By Genevieve Lennon, Nicholas R. Fyfe, with John McNeill and Fraser Sampson

The Principles for Accountable Policing (hereafter ‘The Principles’) are intended to provide a practical baseline which will inform the practice and structure of accountable policing. The Principles apply to the police and oversight bodies. The Principles have been drafted primarily with public bodies in mind but are applicable to all forms of policing. The first section sets out the 12 Principles. They are divided into four parts. Part A describes general principles that underpin all accountability. Part B discusses the conduct of accountability and how it can be carried out. Part C examines participation in accountability. Part D focuses on implementation and evaluation. The second section expands upon each principle, detailing the relevant evidential base. Reflecting the focus of the workshops, most examples are drawn from the various police forces across England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The third section provides a reference guide which can be used to check how accountable the police are. It is organised as a simple checklist.

The Police Foundation, UK, 2023. 35p.

By Baroness Casey

Misconduct data, extracted from the Met’s Centurion systems This dataset contains information on all allegations (18,589), cases (10,252), and officers/staff (12,856) involved in misconduct issues (formally) from April 2013 – March 2022. The difference in these numbers is due to the fact that one case may involve several allegations against several individuals. And, as several officers may also be involved in more than one conduct case in the time period, the number of individual officers and staff in the data is actually 8,917. These allegations are only internal, i.e. initiated by Met staff, officers, or their families, not complaints from the general public, which are held on a different dataset. This dataset includes information on the nature of the allegation, the outcomes and decisions made, information on the subject of the allegation and key data around times, dates, and jurisdictions. The Review has taken an exploratory approach to this complex dataset, conducting descriptive statistical analysis on all components of the data to identify trends, changes, and outliers. It should be noted that this data is significant, but can never be fully accurate as many variables depend on the recording practices of individuals, which can vary between people and time. Nevertheless, the numbers are so significant that we are confident in our conclusions. The basis of our analysis is financial years (Apr-Mar), we measure the number of allegations/cases which have been received in each financial year. Some other performance analyses measure instead the number of case/allegations which have been finalised in a specific year. We have chosen the former approach for two reasons (1) it gives us a person-centred understanding of the misconduct system i.e. the experience of those making complaints / being complained about (2) it allows us to look at the impact of changes to legislation which do not apply retrospectively i.e. if a case was received in 2015, the rules changed in 2016, and the case was finalised in 2017, the 2016 rules would not apply. However, because we count all allegations and cases made in the period, not just the finalised ones, the closer we get to the contemporary day, the higher the percentage of cases/allegations which have not yet received an outcome becomes. Because of this, throughout, we have included red lines to indicate where the unknown percentage is too large to draw conclusions for that year.

London: Metropolitan Police, 2022. 21p.

