Cops, Culture, and Context: The Integration of Structural and Cultural Elements for Explanations of Police Use of Force by John Shjarback A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Approved June 2016 by the Graduate Supervisory Committee: Michael White, Chair Danielle Wallace Charles Katz ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY August 2016 ABSTRACT This dissertation integrates concepts from three bodies of literature: police use of force, neighborhood/ecological influence on police, and police culture. Prior research has generally found that neighborhood context affects police use of force. While scholars have applied social disorganization theory to understand why neighborhood context might influence use of force, much of this theorizing and subsequent empirical research has focused exclusively on structural characteristics of an area, such as economic disadvantage, crime rates, and population demographics. This exclusive focus has occurred despite the fact that culture was once an important component of social disorganization theory in addition to structural factors. Moreover, the majority of the theorizing and subsequent research on police culture has neglected the potential influence that neighborhood context might have on officers’ occupational outlooks. The purpose of this dissertation is to merge the structural and cultural elements of social disorganization theory in order to shed light on the development and maintenance of police officer culture as well as to further specify the relationship between neighborhood context and police use of force. Using data from the Project on Policing Neighborhoods (POPN), I address three interrelated research questions: 1) does variation of structural characteristics at the patrol beat level, such as concentrated disadvantage, homicide rates, and the percentage of minority citizens, predict how an officer views his/her occupational outlook (i.e., culture)?; 2) do officers who work in the same patrol beats share a similar occupational outlook (i.e., culture) or is there variation?; and 3) does the inclusion of police culture at the officer level moderate the relationship between patrol beat context and police use of force? Findings suggest that a patrol beat’s degree of concentrated disadvantage and i homicide rate slightly influence officer culture at the individual level. Results show mixed evidence of a patrol beat culture. There is little support for the idea that characteristics of the patrol beat and individual officer culture interact to influence police use of force. I conclude with a detailed discussion of the methodological, theoretical, and policy implications as well as limitations and directions for future research. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I do not believe in the proverbial “self-made man (or woman).” Most of us have at least a few people in our corner, so to speak, and these individuals have a profound impact on our lives –greatly influencing our chances of success. I am fortunate to have so many of these individuals in my corner. I would be remiss if I did not take this opportunity to acknowledge them. First and foremost, I would like to thank my dissertation committee –Mike White, Dani Wallace, and Chuck Katz– for helping guide me through the dissertation process. Dani, thanks for being patient with me through all of my stats and data merging questions in addition to pushing me to think more like a “neighborhoods” scholar. Mike White deserves special recognition. Mike, thank you for being a great mentor. It has been a privilege getting to work with you over the last few years. I’ve learned a lot from the example you have set. In addition, I would like to acknowledge all of the other ASU CCJ faculty members who have helped me along the way, specifically Scott Decker. Scott, thank you for being unselfish with your time and investing some of it in me. To my parents, Brian and Jane Shjarback: thank you for providing me every imaginable opportunity to succeed. It terrifies me think about where I would be without your love and support. I would need several lifetimes to repay the debt that I owe to you. I love you guys. I’d also like to thank my sister, Kim Shjarback. Getting a Ph.D. is a challenging endeavor. It takes good friends to make the experience a little more bearable. Thank you to Lisa Dario, Weston Morrow, Sam Vickovic, Rick Moule, Chantal Fahmy, and Laura Beckman for helping me manage the iii stress. And last but certainly not least: to Stefania Flecca, my fiancé and future wife. You’re my best source of social support and my greatest inspiration. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me over these last four years. Whether being a set of ears for me to vent to or talking me off of the ledge, we’ve experienced this together. You’ve been by my side every step of the way. Thank you for also being my reality check when my head is getting a little too big for my own good. I love you. