Police Use of Force Escalation and De-escalation: The Use of Systematic Social Observation With Video Footage

• Author: William Terrill,Laura Zimmerman
• DOI: 10.1177/10986111211049145
• Published date: 01 June 2022
• Date: 01 June 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Police Quarterly

2022, Vol. 25(2) 155–177

© The Author(s) 2021

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DOI: 10.1177/10986111211049145

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Police Use of Force Escalation

and De-escalation: The Use of

Systematic Social

Observation With Video

Footage

William Terrill, PhD

1

, and Laura Zimmerman, PhD

2

Abstract

As police agencies continue to incorporate body-worn cameras, it becomes in-

creasingly important for researchers and practitioners to explore how to best use

these data to better understand patterns of suspect and police behavior. Thus, drawing

on a joint project between the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers and Arizona

State University, we expand on prior research demonstrating how social systematic

observation (SSO) can be used with video footage to methodically detail the

evolving nature of police-suspect encounters. We then illustrate how the data

could be evaluated within the framework of escalation and de-escalation using an

expanded version of the Resistance ForceComparativeScale(RFCS)first devel-

oped and employed in 2001. Finally, we assess the merits and challenges of using

video footage to account for suspect and police behaviors in relation to escalation

and de-escalation.

Keywords

police, use of force, systematic social observation, escalation, de-escalation dashcam,

body-worn cameras, videos

1

Arizona State University, School of Criminology & Criminal Justice, Phoenix, AZ, USA

2

Senior Researcher, Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers, Training & Innovation Operations Branch,

Glynco, GE, USA

Corresponding Author:

William Terrill, Associate Dean and Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Arizona State

University, 411 N. Central Ave., Suite 750, Phoenix, AZ, 85004, USA.

Email: William.Terrill@asu.edu

Introduction

High-profile use of force incidents continue to raise public concern about officer

judgment and decision making when using force. Within this context, there is a pressing

need to better understand officers’de-escalation techniques as an alternative to using

force, as well as what behaviors might escalate a situation. To do so properly, however,

one must consider the developmental nature of police-suspect encounters, as such

events involve an interactional process whereby suspects and officers may engage in

numerous forms of behavior (Bayley, 1986;Bayley & Garofalo, 1989;Fyfe, 1988,

1989;Sykes & Brent, 1980,1983;Terrill, 2003;Toch,1969 ). More specifically, failure

to account for when varying types of resistance and force occur within an encounter,

and a host of potential predictors, provides neither a complete nor accurate picture of

how or why officers apply their coercive powers.

Historically, the most effective way to tap into the interplay of police-suspect

encounters has been to employ a Systematic Social Observation (SSO) methodology

during patrol ridealongs (Mastrofski et al., 1998). However, such an approach is labor

intensive and costly. For example, the Project on Policing Neighborhoods (POPN) cost

$1.9 million 25 years ago—accounting for inflation the equivalent of $3.2 million in

2021. However, with the emergence of dashboard cameras initially, and more recently

officer body-worn cameras (BWCs), the opportunity to observe police-suspect en-

counters may not only be more cost efficient but offers the potential for an even more

accurate accounting of behaviors.

To date, there are only three studies that have sought to identify the benefits and

challenges of using video data, and which offer analytical approaches to assess suspect

resistance and police use of force behavior (Makin et al., 2021;Sytsma et al., 2021;

Willits & Makin, 2018). While these studies provide valuable insight, they were limited

in scope in relation to consisting of a single agency with relatively few cases (less than

200 in total across the three studies). Thus, as part of a joint project between the Federal

Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC) and Arizona State University, we expand

on prior research and demonstrate how SSO can be used with video footage to me-

thodically detail the evolving nature of police-suspect encounters. We then illustrate

how the data could be evaluated within the framework of de-escalation and escalation

using an expanded version of the Resistance Force Comparative Scale (RFCS) first

developed and employed 20 years ago. Finally, we draw on over 500 videos (both dash-

cam and body-worn) from two agencies to assess the merits and challenges of using

video footage to account for suspect and police behaviors in relation to escalation and

de-escalation.

Literature Review

We begin with a brief description of using video-based footage within the context of

social science research in general. We then hone in on prior research that has used police

dashboard videos and BWCs (the two data sources used for the present inquiry),

156 Police Quarterly 25(2)