By Baroness Casey of Blackstock DBI CB

The Met has faced significant challenges over the last ten years. Many of these have been beyond their control. These include austerity, changes in crime patterns, greater non-crime demand and a regulatory system that makes it difficult to get rid of people who corrupt the Met’s integrity. The Crown Prosecution Service and the courts are also under acute pressure. This impacts the effectiveness of the Met, and makes the criminal justice system overall much less effective. Significant societal shifts are rightly making us less tolerant of crimes such as domestic abuse, rape and child abuse as well as discrimination. Public expectations on policing are therefore greater. London too is always changing. Its population is expanding, and is swelled by thousands of commuters daily and millions of visitors each year. It is more diverse in terms of nationalities, ethnic and faith groups, and sexuality than other UK cities. The majority of the population are not from White British ethnic backgrounds, one in five do not have English as their main language, and London has greater extremes of wealth and poverty than other parts of the UK. In contrast, Met officers are 82% White and 71% male, and the majority do not live in the city they police. As such, the Met does not look like the majority of Londoners. Traditional volume crime (such as burglary and theft) has declined, while low volume but more serious offences such as violence against the person, and sexual offences have significantly increased from 17% of all crimes in 2012-13 to 31% in 2022-23. Such cases take longer to investigate and resolve. Domestic abuse-related crimes have doubled over ten years to nearly 100,000 a year and the number of reported rape cases have increased fourfold. But the number of officers investigating them has not increased at the same rate. This places more demand on police detective services in particular, while there is a national shortage of detectives. Like other public services, austerity has profoundly affected the Met. In real-terms, the Review has calculated that the Met now has £0.7 billion less than at the start of the previous decade, meaning its budget is 18% smaller. This is enough to employ more than 9,600 extra Police Constables at full cost. It has lost 21% of its civilian staff and two thirds of its Special Constables while the number of Police Community Support Officers has halved. Between 2010 and 2022 it closed 126 police stations. Specialist units and functions have been prioritised, including through ring-fenced Government funding. Together, this has eroded frontline policing, weakening the strongest day-to-day point of connection with Londoners, as well as impacting the Met’s reactive capabilities, its response levels, and its response to male violence perpetrated against women and children. The model of policing by consent, pioneered in London and admired and copied around the world, requires the Met to both earn and maintain public trust in everything it does. However, there is declining public confidence and trust in the institution. Public trust has fallen from a high point of 89% in 2016 to a low of 66% in March 2022. Public confidence in the Met to do a good job locally has fallen from high points of 70% in 2016 and 2017 to a low of 45% in March 2022. People from Black and mixed ethnic groups have lower trust and confidence in the Met, scoring 10 to 20% lower than average on trust and 5 to 10% lower on confidence, although declining scores among White Londoners mean that gap is closing. Among those who responded to surveys undertaken for the Review, three quarters of Met employees and two in five Londoners think the Met’s external reputation is poor. Black Londoners are even more likely to say its reputation is poor. A series of scandals involving the Met and the Met’s response – playing them down, denial, obfuscation, and digging in to defend officers without seeming to understand their wider significance – combined with this loss of trust, are strong indicators of fundamental problems.

London: Metropolitan Police, 2023. 363p.

By Daniel DiSalvo

Protests and riots erupted in cities around the country in the wake of George Floyd’s death in police custody in Minneapolis last summer. Many criticisms of law enforcement ensued, and many observers and activists focused on police unions for supposedly protecting bad cops, thereby undermining police–community relations. Today, this claim is commonplace from writers across the political spectrum.[1] To improve policing in the U.S., the argument goes, job protections enshrined in union contracts and state statutes, which the unions have long fought for, have to be pared back.

While these claims are plausible, we know less than we should about the role that police unions play in protecting abusive officers and undermining police–community relations. Although some academic literature on police unions exists—in which many of the findings suggest that the unions inhibit effective and accountable policing— the subject has not been intensively studied.[2] Therefore, we do not know exactly what the reduction of job protections for officers or the alteration of collective bargaining could achieve; reformers and the public should keep their expectations in check.

That said, state and local elected officials reacted quickly to Floyd’s death and have passed new laws that seek to reduce police violence against civilians and improve public confidence in the police.[3] Some of the changes impinge on policies enshrined in existing collective bargaining agreements (CBAs).

This paper assesses the role of police unions in creating job protections for officers and how the recent wave of legislation interacts with collective bargaining and union contracts; and it identifies areas in which policymakers should concentrate in future rounds of collective bargaining in order to improve the performance of police departments and enhance public trust in them.

New York: Manhattan Institute, 2021. 12p.

By Pradhi Aggarwal, Alec Brandon, Ariel Goldszmidt, Justin Holz, John A. List, Ian Muir, Gregory Sun, Thomas Yu

Given news reporting in recent years, many readers are likely familiar with research which finds that, conditional on an encounter, police officers are more likely to enforce a law, conduct a search, or use force when a civilian belongs to a racial minority group. In other words, once they are stopped, minorities are more likely to face some police action. However, what research has yet to show is whether minorities are stopped more in the first place.

