Abigail Alexis Ramirez B.S Criminal Justice

University of Texas at Arlington

Introduction

We face nearly 1000 fatal police shootings annually. Of these people killed by police, there is an overwhelming majority males between 20 and 40 years old. The City of UTA is in the process of creating a task force to combat police brutality. I am going to be the director of this team. This documentation is to discuss the issue of police brutality and use of force as problems of administration and management. I will address legal issues, what’s been done previously to combat the issue, what has worked and what hasn’t, as well as provide suggestions for what next steps we will take at UTA. 

The topic of deaths resulting from contact with the officers has become a heated political issue in recent years following several high-profile killings across the United States (US). Due to this issue, we have seen riots, indictments, civil claims and unfortunately, we are still having this ongoing issue. Educating one’s understanding of this complicated issue can be discouraging because not everyone has a willingness to learn. After most issues there are mass media reports of shootings and the complex criminal and civil litigation which can be conflicting from specific perspectives. The news and media suddenly feel as confusing as it is depressing. The discussion of officer-related deaths, specifically the shooting of young black men by white officers, has created acres of newsprint, and these acres appear to refresh themselves almost weekly. It can be hard to understand how to stop, analyze, and reevaluate. There have been several studies conducted over police brutality and use of force as problems since there have been so many victims. 

Literature Review

The studies that have been conducted aim at finding a solution or analyzing the solutions implemented. One study analyzed body camera perspective bias. Researcher Korva examined whether the camera angle of a recorded police use of force encounter influenced the interpretation of the video (Korva et al., 2022). Participants viewed simulated videos of use of force scenario in one of four camera angle conditions (security camera, body worn camera, bystander camera, all three camera angles). After viewing the angles, they rated the conduct of the police officer and the subject. This study also analyzed the participants’ attitudes towards the police and legal system. The results showed only small camera perspective bias, when there were pre-existing biases about the police (Korva et al., 2022). The findings are important because they help understand how people perceive use of force videos and suggest that the camera perspective bias may not always be present. Biases aside, what is presented in the videos are important. The issue I have with this is that body cameras can be turned off. What is the point in having them if they can be turned off? Also, this study did discuss its limitations and the fact that the sample was comprised of university students, who are often have trouble at critically thinking about controversial topics. Ultimately body cameras are a good deterrent to combat police brutality and use of force, but the perceived biases may have an impact on its overall effect.

A different study conducted by Huff specifically analyzed the adoption of body-worn cameras (BWC). He examined whether BWCs mitigate the influence of neighborhood racial/ ethnic context on arrests and use of force to analyze the outcomes of 900,000+ police–civilian contacts in Phoenix (Huff, 2022). Huff discussed that arrests are significantly more likely to occur in Hispanic and Black neighborhoods which we have known for years. Even before and after BWC deployment, even accounting for situational, officer, and neighborhood characteristics minority arrests are still more likely. What he did find is that when BWCs were activated in Black neighborhoods, the chance of arrest decreased by 38%. However, BWCs did not have this impact on the neighborhood percentage of Hispanic on arrest. After examining the results Huff found that BWCs cannot solve every problem facing policing, and this is not new information. Although this is true, BWC are still being used across the nation to promote police legitimacy and transparency, among other goals. Huff even mention earlier research by MacDonald & Braga. Their research indicates that strategic policy changes can effectively decrease racial/ethnic inequality in police behavior in minority communities (MacDonald & Braga, 2018). With that, BWC footage can be used to better identify factors that contribute to distinguish racial/ethnic inequalities in police behavior across neighborhoods could serve guidance for policy decision makers interested in making a change for equality.

Researchers normally study contributing factors correlated with the encounter, officer, community, and organization (Riksheim & Chermak, 1993). A multitude of studies have in similar fashion have assessed the impact of BWCs on the arrest and use of force (Lum et al., 2019). There are some researchers that have examined the concurrent impact of factors operating at the encounter, officer, and neighborhood levels on arrest and use of force. Researcher Tillyer conducted a multilevel study examining arrests pursuant to traffic stops in San Jose, California. He did not identify any major relation between officer characteristics and arrests when circumstantial and neighborhood attributes were accounted for (Tillyer et al., 2019). This highlighted the significance of evaluating factors transpiring at multiple levels of explanation.

You may be asking yourself what works to decrease these disparities within the minority communities, and there are great books that discuss policing but for now we will just review the journal articles. Researcher Engel conducted a study focused on the examination of the implementation of de-escalation training and what effect training has (Engel et al., 2020). De-escalation training has been widely applied as a tool by U.S. police agencies across the nation. This is due to the mass media and public reactions to the controversial police use-of-force incidents that we see just about every day.  Although the support for de-escalation training was fast, there is little known about the effects on police and citizen encounters (Engel et al., 2020). This study identified 64 de-escalation training examinations conducted over the course of a 40-year timespan. The fields implementing the de-escalation were primarily fields of nursing and psychiatry. This strategy has led to the development of crisis intervention teams (CIT) these teams have been working well.

