Geoffrey Alpert

University of South Carolina | USC · Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice

The literature on cognitive distortions offers insight on why we continue to face reform challenges regarding police use of force- and citizen interaction-related outcomes. We used two studies of police officers to determine the extent to which one cognitive distortion—dichotomous thinking—was associated with problematic orientations about use of f...

Police officers wield the authority to use force in pursuit of lawful objectives, which significantly impacts the public perception of policing legitimacy. Previous research findings continue to document more questions than answers, but the gaps in knowledge are slowly closing. While various actors review the appropriateness of police use of force,...

Purpose This study aims to demonstrate the need for further examination of legal judgments and the exercise of discretion in policing. Design/methodology/approach A factorial vignette survey with traffic stop scenarios based on US Court of Appeals decisions was administered to 396 police officers across six states. Officers were asked to indicate...

Academic research aimed at measuring changes in officer behaviour typically focuses on agencies’ implementation of new training or modifications to policy. However, programmes to change officer behaviour are more likely to be successful when changes in policies are coupled with effective training. This paper reviews the importance of coupling train...

Objectives Test the immediate and sustained impact of suspending a police K9 program on officer injury, suspect injury, and suspect resistance rates. Methods A large municipal policing agency housing one of the oldest K9 programs in the USA suddenly terminated the program at the close of summer 2020. We exploit this change as a natural experiment...

Policing in the United States is currently undergoing a serious workforce crisis. Drawing on Van Maanen’s police socialization theory, we suggest that police recruiting videos provide an opportunity for departments to send clear signals to recruits about their attitudes and values that will improve recruiting. We employ a randomized vignette survey...

Objectives: Test the immediate and sustained impact of suspending a police K9 program on officer injury, suspect injury, and suspect resistance rates.Methods: A large municipal policing agency housing one of the oldest K9 programs in the U.S. suddenly terminated the program at the close of summer 2020. We exploit this change as a natural experiment...

Research Question How adequate is research in the USA for discovering best policies and practices, and best implementation strategies, for reducing loss of life and injury from police use of force. Data This analysis examines police agency policies on the use of force regulation, evaluations of training initiatives, research on supervision, proble...

Policing research and use of force policies have been guided by the continuum model for the past several decades. The continuum specifies a relationship between the amount of resistance a suspect presents and the amount of force that an officer should use to respond to or overcome a given level of resistance. In this paper, we show that resistance...

Occupational stress influences many aspects of policing and can contribute to unacceptable attitudes and behaviors among law enforcement officers. Specifically, officers with greater workload stressors may be more likely to hold attitudes favorable toward police misconduct. Yet, we predict that organizational justice may inhibit the effect of such...

Leading police scholars and practitioners were asked to reflect on the most urgent issues that need to be addressed on the topic of use of force. Four themes emerged from their contributions: use of force and de‐escalation training needs to improve and be evaluated; new ways of conceptualizing use of force encounters and better use of force respons...

Police departments are consistently challenged to serve their communities by reducing misconduct and being held accountable. In the United States, policing reform is best described as déjà vu or Groundhog Day, with high-profile groups organising every few years to list the same recommendations for improving the police. Additionally, reform suggesti...

Research Summary We conducted a randomized-controlled trial (RCT) of a social interaction training program to determine its effectiveness in improving attitudes and behaviors among police officers. Survey data and a series of difference-indifference tests found that participating in the training program improved attitudes with treatment group offi...

While there is a considerable body of evidence on the influence of individual and situational, and to a lesser extent community factors, on police use of force, little is known about the influence of police agency factors on use of force by police. Greater use of community policing approaches has recently been recommended for U.S. policing agencies...

One of the hidden dangers of police work is self-imposed—the failure to wear seat belts. Unfortunately, little evidence exists concerning the factors that account for why officers do not wear their seat belts. This study used a sample of 450 police officers to develop and test a framework for understanding the predictors of seat belt use. We found...

Several controversial police use of force incidents in recent years have led to calls for improving officers' de-escalation skills. A more fruitful approach to police training reform may be a broader focus on improving officers' social interaction skills. By viewing all police-citizen encounters as social interactions that can either escalate towar...

Controversial incidents involving uses of force by police in recent years have led to calls for improving officers’ de-escalation skills. A more fruitful approach to police training reform may be a broader focus on improving officers’ social interaction skills. By viewing all police-citizen encounters as social interactions that can either escalate...

Federal funding streams, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and policing executives and scholars alike have advocated for more researcher-practitioner partnerships in American law enforcement. While a few studies have explored the growth and prevalence of research partnerships in policing, less attention has been placed on the organ...

In recent years, policing scholars have increasingly used survey methods to gain insight into officers’ attitudes and behaviors. Yet, surprisingly, methodological research analyzing surveys of police officers is rare. We analyzed the extent and correlates of response rates in police surveys, providing insights about the survey design features and s...

