Encyclopedia of Psychology and Law

(lily) #1
officers have much discretion on how to interpret
organizational policies and legal statutes because such
policies are difficult to apply consistently to ambigu-
ous situations.
Rather than operational styles that are linked to
overall attitudes and personalities, schema theory
provides a more empirically supported framework
to understand how officers make decisions. Schema
theory suggests that officers have several possible
guiding decision frames about how to investigate inci-
dents, what information is most critical, and what
questions should be asked to arrive at a decision. The
situational context and characteristics of the incident
determine which decision frame is given priority in a
specific situation. Two major decision frames are the
normativeframe and the efficiencyframe. In the nor-
mative frame, officers focus on who is responsible for
the harm; in the efficiency frame, they focus on
whether there is sufficient evidence to obtain a convic-
tion, the repercussions if they do not arrest, and the
credibility of the witnesses.
The number of years on the force has been shown
to be the only consistent officer characteristic related
to arrest decisions. More experienced officers, com-
pared with rookie officers, tend to resolve calls more
often without making an arrest, and experienced offi-
cers make fewer arrests because they are more likely
to assign greater importance to efficiency and prag-
matic concerns. Efficiency or pragmatic framing also
can explain why officers often arrest mentally ill per-
sons who have not committed crimes but may need
involuntary commitment to a mental health hospital.
Several interview studies indicate that officers are
frustrated by barriers to the mental health system, by
the amount of time they spend off the streets and in
hospitals trying to obtain an involuntary commitment,
and by the hospital staff’s releasing individuals back
on the streets within a few days of admittance. All
these system barriers indicate to the officers that
involuntary commitment decisions are neither prag-
matic nor efficient decisions.
In proactive community policing duties, college-
educated officers may have better performance and
achieve greater neighborhood trust of the police.
Studies have found that compared with high-school-
educated officers, college-educated officers have
higher citizen satisfaction ratings, fewer citizen com-
plaints, and higher job performance ratings from their
superiors. Based on empirical research, college-
educated officers are more likely to be open minded,

to have better communication skills, and to be less
authoritarian.
Several studies have examined whether African
American officers and Caucasian officers differ in their
arrest rates, use of force, and other attitudes. Among
the findings are that general attitudes toward the job
are similar for African American and Caucasian
officers. Research has generally found that African
American and Caucasian officers do not differ on
arrest rates. Only one study, however, has examined
whether they differ on the criteria they use to make
arrest decisions. Caucasian and African American offi-
cers both were more likely to arrest suspects if they
were juveniles, visibly intoxicated, or disrespectful
toward officers or if the offense was a felony. However,
African American officers also considered other crite-
ria that Caucasian officers did not: whether a crime
was committed in their presence, the number of
bystanders witnessing the encounter, whether the sus-
pect was male, and the length of the officer’s time on
the job. Recent research has found that African
American and Caucasian officers have a similar likeli-
hood of arresting African American suspects, but
African American officers are significantly less likely
to arrest Caucasian suspects. Thus, racial disparity in
arrest rates occurs among both Caucasian and African
American officers.

Police Decisions and Racial Disparity
Racial stereotypes are widespread and permeate the
media, the schools, the business community, and the
criminal justice system. Individuals of all races are
aware of negative racial stereotypes—for example,
that African Americans are more prone to violence
and more likely to be involved in the use and sale of
illegal drugs. Even when individual officers are not
prejudiced against African Americans or members of
other ethnic minorities, these cultural stereotypes
affect how police officers perform their duties.
Furthermore, in attempting to reduce the distribution
of illegal drugs, some studies indicate that police
departments place disproportionate resources in areas
where there is a high concentration of ethnic minori-
ties. For example, based on a needle exchange survey
and ethnographic observations of two open-air drug
markets in Seattle, researchers determined the racial
composition of dealers who distributed heroin,
cocaine, methamphetamine, crack, or ecstasy. In this
study, the majority of drug dealers (more than 80%)

564 ———Police Decision Making

P-Cutler (Encyc)-45463.qxd 11/18/2007 12:43 PM Page 564

Free download pdf