Amal Ali, Jasmine Oware, Jonathan Jackson, Ben Bradford
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Calls for service are a major driver of police activity, yet their role in shaping the neighbourhood distribution of police use of force remains under-explored. Understanding where and why force is used requires examining how these calls cluster spatially-and how police interpret and respond to them.
Methods: Using administrative data from an English police force (2018-2021), we analyse how neighbourhood characteristics-including mental health prevalence, racial composition, socioeconomic deprivation, residential instability, and crime rates-predict patterns of police deployment and use of force. We link call-for-service records with force incident data to trace the process from (a) call initiation to (b) priority grading, (c) TASER-equipped officer deployment, and (d) eventual use of force.
Results: Calls for service are concentrated in disadvantaged neighbourhoods with elevated mental health need. These areas are also more likely to experience police use of force (including TASER). Yet public demand is refracted through institutional filters-such as call grading and officer deployment decisions-that concentrate how and where force is ultimately applied.
Conclusions: Police use of force does not result from isolated actions, but from a sequence of decisions that compound the existing spatial clustering of public calls for service. Structural disadvantage, mental health distress and operational decision-making interact to concentrate force in already over-burdened communities. Addressing disproportionate use of force requires reform not only of police practice, but also of the upstream social conditions that generate repeated crisis response.
Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40163-025-00258-6.
期刊介绍：
Crime Science is an international, interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal with an applied focus. The journal''s main focus is on research articles and systematic reviews that reflect the growing cooperation among a variety of fields, including environmental criminology, economics, engineering, geography, public health, psychology, statistics and urban planning, on improving the detection, prevention and understanding of crime and disorder. Crime Science will publish theoretical articles that are relevant to the field, for example, approaches that integrate theories from different disciplines. The goal of the journal is to broaden the scientific base for the understanding, analysis and control of crime and disorder. It is aimed at researchers, practitioners and policy-makers with an interest in crime reduction. It will also publish short contributions on timely topics including crime patterns, technological advances for detection and prevention, and analytical techniques, and on the crime reduction applications of research from a wide range of fields. Crime Science publishes research articles, systematic reviews, short contributions and theoretical articles. While Crime Science uses the APA reference style, the journal welcomes submissions using alternative reference styles on a case-by-case basis.
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