Evaluating Police Uses of Force

Evaluating Police Uses of Force provides a critical understanding and evaluation of police tactics and the use of force.

Police violence has historically played an important role in shaping public attitudes toward the government. Community trust and confidence in policing have been undermined by the perception that officers are using force unnecessarily, too frequently, or in problematic ways. The use of force, or harm suffered by a community as a result of such force, can also serve as a flashpoint, a spark that ignites long-simmering community hostility.

In Evaluating Police Uses of Force, legal scholar Seth W. Stoughton, former deputy chief of police Jeffrey J. Noble, and distinguished criminologist Geoffrey P. Alpert explore a critical but largely overlooked facet of the difficult and controversial issues of police violence and accountability: how does society evaluate use-of-force incidents? By leading readers through answers to this question from four different perspectives—constitutional law, state law, administrative regulation, and community expectations—and by providing critical information about police tactics and force options that are implicated within those frameworks, this book helps situate readers within broader conversations about governmental accountability, the role that police play in modern society, and how officers should go about fulfilling their duties.

“Provides a current and complete blueprint of the laws and policies that contribute to persistent inequalities in police violence. This blueprint will be of tremendous value―perhaps especially so―to those who seek to understand the existing system and where they may best intervene in order to reduce these damaging inequalities.” ―Theoretical Criminology