Exploring Officer-Involved Shootings With Interaction Effects: A Deeper Understanding of How Race/Ethnicity Interacts With Other Factors in the Use of Deadly Force

Abstract

There has been a substantial body of research examining the reasons behind the police officers’ use of deadly force. Little research has been done to examine how race and ethnicity interact with other factors in the use of deadly force. With data collected in Dallas, Texas, the present study examines the influence of individual, situational, and neighborhood characteristics on officers’ decision to use deadly force. The present study also provides an alternative approach to logistic regression models by estimating predictive probabilities of officers shooting at citizens. The results show that when officers make decisions to shoot at citizens, situational factors are more important than demographic and neighborhood factors. Interactive effects constructed based on the race/ethnicity of the police officer and citizen showed almost no influence on the decision to shoot at a citizen. Finally, the present study concludes with a discussion of implications for policy development and future research.

Exploring the police use of force continuum with a partial proportional odds model

“…In addition, Hispanic subjects are more likely than white counterparts to experience police use of deadly force. It is noted that the current finding is somewhat inconsistent with those of prior studies where subject race/ethnicity was not significant for the contrast of shooting vs displaying a firearm at subject (Phillips and Kim, 2021; Wheeler et al. , 2018; Worrall et al.…”

“…The location of the use of force incident is also noteworthy in this analysis. The prior examination of Dallas data reported no association between neighborhood characteristics and deadly force incidents (Phillips and Kim, 2021; Wheeler et al. , 2018; Worrall et al.…”

“…The data for this study are borrowed from the work of others who have explored the use of force in Dallas, TX (Phillips and Kim, 2021; Wheeler et al. , 2018; Worrall et al., 2018).…”

“…Research in Dallas included several neighborhood characteristics (i.e. the violent crime rate, the percent living in poverty) in the analytic models, but none of the variables were significantly related to an officer using deadly force (Phillips and Kim, 2021; Wheeler et al. , 2018).…”

“…Research conducted using Dallas Police data included incidents in which an officer fired at a person, as well as events when an officer pointed their weapon at a person but did not fire. When these counterfactual cases were included in the analysis the results found that the race or ethnicity of a citizen was not related to the use of deadly force (Phillips and Kim, 2021; Wheeler et al. , 2018; Worrall et al.…”