Citation

Stroshine MS, Brandl SG. Policing (Oxford) 2021; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Oxford University Press)

DOI

10.1093/police/paab054

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Police use of force has been, and remains, one of the most critical and controversial issues in policing. One way to address this issue, and perhaps make the police a little less controversial, is to identify situations where much force is used, force that may be deemed excessive. Policy and training may then be developed to reduce the frequency of these situations or to otherwise lesson the likelihood of force in these situations. For example, in the 1990s, research established that excessive force was a potential risk of motor vehicle pursuits; officers, fuelled by a combination of fear, adrenaline, and excitement, often used more force than necessary upon termination of motor vehicle pursuits (Alpert et al., 1997). Other studies demonstrated that motor vehicle pursuits resulted in significant risk of injury and death to subjects, officers, and bystanders (e.g. Alpert and Dunham, 1988; Alpert, 1997; Hill, 2002). Collectively, these findings led many in the field to conclude that the risks of motor vehicle pursuits outweighed their benefits in the case of nonviolent crime (Kaminski et al., 2012) and led to significant policy change. Many departments either adopted restrictive or prohibitive pursuit policies with the goal of reducing the frequency of motor vehicle pursuits and resulting injuries, deaths, excessive force, and liability (Alpert and Dunham, 1988).

Language: en