This new paper addresses the issue of minority status and the likelihood of police encounters by reviewing driving data from Lyft records in Florida from August 2017 to August 2020, totaling over 40 billion observations. These data allow the authors to explore whether minority drivers, because they are minorities, are more likely to be stopped and to be issued a citation. To examine this question, the authors focus on citations for speeding.

Becker Friedman Institute for Economics, University of Chicago: Working Paper, 2022. 27p.

By The Halifax Regional Municipality, Mass Casualty Commission

Policing and public safety in HRM is very dynamic and uncertain. This is a complex and dynamic period of time for policing in Nova Scotia. The policing model in HRM and Nova Scotia more broadly is garnering significant attention from the public. There is pressure to transform the way policing services are delivered and costs are increasing at rates that exceed the Consumer Price Index. Taxpayers are facing increasing concerns about affordability. Notably, this study has occurred in parallel with the ongoing Mass Casualty Commission (the Commission) which is conducting an independent public inquiry to examine the April 18-19, 2020 Mass Casualty Incident in Nova Scotia. The findings of the Commission are unknown at this time but will likely have significant implications for policing in HRM and Nova Scotia. At the same time, the Department of Justice is completing a review of the province’s policing standards. That process is also likely to impact the policing operations and requirements in HRM. The HRM Public Safety Strategy is also under renewal. The renewed Strategy is focused on community based approaches to safety and reimagining responses to health and social services. The relationship between the HRP and RCMP is being challenged. It has been noted consistently in this study and the proceedings of the Mass Casualty Commission that the relationship between the RCMP and the Halifax Regional Police (HRP) is becoming increasingly strained resulting in an increasing safety risk profile. The proceedings of the Commission and stakeholder interviews completed as a part of this study have clearly highlighted that collaboration, integration, and the strength of the relationship between the RCMP and HRP is deteriorating. The events of the Mass Casualty Incident on April 20, 2020 and the subsequent proceedings have likely contributed to additional strain between the two services. The current policing model is not integrated. Despite what might be commonly perceived in the community - the HRP and RCMP do not operate in an integrated policing model. HRM currently has a dual policing model, meaning two services operating in parallel as discrete service providers.

Halifax, NS: Halifax Regional Municipality, 2023. 424p.

By Emilee Green and Orleana Peneff

Local police are expected to use the least amount of force necessary against citizens, both in self-defense and in defense of others. Although relatively rare, many incidents of excessive, and even lethal, force used by police have been documented, particularly in situations involving people of color. Specifically, Black Americans are more likely to be killed during a police encounter than White Americans. The public has called for further investigation, data collection, and research on police use of force. This literature review provides an overview of theories on why police use of force occurs. Theories are based on officer characteristics, types of situations, organizational norms, and police policies and procedures. The review includes data and research on use of force including disparities in its use.

Chicago: Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, 2022. 18p.

By Irena L. C. Connon Mo Egan Niall Hamilton-Smith Niamh MacKay Diana Miranda C. William R. Webster

This report has been compiled for the Scottish Government’s “Emerging Technologies in Policing” project, and was commissioned by the Scottish Institute for Policing Research (SIPR) acting on behalf of the Scottish Government. It is based on a review of emerging technologies in policing undertaken between January and July 2022. The review was completed by a research team based at the University of Stirling.

The review considered: 1) the social and ethical implications of particular types of emerging technologies in policing practice, 2) the legal considerations associated with the adoption of emerging technologies in policing, 3) recommendations from the existing research examining the trial and adoption of new emerging technologies in policing, as well as for ethical and scientific standards frameworks and guidelines, for informing best practice and wider dissemination of these technologies in police practice, 4) recommendations for the use of emerging technologies in policing based on experiences from other sectors (Health, Children and Family), and 5) the lessons learnt and recommendations that can be made from the analysis of existing case law concerning emerging technology. The report provides a descriptive overview of the relevant literature and case law available, as well as a series of recommendations for best practice in the implementation and dissemination of the different forms of technology in police practice

The types of emerging technologies in policing practice considered in this review are electronic databases, biometric identification systems and artificial intelligence (AI), and surveillance systems and tracking devices.