This study identifies subtypes of citizen behavioral characteristics within police use of force events and assesses ecological influences on these subtypes. Data comprised police use of force reports, recorded crime data, and census data. Latent class analysis was applied to 19,900 police use of force events to identify latent classes of citizen be...

Objectives This randomised controlled trial tested the effect of immediate versus delayed, as well as repeated, questioning on memory retrieval regarding details of officer-involved shootings. Methods A sample of 87 police officers experienced “active armed offender” training scenarios followed by a memory questionnaire testing their recall and re...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine whether community-oriented policing (COP) influences rates of police use of force across communities, and whether the impact of COP varies according to the level of violent crime in communities. Design/methodology/approach A range of data sources including police use of force reports, online surveys...

Policing experts have suggested that shifting from a warrior mindset – officers viewing themselves as warriors fighting crime – to a guardian mindset – officers valuing working with the public to reduce crime – is a valuable method for improving police-community relations across the United States. However, little empirical evidence has been used to...

Racial disparities in officer-involved shootings have dominated the national discourse recently. Unfortunately, we have yet to identify an appropriate benchmark, or at-risk population, to put these observed racial disparities into context. In this article, we use seven benchmarks-based on population data from the US Census, police-citizen interacti...

As part of their duties, police regularly engage with citizens, which can result in the use of force. While we know how often and under what circumstances officers use force, little is known about officers’ decision-making processes that lead to force. The study took a naturalistic decision-making approach to analyze debrief sessions between 91 rec...

Extant research on police use of force has established that force is not distributed evenly across communities, with minority threat, ecological contamination, and social disorganisation some of the most common theories used to understand the distribution of police use of force in the US. The current study aimed to test the relevance of these theor...

There is a disciplinary assumption in our field that surveys with low response rates produce biased estimates, which leads to the use of simple rules for judging the quality of survey data (Pickett, 2017). Surveys with “low” response rates fail this “response rate test” and become difficult to publish. Most of our research methods texts list these...

Research Summary By drawing from psychology and economics, we present an experimental evaluation of a procedural justice training program designed to “slow down” police officers’ thought processes during citizen encounters. We find that officers who were randomly assigned to participate in training were as engaged in the community as similarly situ...

Recent events, particularly in the United States, have highlighted strained police-citizen relations and the importance of citizens viewing police as legitimate and trustworthy. Perceptions of unreasonable police officer conduct, particularly related to demeanor and physical force, are often at the center of public complaints. The present study use...

Federal consent decrees have been a method of police reform available to the federal government since the 1990s. The consent decree process has been shrouded in secrecy for many years. Recently, the methods and data have become available allowing for more detailed analyses of the objectives and outcomes of these agreements. As a result, several rev...

We analyzed 990 police fatal shootings using data compiled by TheWashington Post in 2015. After first providing a basic descriptive analysis of these shootings, we then examined the data for evidence of implicit bias by using multivariate regression models that predict two indicators of threat perception failure: (1) whether the civilian was not at...

Purpose From 2002 to 2014, the Portland Police Bureau reported large reductions in complaints against officers and use of force indicators. The purpose of this paper is to develop a case study to document these changes and explore possible influences. Design/methodology/approach The paper maps the changes in conduct indicators against the develo...

Policing is one of the most dangerous occupations and is consistently placed in the top five occupations for injuries and fatalities as a result of occupational violence [Prenzler, T. (2012). Policing and security in practice: challenges and achievements. New York: Palgrave Macmillan]. Police–citizen encounters that involve the use of force present...

This study examined variations of police use of force by applying Terrill et al.’s [(2003). A management tool for evaluating police use of force: an application of the force factor. Police quarterly, 6 (2), 150–171] adaptation of Alpert and Dunham’s [(1997). The force factor: measuring police use of force relative to suspect resistance. Washington,...

Pursuit driving is among the most difficult and dangerous law enforcement activities, and one that can result in serious consequences. The balance between the risks and benefits of pursuit has convinced many progressive police administrators to adopt policies that restrict pursuits to violent crimes. Research has demonstrated the need for a strong...

There has been little systematic effort to examine the prevalence and factors that influence police utilization of research and police practitioner-researcher partnerships in Australia as found in Chapter 2 in the United States. However, there has been a slow growth of partnerships between police and researchers in Australia, which has provided ind...

While there has been growth in the relationship between research and practice in policing, particularly police practitioner-researcher partnerships, there has been little effort until recently to examine their scope. This chapter presents the findings from a recent study conducted by two of the authors on police practitioner-researcher partnerships...

