Police Profanity and Public Judgments of Guilt and Effectiveness in Officer-Involved Shootings

Fuck: The Police

“…Existing training programs already focus on communication skills that allow officers to command respect and authority, build rapport, and diffuse tension without resorting to the use of derogatory profanity (Engel et al, 2022;Todak & James, 2018). The findings here suggest such programs should also highlight the potential negative impacts of derogatory profanity on public trust and judgements about police actions, particularly during use-of-force incidents (Martaindale et al, 2023;Patton et al, 2017;Sharps et al, 2019). In any case, such training must reflect how police officers experience their work, otherwise it will fail.…”

“…Police profanity has been a frequent focus of scholarship (Martaindale et al, 2023;Patton et al, 2017;Sharps et al, 2019). While not about how profanity is used by police, recent commentary suggests that the core police duty is to unfuck situations (Huey & Johnston, 2023).…”

“…On the other hand, swearing during public interactions, especially in a derogatory way, was generally considered less professional, although with looser boundaries and more disagreement for profanity occurring during use-of-force situations. This is a particularly delicate area of policy, given the experimental findings that the public is less approving of an officer's use-of-force when profanity is used (Martaindale et al, 2023;Sharps et al, 2019). Manifestly, agencies should be profoundly interested in maintaining public goodwill and trust (Tyler, 2004).…”

“…Beyond these theoretical considerations, empirical studies have shown that excessive use of profanity adversely affects public perception of police actions, including the use of force (Martaindale et al, 2023;Patton et al, 2017;Sharps et al, 2019). Despite these findings, contemporary police policy has been inadequate in effectively managing the use of profanity by officers.…”