scholarly journals Essays on Race in Policing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Hunter Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Affirmative Action ◽  
Racial Disparities ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Racial Profiling ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Estimation Method ◽  
Racial Composition ◽  
Action Plans ◽  
Female Officer ◽  
The Impact

In recent years, a number of high-profile policing controversies have led to global indignation over racial disparities in policing and perceived police brutality. This paper explores three different dimensions of race in policing. The first chapter of this dissertation examines whether the presence of female and minority police officers affects the likelihood of police use of force and whether officers are more or less likely to use force against civilians of a different race. Focusing on a subset of 911 calls resulting in arrest, I use an instrumental variables estimation method with dispatch availability by officer race/gender as an instrument for the presence of different officer types. I find that the presence of a female officer significantly reduces the likelihood that force is used. Calls involving white officers and black civilians are significantly more likely to result in use of force. The second chapter uses data on 7.5 million police-civilian interactions made by 1,663 Texas Highway Patrol officers to estimate the impact of five mandatory police trainings on the racial composition of traffic stops and racial disparities in related outcomes. The five trainings considered are (1) Cultural Diversity; (2) Arrest, Search & Seizure; (3) Racial Profiling; (4) Traffic; and (5) Deescalation. We exploit quasi-random variation in the timing of when individual officers receive training and estimate a series of event study models. We find that training has little to no effect on policing behavior in terms of either racial composition or stops or related outcomes. In general, our findings cast serious doubt on the ability of policymakers to use training as an effective intervention for combatting longstanding disparities in law enforcement. The third chapter examines whether externally-imposed affirmative action plans designed to increase the shares of nonwhite and female police officers have impacted the rates of reported offenses and/or offenses cleared by arrest. Using a series of modern econometric strategies including difference-in-differences decomposition and generalized synthetic controls, we do not find a significant effect of court-imposed affirmative action plans on the rates of reported offenses or reported offenses cleared by arrest. We also consider whether unlitigated agencies change their practices due to the threat of litigation but are unable to identify causal evidence of such threat effects

Complex Colorblindness in Police Processes and Practices

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan Welsh ◽  
Joshua Chanin ◽  
Stuart Henry
Keyword(s):  
Racial Disparities ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Racial Profiling ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Traffic Stops ◽  
Enforcement Policy ◽  
Key Points ◽  
Depth Interviews

Abstract Racial disparities in police-community encounters are well documented, with people of color experiencing higher levels of police scrutiny. Far less is known about how police officers perceive the racial dynamics at play in their work. As part of a 2016 study of traffic stops in San Diego, we conducted in-depth interviews with 52 city police officers. Despite evidence of racial disparities in SDPD practices related to post-stop outcomes, officers denied, minimized, or even condemned racial profiling during traffic stops; officers described operating under a neutral policy of “colorblindness.” Our analysis identifies cognitive and discursive mechanisms which explain this complex and contradictory picture. We find that officers’ accounts excuse, justify, or otherwise negate the role of race in routine police work, yet officers’ thoughts and actions are based on racialized and, at times, dehumanizing narratives about people and communities of color. These morally neutral accounts form a pattern of micro-racialized discourse, constituting a layering of racialized processes and practices that cumulatively produce racially disparate outcomes. We argue that rejection of explicit racism alone is insufficient to address the progressive micro-racial aggression that emerges at key points during police-community encounters. We discuss the implications for law enforcement policy and practice.

scholarly journals Neighborhood Residence and Assessments of Racial Profiling Using Census Data

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 237802311881874
Author(s):  
Lance Hannon
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Racial Disparities ◽  
Census Data ◽  
Racial Profiling ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Racial Composition ◽  
Racial Disproportionality ◽  
Population At Risk ◽  
Residential Population

People frequently compare the racial composition of stopped individuals with the racial composition of the local residential population to assess unequal policing. This type of evaluation rests on the assumption that the census-derived population accurately reflects the population at risk to be stopped. For vehicle stops, existing research indicates that this assumption is very problematic, resulting in highly unreliable assessments of black-white policing disparities. However, there is little research on the significance of this assumption for stopped urban pedestrians. Analyzing more than 100,000 investigatory stops in Chicago, the present study finds that similar to vehicle stops, most pedestrian investigations do not involve neighborhood residents, and estimates of racial disproportionality are inflated when this issue is ignored. Still, the degree to which estimates are inflated appears less than that previously reported for vehicle stops, and sizable racial disparities remain unexplained after the issue is taken into account. Implications for future research are discussed.

