Month: December 2023

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Police Use-of-Force Self-efficacy: An Antidote to the Ferguson Effect?

Abstract

Research has consistently shown that officers’ perceptions of deteriorated relationships with the public are associated with physical and emotional disengagement with their work. Anecdotal evidence suggests that this “Ferguson Effect” has also contributed to reluctance to use necessary physical force in the course of their duties, leading to compromises for officer safety and public safety. This study has two objectives: first, it is the only study to systematically assess the claim that apprehensiveness to use force is associated with perceptions of community support; second, it examines whether use-of-force self-efficacy reduces apprehensiveness to use force. Using OLS regression of officer surveys from 4,000 police officers in a Southeastern U.S. state, we find support for both hypotheses, as well as evidence of interaction effects. We identify several practical implications for agency leaders, and further encourage the development of use-of-force self-efficacy as a substantively and theoretically meaningful concept for researchers.

Published in the Journal of Crime and Justice.

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Google Will Stop Telling Law Enforcement Which Users Were Near a Crime


Google is changing its Maps tool so that the company no longer has access to users’ individual location histories, cutting off its ability to respond to law enforcement warrants that ask for data on everyone who was in the vicinity of a crime.

Google is changing its Location History feature on Google Maps, according to a blog post this week. The feature, which Google says is off by default, helps users remember where they’ve been. The company said Thursday that for users who have it enabled, location data will soon be saved directly on users’ devices, blocking Google from being able to see it, and, by extension, blocking law enforcement from being able to demand that information from Google.

Full story: Google Will Stop Telling Law Enforcement Which Users Were Near a Crime

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Justifiability and culpability in lethal self-defense: Police officers vs. civilians

Purpose

Some critics argue that legal standards, even when and where equivalent, are differentially applied to officers and civilians. This study examined evaluations of justifiability and culpability for police officers versus civilians, as well as White shooters versus Black shooters, in a 2✕2 factorial experiment. It also explored how personal attitudes and characteristics correspond to those evaluations.

Methods

A national sample of 2492 online respondents evaluated culpability and justifiability involving a claim of lethal self-defense involving mistake of fact. After reviewing facts about the case, watching video of the incident, and being given jury instructions for murder and self-defense, respondents were asked to evaluate the justifiability of the shooting on a 6-point scale and render a verdict.

Results

Police officers and Black shooters were evaluated more favorably. Pre-existing confidence in the police demonstrated direct effects and interaction effects on perceived justifiability and likelihood of acquittal.

Conclusions

These results reveal a double standard that benefits police in cases of lethal self-defense. The strong correlation between pre-existing confidence in the police and acquittal of police officers indicates a need for further research on how a generalized public trust in police impacts particularized evaluations of conduct in specific cases.

Published in the Journal of Criminal Justice.

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Police officers can help prevent domestic violence killings by asking the right questions – Stateline

Intimate partner violence and domestic violence killings are a serious public health problem, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But police can help prevent such killings, experts say, by using a questionnaire more states are seeking to make mandatory or more widely used during domestic violence calls.

In the wake of the well-publicized case of Gabby Petito, killed by her fiancé in 2021, Utah this spring enacted a law that requires police to conduct “lethality assessments” at domestic violence scenes.

The model lethality assessment practice, developed by the Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence, starts with an 11-question survey to determine whether a person’s life is at risk. The officer or first responder informs the victim of their screening score on the assessment and then calls a local domestic violence service hotline, connecting the hotline with the victim, if the victim is willing, to develop an immediate safety plan that might include emergency shelter.

Some Utah police already had been using lethality assessments on domestic violence calls. But since the state law went into effect, Utah has seen a sharp increase in shelter demand and referrals.

Full story: Police officers can help prevent domestic violence killings by asking the right questions – Stateline

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DC launching real-time crime center to monitor surveillance cameras

D.C. police will launch a real-time crime center at Metropolitan Police Department headquarters to monitor surveillance cameras around the clock.

Police are entering agreements with federal law enforcement and police from Maryland and Virginia. The agreements involve U.S. Park Police, U.S. Capitol Police and the Secret Service.

The crime center will monitor surveillance cameras 24/7, every day of the year.

Full story: DC launching real-time crime center to monitor surveillance cameras

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Philadelphia reduces school-based arrests by 91% since 2013 – researchers explain the effects of keeping kids out of the legal system

Drexel researchers evaluated a 2014 program implemented by Kevin Bethel when he was deputy police commissioner that led to fewer arrests of students in schools.

At the same time, violent crime dropped, contradicting many officers’ claims that a ‘get out of jail free card’ may lead youth to commit more crimes.

 

Full story: Philadelphia reduces school-based arrests by 91% since 2013 – researchers explain the effects of keeping kids out of the legal system

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Less traffic enforcement could mean more traffic deaths in Austin, city audit finds

Less traffic enforcement by law enforcement may have caused the number of fatal traffic incidents to increase in Austin in recent years, according to an audit released by the city last week.

In addition to looking at Austin, auditors looked at the resources of Dallas, San Antonio and Seattle, and found that each city has seen a reduction in the number of traffic citations over the past few years and an increase in the number of traffic deaths.

These findings come as Austin and the three other cities continue to face staffing shortages in their police departments. Auditors also noted that there were fewer crashes and deaths during the deployment of Texas Department of Public Safety troopers earlier this year.

Full story: Less traffic enforcement could mean more traffic deaths in Austin, city audit finds