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Key research themes
1. How does neighborhood context influence police use of force and suspect resistance?
This research area investigates the role of the environment and situational context—particularly neighborhood characteristics—on the frequency and intensity of police use of force during police-citizen encounters. Understanding how neighborhood disadvantage, crime rates, and racial composition shape police behavior is crucial for developing community-specific policing strategies and addressing disparities in force application.
Key finding: The study used hierarchical linear modeling of observational data from Indianapolis and St. Petersburg to find that police officers apply significantly higher levels of force in disadvantaged neighborhoods and those with... Read more
Key finding: This study reviewed agency-level deescalation training and documented differential use of force patterns associated with neighborhood demographics. Specifically, policing in predominantly Black neighborhoods showed more... Read more
Key finding: Using three years of official use-of-force reports from a small Midwestern police agency, the study found that suspect resistance remains the most powerful predictor of police use of force, regardless of neighborhood-scale... Read more
2. What are the micro-processes and decision-making dynamics that guide officers’ application of force relative to suspect resistance?
This theme centers on unpacking the stepwise, interactional unfolding of police-citizen encounters to understand how officers decide when and how much force to apply in relation to suspect behavior. It leverages theoretical models such as coercive actions theory, force continua, and naturalistic decision-making to reveal patterns of escalation, proportionality, and context-based judgment within encounters.
Key finding: Analyzing 3,544 police-suspect encounters with rich behavioral data, the study found that officers escalated force in about 20% of encounters involving nonresistant suspects and de-escalated force in 75% of encounters... Read more
Key finding: This study showed that force occurs in over half of all encounters when verbal and physical coercion are considered, but suspect resistance was present in only 12%. Importantly, encounters beginning with force led to greater... Read more
Key finding: Through qualitative analysis of debriefs from 91 recruits in use-of-force scenarios, the study found officers predominantly rely on intuitive rather than analytical decision-making under real-world conditions. Perceptual,... Read more
Key finding: Using Australian official reports and applying the Resistance Force Comparative Scale, findings indicate officers are less likely to use disproportionately high force with physically aggressive or armed suspects, suggesting... Read more
3. How do police administrative policies, training, and organizational culture shape officers’ use of force and outcomes such as officer injuries and public complaints?
This area explores the effect of formal and informal organizational factors—including force policies, training validity, oversight mechanisms, and departmental culture—on the frequency, type, and appropriateness of force used by officers, along with related metrics like complaints and injury rates. Such research informs policy reforms and training improvements to mitigate excessive force and enhance police-community relations.
Key finding: Examining 3,340 use-of-force incidents across three U.S. agencies with varying policy restrictiveness, the research found officers in more restrictive administrative policy environments used less force overall. This provides... Read more
Key finding: This paper proposes an integrative management system incorporating force factor methodology—measuring police force relative to suspect resistance using use-of-force reports and force continua—to systematically monitor and... Read more
Key finding: Using data from multiple U.S. cities, this study found that officers involved in more use-of-force incidents, particularly those facing higher levels of suspect resistance such as ‘failure to comply’, received... Read more
Key finding: Analyzing 202 Australian use-of-force incidents resulting in officer injuries, this research identified that physical aggression by suspects and officers applying lower relative force than suspect resistance significantly... Read more
Key finding: Focus groups with Western Australia Police officers revealed seven core skill categories—Aware, Assess, Approach, Act, Automatic, Appraise, and Adapt—essential for managing situations involving use of force. Importantly,... Read more