Officer Support for Use of Force Policy: The Role of Fair Supervision
| Date | 01 June 2017 |
| Published date | 01 June 2017 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0093854817696341 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
research-article2017
Officer SuppOrt fOr uSe Of fOrce
pOlicy
the role of fair Supervision
MAARTEN VAN CRAEN
KU Leuven
WESLEy G. SkOGAN
Northwestern University
Police use of force is an issue of great concern, even in democratic societies. Recent events in the United States and Europe
reinforce older lessons that legitimate policing is both important and hard to achieve. This article adds to our understanding
of how a fundamental aspect of police organizations—supervision—might contribute to a better justified use of force by the
police. We examine the relationship between fair supervision (internal procedural justice) and officers’ support for restrictions
on their use of force. Our findings suggest that supervisor modeling can provide an important linkage between the two. The
results also suggest that fair supervision fosters support for restraint in the use of force through greater moral alignment with
citizens and increased trust in the general public. The implications of this for research and police practice are discussed.
Keywords: use of force; internal procedural justice; fair supervision; modeling; trust; moral alignment
intrOductiOn
Recent events have raised concern about police officers’ use of force in democratic soci-
eties. Incidents in the United States beginning in 2014 and the resulting legitimacy crisis
facing police in many American communities remind us of an old lesson that lawful polic-
ing is both important and hard to achieve. Parallel concerns have arisen elsewhere. In 2015,
large groups of refugees fled to Europe in search of safety, but once there faced rough treat-
ment at the hands of some police. Moreover, in Europe, as in the United States, deaths have
been reported as a result of police abuse of power. These incidents sent shockwaves across
both native and immigrant communities, and signaled a need for reshaping the way police
officers engage with the public.
AuthOrS’ nOte: This research was supported in part by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, and the Research Foundation–Flanders (FWO). The opinions expressed are
those of the authors and do not represent the views of Northwestern University/KU Leuven or the supporting
foundations. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Maarten Van Craen, Leuven
Institute of Criminology (LINC), Faculty of Law, KU Leuven, Hooverplein 10, 3000 Leuven, Belgium; e-mail:
maarten.vancraen@kuleuven.be.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR, 2017, Vol. 44, No. 6, June 2017, 843 –861.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854817696341
DOI: 10.1177/0093854817696341
© 2017 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology
843
844 CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR
In the United States, these events led to the creation of a Presidential Task Force on
21st Century Policing, which conducted hearings and released its final report in 2015. At
the hearings, many political and police leaders acknowledged that the quality of police–
citizen interactions needed to be improved. However, this is a hard, multifaceted issue.
Research has linked the use of force by police officers to, among other factors, citizens’
behavior toward them (Lersch, Bazley, Mieczkowski, & Childs, 2008; Terrill, Paoline,
& Manning, 2003), the personal characteristics of citizens (Fyfe, 1988; Terrill et al.,
2003), neighborhood context (Lersch et al., 2008; Terrill & Reisig, 2003), the character-
istics of officers (McElvain & kposowa, 2008; Micucci & Gomme, 2005), police opera-
tional strategies and routine service delivery policies (Epp, Maynard-Moody, &
Haider-Markel, 2015; Fyfe, 1988; Terrill, Paoline, & Ingram, 2011), officers’ attachment
to organizational values (Tankebe, 2011), officer burnout (kop & Euwema, 2001), the
corrosive influence of police culture (Loftus, 2010; Terrill et al., 2003; Van Maanen,
1974, 1978), and corruption (Tankebe, 2011). As a consequence, it seems likely that
communities will need to employ a variety of strategies to foster more considered use of
force by their officers.
