A Typology of Citizen Presentations in Police Use of Force Events: Are There Ecological Drivers?

• DOI: 10.1177/1098611119835535
• Date: 01 September 2019
• Published date: 01 September 2019
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

A Typology of Citizen

Presentations in

Police Use of Force

Events: Are There

Ecological Drivers?

Molly McCarthy

1

, Louise Porter

1

,

Michael Townsley

1

, and

Geoffrey Alpert

1,2

Abstract

This study identifies subtypes of citizen behavioral characteristics within police use of

force events and assesses ecological influences on these subtypes. Data comprised

police use of force reports, recorded crime data, and census data. Latent class

analysis was applied to 19,900 police use of force events to identify latent classes

of citizen behavioral characteristics. A five class-solution demonstrated best fit and

comprised the following classes: violent, unstable, and drug or alcohol affected;

apparent mental disorder and possessing a weapon; alcohol-related violence; suspi-

cious and fleeing; and violent behavior and threatening a weapon. Chi-square analysis

and multilevel logistic regression showed each citizen presentation class was asso-

ciated with distinct patterns of offence types and contexts for police use of force.

Ecological influences were notable for three classes of citizen presentations. The

clustering of citizen behaviors within incidents provides insights into the nature and

distribution of types of police–citizen encounters where force is used.

1

Griffith Criminology Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia

2

Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of South Carolina, Currell College,

Columbia, SC, USA

Corresponding Author:

Molly McCarthy, Griffith Criminology Institute, Griffith University, 176 Messines Ridge Road, Brisbane,

QLD 4122, Australia.

Email: molly.mccarthy@griffithuni.edu.au

Police Quarterly

2019, Vol. 22(3) 360–387

!The Author(s) 2019

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DOI: 10.1177/1098611119835535

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Keywords

police use of force, citizen behavior, latent class analysis, ecological factors, commu-

nity, mental disorder, offence types

The recent series of highly publicized off‌icer-involved deaths of primarily African

American citizens across a number of cities in the United States has brought

renewed attention to the contexts in which police use force, and the characteristics

of police–citizen encounters that may inf‌luence the escalation of police use of force.

This has led to an expanded body of research focusing on the attributes of individ-

uals and situations that may impact how police perceive and respond to risk, with a

particular focus on the inf‌luence of citizen race or ethnicity (Fryer, 2016; Goff,

Lloyd, Geller, Raphael, & Glaser, 2016; Nix, Campbell, Byers, & Alpert, 2017).

Within the literature examining the inf‌luence of individual and situational fac-

tors in police use of force encounters, a number of citizen behavioral characteristics

have been found to be related to the frequency or severity of police use of force,

such as citizen resistance, demeanor, and intoxication or cognitive impairment

(Bolger, 2015; Klahm & Tillyer, 2010; Lersch & Mieczkowski, 2005). However,

to date researchers have assessed the inf‌luence of citizen behavioral characteristics

in police use of force events independently, that is, focusing on the unique relation-

ship between each characteristic and police use of force. Although there is evidence

regarding the unique inf‌luence of a number of behavioral characteristics on police

use of force, it remains unclear how these characteristics may cluster or coalesce

within events potentially producing particular contexts. In addition, while a long-

standing and growing body of research has considered the inf‌luence of ecological or

community-level factors (such as racial heterogeneity and violent crime rates) on

police use of force behavior (Lee, Jang, Yun, Lim, & Tushaus, 2010; Lee, Vaughn,

& Lim, 2014; Smith, 1986; Smith & Holmes, 2014; Terrill & Reisig, 2003), there is a

dearth of research considering the inf‌luence of ecological factors on citizen behav-

iors in these events. This study seeks to address these two research gaps, f‌irstly by

examining how citizen behavioral characteristics may be distributed or cluster

within police use of force events, and then by examining whether ecological factors

may inf‌luence these citizen behavioral characteristics.

The Influence of Citizen Behavioral Characteristics on Use of Force by Police

Police behavioral responses are clearly a critical factor in whether force is used

in an interaction between police and citizens. However, citizen behavior is argu-

ably another critical element of such incidents, constituting both a practical and

legal trigger for the use and escalation of police force. The following sections will

review the evidence in support of the inf‌luence of a range of citizen behavioral

characteristics on police use of force.

McCarthy et al. 361