Officers’ Accounts of Police Use of Force

• In Event: Factors Shaping Police Misconduct

Abstract

Empirical studies have aimed to contextualize and provide an explanation for police use of force. While some studies suggest that officers employ force in response to the level of violence they encounter in their working environment, others claim that officers’ social environments and informal subculture norms may influence an officer’s decision to employ force. The current study extends these perspectives but takes a different approach, focusing on how officers themselves retrospectively account for and explain incidents in which they or their peers employ force. To better understand officers’ accounts of police use of force behaviors, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 61 officers in one of the largest police departments in the United States. Officers were asked about their experiences with and exposure to use of force incidents. They were also asked to classify and evaluate their peer’s use of force behaviors. Findings from the interviews reveal how aspects of the police role (e.g., perceptions of dangerousness, threat, efficiency) and aspects of socialization (e.g., trust, camaraderie, reciprocity) shape an officer’s own assessment of what constitutes reasonable or excessive force and how these beliefs permeate the police occupational subculture.

Authors

• Sadaf Hashimi, University of Nebraska Omaha

• Marie Ouellet, Georgia State University

• Dean Dabney, Georgia State University