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………………………..ix LIST OF FIGURES………………………………………………………………………xi PROBLEM STATEMENT………………………………………………………………..1 THEORETICAL DEVELOPMENT…………………………………………………….15 Introduction………………………………………………………………………15 The Role of the Police: History and Evolution…………………………………..15 Policing in the “Political Era”……………………………………………17 Policing in the “Reform Era”…………………………………………….19 The 1960s and its Impact on American Policing………………………...21 Policing in the “Community Era”………………………………………..24 A New Era of Policing?.............................................................................26 Police Use of Force………………………………………………………………29 Overall/General Statistics………………………………………………..29 Defining and Measuring Police Use of Force……………………………30 Implications………………………………………………………………31 Individual-level Correlates……………………………………………….32 Situational Correlates…………………………………………………….37 Organizational Correlates………………………………………………..40 Limitations of Prior Research on Police Use of Force…………………..43 Police Culture…………………………………………………………………….45 Occupational Culture…………………………………………………….46 v Page Organizational Culture…………………………………………………...48 Rank Culture……………………………………………………………..50 Police Styles……………………………………………………………...51 Culture’s Influence on Police Use of Force……………………………...53 Limitations of Prior Work on Police Culture…………………………….54 Looking to Criminology for Guidance on Police Culture……….............55 Neighborhood and Ecological Influences on Police……………………………..59 Following Broader Disciplinary Trends…………………………………60 Early Theoretical Formulation and Ethnographic Work………………...61 Klinger’s Ecological Model of Policing…………………………………62 Empirical Research………………………………………………………66 Racial Profiling and the Importance of “Place”………………………….70 Neighborhood/Ecological Influence on Police Use of Force……………71 Neighborhood Stereotyping and the Role of Officer Perceptions……….77 The Relevance of “Place” in Modern-Day Policing and Beyond………..80 Current Focus…………………………………………………………………….82 METHODOLOGY………………………………………………………………………86 Introduction……………………………………………………………………....86 Overview…………………………………………………………………86 Research Settings………………………………………………………………...87 Site Selection…………………………………………………………….87 Indianapolis, IN and St. Petersburg, FL………………………………….87 vi Page Data Sources……………………………………………………………………..90 Systematic Social Observation…………………………………………..90 Officer Interviews………………………………………………………..92 U.S. Census Data………………………………………………………...93 Merging of Data Sources………………………………………………...93 Data Limitations………………………………………………………….94 Dependent Variables……………………………………………………………..97 Police Culture…………………………………………………………….97 Use of Force…………………………………………………………….116 Independent Variables………………………………………………………….120 “Neighborhood” Context……………………………………………….120 Control Variables……………………………………………………………….123 Situational Variables……………………………………………………124 Individual-level Variables………………………………………………125 Analytical Strategy……………………………………………………………...127 ANALYSES…………………………………………………………………………….132 Research Question #1…………………………………………………………..132 Research Question #2…………………………………………………………..148 Research Question #3…………………………………………………………..151 Supplemental Analyses…………………………………………………………162 DISCUSSION…………………………………………………………………………..170 Research Design and Methodological Implications……………………………170 vii Page Differences Between “Beats” and “Tracts”…………………………….170 Challenges to Analyzing Multi-Level Data…………………………….173 Conceptualization and Operationalization of Police Use of Force……..176 Theoretical Implications………………………………………………………..180 Renewed Focus on Officer Perceptions of Stereotyping……………….183 The Process of Neighborhood Influence on Perceptions……………….187 Articulating Ecological Influence on Police Behavior…………………190 Policy Implications……………………………………………………………..199 Continued Efforts Toward Community Policing……………………….199 Experienced versus Inexperienced Officers…………………………….203 Importance of Sergeants/Supervisors…………………………………..206 Police Use of Force-Policy……………………………………………..208 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………211 APPENDIX A. SUPPLEMENTAL ANALYSES FOR RESEARCH QUESTION #1……...238 B. SUPPLEMENTAL ANALYSES FOR RESEARCH QUESTION #2……...265 viii LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Research Settings at the Time of Study (1996-1997)…………………………………89 2. Police Culture Dimensions, Items, and Response Modes……………………………103 3. Exploratory Factor Analysis of Police Culture………………………………………105 4. K-Means Centroid Cluster Formations………………………………………………107 5. Means and Standard Deviations of Clusters…………………………………………109 6. Trichotomized Police Culture Groups……………………………………………….114 7. Investigating Beats versus Census