Edinburgh: Scottish Government, 2023. 486p.

By Lorraine Mazerolle, Elizabeth Eggins, Adrian Cherney, Lorelei Hine, Angela Higginson, Emma Belton

There is limited evidence of how police programmes to generate community connectedness affect violent extremist behaviours, attitudes and beliefs. Police programmes to generate community connectedness are assumed to help reduce risk factors that lead individuals to radicalize to violent extremism. There is no robust body of evaluation evidence to verify this claim. This lack of evidence is because programme funders have not sufficiently invested in impact evaluations of policing programmes that aim to counter violent extremism by promoting community connectedness.

What is this review about ? Community connectedness and efforts to engage communities may help to mitigate the risk of individuals radicalizing to violent extremism. Police, under some circumstances, can play a key role in programmes aimed at tackling violent extremism. This includes working with communities and other agencies to tackle social isolation, economic opportunity, and norms and beliefs that lead individuals and groups to radicalize and support extremist causes. This review looked at whether or not strategies involving police in the initiation, development or implementation of programmes aimed at community connectedness had an impact on reducing violent extremist beliefs and behaviours.

Campbell Systematic Reviews, Volume 16, Issue 3 September 2020

By Rose M.C. Kagawa, Christopher D. McCort, Julia Schleimer, Veronica A. Pear, Amanda Charbonneau, Shani A.L. Buggs, Garen J. Wintemute, Hannah S. Laqueur

This study estimates disparities in driving under the influence (DUI) convictions relative to the frequency with which racial/ethnic groups engage in alcohol-impaired driving. We use had-been-drinking crashes and self-reported alcohol-impaired driving to approximate alcohol-impaired driving frequency for racial/ ethnic groups in California from 2001 to 2016.DUI conviction and had-been-drinking crash data are from a sample of 72,368 California men aged 21–49 in 2001. Self-reported alcohol-impaired driving rates could lead to more equitable DUI conviction rates.

Such actions could include limiting discretion at each level of the criminal justice system, for example, by providing prescriptive guidance to officers on when to stop drivers or using local had-been-drinking crash rates to determine sobriety checkpoint and saturation patrol locations are from male Californians who responded to the Behavioral RiskFactor Surveillance System. Relative to race/ethnicity-specific estimated rates of engaging in alcohol-impaired driving, Latino/Hispanic men had higher rates of DUIconviction than White men. This suggests racial bias plays a role in DUI convictions, with White men experiencing a lower probability of conviction thanLatino/Hispanic men who engage in similar behavior.Policy implications:These findings suggest actions aimed at reducing individual and structural biasesThis is an open access article under the terms of theCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivsLicense, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

Criminology & Public Policy, Volume20, Issue 4 November 2021 Pages 645-663

By Becca Cadoff, Kristyn Jones, Preeti Chauhan, & Michael Rempel

Alternatives to arrest are a means of lessening the deleterious effects of exposure to the criminal legal system. Current alternatives to arrest policies focus primarily on lower-level offenses such as misdemeanors, which constitute the bulk of police enforcement practices and criminal caseloads in the United States. With funding from Arnold Ventures, the Data Collaborative for Justice reviewed policy, practice and research to-date concerning five key models: 1. Citations involving releasing people to appear in court on their own at a later date in lieu of a traditional arrest in which police officers take the individual into custody. 2. Diversion programs involving pre-arrest social service participation where a case is never booked if individuals complete their diversion obligation. 3. Legalization (in which particular conduct becomes permissible under the law) and decriminalization (in which conduct remains illegal but is moved to the civil legal system). 4. Police-involved crisis response models that can either involve trained officers acting alone or in tandem with mental health professionals to respond to people in mental health crisis without resorting to an arrest (e.g., by sending a person to treatment or services). 5. Non-police response models in which social workers, paramedics, or other non-police agencies respond to certain calls for service or criminalized conduct without the presence of law enforcement. Research on any one model is limited. Although key themes and findings are outlined below, alternatives to arrest are in a growth period, and future research is likely to add clarity as well as, potentially, revise our understanding of what works and why.

