Representative Bureaucracy: Examining Demographic Alignments and Use of Force Patterns in England and Wales

• In Event: The Role of Race and Circumstantial Factors in Police Encounters

Abstract

The concept of representative bureaucracy, that public institutions ought to reflect the demographic composition of the society they serve to effectively cater to the diverse needs of citizens, has long been advocated as a remedy for identified disproportionalities in police-public interactions, such as stop and search and the use of force. Over the past several decades, extensive scholarly work has delved into the concept of representativeness within policing. However, it remains unclear whether demographic alignment (i.e., “match”) between police officers and citizens in terms of age, gender and ethnicity is likely to reduce the probability of taser in use of force encounters.

We utilize data from police-recorded Use of Force (UoF) forms from three police force areas in England: Greater Manchester Police, Hampshire Police, and the Metropolitan Police Service. The study uses data collected over three years (N=512181). Findings indicate that instances where an officer, who has recorded the use of force, shares the same gender and ethnicity as the citizen involved, are associated with a reduced likelihood of red-dotting, or firing the Taser compared to any other use of force. Overall, these results support the idea that a gender and ethnic similarity or ‘match’, may have a de-escalatory potential.

Authors

• Amal Ali, London School of Economics and Political Science

• Jasmine Oware, London School of Economics and Political Science

• Krisztian Posch, University College London