Police Shootings

This study examines the association between police fatal shootings and suicide deaths in Jamaica using an exploratory ARIMAX (Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average with Exogenous Variables) approach. Annual data from 2022 to 2025 on police fatal shootings and total suicide deaths were analysed. The study employs a parsimonious ARIMAX(1,0,0) model to account for temporal dependence in suicide deaths while incorporating police fatal shootings as an exogenous predictor. An additional model including lagged police fatal shootings was estimated to examine potential delayed effects. Results suggest a negative contemporaneous association between police fatal shootings and suicide deaths, with a one-year lagged effect reinforcing the downward trend. The autoregressive term indicates moderate temporal persistence in suicide mortality. These findings are interpreted cautiously due to the tiny sample size, which limits statistical power and generalisability. Nonetheless, the study illustrates the utility of ARIMAX models in exploring dynamic relationships between societal violence and suicide mortality. The results highlight the potential influence of law enforcement practices on public mental health and underscore the need for longer-term, comprehensive datasets to rigorously evaluate these associations. Policymakers and researchers are encouraged to consider the broader psychosocial and economic context, including unemployment, GDP per capita, homicide rates, and access to mental health services, in future analyses. This exploratory analysis contributes to understanding the interaction between structural violence and mental health outcomes in Jamaica and provides a methodological foundation for future time-series research.

Suicide remains a critical but under-researched public health issue in Jamaica, particularly with respect to the methods employed. While hanging and poisoning are commonly documented, the use of motor vehicles as a means of suicide has received limited empirical attention. This study examines the relationship between national suicide rates and road traffic fatalities in Jamaica from 2007 to 2024, using annual secondary data. Descriptive trends and inferential statistical techniques, including Pearson correlation and ordinary least squares (OLS) regression, are employed to explore whether fluctuations in road traffic fatalities are associated with changes in suicide rates. The findings indicate a modest but positive association between suicide rates and road traffic fatalities, suggesting that motor vehicles may represent a concealed or underrecognised mechanism for self-harm. These results underscore the importance of integrating suicide prevention strategies into road safety policies and improving medico-legal classification systems to better distinguish intentional from unintentional traffic deaths. The study contributes to Caribbean suicide research and highlights the need for interdisciplinary public health interventions.

This quantitative study examines the relationship between leadership behaviour and police shootings in Jamaica during 2025. The research operationalised leadership intensity using a composite index incorporating transformational, ethical, and accountability-focused leadership practices. Data were derived from official Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) reports, use-offorce records, and operational statistics spanning 2022-2025. The primary dependent variable was the annual count of police-involved fatal shootings, while control variables included violent crime rates and police deployment intensity. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression and Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average with Exogenous variables (ARIMAX) models were applied to assess temporal patterns and the impact of leadership intensity on operational outcomes. Findings indicate that higher leadership intensity is significantly associated with reductions in localised police shooting incidents, with a one-unit increase in the leadership index corresponding to a 5-7% decrease in shootings. ARIMAX analyses further demonstrate that leadership interventions exert both immediate and lagged effects, suggesting that sustained ethical and transformational practices contribute to measurable operational improvements over time. National-level shootings continued to rise; however, localised mitigation illustrates the strategic potential of leadership-focused interventions. The study highlights the importance of integrating leadership development, ethical oversight, and performance monitoring into policing policy frameworks. The results provide actionable evidence for institutional reforms aimed at enhancing accountability, procedural justice, and public confidence in law enforcement. By situating leadership intensity as a central determinant of police use-of-force outcomes, this research advances both theoretical understanding and empirical evidence on governance, operational effectiveness, and risk mitigation in high-stakes policing contexts.

Miami and Dade County, Florida are unique areas. A lengthy series of events including the several waves of immigrants, and the influx of marijuana, cocaine and other narcotics contribute to their culture and character. The increase in population and drug traffic has influenced crime and the corresponding police response. One specific police activity which has come under scrutiny is the use of deadly force. It is not the purpose of this chapter to review what is known about police use of deadly force. That has been done elsewhere (e.g.

A small body of research suggests that the use of police tactical officers has become normalized in that they now commonly respond to "routine" calls rather than being restricted to high-risk situations. However, this research has tended to rely on crude data (i.e., call type), which fails to account for the context of the calls (e.g., the presence of potential risk factors that might warrant tactical resources). In this brief research note, we sought to expand upon previous literature by examining the risk factors associated with tactical calls in a Canadian police service. We found that various risk factors were present in many of the calls that tactical officers responded to, some of which might be classified as "routine" (suicide threats, well-being checks, domestic disturbances, etc.). The presence of such risk factors highlights the need to consider context when attempting to understand the use (and consequences) of tactical officers. More rigorous tracking of these factors by police services will facilitate such research and inform policies around the use of tactical resources.

