Research Findings on the Use of Force by Police Michael R. Smith, J.D., Ph.D.

The Capacity to Use Force as the Core of the Police Role “The role of the police is best understood as a mechanism for the distribution of non-negotiably coercive force employed in accordance with the dictates of an intuitive grasp of situational exigencies.” - Egon Bittner Two corollaries: The authority to arrest is best conceptualized as incidental to a broader authority to use force that society voluntarily accedes to its police. Yet, “how can we arrive at a favorable or even accepting judgment about an activity which is, in its very conception, opposed to the ethos of the polity that authorizes it?”

The Prevalence of Force Used by Police First, there is no enforceable national reporting requirement or data collection effort underway to capture information about the use of force by police. The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 required the Attorney General to acquire, “through appropriate means,” data about the use of excessive force by law enforcement officers and to publish an annual summary of the those data. 42 U.S.C. § The task is complicated 18,000 state and local law enforcement agencies in the U.S. More than 800,000 (est.) sworn law enforcement officers Research estimates of the frequency of force used by police Hickman et al. (2008) estimated that police used or threatened to use force in 1.7% of all contacts with citizens and 20% of all arrests in The Police-Public Contact Survey, which surveys a nationally- representative sample of residents age 16 or older, reported a similar percentage in 2008 (1.4%) Of those involuntarily contacted by the police in 2011, 1.5% of drivers and 25.4% of persons stopped on the street reported having force used against them.

The Severity of Force Used by Police Most force used by police is low level Pushing, pulling, grabbing, or restraining are most common Garner et al.’s (2002) six site study in found that weaponless control tactics alone were the most frequent type of force used when making an arrest In their multi-site, multi-method study of the use of force and injury outcomes, Smith et al. (2010) found that the use of empty hand control tactics was the most severe level of force used by officers in reported use of force events. But in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the Taser was used more often than empty hand control tactics Where Tasers are issued, they tend to be the most frequently used force tactic after empty hand control The pointing (but not actual use) of a handgun is also a fairly common use of force tactic Pepper spray, batons, and/or strikes, punches, or kicks are used relatively infrequently compared to other types of force

Police Use of Force Against Minority Citizens Findings from the 2008 Police-Public Contact Survey Percent of citizens having contact with police who reported that force was used or threatened against them Whites1.2% Blacks3.4% Hispanics1.6% Percent of citizens who perceived that force used or threatened against them was excessive Whites72.8% Blacks70% Hispanics78.9% Lawton’s (2007) research in Philadelphia Comparing force used by police against citizens to the U.S. census, Blacks were overrepresented among those against whom force was used (by 17%) and Whites were underrepresented (by 15-19%) But after controlling for suspect resistance, citizen race was no longer a statistically significant predictor of force being used

Police Use of Force and Neighborhood Context Terrill & Reisig (2003) Police observational data from Indianapolis, IN and St. Petersburg, FL collected in Use of force by police in neighborhoods was predicated upon The relative wealth or concentrated disadvantage of the neighborhood The homicide rate of the neighborhood The percent minority population was not a statistically significant predictor of force used by police at the neighborhood level once other factors (above) were controlled Lersch et al. (2008) Use of force reports from “a large Southeastern city” with more than 1,000 police officers were examined in the context of neighborhood characteristics Once relevant neighborhood characteristics were taken into account, two variables predicted the frequency of force used by police: The number of cases of active resistance to police control Percentage of non-White residents

Citizen Perceptions of Force Used by Police In 2011, approximately 62.9 million U.S. residents age 16 and older had contact with the police. About half of those contacts were police-initiated, usually as the result of a traffic stop or “street stop.” Police have legal authority to stop a motor vehicle or a pedestrian based on “reasonable suspicion” that a crime or traffic infraction has or will occur. Among those subjected to a “street stop” in 2011: 25% reported that force was used against them 68% of those persons believed the force used was excessive Persons who reported that force used against them was excessive by race: White72.8% Black70.0% Hispanic78.9% Based on national polling, Whites are much more supportive of police using force than are Blacks or Hispanics, and minorities are more likely than Whites to perceive that the use of force by police is excessive or illegitimate.

The Use of Excessive Force and its Control It is very difficult to obtain reliable estimates of the extent to which police use excessive force. Remember, there is no national reporting system in place for the use of force by police. But even if there was, Police are legally authorized to use reasonable force to protect themselves and others or to make an arrest. Judgments about what constitutes excessive force require investigative fact-finding and a determination by some authoritative body (e.g. law enforcement agency, court) before a final decision can be rendered. Factors that influence the use of excessive force: Weak screening and hiring practices Poor training Ambiguous or non-existent departmental policies governing the use of force Lack of supervision and managerial oversight Lack of accountability and consequences, which breeds a culture of cynicism and tolerance for excessive force

Sources Bittner, E. (1970). The Functions of the Police in Modern Society. Washington, DC: National Institute of Mental Health. Eith, C. & Durose, M. (2011). Contacts between Police and the Public, Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics. Garner, J.H., Maxwell, C.D., & Heraux, C.G. (2002). Characteristics associated with the prevalence and severity of force used by the police. Justice Quarterly, 19, Hickman, M.J. (2006). Citizen Complaints about Police Use of Force. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics. Hickman, M J., Piquero, A.R., & Garner, J.H. (2008). Toward a national estimate of police use of nonlethal force. Criminology & Public Policy, 7, Langton, L. & Durose, M. (2013). Police Behavior during Traffic and Street Stops, Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics..

Sources Cont’d Lawton, B.A. (2007). Levels of nonlethal force: An examination of individual, situational, and contextual factors. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 44, Lersch, K.M., Bazley, T., Mieczkowski, T, & Childs, K. (2008). Police use of force and neighborhood characteristics: An examination of structural disadvantage, crime, and resistance. Policing & Society, 18, Terrill, W. & Reisig, M.D. (2009). Neighborhood context and police use of force. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 40,