New York: Data Collaborative for Justice at John Jay College, 2023. 41p.

By Council on Criminal Justice, Independent Task Force on Policing

In most cases, police seeking to apprehend suspects and recover evidence inside a private home or business are legally required to knock and announce themselves before entering. But the allowable time between knocking and entering may be short. The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the right of officers to forcibly enter 15 to 20 seconds after announcing their presence, so-called “quick-knock” warrants. In some instances, when it is conceivable that unannounced entry will prevent suspects from fleeing, help preserve evidence, and/or protect the safety of innocent parties or officers, law enforcement requests and judges may issue a “no-knock warrant.” No-knock warrants are often executed in the middle of the night to enhance the element of surprise.

Jurisdictions that prohibit or severely restrict no-knock warrants do so to reduce the risk of harm such surprise intrusions may cause to occupants and officers. Even without a warrant, however, officers may lawfully conduct searches and seizures in the case of emergent exigent circumstances.

Council on Criminal Justice, The independent Task Force on Policing , 2021. 5p.

By Expert Panel to the Thunder Bay Police Services Board

In the Spring of 2022, we, the Independent Expert Panel, were engaged by the Thunder Bay Police Services Board (the Board) to provide advice in support of taking immediate actions to address ongoing issues of policing in Thunder Bay. As part of this engagement, we were asked to develop a final report to help guide the Board moving forward. After an initial round of public and private consultations in July of 2022, there was an urgent need to address three areas, including recruitment of leadership and the strengthening of workplace culture within the Thunder Bay Police Service (the Service), which prompted the release of our Interim Report in September 2022, followed by additional in-person and virtual consultations in October 2022. This is our final report, and we offer it with a sense of urgency. We have heard widespread dissatisfaction and a profound lack of trust in the community and within the Service. Hundreds of thoughtful recommendations made over the last few years as part of previous inquests, reviews, and investigations lie unimplemented or inadequately executed. Our extensive consultations with members of the public and the Service brought to our attention the significant consequences of persisting with the status quo. The time for small fixes, tinkering and modest change has long passed; bold transformative action is well overdue. The Board, the Chief of Police and Senior Command of the Service, as well as the City of Thunder Bay must commit themselves to taking immediate action now with a keen and watchful eye and the support of the province and appropriate oversight agencies, in particular, the Ontario Civilian Police Commission (OCPC). Failure to do so will only strengthen the prevailing sense of despair and intensify calls for external intervention, such as disbandment of the Service. There is an obligation for the Government of Ontario, through these oversight agencies, to ensure that the Board and the Service have the funding and support required to fully implement the necessary changes. The citizens of Thunder Bay cannot bear these costs alone.

Thunder Bay, ON: Thunder Bay Police Services, 2023. 202p.

By Delores Jones-Brown, Joshua Ruffin, Kwan-Lamar Blount-Hill, Akiv Dawson and Cicely J. Cottrell

In a five-to-four decision announced in February of 2020, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the parents of an unarmed fifteen-year-old Mexican national killed by a U.S. Border Patrol agent in a cross-border shooting, cannot sue for damages in U.S. civil court. Here, we critique the majority and dissenting opinions and attempt to reconcile the strikingly different approach each used to resolve the case. Using a publicly available data set, we examine the homicide in Hernández v. Mesa, against the circumstances and context in which underage youth were killed by police within the United States over a five year period before, during and after the death of Michael Brown. The circumstances of the 121 cases suggest a greater need for police accountability if the justice system is to remain true to the protective “child saving” ideology that launched the founding of the juvenile court.

