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From 2002 to 2014, the Portland Police Bureau reported large reductions in complaints against officers and use of force indicators. The purpose of this paper is to develop a case study to document these changes and explore possible influences.

The paper maps the changes in conduct indicators against the developing relationship between the Bureau and the Portland Independent Police Review Division, and changes in policies and procedures.

Public complaints reduced by 54.4 per cent, while the rate of specific allegations per officer fell by 70.1 per cent. Quarterly use of force incident reports were reduced by 65.4 per cent between 2008 and 2014. Annual average shootings decreased from a high of nine per year across 1997-2002 to just below four per year in 2009-2014. Fatal shootings also trended downward but remained two per year in the last three years on record. Reforms instituted during this period that may have influenced these trends include a more rigorous complaints process, an early intervention system (EIS), enhanced external and internal review mechanisms, policy changes and training initiatives.

The researchers were unable to control for a range of additional variables that may have influenced the findings, including police deployments and changes in officer demographics.

The study provides support for strategies to improve police conduct including external oversight, diagnostic research, training focussed on de-escalation and minimal force, and complaint profiling and EISs.

There are very few studies available showing large long-term reductions in adverse police conduct indicators.

This study aims to demonstrate the need for further examination of legal judgments and the exercise of discretion in policing.

A factorial vignette survey with traffic stop scenarios based on US Court of Appeals decisions was administered to 396 police officers across six states. Officers were asked to indicate their assessment of the presence of reasonable suspicion and the likelihood that they would extend the stop for investigatory purposes.

Officers' reasonable suspicion judgments are significantly influenced by the vignette facts and align with court ruling expectations. However, even in the presence of reasonable suspicion, responses indicate a limited use of officer discretion to extend the stop.

Analyses of officer decision-making often rely on large datasets with easy indicators of location, officer demographics and citizen demographics, but rarely consider the facts of individual cases. This study suggests more experimental research is needed to consider the impact of case facts on officer judgments and discretionary activity.

Little is known regarding the impact of organizational policies and practices on police officers’ driving behaviors. To address an important gap in the empirical literature, this study examined how perceived likelihood of discipline for violations of agency driving policies impacted officer-involved vehicle collisions.

Surveys were distributed to patrol officers and their supervisors in eight California law enforcement agencies. The surveys elicited information regarding the perceived likelihood of discipline for violations of agency driving policies regarding cell phone use, text messaging, seatbelt use, speeding, and vehicle operations during emergency and pursuit situations.

The findings demonstrated a significant impact of perceived likelihood of enforcement for some but not all agency driving policies on officer-involved vehicle collisions.

This study was limited to self-reported data from patrol officers and their supervisors in eight California agencies.

Findings suggest that agencies may reduce officer injuries and other costs by increasing supervision and enforcement of agency driving policies.

This study contributes to the extant body of literature on officer-involved vehicle collisions by considering the impact of agency policy and supervision on officer behavior.

Police officers frequently receive criticism for excessive use of force and, at times, the criticism becomes litigation. The use of excessive force is manifest in areas such as the unauthorized use of firearms and the videotaped and much publicized beating of motorist Rodney King. However, recently police scholars and practitioners have come to realize that the use of police vehicle pursuits also have the potential to become deadly force. This issue is appearing with increasing frequency and it has resulted in the case of Sacramento County et al. v. Lewis being appealed to and decided by the US Supreme Court. This article analyzes the consequences of police departments having more, or less, restrictive policies in regard to police vehicle pursuits. Different elements of policy restrictiveness also are examined.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of police use of conducted energy devices (CEDs) on officer and suspect injuries while controlling for other types of force and resistance and other factors.

Data on 1,645 use‐of‐force incidents occurring between January 1, 2002 and July 2006 were obtained from two different law enforcement agencies. Logistic and generalized ordered logistic regressions are used to model the odds of injury and severity of injury.

The use of CEDs was associated with reduced odds of officer and suspect injury and the severity of suspect injury in one agency. In the other agency CED use was unrelated to the odds of injury; however, the use of pepper spray was associated with reduced odds of suspect injury. Among other findings, in both agencies the use of hands‐on tactics by police was associated with increased odds of officer and suspect injury, while the use of canines was associated with increased odds of suspect injury.

