Book Description

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between officer-involved shootings and citizen behaviors (i.e., alcohol and/or drug intoxication, and prior arrests for violent criminal conduct). Officer characteristics, including gender, age, and race/ethnicity, were examined as control variables. The theoretical basis for the analysis was developed around the intersectionality of two theories: the theory of social disinhibition and that of routine activities. Poisson regression models were fitted to data compiled from the Riverside County Sheriff Department's personnel and police shooting files for the years 1990 through 2004. During the study period, the Sheriff's Department experienced a total of 186 officer-involved shooting incidents, which targeted 190 citizens. Analysis showed no significant relationship between officer characteristics and police shootings once citizen behaviors, especially prior violent criminal arrests, were introduced to the models. When citizen intoxication variables were examined along with officer characteristics, the results illustrated that alcohol intoxicated citizens were targeted by police gunfire 3.4 times greater than sober citizens; police used deadly force against citizens under the influence of drugs at a rate that was 3 times more than citizens who were not under the influence of drugs. The expectation for police to shoot or shoot at citizens under the influence of a combination of alcohol and drugs was nearly 3 times greater than non-inebriated citizens. Moreover, when examined along with officer characteristics, citizens with prior arrests for violent criminal behavior were expected to be targeted by police gunfire 3.7 times the rate of citizens with no prior arrests for violence. It was concluded that as a result of a citizen's tendency (i.e., routine activity) to commit violent crimes and consume alcohol and/or drugs, he/she is more likely to become uncooperative with law enforcement while disinhibited by the effects of his/her intoxicated state, which significantly contributes to the police shooting incident.