Police Use of Force

• Author: Thomas D. Bazley,Thomas Mieczkowski,Kim Michelle Lersch
• Published date: 01 September 2006
• Date: 01 September 2006
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0734016806292764
• Subject Matter: Articles

Police Use of Force

Detectives in an Urban Police Department

Thomas D. Bazley

University of South Florida, Tampa

Kim Michelle Lersch

University of South Florida, Lakeland

Thomas Mieczkowski

University of South Florida, Tampa

This research focuses on a seldom-studied police officer subgroup: detectives. Although detec-

tives and patrol officers possess similar authority in terms of effecting arrests and using force

in performing their duties, there are differences in operational responsibilities between these

groups. These differences might contribute to variations in force use in encounters with

the public. The data in this study are derived from an urban police department’s use of force

reports for the year 2000. The frequency and types of force used and the resistance encoun-

tered by detectives are identified and then compared to patrol officers in this department.

Although the results are mixed, some findings indicate that detectives use higher force levels

than patrol officers, even though there is no significant difference in exposure to resistance lev-

els. This result is unexpected and raises further questions about how role differences between

detectives and patrol officers affect their respective applications of force.

Keywords: detectives; patrol officers; force factor; subject resistance; use of force

In what might be described as a classic assessment of the role of the police in our society,

Bittner (1970) concluded that no matter what task they are pursuing, police intervention

means above all making use of the capacity and authority to overpower resistance. He

found this concept to be central to those who call the police for service and those against

whom the police proceed. He felt that every police intervention projects the message that

force may be used to achieve the desired objective and that police procedure is defined

by the precept that the police may not be opposed and force will be used when they are

opposed. In sum, Bittner saw the role of police as addressing all sorts of human problems

that require the use of force as their solution.

Nevertheless, this central feature of policing has also proven to be a source of divisive-

ness and disruption within American society. In fact, Riksheim and Chermak (1993) have

concluded that any single incident of police use of force has the potential to alienate com-

munities to the point of civil disorder. Moreover, many observers have noted that episodes

of civil unrest arising from police use of force tend to have a serious, negative impact

on police-community relations that extends in time well beyond the period of outrage

(Babcock, 1998; Croft, 1985; Friedrich, 1980; Terrill, Alpert, Dunham, & Smith, 2003;

Williams & Hester, 2003).

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Given these circumstances, the relative frequency with which researchers have turned

their attention to police use of force should come as no surprise. Most of this research, how-

ever, has focused on entire police departments or officers assigned to the patrol function.

This article departs from this genre by focusing on the use of force by a less studied subgroup

of police employees: detectives.

Use of Force by Detectives

As will become apparent below, the literature that focuses on detectives’ use of force is

sparse. Although patrol officers and detectives share similar powers, there are some impor-

tant differences in how these two police officer groups carry out their responsibilities.

Detectives are primarily investigators and work in plainclothes as opposed to a uniform.

With some exceptions (e.g., surveillance and undercover operations), they typically respond

to crimes after they occur. Thus, they are usually not first responders and interveners. When

detectives engage a member of the public, such as when conducting a field interview or

effecting an arrest, by the nature of their role as investigators (as opposed to first responders),

they are more likely to do so (although not always) in a planned manner where they can

attempt to control various risks and uncertainties. This type of role would seem to be in con-

trast to that of patrol officers who, in fact, are first responders and who are called on at times

to intervene in possibly volatile scenarios. Moreover, patrol officer response and interven-

tion is often undertaken with little information about the situation to which he or she is being

directed and with limited opportunity to plan how best to handle it.

Thus, detectives perform their police duties within a different occupational context than

patrol officers, and these contextual differences suggest a basis to examine use of force by

detectives separately from their uniformed colleagues. Given the circumstances outlined

above, it would seem reasonable to expect patrol officers to face greater use of force expo-

sures compared to their detective counterparts. Whether this expectation is supported by the

data is the goal of this research. Undertaken here is an examination of the frequency and

types of force employed by detectives and then a comparison of detective use of force with

that of patrol officers. The literature review presented in the next section summarizes the

extant research on the frequency and types of police use of force, although for the most part

these results apply to patrol officers only or to entire police department complements.

Literature Review

This research will consider the full range of force options available to the detectives,

both lethal and nonlethal. Accordingly, the literature review presented here will include

research on both lethal and nonlethal uses of force by police. The review will be organized

around two topical areas that have been addressed in prior studies on police use of force:

(a) force and resistance characteristics (i.e., frequency and types of force applied, frequency

and types of subject resistance encountered, and situational/offender characteristics) and

(b) detectives’ use of force. It is felt that this format directs attention to the current state of

knowledge on the specific areas of inquiry to be addressed in this study.

The following caveat should be taken into consideration when reviewing the results

of studies on police use of force: They are frequently not based on comparable data because

of varying definitions of key terms such as use of force, inconsistencies in variable

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