Police Use of Force in Metro-Dade, Florida, and Eugene and Springfield, Oregon, 1993-1995 (ICPSR 3152)
Version Date: Mar 30, 2006 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
Geoffrey P. Alpert, University of South Carolina;
Roger G. Dunham, University of Miami
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR03152.v1
Version V1
Summary View help for Summary
This study gathered data on police use of force in Metro-Dade, Florida, and Eugene and Springfield, Oregon. The study differed from previous research in that it addressed the level of force used by the police relative to the suspect's level of resistance. The data for Metro-Dade (Part 1) were collected from official Metro-Dade Police Department Control of Persons Reports from the last quarter of 1993 and all of 1994 and 1995. The Eugene and Springfield dataset (Part 2) was created from items in the Police Officers' Essential Physical Work Report Form, which was completed by members of the Eugene and Springfield, Oregon, Police Departments during April 1995. The dataset includes all police-citizen contacts, rather than being limited to the use-of-force situations captured by the Metro-Dade data. In Part 1 (Metro-Dade Data), information on the subject includes impairment (i.e., alcohol and drugs), behavior (i.e., calm, visibly upset, erratic, or highly agitated), level of resistance used by the subject, types of injuries to the subject, and types of force used by the subject. Information on the officer includes level of force used, medical treatment, and injuries. Other variables include ethnic match between officer and the subject and relative measures of force. Demographic variables include age, gender, race, and ethnicity of both the subject and the officer. In Part 2 (Oregon Data), information is provided on whether the officer was alone, how work was initiated, elapsed time until arrival, reasons for performance, perceived mental state and physical abilities of the suspect, amount and type of resistance by the suspect, if another officer assisted, perceived extent of effort used by the suspect, type of resistance used by the suspect, if the officer was knocked or wrestled to the ground, if the officer received an injury, level of effort used to control the suspect, types of control tactics used on the suspect, whether the officer was wearing tactical gear, how restraint devices were applied to inmate, time taken to get to, control, resolve, and remove the problem, how stressful the lead-up time or the period following the incident was, if the officer worked with a partner, types of firearm used, and if force was used. Demographic variables include age, gender, weight, and height of both the suspect and officer, and the officer's duty position.
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Subject Terms View help for Subject Terms
Geographic Coverage View help for Geographic Coverage
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Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection
Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
Collecting and interpreting information on police use of force has been a persistent problem for police managers and researchers. Although data on this issue are critical to both the police and the public, the data remain difficult to collect, measure, and interpret objectively. The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 requires the United States Attorney General to collect information on law enforcement officers' use of force. This act has led to an energetic effort to collect data on all police use-of-force incidents, including excessive force, by various groups and methods. This study gathered data on police use of force in Metro-Dade, Florida, and Eugene and Springfield, Oregon. The study differed from previous research in that it addressed the level of force used by the police relative to the suspect's level of resistance.
Study Design View help for Study Design
The data for Metro-Dade (Part 1) were collected from official Metro-Dade Police Department Control of Persons Reports from the last quarter of 1993 and all of 1994 and 1995. These data were reported by the officer's supervisor after talking to the officer, suspect, and available witnesses. The department's computerized information database was used to create the dataset. The Eugene and Springfield dataset (Part 2) was created from items in the Police Officers' Essential Physical Work Report Form, which was completed by members of the Eugene and Springfield Police Departments during April 1995. The data included all police-citizen contacts, rather than being limited to the use-of-force situations captured by the Metro-Dade data.
Sample View help for Sample
Not applicable.
Universe View help for Universe
Police use-of-force incidents in Metro-Dade, Florida, and police-citizen contacts in Eugene and Springfield, Oregon.
Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation
Data Source View help for Data Source
Part 1: Official Metro-Dade Police Department Control of Persons Reports. Part 2: Police Officers' Essential Physical Work Report Form in the Eugene and Springfield, Oregon, Police Departments.
Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)
Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables
Part 1 (Metro-Dade Data), information on the subject includes impairment (i.e., alcohol and drugs), behavior (i.e., calm, visibly upset, erratic, or highly agitated), level of resistance used by the subject, types of injuries to the subject, and types of force used by the subject. Information on the officer includes level of force used, medical treatment, and injuries. Other variables include ethnic match between officer and the subject and relative measures of force. Demographic variables include age, gender, race, and ethnicity of both the subject and the officer. In Part 2 (Oregon Data), information is provided on whether the officer was alone, how work was initiated, elapsed time until arrival, reasons for performance, perceived mental state and physical abilities of the suspect, amount and type of resistance by the suspect, if another officer assisted, perceived extent of effort used by the suspect, type of resistance used by the suspect, if the officer was knocked or wrestled to the ground, if the officer received an injury, level of effort used to control the suspect, types of control tactics used on the suspect, whether the officer was wearing tactical gear, how restraint devices were applied to inmate, time taken to get to, control, resolve, and remove the problem, how stressful the lead-up time or the period following the incident was, if the officer worked with a partner, types of firearm used, and if force was used. Demographic variables include age, gender, weight, and height of both the suspect and officer, and the officer's duty position.
Response Rates View help for Response Rates
Not applicable.
Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales
Several Likert-type scales were used in Part 2.
HideOriginal Release Date View help for Original Release Date
2001-11-02
Version History View help for Version History
- Alpert, Geoffrey P., and Roger G. Dunham. POLICE USE OF FORCE IN METRO-DADE, FLORIDA, AND EUGENE AND SPRINGFIELD, OREGON, 1993-1995. ICPSR03152-v1. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina [producer], 2000. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2001. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR03152.v1
2006-03-30 File CB3152.ALL.PDF was removed from any previous datasets and flagged as a study-level file, so that it will accompany all downloads.
2005-11-04 On 2005-03-14 new files were added to one or more datasets. These files included additional setup files as well as one or more of the following: SAS program, SAS transport, SPSS portable, and Stata system files. The metadata record was revised 2005-11-04 to reflect these additions.
2001-11-02 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:
- Standardized missing values.
- Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.
Notes
The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.