David A. Klinger

Environment and Organization: Reviving a Perspective on the Police

Police researchers have largely ignored the role thatorganizational and environmental factors play indetermining how officers behave during interactions withcitizens. This has resulted in a body of policing knowledgethat contains little information about how and whypolice practices are affected by features of the agenciesofficers work for and forces outside police departments.This article points out the consequences of this dearth ofknowledge for understanding what the police do andwhy they do it, reviews the limited literature onorganizational and environmental determinants of policeactivity, and calls for a research program that views interfacebetween police organizations and their environments asa central question.

Race, Crime, and the Micro-Ecology of Deadly Force

Limitations in data and research on the use of firearms by police officers in the United States preclude sound understanding of the determinants of deadly force in police work. The current study addresses these limitations with detailed case attributes and a microspatial analysis of police shootings in St. Louis, MO, between 2003 and 2012. The results indicate that neither the racial composition of neighborhoods nor their level of economic disadvantage directly increase the frequency of police shootings, whereas levels of violent crime dobut only to a point. Police shootings are less frequent in areas with the highest levels of criminal violence than in those with midlevels of violence. We offer a provisional interpretation of these results and call for replications in other settings. Policy ImplicationsNationwide replications of the current research will require the establishment of a national database of police shootings. Informative assessments of a single agencys policies and practices require comparative information from other agencies. We recommend specific data elements to be included in such an information system that would shed further empirical light on the interconnections among race, crime, and police use of deadly force. The database also would contribute to the development of evidence-based policies and procedures on deadly forcean urgent public priority in light of recent controversial police shootings across the United States. Language: en

Policing Spousal Assault

The claim that police officers are less likely to arrest for spousal assaults as compared to other types of violence is one of two fundamental assertions undergirding recent laws and policies encouraging officers to arrest in cases of spousal assault. A review of relevant literature, however, discloses no evidence that bears directly on this claim. Data from an observational study of police behavior are used to test the thesis that arrest is less likely for spousal violence. The findings do not support the thesis. Rather, they indicate that although officers are unlikely to arrest in spousal assault cases, they are equally unlikely to arrest in other types of violence. The implications of the study are discussed.

On the Problems and Promise of Research on Lethal Police Violence A Research Note

We presently have little information about how frequently police officers shoot citizens or are involved in any sort of interaction in which citizens die. Despite this, however, researchers persist in using the limited data available on fatal police violence in various sorts of analyses. The current article outlines the liabilities in available counts of fatal police action, describes some of the problems posed by using such data, discusses why counting citizens killed by police bullets is not a sound way to measure deadly force, and offers some ideas for improving measurement of the use of deadly force and other police actions that lead to the death of citizens.

Maintaining Separate Spheres in Policing: Women on SWAT Teams

The Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team may represent the last vestige of male dominance in law enforcement as an assignment that remains grounded in traditional masculine notions of policing. Although SWAT units have become a prominent feature of modern American policing, there are few female team members. In an attempt to develop some insight into why women rarely serve on SWAT teams, the present research examines the viewpoints of a sample of 30 male and 31 female police officers on the gendered aspects of SWAT assignment. This exploratory study represents the first qualitative attempt to uncover police officers’ perspectives and thoughts on the “fit” of women on SWAT teams. The results show that the majority of officers, whether implicitly or explicitly, and regardless of gender, agree that the presence of women on SWAT teams presents a variety of challenges.

Suicidal Intent in Victim-Precipitated Homicide Insights from the Study of “Suicide-by-Cop”

Four decades ago, Marvin Wolfgang offered one of the most influential concepts in contemporary criminology when he coined the term “victim-precipitated homicide” to describe killings wherein decedents initiate the violent interactions that culminate in their death. One aspect of Wolfgangs work on victim-precipitated homicide that has not generated much attention among criminologists, however, is his notion that some of the individuals who precipitate their own violent deaths actually desired to die. Whereas criminologists have largely ignored Wolfgangs ideas about suicidal homicide victims, others have noted the presence of suicidal intent among victims of one specific sort of violence: police gunfire. For at least two decades, people in and around law enforcement have noted a phenomenon they commonly call “suicide-by-cop”—police shootings where suicidal citizens purposely provoke officers to shoot them. The present article uses suicide-by-cop as a platform to demonstrate how attention to Wolfgangs ideas about suicidal victims can enhance understanding of interpersonal violence.

Quantifying Law in Police-Citizen Encounters

The way researchers have traditionally measured police action limits their capacity to test legal theories and shed light onto the determinants of law at the initial stage of the criminal justice process. This paper describes extant police action measures and their limitations, offers a new measure that taps variation in the amount of law police officers use in encounters with citizens, presents the results of an analysis that utilizes the new measure, and discusses the implications of this new measure for legal research.

Impact munitions: a discussion of key information

Purpose – To provide readers with some basic information about the use of impact munitions in modern American police work.Design/methodology/approach – The paper identifies various sorts of impact munitions and places key findings from previous studies of these devices in a broader historical context of police force options.Findings – Impact munitions are an increasingly popular feature of contemporary American policing that rarely lead to serious injury, but can, under certain circumstances, cause fatal injuries.Originality/value – The paper provides interested academics and professional with information about an increasingly popular police force option.

An Examination of the Effect of a Policy Change on Police Use of TASERs

The role that department policy plays in shaping how police officers exercise their discretionary powers to use physical force against citizens is a critical issue in the American justice system. Research has established that department policies regarding officers’ use of deadly force effected firearm use and led to reductions in incidents of officers discharging their weapon. There is a noticeable lack of similar evidence on the effects of policy changes regarding the use of non-lethal force. This study describes the results of an assessment of the effect that a change in policy governing a specific type of non-lethal force—TASERs—in one major police department had on officers’ use of the device. The results show that a move to a more restrictive TASER policy led to a reduction in TASER use. The study also reports on the role that factors besides policy play in officers’ TASER usage.

Enhancing Police Legitimacy by Promoting Safety Culture

Abstract Purpose Drawing from literature on organizations that function efficiently and effectively while maintaining low levels of errors and occupational injuries and deaths, we argue that police departments can enhance their legitimacy by adopting the practices found in such organizations because doing so can reduce the frequency of unnecessary force against citizens and lower officer injury rates. Methodology/approach To support our argument, we review literatures on the causes and avoidance of errors in organizations, identify how well-run organizations in high-risk environments are able to operate safely, and describe how police departments can adopt similar practices as a mechanism to enhance officer safety and lower the rate at which officers use force against citizens. Findings By adopting the practices of successful organizations in other fields, police departments and their officers can promote and enhance their safety while simultaneously reducing their use of force against citizens. By doing so, police can raise the level of legitimacy they hold in the eyes of the American public, which has arguably decreased in the wake of recent events involving police gunfire. Originality/value Our ideas contribute to the policing literature by: (1) highlighting a preexisting body of literature and outlining its application to police organizations and (2) detailing how both the police and the public can benefit from improved police practices.