Book Review: McElvain, J. P. Police Shootings and Citizen Behavior El Paso, TX: LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC, 2009. vii, 218 pp. $65.00

• Author: Cliff Akiyama
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016809350480
• Published date: 01 March 2010
• Date: 01 March 2010
• Subject Matter: Articles

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Criminal Justice Review 35(1)
Monroe also deserves credit for recognizing that SHR data are afflicted by a great deal of non-
randomly missing data and for doing something about it. Rather than just deleting cases with missing
data, he imputed missing values using an expectation-maximization algorithm. Results, however,
were substantially the same with imputed values, indicating no significant effect of Brady on adult
homicide rates.
Although it is questionable whether this book provides a reliable estimate of the Brady law’s
effects, many criminologists would still benefit from its exposition of DDD methods, its explanation
of SHR missing data problems and imputation of missing values, and its illustration of the potential
virtues of disaggregating crime rates into more homogenous and theoretically relevant components.
McElvain, J. P.
Police Shootings and Citizen Behavior El Paso, TX: LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC, 2009. vii, 218 pp. $65.00.
Reviewed by: Cliff Akiyama, University of Pennsylvania
DOI: 10.1177/0734016809350480
Nothing is more frightening for law enforcement than to get caught in a gun battle with a suspect
who wants you dead. Just in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, alone, the Philadelphia Police Department
has tragically lost five police officers in the line of duty due to gunfire between May 8, 2006 and
February 13, 2009. Officer Gary F. Skerski, Officer Charles Cassidy, Sergeant Stephen Liczbinski,
Sergeant Patrick McDonald, and Officer John Pawlowski, all lost their lives prematurely doing what
they loved and were sworn to do—to protect and serve with honor the citizens of the city of
Philadelphia.
Captain James P. McElvain of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in his book, Police
Shootings and Citizen Behavior, has done a fabulous job at shedding light on an often controversial
topic of officer involved shootings and the use of force. The book leads off in chapter 1 (Police
Deadly Force) with the goal of laying down a foundation of first...