Police Use of Force: A Spatial Examination

• In Event: Crime and Place: Modeling Place Based Behaviour

Abstract

Prior studies indicate that police enforcement activities, like use of force and misconduct, are concentrated within specific neighborhoods, often those that experience higher concentrated disadvantage and crime. Yet, despite the research advancements that demonstrate the need to examine crime and other spatial phenomenon at small places, like street segments, few studies have examined whether police activities, like use of force, concentrate at micro-locations. The present study uses data from collected from a mid-size eastern city police department to examine whether reports of use of force are spatially concentrated and if so, to what degree they overlap with concentrations of crime and disorder.

Authors

• Julie Hibdon, Southern Illinois University

• Joseph Schafer, Southern Illinois University

• Michael Kyle, Southern Illinois University