Suspect resistance, police use of force, and officer injuries in a post-Floyd era: an analysis of two large police departments

Boehme, Hunter M.; Kaminski, Robert J.

doi:10.1080/15614263.2023.2172010

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Research is emerging about the effects of these events on the police profession. Recent scholarship suggests considerably elevated levels of turnover in police agencies (Adams et al, 2023;Mourtgos et al, 2022) resulting in widespread staffing crises (PERF, 2023), significant increases in resistance by suspects during encounters with police in some cities (Boehme & Kaminski, 2023), and a significant short term spike in firearms violence against police officers (Sierra-Arévalo et al, 2023). We do not, however, have a reliable understanding of how the nation's police leadership has perceived and characterized these effects.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Understaffed and beleaguered: A national survey of US chiefs of police about the post-George Floyd era

del Pozo,

Rouhani,

Clark

2024

CrimRxiv

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Understaffed and beleaguered: A national survey of US chiefs of police about the post-George Floyd era Purpose of this paperThe 2020 murder of George Floyd resulted in challenges to policing in the United States, but little is known about how police chiefs perceive them. At the same time, chiefs of police wield great influence over public perceptions of crime and disorder, the state of their profession, the laws and policies that govern the conduct of police officers, and municipal public safety budgets. It is therefore critical to understand how police perceive the changes to their profession post-Floyd. Design/methodology/approachThis study surveyed a randomly selected national sample of 276 municipal chiefs of police. Items probed resignations, recruitment, efforts to defund departments, community support, officer morale, suspects' likelihood of obeying lawful orders, and career risks that could inhibit proactive police work. It examined associations between perceptions and Census Bureau region, length of tenure as chief, size of police department, population served, and the urban or rural designation of the jurisdiction. FindingsChiefs overwhelmingly reported recruiting qualified candidates had become much harder, and the present risks of proactive police work encourage inaction. Chiefs of agencies in the Northeast perceived more challenges than those in the South. Respondents with more years of experience were less likely to perceive the current situation as dire. Approximately 13.5% reported an attempt to defund their department, 56.8% of which yielded some success. Our study suggests an increase in the challenges perceived by chiefs of police, although their extent varied by region and years of experience. What is original/value of paperThis study provides researchers and practitioners with the perspectives of chiefs about the post-Floyd era that influence their decisions, policies, and initiatives.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Understaffed and beleaguered: A national survey of US chiefs of police about the post-George Floyd era

del Pozo,

Rouhani,

Clark

2024

CrimRxiv

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“…Previous research has suggested that agencies with higher likelihood for dangerous and hostile encounters faced more police turnover (Schuck & Rabe-Hemp, 2018). Boehme and Kaminski (2023) looked to the post-Floyd period in Indianapolis and New Orleans, and found that suspect resistance and use of force increased in both cities, while officer injuries increased only in the New Orleans police department. Sierra-Arévalo et al (2023) provide the clearest evidence to date for a period of "retributive violence" directed at police officers in the immediate aftermath of the Floyd protests.…”

Section: Mechanisms and Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Turnover in Large US Police Agencies Following the George Floyd Protests

Adams¹,

Mourtgos²,

Nix³

2023

Preprint

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We examine whether police resignations and retirements significantly changed in the two years following public backlash related to the police murder of George Floyd. We employ Bayesian Structural Time Series to compare observed trends in each agency to synthetic counterfactuals using monthly staffing data from fourteen large municipal policing and sheriffs’ agencies in the US. In the two years since the Floy protests began, large metropolitan agencies have experienced significant increases in resignations, retirements, or both. One agency was unaffected, two saw small improvements, and eleven saw between 2.2% and 16% excess loss of sworn full-time personnel when compared to the synthetic counterfactual. These results reaffirm the importance of understanding how agency operational and personnel patterns have shifted since the summer of 2020.

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“…In support of this claim, scholars have linked increases in public hostility to increased numbers of officers leaving agencies (Mourtgos et al., 2022), and even a short‐lived increase in the number of officers shot on duty (Sierra‐Arévalo et al., 2023). Thus, police may be experiencing greater hostility, animosity, resistance, and violent assaults from civilians daily (Boehme & Kaminski, 2023; Sierra‐Arévalo et al., 2023), while simultaneously struggling to maintain a staffed police force in order to effectively serve the public (Archbold, 2022).…”

Section: Perceptions Of Police In Affecting Policy Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Does scientific research change minds? Linking criminology and public perceptions of policing

Boehme,

Adams,

Metcalfe

et al. 2023

Criminology & Public Policy

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Research summaryThis study investigates the impact of scientific research findings on public views of policing topics. Specifically, we conducted an original survey experiment to determine whether research information treatments influence respondents’ views on the effectiveness of the police in reducing crime, defunding and refunding police budgets, and use of body‐worn cameras. Our results indicated that presenting confirmatory research information had a significant positive impact on perceptions of police effectiveness in reducing crime and use of body‐worn cameras compared to comparison groups. Conversely, presenting “negative” research information had a significant negative effect on these perceptions. Interestingly, neither positive nor negative research information treatments related to defunding versus refunding the police had a statistically significant impact on respondents compared to comparison groups, suggesting that research findings have limited effects on more ideologically complex policing topics.Policy implicationsScientific research can effectively shape public perceptions of police effectiveness in reducing crime and the use of body‐worn cameras, but it has limited effects on politically charged issues, such as defunding and refunding the police. To enhance the impact of evidence‐based policing, we suggest that police administrators collaborate with researchers to evaluate new policies and disseminate these findings widely to the public. Additionally, researchers should strive to make their research more accessible to the general public, beyond academic journals, scientific conferences, and paywalls. We recommend using open‐access platforms, social media, and other media outlets to disseminate unbiased, evidence‐based research on policing that is digestible to the public.

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Suspect resistance, police use of force, and officer injuries in a post-Floyd era: an analysis of two large police departments

Cited by 6 publications

References 25 publications

Understaffed and beleaguered: A national survey of US chiefs of police about the post-George Floyd era

Understaffed and beleaguered: A national survey of US chiefs of police about the post-George Floyd era

Turnover in Large US Police Agencies Following the George Floyd Protests

Does scientific research change minds? Linking criminology and public perceptions of policing

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