The challenges of bringing research to practice, and connecting practitioners and researchers to form effective working relationships is not unique to policing. The fields of medicine, public health, nursing, education, business, and others all wrestle with this issue. These fields have subsequently developed a diffuse body of research, theory, and...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the situational and individual officer characteristics of officer-involved vehicle collisions that result in fatality, injury, and non-injury outcomes. Design/methodology/approach – Data on 35,840 vehicle collisions involving law enforcement officers in California occurring between January 2000 and...

Purpose – Little is known regarding the impact of organizational policies and practices on police officers’ driving behaviors. To address an important gap in the empirical literature, this study examined how perceived likelihood of discipline for violations of agency driving policies impacted officer-involved vehicle collisions. Design/methodology...

In a recent paper, researchers reported increases in the risk of citizen injury associated with police use of conducted energy devices (CEWs), a finding that is contrary to that reported in most previous studies. These authors speculate that the differences in findings when compared to other similar studies may be due, in part, to the exclusion of...

The force factor method has garnered much attention and application in police use-of-force research, but the reliability of the method has yet to be intensively studied. Using official reports from the Seattle Police Department during a two-and-a-quarter-year period (n = 1,240), officer-suspect interactions were coded from the content of report nar...

The incorporation of research into police practice, along with police practitioner-researcher relationships, are still relatively new approaches. Their growth will depend on the passing down of lessons learned from current efforts to the next generation of law enforcement officials and researchers. This chapters summarizes the key points from this...

Practitioner–researcher partnerships have been encouraged as a means of improving police organizations across the world. This support has been reflected in a number of recent publications, most of which have summarized individual projects. These case studies have highlighted several benefits of research partnerships to participating agencies, often...

This chapter describes the potential utility of geospatial analysis as applied to monitoring, understanding, and responding to police use-of-force incidents . Data are drawn from 1,240 official use-of-force reports in the City of Seattle, representing a two and a quarter year period. Each report includes officer identifier information, suspect demo...

In Chap. 2, we describe the series of legal cases and analyses that have contributed to current pursuit policies and our understanding about the costs and benefits of pursuits. These cases emphasize the importance of generating more empirical knowledge and research about pursuits to better calculate their characteristics, costs and benefits.

In Chap. 3, we review the research evidence on police pursuits, providing readers with a comprehensive chart of research and study findings. While some generalizations can be made from this body of research about the characteristics of pursuits and their outcomes, there are many gaps in data availability and reporting that need to be addressed to s...

In Chap. 4, we first discuss the state of pursuit policies and then explore the impact that research and case law may have had on them. Has research translated to policy in this area?

In Chap. 1 we introduce the issue of police pursuits in law enforcement, highlighting their importance among police leaders and their organizations. The history of police vehicle pursuits is explored, as well as the debates about the costs and benefits of pursuits, especially in an age of proactive policing, innovation, data analysis, evidence-base...

The present study uses a mixed-methods research strategy to examine police practitioner-researcher partnerships. The study has two primary research objectives: (1) examine the prevalence of police practitioner-researcher partnerships in the United States; and (2) examine the factors that prevent or facilitate the development and sustainability of p...

In a recent paper, researchers reported increases in the risk of citizen injury associated with police use of conducted energy devices (CEWs), a finding that is contrary to that reported in most previous studies. These authors speculate that the differences in findings when compared to other similar studies may be due, in part, to the exclusion of...

Police misconduct and corruption have the potential to erode public trust and confidence in both policing and government agencies. Repeat accounts of law enforcement officials engaging in deviant acts have prompted greater citizen involvement in the review of officer behavior. However, citizen oversight has had a contentious history in both the USA...

Over the past 30 years, gangs have moved from large cities to suburban communities and small cities. Their presence has also been observed in public institutions such as secondary schools and the military. This study examines the presence of gang-involved individuals in another public institution, college athletics. While there are popular media re...

Although a substantial amount of research literature exists regarding police motor vehicle pursuits, there has been a relative lack of empirical research on police foot pursuits. However, with exploratory and descriptive studies of foot pursuits in the Richland County, South Carolina, Sheriff’s Department (RCSD) and the Los Angeles County, Californ...

Consistent with the current models of governance in public sector organizations, there have been an increasing number of advocates within the law enforcement community calling for agencies to participate in partnerships with researchers. Despite this support, little is known about the prevalence of police practitioner–researcher partnerships, nor h...

The present-day interest in linking police practitioners and researchers in the USA finds its roots in a 40-year old recommendation made by the 1967 President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice. Specifically, the Commission called for the use of social science to assist law enforcement agencies in their efforts to und...

Police foot pursuits have come under increased scrutiny in recent years because of concerns of officer-involved shootings and fatalities associated with this tactical response. Consequently, there have been calls for police administrators to place strict limits on officer discretion to engage in foot pursuits. Such limits may be premature, however,...

