Response to Resistance: Officer-level Determinants of Force Escalation

• In Event: Decision Making Processes in Police Use of Force

Abstract

Use of force has become an issue of national attention in recent years, and police departments around the nation have become more transparent when it comes to releasing data about the way officers exercise this authority. The City of Dallas publishes “Response to Resistance” data at the incident level, offering insight into the characteristics of each use of force, and identifying the officers involved. By tying response to resistance incidents to all prior incidents by officer, this paper explores how officer-level exposure to various types of crime and crime-related encounters impact their subsequent use of force and escalation patterns when responding to resistance. The study will also consider the impact of officer tenure and the race/ethnicity of both the officers and the arrestees. All data are provided by the Dallas Police Department through the City of Dallas open data portal.

Authors

• Timothy Bray, The University of Texas at Dallas

• Anthony Galvan, The University of Texas at Dallas

• Scott Zinser, University of Texas at Dallas