The author(s) shown below used Federal funds provided by the U.S. Department of Justice and prepared the following final report: Document Title: Less Lethal Weapon Effectiveness, Use of Force, and Suspect & Officer Injuries: A Five- Year Analysis Author: Charlie Mesloh ; Mark Henych ; Ross Wolf Document No.: 224081 Date Received: September 2008 Award Number: 2005-IJ-CX-K050 This report has not been published by the U.S. Department of Justice. To provide better customer service, NCJRS has made this Federally- funded grant final report available electronically in addition to traditional paper copies. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Less Lethal Weapon Effectiveness, Use of Force, and Suspect & Officer Injuries: A Five-Year Analysis A report to the National Institute of Justice CHARLIE MESLOH Florida Gulf Coast University MARK HENYCH Advanced Research Solutions ROSS WOLF University of Central Florida The project was supported by Award No. 2005-IJ-CX-K050, by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, United States Department of Justice. The opinions, finding, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice. This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Mesloh, Henych & Wolf p. 2 Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................................................................................2 LIST OF FIGURES............................................................................................................................................................4 LIST OF TABLES..............................................................................................................................................................5 INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................................................................................8 LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................................................................................................8 USE OF FORCE CONTINUUM............................................................................................................................................10 CITIZEN OVERSIGHT .......................................................................................................................................................14 ORANGE COUNTY AND ORLANDO JURISDICTIONS ..........................................................................................................15 HOW THE COURTS HAVE FRAMED POLICE USE-OF-FORCE .............................................................................................17 CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE........................................................................................................................................18 THEORETICAL FOUNDATION...........................................................................................................................................21 LESS-THAN-LETHAL WEAPON OPTIONS .........................................................................................................................22 FIVE KEY FACTORS RELATED TO SUSPECT INJURIES....................................................................................35 DEGREE OF FORCE ..........................................................................................................................................................35 AREA OF FORCE APPLICATION ........................................................................................................................................35 DURATION ......................................................................................................................................................................36 DIRECTION......................................................................................................................................................................36 DRUG AND ALCOHOL USE ..............................................................................................................................................36 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND PROJECT OVERVIEW .......................................................................................37 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS.......................................................................................................................38 DESIGN ...........................................................................................................................................................................39 DATA COLLECTION.........................................................................................................................................................39 DATA CODING ................................................................................................................................................................39 ISSUES IN DATA COLLECTION AND CODING ...................................................................................................................40 MEASUREMENT ..............................................................................................................................................................41 OVERVIEW AND DESCRIPTIONS OF KEY VARIABLES ......................................................................................................41 Suspect Demographics..............................................................................................................................................43 Officer Demographics...............................................................................................................................................46 ITERATIONS OF FORCE..............................................................................................................................................49 OFFICER AND SUSPECT USE OF FORCE/RESISTANCE VARIABLES ...................................................................................50 FIRST ITERATION ............................................................................................................................................................52 SECOND ITERATION ........................................................................................................................................................57 THIRD ITERATION ...........................................................................................................................................................60 TASER ANALYSIS..........................................................................................................................................................65 SUSPECT AND OFFICER INJURIES ..........................................................................................................................66 FORCE FACTOR AND CUMULATIVE FORCE .......................................................................................................69 This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Mesloh, Henych & Wolf p. 3 FORCE FACTOR...............................................................................................................................................................70 CUMULATIVE FORCE FACTOR ........................................................................................................................................77 CHOICE MODELS..........................................................................................................................................................81 CUMULATIVE FORCE FACTOR AND INJURIES ..................................................................................................................83 CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS ......................................................................................................................88 IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH ............................................................................................................91 APPENDIX .......................................................................................................................................................................94 CODE SHEET, PAGE 1 ......................................................................................................................................................94 CODE SHEET, PAGE 2 ......................................................................................................................................................95 CODE SHEET, PAGE 3 ......................................................................................................................................................96 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................................................97