The Conundrum of “Building a Better Cop”

• Author: Sarah Tahamont
• Date: 01 February 2018
• Published date: 01 February 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12351

EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION

CAN YOU BUILD A BETTER COP?

The Conundrum of “Building a Better Cop”

Reconciling Automaticity and Procedural Justice in Policing

Sarah Tahamont

University of Maryland—College Park

The killings of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Laquan MacDonald, Tamir Rice,

Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, Sandra Bland, Samuel DuBose, Christian Taylor,

Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, Terence Crutcher,Keith Lamont Scott, and many

others1have brought about unprecedented scrutiny of police use of force and accompanying

consequences for police legitimacy nationwide. In the current context, it is more pressing

than ever to re-examine whether police still occupy the position of “peacekeeper” (Bittner,

1967). One proposed antidote to this tension is to focus on “procedural justice—fair and

deliberate treatment of citizens regardless of the outcome of a police encounter (see Tyler,

1988, 2001, 2003). Nevertheless, introducing policing practices consistent with the tenets

of procedural justice presents a conundrum.

In most contexts, the more on-the-job experience the better—experienced workers

can perform tasks quickly and efficiently, almost without thinking. In Thinking, Fast and

Slow, Nobel-laureate Daniel Kahneman described this fast, efficient decision making as

automatic (Kahneman, 2011). Police administrators have long acknowledged the benefits

of automaticity in policing. O. W. Wilson (1956) likened the behavior of the experienced

police officer to that of a pianist or typist. Automaticity benefits seasoned police officers

substantially; by drawing from their experience, they can assess situations and act quickly

Direct correspondence to Sarah Tahamont, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of

Maryland, 2165A Samuel J. LeFrak Hall, 7251 Preinkert Drive, College Park, MD 20742 (e-mail: tahamont@umd.

edu).

1. According to

The Washington Post

(2017) article, “Police Shooting Database,” police officers in the line

of duty have fatally shot 610 people so far in 2017; the total was 963 in 2016 and 991 in 2015. The victim

has been unarmed in 5% of fatal police shootings so far in 2017. The

Post

database does not account for

shootings by off-duty police officers or fatal encounters with police officers in the line of duty that are

not the result of a shooting. It also does not track in-custody deaths.

DOI:10.1111/1745-9133.12351 C2018 American Society of Criminology 37

Criminology & Public Policy rVolume 17 rIssue 1