Cops hesitate more, err less when shooting black suspects, study finds
18 replies, posted
[quote]According to findings from a research team’s innovative experiments, officers are less likely to erroneously shoot unarmed black suspects than they were unarmed whites.
With the turmoil in Ferguson (MO) the latest example, activists and many reporters would have us believe that police officers are prejudicially “trigger happy” when dealing with black suspects.
But a scientific study from Washington State University-Spokane suggests just the opposite. In truth, according to findings from the research team’s innovative experiments:
• Officers were less likely to erroneously shoot unarmed black suspects than they were unarmed whites — 25 times less likely, in fact
• And officers hesitated significantly longer before shooting armed suspects who were black, compared to armed subjects who were white or Hispanic
“In sum,” writes Dr. Lois James, a research assistant professor with the university’s Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology who headed the study, “this research found that participants displayed significant bias favoring Black suspects” in their shooting decisions.[/quote]
[url]http://www.policeone.com/use-of-force/articles/7653755-Cops-hesitate-more-err-less-when-shooting-black-suspects-study-finds/[/url]
I suspect this is because of the massive shitstorms that get flung up everytime they do shoot a black person.
36 isn't a very big sample group, but if this study were done in other places with more officers it would be very interesting. This is a surprising result but it needs more testing to verify it.
I'm not 100% sure about the results though. It was an experiment, the officers were aware that they were being monitored, and may have consciously or unconsciously changed their behavior.
Not going to lie when I worked loss prevention I was a lot more hesitant when apprehending black suspects. Damn near every time they played the race card, even though they did steal something. The last thing any of us wanted was a lawsuit.
What they didn't know was I've arrested damn near 3 times as many white and other race people, and that I watched people based on their actions versus what skin color they have.
the sample size and quality of this study:
[quote=POLICEONE.com]
Along with civilians and military personnel who were tested independently, 36 patrol officers and deputies from the Spokane area, all of them white and most of them male, were selected as volunteer subjects for her research. They ranged in age from 31 to 43 and had at least five years on the job.
Armed with a Glock 21 modified to fire a laser beam, the officers one at a time were exposed to a series of at least 10 “highly realistic and arousing” scenarios in a high-definition deadly force judgment and decision-making simulator in WSU’s Simulated Hazardous Operational Tasks laboratory.
[/quote]
really
I died inside when I noticed a paywall to the actual [url=http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11292-012-9163-y]study[/url], maybe I'm a bit too spoiled with free information.
[QUOTE=Kommodore;46575399]the sample size and quality of this study:
really[/QUOTE]
Even though the study isn't perfect, it opens the door on interesting discussion as well as provides a new path for empirical study. Particularly useful since it gives us a new path to discover facts on, at a time where those facts are needed but missing. Instead of saying what's wrong, why not suggest how you would conduct a better study? Just more volunteers?
[QUOTE=Crazy Ivan;46575431]Even though the study isn't perfect, it opens the door on interesting discussion as well as provides a new path for empirical study. Particularly useful since it gives us a new path to discover facts on, at a time where those facts are needed but missing. Instead of saying what's wrong, why not suggest how you would conduct a better study? Just more volunteers?[/QUOTE]
let me guess, it opens the door to a discussion of how you think black people are playing the victim according to 36 cops from Spokane, a city of 200,000 of whom only 4,000 are black
[QUOTE=Kommodore;46575399]the sample size and quality of this study:
really[/QUOTE]
[i]"Police less likely to shoot black people than white people in a virtual reality training scenario"[/i] just doesn't work as well as a headline.
[editline]25th November 2014[/editline]
[QUOTE=Crazy Ivan;46575431]Instead of saying what's wrong, why not suggest how you would conduct a better study? Just more volunteers?[/QUOTE]
How about we look at what real cops do in the real world?
exactly, if you want a suggestion, why not look at the existing evidence instead of posing a leading question as a hypothesis and then testing a sample size smaller than your average classroom from a rural city in one of america's whitest states and drawing a conclusion that's essentially an inductive error instead of anything remotely "empiric." as if there aren't already hundreds of journal articles that comprise the established literature on this issue that are in direct contradiction with the op article.
[QUOTE=CoolKingKaso;46575406]I died inside when I noticed a paywall to the actual [url=http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11292-012-9163-y]study[/url], maybe I'm a bit too spoiled with free information.[/QUOTE]
Paywall? I don't see anything of the sort on that site.
I'm seeing this and clicking on the PDF link brings me to the full study.
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/BIQntDN.png[/IMG]
[QUOTE=dragon1972;46575389]36 isn't a very big sample group, but if this study were done in other places with more officers it would be very interesting. This is a surprising result but it needs more testing to verify it.[/QUOTE]
36 isnt really enough to be statistically significant. Shit study, too much potential bias.
