The Role of Research in Reducing Officer-Involved Shootings and Police Reform
By Gabrielle T. Isaza
On July 19, 2015, Samuel DuBose was stopped by University of Cincinnati Police Division (UCPD) Officer Raymond Tensing near the University for a minor traffic violation. After a brief exchange, DuBose, an unarmed 43-year old black male, was shot and killed by Officer Tensing. This fatal encounter sparked major city-wide controversy, resulting in the Tensing’s immediate termination and subsequent indictment for murder.
Within a week, the University of Cincinnati created the Office of Safety and Reform, and appointed Dr. Robin Engel to lead the UCPD and reform efforts. Trained as a social scientist, Engel looked to existing research to guide reform efforts. However, it was quickly evident that research on many highly endorsed police reforms was severely lacking. This was the inspiration for our article published earlier this year in the ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.
The article chronicles Dr. Engel’s first-hand experience implementing police reform and summarizes available evidence surrounding five of the most highly endorsed police reforms.
1. body-worn cameras
2. de-escalation training
3. implicit bias training
4. early intervention systems
5. civilian oversight
Our goal was to better inform the discussion regarding “what works” to reduce the frequency of officer-involved shootings—the most highly demanded police reform.
In our article, we advocate for evidence-based policing (EBP) as a framework for police reform. EBP is the concept that research should guide practice and that practitioners should have their work evaluated. Therefore, it is critical to understand the work that has been conducted, as well as what else needs to be better researched. Our efforts to summarize the available research demonstrated a patchwork of studies that collectively provided little confidence that the five highly endorsed reforms listed above could directly impact police shootings.
First, the available research on body-worn cameras suggest that deploying cameras needs to be coupled with strong policies and supervisory oversight to achieve maximum benefits in reducing use of force. Simply outfitting officers with cameras is not sufficient. Second, the evidence base for police de-escalation training is still in its infancy, and serious questions about training impacts on citizen and/or officer safety cannot yet be answered. Although early studies show promising effects on officer attitudes and knowledge, the impact of de-escalation training on officer behavior is not yet available. Ongoing research efforts will shed light on this topic. This year, our research team will release a study with the Louisville Metro Police that speaks directly to the impact of de-escalation training on officer behavior.
Similar to de-escalation training, the impacts of implicit bias training are not well known. The available research paints a mixed picture, where some trainings have exhibited unintended consequences and others have shown promising changes in attitudes. However, research had not yet tested implicit bias training on officer behavioral changes. Addressing this gap, our research team plans to release findings from a study with the New York City Police Department that will provide insights on the utility of implicit bias training for officers.
The two remaining interventions − early intervention systems and civilian oversight − have not been the subject of much evaluation. Due in part, to the difficulty in measuring both of these interventions which are often comprised of varied structures, designed to fit a particular agency. Though both interventions are commonly implemented, rigorous research is lacking and the findings for civilian oversight are mixed.
Despite the lack of a strong evidence base for reform, police executives must move forward with implementing best practices to meet community and political demands. But it is critical that police executives are not forced into reform initiatives that are not effective, otherwise no progress will be made. We contend that law enforcement executives must consider the available research when implementing reform, and where research is lacking, engage in opportunities to fill these gaps. This also requires that policing researchers engage in the rapid research that is critical to answering the questions from the policing field. It is vital that researchers and practitioners work together to progress the evidence base on policing reform. Science can, and should, be used to reduce harm across the country, particularly as it relates to efforts to reduce officer-involved shootings.
Article details
Moving beyond “Best Practice”: Experiences in Police Reform and a Call for Evidence to Reduce Officer-Involved Shootings
Robin S. Engel, Hannah D. McManus, Gabrielle T. Isaza
First Published February 13, 2020 Research Article
DOI: 10.1177/0002716219889328
The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
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