Criminal Law Bulletin. 56(5): 833-871, 2020.

By Kenneth J. Weiss

Suicide by cop (SbC) is a variant of victim-precipitated homicide. In SbC, a citizen intent on dying provokes police, often with credible threats of violence. A fatality results in ambiguity about manner of death (homicide versus suicide). Decedents’ families may raise claims of civil-rights violations, asserting insufficient restraint by officers. Police officers, when questioned, may justify their actions as reasonable and necessary force. Defendant officers and municipalities are concerned about police safety and adverse economic and public-perception consequences of litigation. This article explores the history and evolution of the SbC phenomenon, examines related civil case law, and reviews the contours of police-citizen interactions in SbC cases. There is potential liability for officers whose actions must be objectively reasonable to prevail in court. Since SbC can be admitted as evidence, there may be an expanded role for forensic psychiatry in distinguishing manner of death. Expert testimony can also aid fact finders in appreciating the decisions of officers faced with ambiguous and threatening situations. The author recommends collaboration between law enforcement and mental health professionals to improve recognition and handling of difficult situations involving persons with mental illness.

Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online, Vol. 51, Issue 1 1 Mar 2023 11p.

By P. M. Di Nota , G. S. Anderson , R. Ricciardelli , R. N. Carleton3 and D. Groll

Background Recent investigations have demonstrated a significant prevalence of mental health disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and suicidal ideation, plans and attempts among Canadian public safety personnel, including police officers. What remains unknown is the relationship between mental disorders and suicide among sworn police officers, and the prevalence of both among civilian police workers. Aims To examine the relationship between suicidal ideation, plans and attempts and positive mental health screens for depression, anxiety, panic disorder, alcohol abuse and PTSD among Canadian sworn and civilian police employees. Methods Participants completed an online survey that included self-report screening tools for depression, anxiety, panic disorder, alcohol abuse and PTSD. Respondents were also asked if they ever contemplated, planned or attempted suicide. Between-group (Royal Canadian Mounted Police [RCMP], provincial/municipal police and civilians) differences on mental health screening tools were calculated using Kruskal–Wallis analyses. The relationship between mental disorders and suicidal ideation, plans and attempts was evaluated with a series of logistic regressions. Results There were 4236 civilian and sworn officer participants in the study. RCMP officers reported more suicidal ideation than other police and scored highest on measures of PTSD, depression, anxiety, stress and panic disorder, which were significantly associated with suicidal ideation and plans but not attempts. Relative to provincial and municipal police, civilians reported more suicide attempts and scored higher on measures of anxiety. Conclusions The results identify a strong relationship between mental health disorders and increased risk for suicidal ideation, plans and attempts among sworn and civilian Canadian police employees.

Occupational Medicine, Volume 70, Issue 3, April 2020, Pages 183–190,

By Nishant Krishnan, Lisa M. B. Steene, Michael Lewis, David Marshall & Jane L. Ireland

Suicide has long been considered as nearing ‘epidemic levels’ in law enforcement populations. Nevertheless, despite the argued scale of the problem, no review has yet systematically examined the evidence base to elucidate the risk factors or predictors implicated in the suicidal behaviours of police ofcers. The current review aims to do this, by considering a fnal sample of 20 papers that met inclusion criteria. Findings from this qualitative review revealed fve superordinate risk factors (i.e., problematic substance use close to, or at the time of death; presence of depression and previous suicide attempts; differences in trauma response; exposure to excessive and prolonged job-related stress, including dissatisfaction; absence of a stable intimate relationship), which when taken in isolation each incrementally contributed to suicide risk, but when found to be comorbid, appeared to markedly increase the likelihood of completed suicide. Implications for suicide prevention, policy design, and treatment formulation are discussed, along with limitations and directions for future research.

Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 37, pages 939–951 (2022)

By The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP)

This brief presents research findings obtained from a broad, but not exhaustive, review of research studies relevant to the prevention of suicide among law enforcement officers. Contents include the prevalence of suicidal thoughts and behaviors among officers, relevant risk and protective factors, effective strategies and best practices for preventing suicide among officers, and knowledge gaps that require additional research. The discussion of evidence-based strategies and best practices notes that research indicates suicide prevention programs are more likely to succeed when they are comprehensive, which involves combining multiple strategies that impact risk and protective factors at various levels of influence (individual, interpersonal, community, and societal). Areas of influence discussed in relation to law enforcement officer suicide are leadership and culture, access to culturally competent mental health services, peer support, suicide prevention training and awareness, event response, family support, and limiting access to means of suicide. Among the knowledge gaps identified are suicide-related data, the effectiveness of preventive strategies and practices, and suicide prevention among subgroups.

Alexandria, VA: The International Association of Chiefs of Police, 2020. 32p.

By Scott A. Harman-Heath

Three times a day in the United States, a police officer kills someone. On any given day, this person might be an active shooter, a hostage-taker, or a bomber. But on that same day police might also kill a motorist reaching for his license (Philando Castile), someone selling loose cigarettes (Eric Garner), someone who used a counterfeit bill at a grocery store (George Floyd), or someone fleeing a traffic ticket for a malfunctioning brake light (Walter Scott). Intuitively, these scenarios present radically different uses of deadly force, but the nomenclature we use for deadly force does not account for this—all police killings are simply “deadly force.” This Article suggests that this is a mistake that stunts both scholarship and discourse. Instead, this Article contends, police killings demand a new taxonomy, one that easily and intuitively distinguishes between different types of deadly force. This Article proposes a framework that distinguishes between police killings we intuitively understand to be problematic and those we are more willing to accept. It does so by proposing that deadly force be divided into three categories—preemptive, anticipatory, and reactive—according to the degree of speculation an officer relies on when they decide to use deadly force. Importantly, because this Article advances a descriptive as opposed to doctrinal theory, its proposal need not be adopted by courts to afford substantial benefits to scholars, officers, or litigants. Rather, this Article aims to aid scholars’, litigants’, and courts’ attempts to classify and explain the differences between police killings. Unlike the catch-all term “deadly force,” this Article’s framework recognizes and accounts for the dissimilarity of many police killings, which have nothing in common besides the end result.

Cornell Law Review Vol.106:1689

By John M. Violanti and Andrea Steege

Purpose –—The purpose of this paper is to update the assessment of national data on law enforcement worker suicide based on the National Occupational Mortality Surveillance database (NOMS, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Design/methodology/approach –—Death certificate data for 4,441,814 decedents, age 18–90 who died in one of the 26 reporting states were the source of NOMS data. Utilizing proportionate mortality ratios (PMRs), the ratio of suicides in law enforcement occupations in those who are 18– 90 years old with a designated usual occupation was calculated. Findings –—Findings indicate a significantly higher proportion of deaths from suicide for law enforcement officers (PMR = 154, 95% CI = 147–162), compared to all the US decedents in the study population who were employed during their lifetime. Law enforcement personnel are 54% more likely to die of suicide than all decedents with a usual occupation. PMRs were highest for African-Americans, Hispanic males and for females. PMRs were similar for detectives, corrections officers and all law enforcement jobs, when not stratified by race, ethnicity and sex. Research limitations/implications –—Bias may arise because a PMR can be affected by disproportionate increased or decreased mortality from causes of death other than suicide. Practical implications –—A better understanding of the scope of law enforcement suicide can inform policy focused on the planning and initiation of prevention programs. Originality/value –—The use of a national database to study law enforcement worker suicide adds to other information available on law enforcement worker suicide in specific geographic areas. The discussion on prevention in this paper presents ideas for policy

Policing. 2021 ; 44(1): 18–31. doi:10.1108/PIJPSM-09-2019-0157. 16p.