NCJ Number
101949
Date Published
1983
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This study compares the characteristics of police officers who did and did not fire their weapons when exposed to similar hazardous circumstances in Birmingham, Ala.; Miami, Fla.; Newark, N.J.; and Oakland, Calif.
Abstract
Data were obtained on officers and incidents involved in purposeful shootings between January 1977 and June 1980. The number of 'shooters' was 165 in Birmingham, 105 in Miami, 149 in Newark, and 63 in Oakland. Police managers provided lists of officers they deemed to have been in situations that could reasonably have caused them to fire their weapons but did not. The numbers of 'nonshooters' selected were 25 in Birmingham, 21 in Miami, 33 in Newark, and 24 in Oakland. Shooters and nonshooters were interviewed to obtain information not in files and records, and officers in the departments were administered instruments that evaluated knowledge of deadly force law and policy, opinion of deadly force policy, and mode of applying the policy. Racial aspects of shootings were a focus of the analysis, and statistical and archival data were obtained to determine possible extraneous influences on shootings. Data indicated that shooters and nonshooters differed in the levels of caution used in handling armed confrontations more than in lifestyles and personal characteristics. The caution of nonshooters may have been enhanced by education and experience. Evidence does not support the assumption that a greater number of minority officers will decrease the use of deadly force. Many officers were not familiar with deadly force policy or did not implement policy when it was known.