This study contributes to the body of knowledge of police–citizen contacts by investigating perceptions and behaviors during encounters that result in physical resistance and force. The authors use the accounts literature as a way to understand police–citizen interactions. The data include interviews with citizens who resisted or were accused of re...

Purpose Few studies track non‐lethal weapon use by law enforcement agencies (LEAs), the number/level of force used by these agencies, complaints for excessive force, and injuries to officers and suspects, both over time (especially recently) and with a national probability‐based sample. This study aims to address these gaps by developing longitudin...

This study looked at injuries that occur to law enforcement officers and citizens during use-of-force events. Most applications of force are minimal, with officers using their hands, arms or bodies to push or pull against a suspect to gain control. Officers are also trained to use various other force techniques and weapons to overcome resistance. T...

Throughout the history of the police, attempts have been made to integrate the police, commerce and the public. These efforts have been fragmented and uneven although guided by distinct laws, policies, customs and practices. The purpose of this paper is to explore the issue of force used by citizens to support the police. It first reviews the liter...

The authors report the policy and training recommendations derived from a comprehensive national study that examined conductive energy device (CED) use, resulting injuries, departmental policies and training, and reports from officers, trainers, and suspects concerning CED incidents. The overall purpose of the national project was to examine CED us...

The phenomenon of terror became widespread in the last decade, especially after 9-11 events and the attacks in Madred and London, emphasizing the severity of this threat to the western society and the challenge they bring on police-community relations. This chapter tries to address three major questions: first, what kinds of methods do the police u...

Police officers often tell lies; they act in ways that are deceptive, they manipulative people and situations, they coerce citizens, and are dishonest. They are taught, encouraged, and often rewarded for their deceptive practices. Officers often lie to suspects about witnesses and evidence, and they are deceitful when attempting to learn about crim...

David Klinger and Rod Brunson (2009, this issue) have raised criticalquestions about the ways police officers report events when they use forceand deadly force. One of the difficult aspects about reconstructing theseevents is that each party has a vested interest in the official version andwhat is reported may be fabricated, recalled incorrectly, o...

The use of force by police has been the subject of empirical inquiry for more than 40 years. In that time, much has been learned about the nature and extent of the force used by police and the conditions and correlates that affect its application. Among the most important issues that have received attention from use-of-force researchers over the ye...

Funded by the National Institute of Justice to the University of South Carolina in January, 2006, this research project on police use of force set out to contribute to our understanding of how and why injuries occur to police and citizens during use of force events. Although much is known about how frequently and under what conditions police use fo...

This study explores police—citizen encounters and the reaction of each actor to the demeanor of the other throughout the interaction. Police—citizen interactions can be understood as a sequence of events, often changing rapidly and making transitions from being trivial to serious exchanges. The sequence of actions and reactions is designed to suppo...

This study examines the role of “working rules” that define what officers interpret as suspicious people, places, and situations. Data were drawn from observational studies of police decision making in Savannah, Georgia and Miami-Dade, Florida. Current theory and research on the use of police discretion and biased policing is focused on the decisio...

The effect of legal aid on disadvantaged groups and particularly on prison inmates has rarely been investigated. The few existing studies suggest it has a more systematically positive effect than other prison services. This paper examines this effect on women inmates and finds that the provision of legal services seems to promote rehabilitation.

Although recent empirical research has shown that Blacks and Hispanics are consistently overrepresented among police stops, searches, and arrests, few criminologists have attempted to provide a theoretical explanation for the disparities reported in the research literature. This article proposes a theory of individual police behavior that is ground...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of police use of conducted energy devices (CEDs) on officer and suspect injuries while controlling for other types of force and resistance and other factors. Design/methodology/approach Data on 1,645 use‐of‐force incidents occurring between January 1, 2002 and July 2006 were obtained from...

The perception and existence of biased policing or racial profiling is one of the most difficult issues facing contemporary American society. Citizens from minority communities have focused their concerns on the improper use of race by law enforcement officers. The current research uses a complex methodological approach to investigate claims that t...

Drawing on script theory and related research from cognitive social psychology, this paper suggests that police may develop unconscious, cognitive schemas that make them more likely to be suspicious of population subgroups that they repeatedly encounter in street‐level situations involving crime and violence. Drawing on more than 66,000 traffic sto...

Prisoners' attitudes toward components of the legal and judicial systems are reviewed and analyzed with data collected from prisoners in their first several days of incarceration. These data are analyzed within subgroups of the prison population. In general, attitudes toward the police are negative, attitudes toward the law and the judicial system...

Social scientists have a unique opportunity to generate empirical data to assist legal arguments in a court of law. Unfortunately, most researchers seldom take the initiative to research specific issues that may guide a legal question. Instead, they research issues that may interest them but have no real-world application. This study demonstrates t...

Robert Jackall, Street Stories: The World of Police Detectives. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005. 429pp.