The critical role of team processes and team reflexivity in the emergence and prevention of racialized police violence

Abstract

In this commentary, my objective is to expand the perspective presented by Dhanani et al. (2022) by highlighting a key challenge associated with law enforcement and police patrols: Police officers have to adapt to unexpected, complex, and highly dynamic contexts not just individually but also as a team. I therefore believe that it is essential to invoke theoretical perspectives that consider the so-called action team context in policing and its implications for racial bias and resulting police violence. Additionally, interventions designed to prevent racialized police violence must take into account specific team processes potentially affecting unwanted and dangerous on-the-job behavior. In the following, I first define action teams in complex environments and point to relevant team processes (i.e., communication and decision making) in this context. Second, I propose simulation-based training and team reflexivity (TR) as useful team-based interventions that target communication and team decision making, and thus may present useful evidence-based and practical tools to address and reduce racialized police violence.