This quantitative exploratory study used conflictual police videos on Facebook as a marker for vicarious racial trauma on social media to investigate its correlation with trauma symptoms. The literature has yet to examine the impact of vicarious trauma experienced on social media. This study collected data from participants who completed an anonymous online questionnaire reflecting on previous experiences watching conflictual police videos. The findings suggest: a positive correlation between vicarious racial trauma experienced on Facebook with trauma symptoms; that police shooting videos had a stronger correlation to trauma symptoms compared to police arrest videos; and a moderate relationship between negative past police interactions and trauma symptoms. Although the findings did not reach statistical significance, it suggests an association between vicarious racial trauma experienced on social media and trauma symptoms, which would warrant future research. The limitations to this...

A small body of research suggests that the use of police tactical officers has become normalized in that they now commonly respond to “routine” calls rather than being restricted to high-risk situations. However, this research has tended to rely on crude data (i.e., call type), which fails to account for the context of the calls (e.g., the presence of potential risk factors that might warrant tactical resources). In this brief research note, we sought to expand upon previous literature by examining the risk factors associated with tactical calls in a Canadian police service. We found that various risk factors were present in many of the calls that tactical officers responded to, some of which might be classified as “routine” (suicide threats, well-being checks, domestic disturbances, etc.). The presence of such risk factors highlights the need to consider context when attempting to understand the use (and consequences) of tactical officers. More rigorous tracking of these factors by...

This quantitative exploratory study used conflictual police videos on Facebook as a marker for vicarious racial trauma on social media to investigate its correlation with trauma symptoms. The literature has yet to examine the impact of vicarious trauma experienced on social media. This study collected data from participants who completed an anonymous online questionnaire reflecting on previous experiences watching conflictual police videos. The findings suggest: a positive correlation between vicarious racial trauma experienced on Facebook with trauma symptoms; that police shooting videos had a stronger correlation to trauma symptoms compared to police arrest videos; and a moderate relationship between negative past police interactions and trauma symptoms. Although the findings did not reach statistical significance, it suggests an association between vicarious racial trauma experienced on social media and trauma symptoms, which would warrant future research. The limitations to this...

Recent police killings of citizens in the United States have attracted massive coverage in the media, large-scale public protests, and demands for reform of police departments throughout the country. This study is based on a content analysis of newspaper coverage of recent high-profile incidents that resulted in a citizen’s death in Ferguson, North Charleston, and Baltimore. We identify both incident-specific content as well as more general patterns that transcend the three cases. News media coverage of similar incidents in past decades tended to be episodic and favored the police perspective. Our findings point to some important departures from this paradigm. Reporting in our three cases was more likely to draw connections between discrete incidents, to attach blame to the police, and to raise questions about the systemic causes of police misconduct. These findings may be corroborated in future studies of news media representations of high-profile policing incidents elsewhere.

The objective of this study was to investigate the terminal ballistics of police shootings in which the bullets went through any motor vehicle structure before fatally wounding the occupants. 6 cases that occurred in Porto district between 1998 and 2013 were studied. The firearms used were 7.65 mm (n = 1) or 9 mm (n = 3) calibre semi-automatic pistols and 9 mm calibre submachine guns (n = 2); the bullets were full metal jacket type. The metal jacket of the collected projectiles was totally or partially destroyed in 3 cases. It exhibited a deformed structure in all cases. The trajectories of the bullets in the vehicles were always more or less linear, even when initial impact was at an oblique angle. The entry holes in the victims' bodies were larger or much larger in size than the calibre of the bullets. They were located, with the exception of one of the cases, in the left half of the body. The trajectories in the victims' bodies were from front to back, in one case, and fr...

The aim of this study was to analyse the circumstances, the forensic assessment and the legal assessment of police shootings of civilians, according to the severity of the victim's injuries. Sixty-nine cases tried in Portuguese criminal courts were analysed. Of the 32 cases that resulted in death, 16 were on the public thoroughfare and 13 were in the victim's vehicle or in third-party vehicles. The majority of the lethal cases occurred when the region of the body hit was the thorax/abdomen. The firearm most frequently used was a semi-automatic 9 mm pistol. In cases resulting in death police officers involved were convicted whilst those involved in non-lethal cases were acquitted. The results of this study can be taken into account by Portuguese authorities for the implementation of policies that will allow the restriction of firearms use by police officers to situations of imminent danger of death or serious injury and that will make it possible to avoid shooting at fleeing civilians.

