Understanding Police Use of Force: Officers, Suspects, and Reciprocity

by Geoffrey P. Alpert , Roger G. Dunham

• ISBN13: 9780521546751
• ISBN10: 0521546753
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-08-09
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Whenever police officers come into contact with citizens there is a chance that the encounter will digress to one in which force is used on a suspect. Fortunately, most police activities do not involve the use of force. But those that do reflect important patterns of interaction between the officer and the citizen. This book examines those patterns. It begins with a brief survey of prior research, and then goes on to present new data and findings. Among the new data are the force factor applied - that is, the level of force used relative to suspect resistance - and data on the sequential order of incidents of force. The authors also examine police use of force from the suspect's perspective. In analyzing this data they put forward a new conceptual framework, the Authority Maintenance Theory, for examining and assessing police use of force.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction: The Context of Police Use of Force	1	(16)
Police Use of Force: The History of Research	17	(37)
The Crucial Element: Finding Research Sites	54	(11)
Findings from Miami-Dade Police Department Study	65	(22)
The Sequential Steps in Use-of-Force Incidents in the Miami-Dade Police Department	87	(37)
Miami-Dade Police Department: Inconsistencies between Officer and Suspect Accounts of the Use of Force	124	(11)
Findings from Prince George's County Police Department	135	(20)
Findings and Summary	155	(15)
Explaining Police Use of Force: The Breakdown of an Authority Maintenance Ritual	170	(18)
Appendix: Frequencies of Force Sequences for First through Tenth Actions	188	(1)
Index	189