A national study of sustained use of force complaints in law enforcement agencies
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Final Accepted Manuscript
Affiliation
Univ ArizonaIssue Date
2019-07-27Keywords
Citizen complaintsSustained complaints
Use of force
Police-community relations
Community policing
Procedural justice
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ELSEVIERCitation
Pryor, C., Boman IV, J. H., Mowen, T. J., & McCamman, M. (2019). A national study of sustained use of force complaints in law enforcement agencies. Journal of Criminal Justice, 64, 101623.Journal
JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL JUSTICERights
Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Collection Information
This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu.Abstract
Purpose: This article examines how community and departmental characteristics relate to the number of sustained use of force complaints in a law enforcement agency. Methods: Using national-level data from Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics 2007, Uniform Crime Reports 2007, American Community Survey 2009 and bivariate and multivariate techniques, we investigate whether sustained uses of force vary across 1) community and regional characteristics in the U.S. and across departmental 2) policies, 3) training tendencies, and 4) hiring practices. Results: Controlling for region, crime rate, and area median income, results demonstrate that sustained complaints increase when departments serve large, nonwhite populations. Regarding departmental policies, results are alarming: Departments with independent civilian complaint review boards, agencies which engage in community policing, and departments that implement personality tests when hiring sustain significantly higher numbers of use of force complaints. However, departments that screen for volunteer and community service histories in officer candidates have over one third fewer sustained complaints than departments that do not use this hiring screen. Conclusions: In order to significantly reduce the amount of sustained complaints against a department, results suggest that agencies should assess community service and volunteer histories for potential officer candidates.Note
24 month embargo; published online: 27 July 2019ISSN
0047-2352Version
Final accepted manuscriptSponsors
Center for Family and Demographic Research, Bowling Green State University; Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human DevelopmentUnited States Department of Health & Human ServicesNational Institutes of Health (NIH) - USANIH Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD) [P2CHD050959]ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2019.101623