In addition to all of these factors, we argue here that the influence of supervision on offi-
cer use of force should be explored more fully. Supervision is a process fundamental to
organizational life, but it is striking that research on officers’ use of force has placed rela-
tively little emphasis on the role of supervision. The autonomy that officers have in carrying
out their job may have led some to assume that supervisors can exert relatively little influ-
ence on how officers treat the public. yet, we observe an increasing interest in the role
supervisors may play in this respect, particularly in the link between supervisors’ actions
and officers’ stance regarding use of force (see, among others, Bradford & Quinton, 2014;
Haas, Van Craen, Skogan, & Fleitas, 2015; Ingram, Weidner, Paoline, & Terrill, 2014; for a
paper discussing supervisors’ and management’s influence on police misconduct in general,
see Wolfe & Piquero, 2011).
Research suggests that officers’ predispositions toward the use of force may be linked to
internal procedural fairness. Internal procedural justice (or procedurally fair supervision)
refers to leadership that is based on the principles of “respect,” “neutrality,” “voice,” and
“accountability” (Tyler, Callahan, & Frost, 2007; Van Craen, 2016b). There are indications
that the relationship between the level of internal procedural justice and officers’ views of
the use of force is mediated by officers’ self-legitimacy and compliance with instructions
and policies (Bradford & Quinton, 2014; Haas et al., 2015; Tankebe & Meško, 2015). The
relationship between the fairness of supervision and officers’ views of use of force is also
the subject of this article, yet we approach it from another perspective. Considering police
use of proportionate force as an aspect of “external” procedural justice (in their relationship
with the public), we identify in this article alternative—possibly complementary—mecha-
nisms that link internal procedural justice and officers’ readiness to adhere to the rules sur-
rounding use of force: the direct effect of supervisor modeling and the indirect effect of
internal procedural justice through moral alignment and trust in citizens.
In the next sections, we review theory and research on these mechanisms, and provide a
new empirical test of the impact of supervision on officers’ views of their agency’s rules
regarding use of force. Using a structural equation model, we fit our hypotheses to data
gathered from a survey of sworn members of the Chicago Police Department.
Van Craen, Skogan / OFFICER SUPPORT FOR USE OF FORCE POLICy 845
theOry And reSeArch On SuperViSOr effectS
Van Craen (2016a, 2016b) proposed an approach to achieving external procedural
justice—fairness in the relationship between police and the public—that he dubbed “fair
policing from the inside out.” As an organizational strategy, this presumes that experience
with internal procedural justice stimulates police officers to practice procedural justice in
their interactions with the public. Empirical research confirms that the extent to which
police officers’ behavior toward citizens is guided by the principles of neutrality, respect,
voice, and accountability depends on the extent to which supervisors’ behavior toward their
officers is characterized by these principles (Van Craen & Skogan, 2017). Building on this
thesis, we hypothesize that the degree to which officers think their agency is constraining
their use of force appropriately is related to perceptions of internal procedural fairness.
The theoretical framework underpinning this approach draws on elements of social
learning theory (Bandura, 1971). This theory argues that most of the behaviors that people
display are learned through the influence of others. People learn how to behave by observ-
ing and imitating other people’s behavior, a process called “modeling.” Observers are most
likely to imitate models with high status, power, or competence, as these attributes signal
that their model’s behavior is appropriate to the situation, and has been approved and
rewarded in the past. In the management and organizational psychology literature, this the-
ory has been applied to employee–supervisor relationships to help understand organiza-
tional socialization (Weiss, 1977). Specifically, it has been argued that employees learn how
to behave in a work context by observing and imitating other people in the organization.
The high status, power, and/or competence of supervisors increases the likelihood that
employees will choose them as role models. Supervisors’ behaviors signal to employees the
actual, operational norms of the organization. This encourages their emulation by those
serving below them, especially when employees read in their supervisors’ career successes
that engaging in similar behavior may help them get ahead.
Research in commercial organizations has shown that modeling is relevant to understand
employees’ behavior. Ruiz-Palomino and Martinez-Cañas (2011), for instance, examined
how supervisor modeling shapes ethical behavior in the banking and insurance sector. They
found that perceived ethical behavior of supervisors stimulates employees’ ethical behav-
ioral intentions. Through a process of supervisor modeling, ethical leadership...
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