Police Use of Force in Metro-Dade, Florida, and Eugene and Springfield, Oregon, 1993-1995 (ICPSR 3152)

Version Date: Mar 30, 2006

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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

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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.

Citation

Alpert, Geoffrey P., and Dunham, Roger G. Police Use of Force in Metro-Dade, Florida, and Eugene and Springfield, Oregon, 1993-1995. [distributor], 2006-03-30. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR03152.v1

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Funding

United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. National Institute of Justice (95-IJ-CX-0104)

Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

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Time Period(s)

1993 -- 1995

Date of Collection

1995
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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

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

Not applicable.

Universe

Police use-of-force incidents in Metro-Dade, Florida, and police-citizen contacts in Eugene and Springfield, Oregon.

Unit(s) of Observation

Incidents.

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)

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

Not applicable.

Presence of Common Scales

Several Likert-type scales were used in Part 2.

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Original Release Date

2001-11-02

Version History

2018-02-15 The citation of this study may have changed due to the new version control system that has been implemented. The previous citation was:
  • 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.
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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.