Prevalence of Force by Police in Rhode Island Jurisdictions

• DOI: 10.1177/0734016808320322
• Date: 01 December 2008
• Published date: 01 December 2008
• Subject Matter: Articles

Prevalence of Force by Police in

Rhode Island Jurisdictions

Implications for Use-of-Force

Training and Reporting

Frank J. Gallo

Western New England College, Springfield, Massachusetts

Charles E. Collyer

Patricia L. Gallagher

University of Rhode Island, Kingston

This article examines the prevalence and severity of police use of force in Rhode Island by

reviewing arrest reports from a sample of police departments. The article reports results from

3,300 adult arrests made by officers from 16 police departments that serviced rural, suburban,

or urban communities. Force continua measured various types of force by police. Results show

that police rarely used levels of force above restraints when arresting suspects. Rhode Island

officers used physical force at a lower rate than did officers from other previous surveyed

police jurisdictions. Rhode Island officers’ reactions of force were mostly commensurate to

suspects’ actions of resistance during arrests. The authors give special attention to discussing

implications that this study’s results have for use-of-force training and reporting.

Keywords: police use of force; Rhode Island police; law enforcement; deadly force; police

brutality; arrests; training

Under statute, police have the lawful authority to use force to defend them, to defend

others, to prevent criminal activity, and to enforce laws. Conceptually speaking, force

is a coercive action to make somebody do something. In law, police have the discretionary

power to use different degrees of force against citizens who choose to commit crimes

(Brooks, 2005). Forceful responses can range from mere police presence to uses of

weapons. The authority to use force makes the police one of the most powerful professions.

If left unchecked, such power might lead to unreasonable uses of force.

In the aftermath of a friendly firearm accident (January 2000) that had involved Rhode

Island police officers, community stakeholders criticized Rhode Island police agencies for

480

Criminal Justice Review

Volume 33 Number 4

December 2008 480-501

© 2008 Georgia State University

Research Foundation, Inc.

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Authors’ Note: The authors would like to thank the following people and organizations that supported this pro-

ject: Colonel Steven M. Paré, Rhode Island State Police; Rhode Island Police Chiefs Association; Rhode Island

Law Enforcement Trainers Association; and Rhode Island police officers who participated in the project.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Frank J. Gallo, Western New England College,

Department of Criminal Justice and Sociology, 1215 Wilbraham Rd.,College Box E5316, Springfield, MA 01119;

e-mail: fgallo@wnec.edu.

Gallo et al. / Prevalence of Force by Rhode Island Police 481

their lack of summary reports on uses of force. The Rhode Island Commission on Race and

Community Relations (State of Rhode Island, 2001) reported

that the uses of all kinds of force by police are fraught with both emotion and perceptions of

a lack of accountability by our communities. Without more openness from police agencies

about their uses of force, it is difficult to assuage fears and respond to concerns from the com-

munity. (p. 5)

The commission recommended that police agencies generate summary reports about their

uses of force and that they make those reports available to the public. Unfortunately, the

public safety reporting software that Rhode Island police agencies used did not generate

them. Inquiries into uses of force by Rhode Island police officers would require reviewing

police reports and recording and tabulating information from them.

Given these facts, this article examines the prevalence and the severity of police use of

force in Rhode Island by reviewing arrest reports from a sample of police departments. It

begins with an overview of prior relevant literature that offers insight into how police in

other jurisdictions use force against suspects. This provides a reference point to compare

uses of force by Rhode Island police officers. We follow with a discussion about how police

and researchers typically measure uses of force to provide a good reason in practice for our

method of measurement. After that, we show how police translate their use-of-force data

into training practices for a greater understanding of what results from this study will mean

to Rhode Island police departments. Next, there is a discussion of our method. Finally, for

police and public transparency, we review the extent to which Rhode Island police officers

use force and then particularly discuss the implications our data have for training outcomes

and for policy changes in Rhode Island.

Prior Research

Studies of the prevalence of police force have measured a variety of sorts of force, from

the use of mere police presence to the use of police weaponry. What researchers know

today about police use of force has come from some recurring sampling strategies such as

making independent field observations of police–citizen interactions (e.g., Bayley &

Garofalo, 1989; Klinger, 1995; Terrill & Mastrofski, 2002). Field recordings typically

involve trained observers that ride along with patrol officers. In Metro Dade County (FL),

for example, Klinger (1995) reported that officers used no force in 59.8% of 241 observed

police–citizen contacts. Officers used voice commands in 39.4% of contacts involving

some type of forceful response against citizens. The remaining number of cases involved

physical force where officers used firm grips (17.0%), pain holds (7.0%), choke holds

(2.1%), punches or kicks (0.8%), or baton strikes (1.6%). A total of 39 force encounters

involved the police using force combinations against citizens, which previous research did

not examine. Most force combinations (n =22) involved police grabbing and using voice

commands. Only twice did police use all six types of force. Although the study yielded

some important patterns of police force combinations, it focused on police force against cit-

izens in only a single jurisdiction.