Police Quarterly, Ahead of Print. The study of identity work has grown exponentially in the past decade; however, little research has been undertaken in challenging occupational contexts, such as policing. Existing studies have focused on tensions between personal and work identities, such as being a woman in a male-dominated workplace, or how officers have responded to threats to their occupational identities. Using data collected from interviews with 32 Canadian police officers, this study examines the circumstances that compel officers to engage in identity work and the processes undertaken ..read more

Police Quarterly, Ahead of Print. This study focuses on police profanity, with a particular interest developing reasonable policy to regulate the use of the word “fuck.” Officers employ “fuck” as a linguistic tool to accomplish a range of goals, such as establishing authority, fostering solidarity, and diffusing tension. However, “fuck” can also be used derogatorily, and negatively impact public assessments of police actions. Policy in this area is either absent, overly broad, or inappropriate to its intended use. Following brief, unstructured interviews with line and executive officers, I pro ..read more

Police Quarterly, Ahead of Print. Body-worn cameras (BWCs) are intended to promote transparency and accountability. However, officer failure to activate BWCs remains a concern. Research has identified types of incidents associated with activation failure, but has not examined activation as a measure of performance. We examine BWC activation as an officer-level decision-making process, assessing the influence of demographics, assignments, and performance (e.g., proactivity) on activation rates over time. Negative binominal and multinomial logistic regression were used to analyze data from 149 o ..read more

Police Quarterly, Ahead of Print. Research points to implicit bias as one factor driving racial disparities in enforcement activities. Addressing implicit bias is essential to promote equity and integrity in policing and to building trust and legitimacy in communities, according to the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. However, investigations into the efficacy of implicit bias training for police are sparse. This study evaluates in-service implicit bias training, examining the impact on trainees’ knowledge, attitudes, and self-professed likelihood of applying antibias strategies ..read more

Police Quarterly, Ahead of Print. Police workforce retention has become a persistent managerial concern. The public response to recent events of police misconduct have fuelled the perception that police may be seeking other career paths following the murder of George Floyd in 2020. Despite growing evidence, current research has been unable to ascertain what conditions may prompt officers to voluntarily separate from police work following Floyd’s murder, or whether the impact varies across demographic groups. Drawing upon a survey of over 600 police officers across eight police departments in t ..read more

Police Quarterly, Ahead of Print. The literature on cognitive distortions offers insight on why we continue to face reform challenges regarding police use of force- and citizen interaction-related outcomes. We used two studies of police officers to determine the extent to which one cognitive distortion—dichotomous thinking—was associated with problematic orientations about use of force and citizen interactions. In Study 1, we found that dichotomous thinking was associated with weaker support for de-escalation, procedural justice, and maintaining self-control during hypothetical citizen interac ..read more

Police Quarterly, Ahead of Print. The purpose of this study is to examine the George Floyd effect on depolicing. Police misdemeanor and felony arrests by the Houston Police Department (HPD), with these police actions serve as the primary measures of law enforcement behavior. Specifically, we break down police misdemeanor and felony arrests among Hispanic, Black, and White residents. An Interrupted Time Series Analysis model is used in the analysis. The primary findings suggest that there was an initial steep drop of police arrests immediately after the Floyd incident for both misdemeanor and f ..read more

Police Quarterly, Ahead of Print. Interagency cooperation may increase efficiency and cost-effectiveness in an era of resource austerity and increased workload for both the police and their partners. Yet the effect of a strategic police-security collaboration on routine operations across multiple sites is unknown. In a controlled experiment, we introduced an interagency collaboration between state and non-state guardianships to train stations across England. A mixed-methods approach, with multiple crime indicators and a survey administered with police officers and security partners, was applie ..read more

Police Quarterly, Ahead of Print. There has been an increase in wellness programming within police agencies across the U.S. We examined factors contributing to and inhibiting use of within-department and external mental wellness programming using a sequential mixed methods design within a large Mid-Atlantic U.S. metropolitan police department. Sworn and civilian policing personnel completed surveys (n = 297) and interviews (n = 26). Regression models and chi-square tests were run on survey data, and open coding was used to analyze qualitative interview data. Results from triangulation of data ..read more

Police Quarterly, Ahead of Print. In 2020, police activities decreased substantially across large U.S. cities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the killing of George Floyd by a police officer. Less well understood are when and where the de-policing phenomenon took place. Using NYC panel data from 2017 to 2022 at the census tract level, the study found significant declines in proactive policing, immediately subsequent to the stay-at-home order and/or death of George Floyd. However, all police activities began increasing during the summer of 2020 and ultimately returned to the pre-interve ..read more