Spillover Effects in Police Use of Police Use of Force

By Justin E. Holz, Roman G. Rivera, and Bocar A. Ba

We study the link between officer injuries-on-duty and the force used by their peers using a network of officers who, through a random lottery, began the police academy together. We find that peer injuries on-duty increase the probability of using force by 7%. The effect is concentrated in a narrow time window near the event and is not associated with significantly lower injury risk to the officer. Complaints of improper searches and failure to provide service also increase after peer injuries, suggesting that the increase in force might be driven by heightened risk aversion.

Philadelphia: Faculty Scholarship at Penn Law, 2019. 63p.