Stop and Search: Challenges for Police Management and Supervision

• In Event: Police Strategies and Management

Abstract

The regulation of frontline police officer behavior is notoriously difficult, given the substantial discretion officers enjoy. This study explores whether measures of supervision and management interventions are associated with street-level officer behaviors in relation to their stop and search practices, in UK police agencies. Specifically, it examines whether managers’ encouragement to be cautious/selective, their encouragement to be proactive, their interventions to challenge behaviors around stop and search, and their expectations about how officers carry out stop and search, are predictive of the number, ethnic patterns, or productivity of searches. An important methodological feature of the study is the use of officer surveys to measure key supervision and management independent variables while measuring street-level behavior using administrative data based on police agency records produced during stop and search encounters.
The study considers the implications of findings for the management and supervision of stop and search activity. This is an important challenge for police organizations seeking to promote fair contacts between the police officers and the public.

Authors

• Felipe Salazar, Rutgers University

• Joel Miller, Rutgers University