Personally, I would love to believe that this tactic alone has a phenomenal effect on improvement. Unfortunately, the findings show that de-escalation trainings lead to only slight-to moderate overall impact individual and organizational improvements (Engel et al., 2020). Ultimately Engel concluded that the effectiveness is limited, however, it is something still worth implementing. There is a critical effect that de-escalation training could have on officers and the public they serve. This study concludes a call to action from practitioners, academics, and funders across the field of policing. This is an important factor to consider. When these communities prioritize the testing of de-escalation and other police use-of-force policies, tactics, and training we could see a difference. In the study Engel he explains just how imperative it is to the success of decreasing these racial inequalities by ensuring the use of several strategies. 

There is book called The End of Policing by Alex Vitale, where he discusses several issues within policing (Vitale, 2021). Vitale discusses the warrior mentality, which boils down to “us against them”. This is what is taught in the police training. So, you may question how that effects their biases going into police and citizen interactions. The warrior terminology can be confusing for officers in training (Carlson, 2019). It may be best to implement de-escalation training rather than warrior mentality training. 

 A study conducted by Sierra‐Arévalo & Papachristos focused on the problem of police misconduct. They leveraged data from filed complaints and use of force within the Chicago Police Department. They went on to discuss that policy makers prefer broader reforms regarding the accountability and management. The officers that they need to get rid of are spoken about as “bad apples”. Their findings show that the process behind weeding out the bad apples was not too effective. They concluded that the reform in place was too broad, and they argue that the reform should discussed no matter how small police behavior and misconduct may seem to be. They argue that the dismissal of problem officers is a normal good that should be implemented with every officer that is under review. This should be pursued on moral grounds.

They also concluded that a policing system that is incapable of consistently holding problem officers accountable is at risk of perpetuation. If this is to continue, this could harm the public in the future. It has continued in this cycle for so long already.

Discussion

Police brutality and use of force is a legal issue that law enforcement must face when they do not serve and protect correctly. The system is training the warrior mentality and causing officer biases when they encounter citizens. With issues of police brutality and use of force issues at the fore front every day, it is imperative that change be implemented as soon as possible. What’s next from here is my suggesting that UTA implements a series of changes and redistribute funding in a better manner. When discussing what works and what doesn’t work, there is enough evidence to show that there are strategies that work slightly and should be used in combination with the other implications. None of the research shows no effect at all, so it would be a good strategy to apply all and go from there.

Conclusion

Given the high percentage of police brutality and use of force issues, it is evident that our policy and protocols are not effective. Our solutions need to be reevaluated to decrease these issues. The proposed solutions argue the current strategies need assistance. The system needs to be stricter on their officers and have a no tolerance policy. It seems that officers feel they are above the law and are unphased by their behaviors. In conclusion, my suggestion as the director of the department is that UTA implements a series of changes and redistribute funding in a better manner. If the funding is not there, this will make our situation limited. 

References

Carlson, J. (2019). Police warriors and police guardians: Race, masculinity, and the construction of gun violence. Social Problems. https://doi.org/10.1093/socpro/spz020 

Engel, R. S., McManus, H. D., & Herold, T. D. (2020). Does de‐escalation training work? Criminology & Public Policy, 19(3), 721–759. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12467 

Huff, J. (2022). Do body‐worn cameras reduce disparities in police behavior in minority communities? evidence of nuanced influences across Black and Hispanic neighborhoods. Criminology & Public Policy, 21(3), 671–711. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12590 

Korva, N., Bennell, C., Lalumière, M. L., & Karimullah, M. (2022). What do you see? understanding perceptions of police use of force videos as a function of the camera perspective. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 40(3), 480–503. https://doi.org/10.1002/bsl.2578 

Lum, C., Stoltz, M., Koper, C. S., & Scherer, J. A. (2019). Research on body‐worn cameras. Criminology & Public Policy, 18(1), 93–118. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12412 

MacDonald, J., & Braga, A. A. (2018). Did post-floyd et al. reforms reduce racial disparities in NYPD stop, question, and frisk practices? an exploratory analysis using external and internal benchmarks. Justice Quarterly, 36(5), 954–983. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2018.1427278 

Riksheim, E. C., & Chermak, S. M. (1993). Causes of police behavior revisited. Journal of Criminal Justice, 21(4), 353–382. https://doi.org/10.1016/0047-2352(93)90019-j 

Sierra‐Arévalo, M., & Papachristos, A. (2021). Bad apples and incredible certitude. Criminology & Public Policy, 20(2), 371–381. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12545 

Tillyer, R., Smith, M., & Lloyd, C. D. (2019). Another piece of the puzzle: The importance of officer characteristics and group processes in understanding post-stop outcomes. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 56(5), 736–779. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022427819843962 

Vitale, A. S. (2021). The end of policing. Verso.