Social Interaction Training to Reduce Police Use of Force, Fayetteville, NC and Tucson, AZ, 2016-2018 (ICPSR 37856)
Version Date: Nov 10, 2022 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
Geoffrey P. Alpert, University of South Carolina;
Scott E. Wolfe, Michigan State University;
Jeff Rojek, Michigan State University;
Michael R. Smith, University of Texas at San Antonio
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37856.v1
Version V1
Summary View help for Summary
This study evaluated Polis Solution's Tact, Tactics, and Trust (T3) program using a randomized controlled trial (RCT). Survey data were collected from experimental and control group officers at two research sites prior to and after the implementation of the training program. Additionally, official use of force reports from both agencies were collected from roughly one year prior to the implementation of the training program to one year after the completion of the training program. The survey data are used to examine changes in officers' attitudes and priorities during hypothetical officer-citizen encounters to determine if the training program impacted the importance officers placed on specific social interaction concerns. The use of force reports were then used to determine whether the training program successfully reduced the number of use of force incidents among officers involved in the training program.
Citation View help for Citation
Export Citation:
Funding View help for Funding
Subject Terms View help for Subject Terms
Geographic Coverage View help for Geographic Coverage
Smallest Geographic Unit View help for Smallest Geographic Unit
None.
Restrictions View help for Restrictions
Access to these data is restricted. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete a Restricted Data Use Agreement, specify the reasons for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research.
Distributor(s) View help for Distributor(s)
Time Period(s) View help for Time Period(s)
Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection
Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
The purpose of the study is to evaluate the effect of a training program on the use of force and officer interactions with citizens.
Study Design View help for Study Design
The training program that the study team evaluated was Polis Solutions' "Tact, Tactics, and Trust" (T3) training--a proprietary program based on U.S. Department of Defense work called the "Good Stranger" program (Klein et al. 2014). Evaluation of T3 involved a partnership with Fayetteville (NC) Police Department (FPD) and Tucson (AZ) Police Department (TPD). FPD serves a racially diverse population of approximately 205,000. About 46 percent of Fayetteville residents are white, while 42 percent are African American. The department had 164 patrol officers at the time of the study and reported about 750 violent crimes per 100,000 citizens. TPD, by contrast, serves a larger jurisdiction, but also with two major social groups: 530,000 citizens reside in Tucson, with about 42 percent of the population being Hispanic and 47 percent non-Hispanic white. TPD had 320 patrol officers at the time of the study and experienced about 795 violent crimes per 100,000 residents.
While the evaluation was primarily focused on determining whether T3 influenced officers' attitudes and behaviors regarding social interactions, the study team was also interested in whether the amount of training influenced these outcomes. Accordingly, the study team developed a protocol in collaboration with each police agency in which a high-dose group of officers would receive six months of T3 training, and a low-dose group would receive three months of training. The study team also worked with departmental contacts to randomly assign all patrol officers to either the experimental training or control conditions using rosters within each agency. Accordingly, a randomized-controlled trial was used to evaluate T3.
Sample View help for Sample
Between the two Police Departments included in the study, a total of 166 officers were randomly assigned to the experimental group and 228 to the control group.
Time Method View help for Time Method
Universe View help for Universe
Members of the Police force
Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation
Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)
Mode of Data Collection View help for Mode of Data Collection
Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables
The data includes variables examining changes in officers' attitudes and priorities during hypothetical officer-citizen encounters.
Response Rates View help for Response Rates
23 percent attrition rate.
Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales
Not applicable.
HideNotes
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.
One or more files in this data collection have special restrictions. Restricted data files are not available for direct download from the website; click on the Restricted Data button to learn more.
This dataset is maintained and distributed by the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD), the criminal justice archive within ICPSR. NACJD is primarily sponsored by three agencies within the U.S. Department of Justice: the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.