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.

scholarly journals Racial Disparities in Context: Student-, School-, and County-Level Effects on the Likelihood of Obesity among Elementary School Students

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-260
Author(s):  
Joy Rayanne Piontak ◽  
Michael D. Schulman
Keyword(s):  
Childhood Obesity ◽  
Racial Disparities ◽  
Racial Differences ◽  
The United States ◽  
School Level ◽  
Racial Composition ◽  
County Level ◽  
School Students ◽  
Logistic Regression Models ◽  
The Impact

Childhood obesity rates in the United States have risen since the 1980s and are especially high among racial minorities. Researchers document differentials in obesity rates by race, socioeconomic status, school characteristics, and place. In this study, the authors examine the impact of race on the likelihood of obesity at the student, school, and county levels and the interactions between student race and school racial composition. The data are from 74,661 third to fifth grade students in 317 schools in 38 North Carolina counties. Multilevel logistic regression models showed that racial differences in the likelihood of obesity persisted even when racial composition and socioeconomic disadvantage at the school level were controlled. The differences between white and nonwhite students slightly decreased once school-level measures were added. The magnitude of the effects of student-level race on the relative odds of obesity varied according to the racial composition of the school. These student- and school-level results held even when county-level race and socioeconomic variables were controlled. The results show that contextual factors at the school and county levels are important social determinants of racial disparities in the likelihood of childhood obesity.

Exploring police-resident racial equality and violent crime

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-18
Author(s):  
Victoria A. Sytsma
Keyword(s):  
Violent Crime ◽  
Residential Segregation ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Crime Control ◽  
Control Strategies ◽  
Racial Composition ◽  
Police Departments ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Minority Officers ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – Residential segregation based on race/ethnicity is associated with higher crime rates. However, when there is greater diversity within a neighbourhood, there may be less clustering of crime. One sign of such diversity beyond direct measures of racial similarity may be the proportion of minority officers employed by municipal police departments. As such, the purpose of this paper is to test the effect of the proportion of minority police officers on violent crime within minority communities, controlling for residential segregation. Design/methodology/approach – Multi-level modelling of 91 American cities from the 2000 National Neighbourhood Crime Study was used. Findings – It was found that as minority populations within census tracts increase, violent crime also increases; and crime is associated with an increase in segregation. However, racial composition of police departments can moderate the impact that community racial composition has on violent crime. Originality/value – The current findings point to crime control strategies relevant to municipalities which focus on creating neighbourhoods of racial heterogeneity and more diverse police agencies.

Representative Training with Less Risk: The Effects of Non-lethal Training and Conventional Ammunition in Police Use of Force Training on Heart Rate Variability

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 411-425
Author(s):  
Mario S Staller ◽  
Jon C Cole ◽  
Benjamin Zaiser ◽  
Swen Körner
Keyword(s):  
Heart Rate ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Active Duty ◽  
Training Design ◽  
Safe Alternative ◽  
Police Use Of Force ◽  
Physiological Load ◽  
Psychophysiological Arousal ◽  
The Impact

Abstract With the goal of preventing unintentional fire-arm death and injury as well as widening the scope of police use of force training design, this study compared the impact of non-lethal training (NLT) ammunition and conventional ammunition (CA) on police officers’ psychophysiological arousal. We assessed heart rate and parasympathetic activity while police officers engaged in a demanding fighting and shooting exercise. Based on previous research, which shows that physiological arousal in representative scenario exercises does not differ from active duty operations, this study tested and corroborated the hypothesis that simulated psychophysiological demand will be the same in using both NLT and CA. Thus, the use of NLT ammunition provides a safe alternative to training the use of issue weapons with CA, equally as representative of the active duty environment of the real world. Furthermore, this study underlines that fighting elicits high levels of physiological load that police officers need to be prepared for.

Documenting Contact and Thinking with Skin: A Dermatological Approach to the Study of Police Street Checks

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Anita Lam ◽  
Timothy Bryan
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Racial Disparities ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Numerical Data ◽  
Quantitative Studies ◽  
Primary Object ◽  
Practice Projects

Abstract In contrast to quantitative studies that rely on numerical data to highlight racial disparities in police street checks, this article offers a qualitative methodology for examining how histories of anti-Blackness configure civilians’ experiences of present-day policing. Taking the Halifax Street Checks Report as our primary object of analysis, we apply an innovative dermatological approach, demonstrating how skin itself becomes meaningful when police officers and civilians make contact in the process of a street check. We explore how street checks become an occasion for epidermalization, whereby a law enforcement practice projects onto the skins of civilians locally specific histories and emotions. To think with skin, we focus on the narratives shared by African Nova Scotians, a group that has been street checked at higher rates than their white counterparts. By doing so, we argue that current debates about police street checks in Halifax must attend to the emotional stakes of police-initiated encounters in order to fully appreciate the lived experience of street checks for Black civilians.

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