[editline]26th November 2014[/editline]
Yeah nah they didnt even use real situations, they used simulations which are always going to be inherently biased one way or the other. The only way to do this study properly would bt to look back at real cases in the last x years.
[QUOTE=CoolKingKaso;46575406]I died inside when I noticed a paywall to the actual [url=http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11292-012-9163-y]study[/url], maybe I'm a bit too spoiled with free information.[/QUOTE]
Many studies are because the journals that fund them have to make money
[QUOTE=Crazy Ivan;46575431]Even though the study isn't perfect, it opens the door on interesting discussion as well as provides a new path for empirical study. Particularly useful since it gives us a new path to discover facts on, at a time where those facts are needed but missing. Instead of saying what's wrong, why not suggest how you would conduct a better study? Just more volunteers?[/QUOTE][QUOTE=Zeke129;46575515]How about we look at what real cops do in the real world?[/QUOTE]Yeah, I think analyzing actual real situations and what really happens in the field is the only way to do this. I also think that doing this needs to be done [i]nation wide[/i] and ideally I'd like to see the results organized by state, county, and city. Maybe that way we could see if there really is systematic racial prejudice in a police force, and then being able to take action against it without requiring some ridiculous televised incident to provoke improvement.
I think this would also, maybe, help dispel some preconceptions about certain forces that may have a perceived racial bias but do not actually have one. I know that's a long shot given the entrenched views of the vehemently anti-police "movement" or "crowd," but it might help normal people feel more comfortable with their police officers.
[QUOTE=JumpinJackFlash;46576221] I also think that doing this needs to be done [i]nation wide[/i] and ideally I'd like to see the results organized by state, county, and city[/QUOTE]
Law enforcement and national are two words should never be used together unless its about dysfunction.
We're lucky to have the UCR (which is voluntary anyway). NCIC is the closest thing we got to a shared database for law enforcement -- which is voluntary to participate in.
If someone can create a program, database, report system, case management, and evidence... and then sell it to every department in the US including the feds... you'd make a fortune.
[QUOTE=Code3Response;46576255]Law enforcement and national are two words should never be used together unless its about dysfunction.
We're lucky to have the UCR (which is voluntary anyway). NCIC is the closest thing we got to a shared database for law enforcement -- which is voluntary to participate in.
If someone can create a program, database, report system, case management, and evidence... and then sell it to every department in the US including the feds... you'd make a fortune.[/QUOTE]... You entirely misunderstand me, you've thoroughly missed my point because I'm talking about a [i]study[/i] and not a [i]program.[/i] This study should be conducted in as many departments in as many cities across the nation as possible, ideally the budget for such a project would allow at least a sample size of at least fifty police and sheriff departments, and hopefully something done to look into federal agencies too. (they count as law enforcement, why not investigate their performance as well?)
[QUOTE=JumpinJackFlash;46576323]... You entirely misunderstand me, you've thoroughly missed my point because I'm talking about a [i]study[/i] and not a [i]program.[/i] This study should be conducted in as many departments in as many cities across the nation as possible, ideally the budget for such a project would allow at least a sample size of at least fifty police and sheriff departments, and hopefully something done to look into federal agencies too. (they count as law enforcement, why not investigate their performance as well?)[/QUOTE]
You wouldnt even need 50% participation. If LA, New Orleans, Dallas, Chicago, St.Louis, and NY were to do the study you'd have a large number of officers to choose from.
The problem is, do all police officers think the same across the country. You cant poll the rural departments with 4 officers because they dont have any data.
[QUOTE=Code3Response;46576342]You wouldnt even need 50% participation. If LA, New Orleans, Dallas, Chicago, St.Louis, and NY were to do the study you'd have a large number of officers to choose from.
The problem is, do all police officers think the same across the country. You cant poll the rural departments with 4 officers because they dont have any data.[/QUOTE]Obviously you can't investigate incidents when there's an absence of them, but again, the study should be conducted in individual departments separately and independently of the studies conducted elsewhere. This should be a case-by-case basis for the purposes of gathering information only, any conclusions can be formed after all the data has been gathered and analyzed.
That's how you identify unique situations and potentially disruptive behaviors in a police force, and it might also help identify communities or locations that need special care. If there's a massive hotspot of black individuals being arrested for... whatever, I don't know, but the prescient covers a large and ethnically diverse area and has no identifiable racial bias issues then that could indicate a community problem. Why is that specific area so full of criminals? Why are they turning to crime, and what crimes specifically? This information could also be used to track [i]why[/i] certain crimes happen in certain areas, there might be some hidden factor that determines why people boost cars rather than rob liquor stores that a study like this could uncover.
I think this is a great idea, and it should be right up there with body cameras on the list of "shit we need to do to improve how we police ourselves."
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.