Building the Data Infrastructure to Support Democratic Policing

• In Event: Theoretical and Methodological Advances in Policing I

Abstract

Police and the communities they serve struggle to engage in civil discourse about police use of coercive authority. Part of the problem is a lack of adequate information that can be used to assess fundamental fairness in the distribution of coercion. As a consequence, there is a disconnect between how the public and the police understand and assess police coercion, which makes community engagement challenging. We report findings from our partnership with police departments in Dane County, Wisconsin, to build the necessary data resources to support community engagement and education about police coercion. Five years of data for each participating agency were compiled by project personnel trained to use a standard coding manual. Among up to 150 variables captured were the Force Factor and Force Justification scales, used to evaluate the officer’s level of force in proportion to the suspect’s resistance, the severity of the crime involved, the level of threat posed by the suspect, and whether the suspect was resisting or fleeing. The force factor in particular is advanced as an intuitive means of promoting a shared understanding of the nature and distribution of police coercion within a community, having the potential to lead to substantially improved relations.

Authors

• Matt Hickman, Seattle University

• Bob Scales, Police Strategies, LLC