Assessing Police Use of Force Policy and Outcomes

The current study will investigate the relationship between varying types to policies and a multitude of outcome measures. The primary goals of the proposed project are to (1) identify existing variation in use of force policies; particularly those employing a force continuum approach, and (2) determine which types of policies offer the most beneficial outcomes to police practitioners. Outcomes will be measured in terms of the degree to which a policy (a) provides officers guidance with respect to force decision-making, (b) leads to, or facilitates, the control of suspects, and (c) reduces the number of injuries, shootings, citizen complaints, and lawsuits levied for inappropriate police use of force.