Police use of force and race: a focal concerns theoretical perspective

Abstract

PurposeThe present study examines the risk of citizens encountering police use of intermediate and deadly force, as opposed to using physical force, given a set of individual, situational and neighborhood variables.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses data from 2003 to 2016 in the Dallas Open Data Portal. Two-level multinomial logistic regression is used to analyze the data.FindingsThe effects of citizen race differ across the types of police force. Overall, citizen race plays no significant role in the officer's decision to shoot firearms at citizens. However, there is evidence of intra-racial disparity in officer-involved shootings (OISs) between Hispanic citizens and officers. African American citizens are disproportionately exposed to display-but-don't shoot incidents, while Hispanic citizens have a lower risk of encountering police use of intermediate weapons.Originality/valueThe study helps to understand how citizen and officer race influence and interact across various types of police force. Implications of the results are offered in relation to relevant literature.