Although this research was carried out in two distinctly different law enforcement agencies with different histories of CED adoption, the fact that CED use was associated with reductions in injuries in one agency but not the other indicates the need for additional research on the impact of CED use in other settings

The analysis suggests that relative to other forms of force, the use of CEDs and pepper spray can reduce the risk of injury to both suspects and law enforcement officers. This information should prove useful to law enforcement agencies considering adopting CEDs and suggests that agencies should consider the use of these less lethal alternatives in place of hands‐on tactics against actively resistant suspects.

At the time of this writing there was no published independent research on the risks of injury associated with CED use in field settings. The findings reported herein will help inform the public debate on the utility of CEDs for law enforcement.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether community-oriented policing (COP) influences rates of police use of force across communities, and whether the impact of COP varies according to the level of violent crime in communities.

A range of data sources including police use of force reports, online surveys of Officers-in-Charge and recorded crime data was used to examine the association between formal and informal community consultation and the frequency of police use of force, across 64 socially challenged communities in Australia.

Poisson multilevel modelling indicated no overall association between informal or formal community engagement and rates of police use of force. However, significant interaction terms for both informal and formal community consultation with violent crime rates indicated that higher levels of informal and formal community consultation were associated with lower rates of police use of force in communities with higher levels of violent crime. This relationship was not evident in low violent crime areas.

Communities were purposively sampled to have a high propensity for police use of force, on the basis that they had high rates of violent crime, or high levels of socio-economic disadvantage, or both. This research should be replicated with a representative sample of communities.

The findings extend the potential benefits of COP to reducing the use of coercive policing tactics in high violent crime communities.

This study finds that COP can reduce the frequency of violent encounters between police and community members in high violent crime communities.

In the wake of the Rodney King incident, considers how police can be trained to use force in order to maintain civic control while ensuring that this authority is not used inappropriately. Outlines significant methods to control police force: more selective recruitment; establishment of policies and procedures consonant with civic values; police socialization and training; supervision and accountability. Reports on a drug enforcement program, in Metro‐Dade Police Department, which achieved great success with minimal use of force, due to stringent selection, a problem‐solving approach, strategic and tactical training and deployment of officers to give a show of force.

Explores the debate over the safety and efficacy of police use of force tactics in general, and pepper spray in particular. Introduces the force continua, checklists employed by US police forces to prescribe levels of force to be used in particular situations. Reviews the literature, discusses two recent studies and the legal and ethical issues involved. Suggests further research in less‐than‐lethal weapons.

Although numerous studies recently have appeared that identify the most‐cited scholars and works in the general criminology and criminal justice literature and in several specialty areas, no previous citation study has specifically examined the police studies literature. Through an analysis of 370 articles and research notes appearing from 1991 to 1995 in the areas of police studies, published in Criminology, Justice Quarterly, and four academic periodicals devoted to police studies, we list the 50 most‐cited scholars and the 36 most‐cited works. The lists of the most‐cited scholars and works in the specialty area of police studies are compared to general lists taken from leading criminology and criminal justice journals and introductory textbooks. We conclude with some thoughts about the relevance of citation analysis to specialists in police studies.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the causes and implications of potential negative consumer response to music in broadcast commercials. It aims to accomplish this by introducing a new consumer response variable, attitude toward the advertising music (A_am) and relating A_am's components to advertising goals. It also aims to propose that A_am is a significant component of attitude toward the ad (A_ad).

The paper takes the form of an integrative review of the relevant literatures in the psychology of music, consumer marketing, and advertising to formulate A_am.

Favorable A_am is a necessary but insufficient condition for favorable A_ad in ads employing music. Furthermore, a negative A_am might cause a negative A_ad. Given the numerous possible negative responses to music in a TV or radio commercial, achieving a favorable A_am among most target audience members is very challenging, especially when music‐message fit is lacking.

The paper offers cautionary advice for advertisers using music and directions for future research.

The paper provides a novel integration of literatures in psychology and marketing/advertising. Whereas most scholars and practitioners assume that music adds value to commercials, the authors demonstrate key ways in which music can cause adverse listener reactions.