Use of Firearms by Police Officers - The Impact of Individuals, Communities and Race

• NCJ Number: 92497
• Author(s): M Blumberg
• Date Published: 1982
• Length: 337 pages
• Publication Format: Dissertation/Thesis
• Publication Type: Thesis/Dissertation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: State University of New York at Albany - doctoral dissertation

Annotation

This study examines the relationship between firearms use patterns of police and the characteristics of officers, job performance, racial discrimination, and the characteristics of communities and situations.

Abstract

The individual officer analysis indicates that although a variety of social characteristics (i.e., race, height, military service, marital status at appointment, preservice firearms experience, and prior arrest record) do not distinguish between shooters and nonshooters, there are some important exceptions. Younger officers and those with fewer years of police experience are significantly more likely to become involved in shooting incidents and to be 'repeat' shooters. On the other hand, females and officers drawn from the middle class are somewhat less likely to shoot; however, the relatively small number of female officers in the sample and the large number of missing cases for officer socioeconomic status preclude a precise statistical analysis of these relationships. The individual level analysis also examined the relationships between various indicators of police job performance and shooting behavior. Both arrest activity and citizen complaints significantly distinguish between 'repeat' shooters and other officers, with 'repeaters' making more arrests and receiving more citizen complaints. The situational and community analysis indicates little variation across communities for some situational characteristics of police shootings, while for others there is a great deal of variance. The nature of shootings in some cities can be distinguished from other cities in the sample. Various forms of analysis were undertaken to examine the issue of race discrimination in police shootings. Findings suggest that the disproportionate number of black victims does not result from race discrimination by police officers; however, the reader is cautioned against generalizing from these data to shootings in other communities. About 70 references and tabular data are provided. (Author abstract modified)