regression. Findings The findings indicate limited differences between BWC volunteers and resistors. Volunteers did have higher levels of educational attainment and were more likely to agree that BWCs improve citizen behaviors, relative to their resistant counterparts. Interestingly, there were no differences in perceptions of organizational justice, self-initiated activities, use of force, or citizen complaints between these groups. Originality/value Though a growing body of research has examined the impact of BWCs on officer use of force and citizen complaints, less research has examined officer attitudes toward the adoption of this technology. Extant research in this area largely focusses on general perceptions of BWCs, as opposed to officer characteristics that could predict receptivity to BWCs. This paper addresses this limitation in the research.

Correlates of perceptions of police legitimacy: Do perceptions of neighborhood crime matter?

2021 ◽  
pp. 146135572110149
Author(s):  
L. Sergio Garduno ◽  
Deborah G. Keeling
Keyword(s):  
Least Squares ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Police Legitimacy ◽  
Police Performance ◽  
Neighborhood Characteristics ◽  
Neighborhood Crime ◽  
The Public ◽  
Perceptions Of Police ◽  
Research And Policy

Police legitimacy promotes trust and cooperation between members of the public and the police. Because the police require cooperation from the public to prevent and solve crimes, having high levels of legitimacy is an important asset for them. Researchers have explored policing strategies as well as individual and neighborhood characteristics that explain levels of police legitimacy. However, no study has explored whether perceived neighborhood crimes affect perceptions of police legitimacy. This study addresses this gap in the literature by analyzing the effect that perceiving four types of neighborhood crime as a problem had on levels of police legitimacy among 1773 respondents from a city in the Appalachians. Results obtained from a series of Ordinary Least Squares models indicate that perceptions of neighborhood crime have no significant effect on police legitimacy once police performance is accounted for. Research and policy implications are discussed.

scholarly journals A randomized control trial evaluating the effects of police body-worn cameras

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (21) ◽  
pp. 10329-10332 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Yokum ◽  
Anita Ravishankar ◽  
Alexander Coppock
Keyword(s):  
Randomized Control Trial ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Police Department ◽  
Behavioral Changes ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
Police Use Of Force ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
Randomized Control

Police body-worn cameras (BWCs) have been widely promoted as a technological mechanism to improve policing and the perceived legitimacy of police and legal institutions, yet evidence of their effectiveness is limited. To estimate the effects of BWCs, we conducted a randomized controlled trial involving 2,224 Metropolitan Police Department officers in Washington, DC. Here we show that BWCs have very small and statistically insignificant effects on police use of force and civilian complaints, as well as other policing activities and judicial outcomes. These results suggest we should recalibrate our expectations of BWCs’ ability to induce large-scale behavioral changes in policing, particularly in contexts similar to Washington, DC.

The Link Between Verbal Short-Term Memory and Anomia Treatment Gains

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 1039-1052
Author(s):  
Reva M. Zimmerman ◽  
JoAnn P. Silkes ◽  
Diane L. Kendall ◽  
Irene Minkina
Keyword(s):  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Treatment Success ◽  
Linear Regression Models ◽  
Language Performance ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Treatment Gains ◽  
Post Hoc

Purpose A significant relationship between verbal short-term memory (STM) and language performance in people with aphasia has been found across studies. However, very few studies have examined the predictive value of verbal STM in treatment outcomes. This study aims to determine if verbal STM can be used as a predictor of treatment success. Method Retrospective data from 25 people with aphasia in a larger randomized controlled trial of phonomotor treatment were analyzed. Digit and word spans from immediately pretreatment were run in multiple linear regression models to determine whether they predict magnitude of change from pre- to posttreatment and follow-up naming accuracy. Pretreatment, immediately posttreatment, and 3 months posttreatment digit and word span scores were compared to determine if they changed following a novel treatment approach. Results Verbal STM, as measured by digit and word spans, did not predict magnitude of change in naming accuracy from pre- to posttreatment nor from pretreatment to 3 months posttreatment. Furthermore, digit and word spans did not change from pre- to posttreatment or from pretreatment to 3 months posttreatment in the overall analysis. A post hoc analysis revealed that only the less impaired group showed significant changes in word span scores from pretreatment to 3 months posttreatment. Discussion The results suggest that digit and word spans do not predict treatment gains. In a less severe subsample of participants, digit and word span scores can change following phonomotor treatment; however, the overall results suggest that span scores may not change significantly. The implications of these findings are discussed within the broader purview of theoretical and empirical associations between aphasic language and verbal STM processing.

Is There a Civilizing Effect on Citizens? Testing the Pre-Conditions for Body Worn Camera-Induced Behavior Change

2021 ◽  
pp. 109861112199671
Author(s):  
Quin Patterson ◽  
Michael D. White
Keyword(s):  
Behavior Change ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Police Department ◽  
Potential Effect ◽  
Mental Capacity ◽  
Systematic Social Observation ◽  
Social Observation ◽  
Gap Data

The cause(s) of reduced use of force and complaints following police body-worn camera (BWC) deployment remain unclear, though some argue that BWCs generate a civilizing effect on citizen behavior. This potential effect rests on four pre-conditions: (1) BWC presence and citizen awareness; (2) BWC activation; (3) Escalated citizen behavior or the potential for escalation; (4) Citizen mental capacity for BWC awareness. Prior research has not established the civilizing effect’s existence, or how often these pre-conditions are met; this study aims to fill that gap. Data was collected during systematic social observation (SSO) of 166 encounters between citizens and officers in the Tempe, Arizona Police Department. The results tell a simple story. Two pre-conditions (activation, citizen mental capacity) are consistently met; awareness and escalated behavior are not. Overall, 1.2% of encounters saw all pre-conditions met. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for research on BWCs.

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