Police Officer Use of Force Mindset and Street-Level Behavior

• Published date: 01 December 2021
• Date: 01 December 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10986111211025523
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Police Officer Use of

Force Mindset and

Street-Level Behavior

Eugene A. Paoline III

1

,

William Terrill

2

, and

Logan J. Somers

3

Abstract

Police use of force has been the focus of a number of external assessments of the

occupation for over 50 years. Recent concerns have, once again, prompted calls for

additional research on the correlates of this behavior, especially as it relates to

officer use of force mindset. Relying on a framework articulated as part of a use

of force symposium of academics and practitioners, the current study utilizes survey

and behavioral data from officers in six police agencies to examine dimensions of use

of force mindset among officers, and the degree to which attitudinal mindset

influences use of force behavior. The implications for police scholarship and practice

are discussed.

Keywords

officer mindset, police use of force, police attitudes, police behavior

1

Department of Criminal Justice, University of Central Florida, Orlando, United States

2

School of Criminology & Criminal Justice, Arizona State University, Phoenix, United States

3

Department of Criminal Justice & Criminology, Georgia Southern University, Savannah, United States

Corresponding Author:

Eugene A. Paoline III, Department of Criminal Justice, University of Central Florida, 12805 Pegasus Drive,

Orlando, FL 32816, United States.

Email: eugene.paoline@ucf.edu

Police Quarterly

!The Author(s) 2021

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/10986111211025523

journals.sagepub.com/home/pqx

2021, Vol. 24(4) 547 –577

548 Police Quarterly 24(4)

Introduction

As a defining feature of the occupational role (Bittner, 1970), and arguably the

most important and scrutinized discretionary decision, police use of force has

garnered a considerable amount of empirical and public attention. Efforts to

analytically model this behavior have relied on a variety of factors, including

individual-level officer characteristics, situational conditions of the encounter,

organizational features, and community or neighborhood dimensions

(Friedrich, 1980; Hine et al., 2018; Lawton, 2007; Lee, 2016; Lim & Lee,

2015; Rossler & Terrill, 2017; Rydberg & Terrill, 2010; Smith, 1986; Terrill &

Paoline, 2017; Terrill & Reisig, 2003; Worden, 1996). Cumulatively, these cor-

relates have helped shape inductive theoretical perspectives of use of force

behavior. Across studies of police use of force, situational and individual-level

officer factors have received the greatest attention, with situational factors

resulting in the most powerful (albeit, at times, mixed) predictors (Bolger,

2015; Klahm & Tillyer, 2010; Riksheim & Chermak, 1993; Terrill &

Mastrofski, 2002; Terrill & Paoline, 2017). While there are intuitive and theo-

retical assertions positing that characteristics (e.g., attitudes, demographics,

experience) of the officer matter (Muir, 1977), widespread empirical connections

to behavior have been lacking.

Continuing national concern over the relationship between the public and the

police have concentrated on a number of high-profile use of force incidents. In

an attempt to identify the central causes of deteriorated community trust and

needed police change, the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

(2015) convened a number of police practitioners, academics, civic leaders,

and community members. Central to the task force’s discussions was the way

in which police officers orient themselves (i.e., an individual-level factor) toward

their role and citizens. Specifically, the detached, aggressive, crime-fighter men-

tality was scrutinized and identified as a potential source of lost legitimacy. As

part of their recommendations for best practices, the task force concentrated on

changing officers’ occupational orientations, noting that “[l]aw enforcement

should embrace a guardian-rather than a warrior-mindset to build trust and

legitimacy both within agencies and with the public” (President’s Task Force

on 21st Century Policing, 2015, p. 1). Recent high-profile use of force encounters

(e.g., George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota; Breonna Taylor in Louisville,

Kentucky; Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin) have, once again, sparked

national outrage over the aggressive treatment of citizens, especially those of

color. Undoubtedly, another task force/commission will be charged with the

daunting assignment of providing an understanding as to why such events con-

tinue to take place, as well as needed changes.

The concern over officer outlooks and the consequences for the treatment of

citizens is not just a contemporary concern. Prior ex post facto independent

reviews of police performance throughout the 20th century were similarly

2Police Quarterly 0(0)