Date of Conferral
2017
Degree
Ph.D.
School
Public Policy and Administration
Advisor
Olivia Yu
Abstract
Police officers continue to sustain injuries during close proximity encounters with non-compliant and combative suspects. The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to examine whether the use of less-lethal instruments, such as conducted energy devices, oleoresin capsicum, impact batons, and hands/feet defensive tactic reduced police officer injury during confrontations with uncooperative suspects at a medium-sized police department in a southern state. Fichtelberg's democratic policing was used as the theoretical framework for this study. Data were acquired from Suspect Resistant Reports (n = 409) written by police officers over a 10-year period (1/05 - 12/14). The dependent variable was police officer injury and the categorically ranked independent variable was the less-lethal instrument. A significant association was found between officer injuries and less-lethal instruments using chi-square analysis (p
Recommended Citation
Adkins, Lydia Denise, "A Policy Evaluation: Comparing Levels of Police Injuries Associated with the Use of Less-Lethal Instruments in Law Enforcement - Conducted Energy Devices vs. Other Less-Lethal Instruments" (2017). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 3332.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/3332
Included in
Criminology Commons, Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons, Public Administration Commons, Public Policy Commons
