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The current study examines the effect of changing a specific use-of-force policy coupled with de-escalation training implementation on patterns of police use of force.

An interrupted time-series analysis was used to examine changes in police use-of-force incident records gathered from a large, southwestern US metropolitan police department from 2013 to 2017 based on a TASER policy change and de-escalation training implementation mid-2015.

Results demonstrate that changes to use-of-force policy regarding one type of force (i.e. use of TASERs) coinciding with de-escalation training influence the prevalence of use-of-force incidents by increasing the reported police use-of-force incidents after the changes were implemented. This finding is somewhat consistent with prior literature but not always in the desired direction.

When police departments make adjustments to use-of-force policies and/or trainings, unintended consequences may occur. Police administrators should measure policy and training outcomes under an evidence-based policing paradigm prior to making those adjustments.

This study is the first to measure the effects of changing use-of-force policy and implementing de-escalation techniques in training on patterns of police use of force and shows that these changes can have a ripple effect across types of force used by police officers.

The present study examines a range of police force on the continuum (firearms, TASER/chemical spray and physical force) to see whether they are associated with individual (subject and officer), situational and/or neighborhood factors.

A partial proportional odds model is used to analyze police use of force data from 2003 to 2016 in Dallas. Independent variables are allowed for varying effects across the different cumulative dichotomizations of the dependent variable (firearms vs TASER/chemical spray and physical force and firearms and TASER/chemical spray vs physical force).

Most officer demographic and situational factors are consistently significant across the cumulative dichotomizations of police force. In addition, suspect race/ethnicity (Hispanic) and violent crime rates play significant roles when officers make decisions to use firearms, as opposed to TASER/chemical spray and physical force. Overall, situational variables (subject gun possession and contact types) play greater roles than other variables in affecting police use of force.

Despite the large body of police use of force research, little to no research has used the partial proportional odds model to examine the ordinal nature of police force from physical to intermediate to deadly force. The current findings can provide important implications for policy and research.

Law enforcement officers (LEOs) suffer from premature mortality, intentional and unintentional injury, suicide and are at an increased risk for several non-communicable disease outcomes including cardiovascular disease and several cancers, compared to those employed in other occupations. Repeated exposure to stressful and traumatic stimuli is a possible mechanism driving these adverse health outcomes among LEOs. To better identify the sources of these health problems, the purpose of this paper is to determine the feasibility of conducting a cohort study using physiological measures of stress (e.g. heart rate) with LEOs; perceptions of the FitBit device, including LEO buy-in and attitudes associated with the protocol.

Data were collected from ten recent graduates of the Dallas Police Training Academy.

Results suggest that officer buy-in and protocol compliance was high. Officers were eager to participate in this study, and completion of weekly surveys was 100 percent. Minute-level missing data from wearable devices was relatively low (25 percent), and 90 percent of participants wore the FitBit devices on more than 90 percent of study days.

Results from this study suggest that wearable physiological devices can be effectively used in law enforcement populations to measure stress.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate officer and civilian race/ethnicity disparities during ten years of officer-involved shootings (OIS).

Internal affairs, personnel and geospatial data were triangulated for 253 OIS at the Dallas Police Department from 2005 to 2015. Multinomial regression models were used to evaluate the relationship between civilian and officer race/ethnicity in OIS, controlling for officer, situational and neighborhood factors.

In total, 48 percent of unique OIS involved a non-Hispanic black civilian and most OIS occurred in Hispanic majority neighborhoods (48 percent). Officer age and number of shooters on scene were the only variables significantly associated with officer race/ethnicity. Most notably, officer race/ethnicity was not associated with the race/ethnicity of the civilian during OIS incidents.

There is limited scientific evidence on whether officers of certain races/ethnicities are disproportionately likely to engage in OIS with civilians of a particular race/ethnicity due to the relative rarity of such events.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the utility of general strain theory in explaining the relationship between organizational stress and police deviance.

