Police officer use of force, trends, and agency and community correlates: findings from a Nationally Representative Survey of Law Enforcement
Jackie Sheridan-Johnson, Weiwei Liu, Poulami Maitra, Mabel Frank, Farah Sublett, Jeremy Barnum, Geoffrey P Alpert, Bruce G TaylorAbstract
The national discourse about police use of force (UOF) in the USA has been re-ignited in recent years following high-profile UOF cases. Despite increased national attention, national estimates of UOF and officer-involved shootings (OIS) remain scarce and often undercount the number of civilians killed or injured by police officers. In the present study, we report national estimates of the incidence of UOF and OIS in the USA between 2015 and 2019 from a nationally representative sample of law enforcement agencies and examine agency and community correlates associated with UOF and OIS. We estimate that 781,132 UOF incidents and 3,668 OIS incidents occur annually across the USA. No agency or community correlates were significantly associated with UOF. Agency size, crime rate, calls for service, and number of weapons authorized were significantly associated with increased odds of any OIS occurring between 2015 and 2019. Implications for agency policy are discussed.