Toward a National Estimate of Police Use of Nonlethal Force*

Abstract

Research SummaryDespite frequent calls for national data on police use of force, the literature is dominated by unrepresentative samples from a small number of primarily urban jurisdictions, inconsistent definitions of force, and differing universes for the computation of rates. Among 36 publications that report on the amount of nonlethal force used by the police, rates vary from 0.1% to 31.8%. To improve our ability to estimate the amount of nonlethal force in the United States, we employ data from two sources: the Police-Public Contact Survey (PPCS) and the Survey of Inmates in Local Jails (SILJ). Using comparable measures from these surveys, we estimate that the police use or threaten to use force in 1.7% of all contacts and in 20.0% of all arrests. The PPCS accounts for 87% of the total force incidents derived from both surveys. Males, youths, and racial minorities report greater rates of police use of force, but multivariate models highlight the role of potentially provoking behaviors on the likelihood and severity of force. 563 \\server05\productn\C\CPP\7-4\CPP406.txt unknown Seq: 2 29-DEC-08 10:54 564 HICKMAN ET AL. Policy ImplicationsImproved estimates from the combined PPCS-SILJ samples support the proposition that police use force infrequently and at the lower end of the severity scale. Reported amounts of force vary based on respondent race, sex, and age, but greater variation in police use of force is explained by suspect behavior. The combined PPCS-SILJ sample provides a more representative basis for estimating the rate and correlates of nonlethal force. State and local estimates from less representative samples can be interpreted in light of these findings. National estimates could be improved by devoting sufficient resources to support the collection of agency records of both lethal and nonlethal force.

Is Dangerousness a Myth? Injuries and Police Encounters with People with Mental Illnesses

“…When force is used, it is usually in response to one of the following behaviors identified in the literature: resisting officer requests, acting disrespectful toward officers, attacking officers, possessing a weapon, or running away from the police, but not mental illness (cf. Garner and Maxwell, ; Hickman et al, ; Jacobs and O'Brien, ; Kaminski, Digiovanni, and Downs, ; Terrill and Mastrofski, ). Given the low levels of force typically used by police officers, the subsequent injuries that result from all encounters are minor, described mostly as abrasions and bruises (Alpert and Dunham, ).…”

Transactional Encounters, Crisis‐Driven Reform, and the Potential for a National Police Deadly Force Database

“…Second, some of the explanation may be tied to the infrequency of the event. Data consistently show that police use of force occurs in less than 2% of police–citizen encounters and that the force most commonly used by police is minor (Hickman, Piquero, and Garner, ). Use of deadly force represents a tiny percentage of an already rare event.…”

Forensic GIS

“…A recent literature review (Hickman et al 2008 ) identifi ed 36 studies reporting an incident-based rate of police use of force and found that the majority of studies were based on data from a single jurisdiction and the methods were quite diverse (including arrest reports, household surveys, independent observations, police surveys, suspect surveys, and offi cial use of force forms), as were the units of analysis (arrests, contacts, citizen encounters, disputes, police stops, potentially violent mobilizations, suspect encounters, and calls for service ). Somewhat unsurprisingly, across 36 studies reporting on the amount of nonlethal force used by the police, rates varied from about a tenth of one percent up to almost 32 %.…”