Data were collected from a non-random sample of 1,389 police officers in three large cities in Texas. The survey instrument used for this research was the Police Work Experience Survey. Results from regression analyses are presented.

Findings showed that the organization influenced police misconduct, but misconduct was dependent upon the specific type of strain encountered.

Results show that instances of police deviance depend on the types of strains encountered. Additionally, anger plays a significant role when examining organizational strain. Police administrators should move to reduce organizational strains to reduce instances of police misconduct.

Currently, there is very little theoretical work in understanding police misconduct. And no studies have drawn linkages between organizational stressors and self-reported officer misconduct. At a time when police behavior is at the forefront of the social policy reform, the examination of potential correlates of police misconduct is the first step toward controlling it.

The purpose of this paper is to examine a police promotional process, in order to determine factors important for a sergeant to be promoted to lieutenant. To do this, written scores, assessment scores, and other demographic variables are used, thus providing a unique look into what it truly takes to promote to an important managerial rank in this large Texas metropolitan police department (LTMPD).

This is an exploratory study utilizing data collected from departmental databases. The original data set was accessed through public information laws, and compiled by the lead author, a 21‐year police veteran and participant in this promotional process.

Significant findings were both expected and unexpected. Of no surprise were the findings that an officer's written score and assessment score significantly affected the likelihood of promotion. Unexpected were past behavior patterns, age, and number of times tested significantly affected both assessment center performance score and promotion.

This paper examines the promotional process within an LTMPD. It illustrates how promotions are made in a department that relies heavily on assessment center outcomes to decide who is promoted. Up to now, police promotional processes have received little attention. This current research is an exploratory analysis which seeks to fill the gap by examining the process by which police lieutenants are chosen.

Firefighters are daily confronted with adverse, unpredictable and demanding situations. It is a dangerous profession that puts firefighters at risk of developing burnout. Although the literature has already identified personal and work-related factors of burnout, the examination of specific factors explaining burnout among volunteer and career firefighters is still needed. The purpose of this study is to investigate the explaining role of personal and work-related factors on volunteer and career firefighters’ burnout.

A nonrandom convenience sample of 250 firefighters (67% volunteer; M_age = 31.88) completed a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory, the Proactive Coping Scale and a standard of living subscale item. Hierarchical multiple linear regression models were tested. Fisher’s criterion was considered, with p-values lower than 0.05 interpreted as statistically significant.

Personal and work-related factors accounted for 18% of volunteer and 31% of career firefighters’ variations in burnout. Personal factors offered a greater contribution explaining volunteer and career firefighters’ burnout. Still, variations in the role played by age, family responsibilities, proactive coping and satisfaction with standard of living on burnout were found among volunteer and career firefighters. Taking the work-related factors into account, working in rotative shifts constituted a risk factor for career firefighters’ burnout.

This study advances the understanding about the role of personal and work-related factors in volunteer and career firefighters’ burnout.

This study adds information about specific factors explaining burnout among voluntary and career firefighters. It deepens existing knowledge on variations in the role played by age, family responsibilities, work conditions, proactive coping and satisfaction with standard of living on the burnout of volunteer and career firefighters.

Since 1987, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) has periodically collected data from police agencies in the USA and disseminated these data as the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) series. The purpose of this paper is to outline LEMAS's impact on criminal justice scholarship by describing the nexus between policing scholarship and LEMAS, and by analyzing the LEMAS constructs and variables used by researchers in refereed journal articles.

A systematic review of the literature is undertaken to better comprehend how scholars use LEMAS variables and constructs. In total, 114 peer-reviewed journal articles were analyzed to parcel out variables and constructs derived from LEMAS data.

The paper's analysis reveals that LEMAS is the second-most used BJS data series and the majority of authors use LEMAS to measure elements of organizational structure but not organizational behaviors, outcomes, or outputs.

The study is the first to systematically identify all peer-reviewed journal articles that utilize LEMAS data. Police organizational research is unique in the fact that most authors agree on the operationalization of variables and constructs.