Encyclopedia of Psychology and Law

correct or incorrect. Because police officers regularly

testify in court and may appear more reliable as wit-

nesses, this leaves open the possibility that jurors may

weigh the accuracy and importance of police officer

identifications above other evidence. When psycholo-

gists testify about eyewitness accuracy, they have only

these varied results to guide them in the courtroom.

Laura A. Zimmerman

See alsoExpert Psychological Testimony on Eyewitness

Identification; Eyewitness Descriptions, Accuracy of;

Eyewitness Identification: Field Studies; Eyewitness

Memory; Eyewitness Memory, Lay Beliefs About; Juries

and Eyewitnesses; Police Decision Making; Training of

Eyewitnesses

Further Readings

Kassin, S. M., Tubb, V. A., Hosch, H. M., & Memon, A.

(2001). On the “general acceptance” of eyewitness

testimony research: A new survey of the experts.

American Psychologist, 56,405–416.

Yarmey, D.A. (1986). Perceived expertness and credibility of

police officers as eyewitnesses. Canadian Police College

Journal, 10,31–59.

POLICEDECISIONMAKING

Police officers are gatekeepers of the criminal court

system and must make a number of critical decisions

during their interactions with citizens and in the perfor-

mance of their duties. To make decisions, officers use

normative criteria such as responsibility and blamewor-

thiness as well as pragmatic and efficiency criteria such

as the likelihood of conviction, the amount of time and

effort needed, and the organizational barriers that may

prevent a desired result. Because officers have much

legal authority and make many critical decisions that

affect citizens’ liberty and safety, it is important to

understand how officers arrive at their decisions and the

societal consequences of these decisions.

This entry examines what criteria police officers use to

make these decisions and what community, departmen-

tal, and personal factors affect how they interpret situa-

tions, interact with citizens, decide when to stop citizens,

ask for consent to search, conduct searches, informally

warn suspects, arrest suspects, and decide whether sus-

pects are lying during questioning or interrogation. Using

schema theory to examine officers’decision frames, this

entry discusses racial disparity in police decision

making. Much research supports the contention that

compared with Caucasians, African Americans are dis-

proportionately stopped, searched, arrested, and sub-

jected to physical force. Cultural stereotypes and

organizational policies contribute to this racial disparity.

This entry explores this research on racial disparities,

particularly with regard to surveillance, the decision to

arrest, and the use of force.

Police work traditionally has been reactive and

involves responding to citizens’ calls when crimes

have already been committed and when community

peace has been disrupted. Police duties also involve

proactive surveillance to detect criminal activity as it

is being committed; for example, police officers may

patrol areas that have high rates of drug dealing, pros-

titution, or gang-related crimes and must decide when

to intervene and whether to arrest offenders. Similarly,

officers may park their car to detect speeders; officers

must decide which of the speeders to pull over,

whether to give the speeder a ticket, and whether to

search citizens or vehicles for possible illegal contra-

band such as drugs or weapons. Community policing,

where police officers are assigned certain neighbor-

hoods to patrol using bikes or walking, is part of

proactive police work and has been implemented to

prevent criminal activity and to improve the relation-

ship between the police and citizens so that citizens

are more likely to report crimes or suspicious activity

to the police. Thus, it is important to examine decision

making in both proactive and reactive policy work.

Officers’ Decision Frames

and Response Styles

Researchers have investigated whether police officers

have certain operational styles, developed from their

general attitudes regarding justice and law enforce-

mentduties, that guide their decisions to arrest. Several

studies have examined three overarching response

styles: (1) the tough law enforcer, who arrests serious

criminals and rule violators; (2) the negotiator, who

emphasizes maintaining community peace and often

uses mediation and other informal methods to resolve

disturbances; and (3) the rule follower, who bases

arrest decisions on organizational policies or legal

statutes. Research generally has found that officers do

not consistently decide whether to arrest on the basis

of their operational ideals or overall attitudes. Moreover,

Police Decision Making——— 563

P-Cutler (Encyc)-45463.qxd 11/18/2007 12:43 PM Page 563