Erin Kerrison
Assistant Professor Of Social Welfare, University Of California At Berkeley
Key Findings
- There were no racial disparities in police susceptibility from negative stereotype perceptions.
- Officer race was not shown to be associated with self-legitimacy or in interactions between stereotype susceptibility and self-legitimacy.
- Age and time spent in the industry had an impact on police self-legitimacy.
- Older officers and those who perceived policing as risky had higher chances of having high self-legitimacy.
- Officers with more likely to have low self-legitimacy if they had more job experience or had cynicism toward the communities they served.
- Officers reported lower self-legitimacy when they indicated concern about being perceived as racist.
- Police officers that indicated lower self-legitimacy were more resistant to use of force in the field.
- Sergeant and White officers were less resistant to use of force policies than patrol and non-White officers.
- Older, sergeant, and White officers were less approving of unreasonable force when compared to younger, patrol, and non-White officers.
- Female officers were more likely to support procedurally just policing than their male counterparts
Description
In the article, “The Force of Fear: Police Stereotype Threat, Self-Legitimacy, and Support for Excessive Force,” Kerrison and her co-authors examine the impact of police stereotypes on law enforcement officers. News coverage of law enforcement has focused on negative perceptions of police officers and previous research has shown that these perceptions can impact officer morale and authority. To conduct their study, the researchers surveyed more than 780 law enforcement officers using a sample from a large urban police department. The results showed that there were no racial disparities in police susceptibility from negative stereotype perceptions. Additionally, officer race was not shown to be associated with self-legitimacy or in interactions between stereotype susceptibility and self-legitimacy. Age and time spent in the industry had an impact on police self-legitimacy. Older officers and those who perceived policing as risky had higher chances of having high self-legitimacy. Officers with more likely to have low self-legitimacy if they had more job experience or had cynicism toward the communities they served. Officers reported lower self-legitimacy when they indicated concern about being perceived as racist. Police officers that indicated lower self-legitimacy were more resistant to use of force in the field. Sergeant and White officers were less resistant to use of force policies than patrol and non-White officers. Older, sergeant, and White officers were less approving of unreasonable force when compared to younger, patrol, and non-White officers. Finally, female officers were more likely to support procedurally just policing than their male counterparts. In conclusion, the authors note that further research is needed on ways to reduce the impact of stereotypes on police officers as well as determine to what extent the stereotypes impact policing.