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Lethal Use Of Force: Insights Into Mental Illness, Robert A. Ryan

Student Theses

Fatal use of force incidents involving police officers in the United States have recently seen widespread media attention, emotionally charged rhetoric, and calls for reform. The present study examines police use of force encounters with the mentally ill given the significant proportion of incidents and wanting body of literature. The objective of this study is to examine fatal police interactions to test whether those displaying signs of mental illness in encounters with law enforcement are more dangerous than those not displaying signs of mental illness. Open source data from the Washington Post were used from 2015 to 2018 (n=3942) due …

Municipal Police Under Federal Control: A Mixed-Methods Analysis Of Title 42 U.S.C. Section 14141 Negotiated Settlements, Jason W. Ostrowe

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Passed as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, the Law Enforcement Misconduct Statute 42 U.S.C. 14141 (§ 14141) authorizes the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate, and enter into a court-enforceable structural reform agreement with a law enforcement agency engaged in patterns or practices of systemic misconduct, violations of federal law, and unconstitutional policing.

Under § 14141 authority, 33 investigations of municipal police have been conducted since 1994 where the DOJ determined that a police agency was engaged in, or at unreasonable risk of engaging in, a pattern or practice of unconstitutional policing. Publicizing …

Traumatic Stress, World Assumptions, And Law Enforcement Officers, Douglas William Green

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The present study examined the presence of traumatic stress reaction symptoms among active law enforcement officers, and the relationship between potentially traumatic work related experiences, officers’ cognitive views of the world, and the expression of those symptoms. The range of police roles and responsibilities arguably subjects officers to a greater variety of potentially traumatizing experiences than any other population, and the literature reflects that police officers express traumatic stress related symptoms at a greater rate than the general population. This study differs from previous work in that it utilizes snowball sampling to anonymously identify officers willing to participate without involving …

Characteristics Of Newly-Hired Members Of The New York City Police Department As Predictors Of Subsequent Job Performance, Francis E. Spangenberg

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

It would be advantageous for law enforcement agencies if it could be determined which applicants for employment were most likely to provide superior performance over the course of their careers. In order to do this, it is necessary to determine a) what constitutes superior performance by police officers, b) what measurements can be used to record such performance, and c) if there are characteristics known about newly-hired police recruits that can serve as predictors of superior performance over an extended career. This study looked at the career histories of the 1,707 members of the New York City Police Department class …