The aim of this study was to analyse the circumstances, the forensic assessment and the legal assessment of police shootings of civilians, according to the severity of the victim's injuries. Sixty-nine cases tried in Portuguese criminal courts were analysed. Of the 32 cases that resulted in death, 16 were on the public thoroughfare and 13 were in the victim's vehicle or in third-party vehicles. The majority of the lethal cases occurred when the region of the body hit was the thorax/abdomen. The firearm most frequently used was a semi-automatic 9 mm pistol. In cases resulting in death police officers involved were convicted whilst those involved in non-lethal cases were acquitted. The results of this study can be taken into account by Portuguese authorities for the implementation of policies that will allow the restriction of firearms use by police officers to situations of imminent danger of death or serious injury and that will make it possible to avoid shooting at fleeing civilians.

Fatal police encounters in Ferguson, MO and subsequent events have raised concerns of who is being killed by police. This study focuses on police use of deadly force at the organizational level. This study hypothesized that specific organizational processes, such as CALEA accreditation, would lower an organization's number of citizens killed. This study utilized FatalEncounters.org data from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2017, aggregated to the organizational level, as well as Annual Reports published by CALEA. This study found that CALEA accreditation neither significantly nor substantially lowered an organization's number of citizens killed. This study proposes future research ideas involving state accreditation, consent decrees, use of force training, and court interpretations of police use of deadly force.

A small body of research suggests that the use of police tactical officers has become normalized in that they now commonly respond to “routine” calls rather than being restricted to high-risk situations. However, this research has tended to rely on crude data (i.e., call type), which fails to account for the context of the calls (e.g., the presence of potential risk factors that might warrant tactical resources). In this brief research note, we sought to expand upon previous literature by examining the risk factors associated with tactical calls in a Canadian police service. We found that various risk factors were present in many of the calls that tactical officers responded to, some of which might be classified as “routine” (suicide threats, well-being checks, domestic disturbances, etc.). The presence of such risk factors highlights the need to consider context when attempting to understand the use (and consequences) of tactical officers. More rigorous tracking of these factors by...

A small body of research suggests that the use of police tactical officers has become normalized in that they now commonly respond to “routine” calls rather than being restricted to high-risk situations. However, this research has tended to rely on crude data (i.e., call type), which fails to account for the context of the calls (e.g., the presence of potential risk factors that might warrant tactical resources). In this brief research note, we sought to expand upon previous literature by examining the risk factors associated with tactical calls in a Canadian police service. We found that various risk factors were present in many of the calls that tactical officers responded to, some of which might be classified as “routine” (suicide threats, well-being checks, domestic disturbances, etc.). The presence of such risk factors highlights the need to consider context when attempting to understand the use (and consequences) of tactical officers. More rigorous tracking of these factors by...

This chapter makes the case that the violence associated with police militarization is not "senseless"; rather, it is a crucial component of a rational and robust political-economic and racial project. This analysis examines the foundational role that CJ economic forces assert in driving state violence, and the threat thereof, particularly as it relates to police militarization.

Even in an era of extreme scrutiny of police use of force, the fact that a significant proportion of police shootings are directed at dogs-pet pit bulls in particular-remains largely unknown and all but completely absent from the academic literature on state violence. However, based on our analyses of officer-involved shootings from 2010 through 2017 by the County of Los Angeles Sheriff's Department and City of Los Angeles Police Department, we reveal that not only do dog shootings and killings-or "canicide"-account for a significant share of deadly force, but they are also clustered to a statistically significant degree in predominantly low-income communities of color. In this article, we provide a much-needed socio-spatial analysis of this hitherto unexplored though prevalent form of legal deadly force. We argue that revealing this particular geography of violence committed against dogs provides yet another example of the distinctive spatiality of carcerality and state violence enacted in and on disenfranchised communities.

In this unfinished rough powerpoint for a series of lectures I explore why the United States is markedly different from other representative democracies and welfare states.  I trace the tradition of using a combination of bribery and corruption of the Congress and Judiciary, and violence and racist terror as a means of marginalizing organized labour and frustrating democratic control.  I explore how the contemporary crisis of social inequality, political corruption and racist authoritarian government long predates Trump, first emerging after Reconstruction in the Kleptocracy of the Gilded Age, receding somewhat under Roosevelt's leadership and with the Bretton Woods consensus, only to re-emerge with the Reagan revolution and the political triumph of the racist reaction to the Civil Rights and Feminist Movements, and the radicalism of the 1960s.  On the foreign policy side, the resurgent power of the oligarchy within the country and the brutal repression of the poor and marginalization of labour and the voices of the black radical tradition, symbolized by the ruins of Detroit and the South Bronx, would be matched by the consolidation of the policies of the so-called Washington Consensus.  This policy approach, enforced by the IMF, World Bank, and American military force and paramilitary violence, is often sold as Globalization, critiqued as Neo-liberalism, but might more accurately be described as a return to racist colonialism of the filibusters, Teddy Roosevelt, and Woodrow Wilson.  The talk, which is intended to engage non-academic audiences and avoid jargon and theory, ought to be read in conjunction with Richard Iton's Solidarity Blues, and WIlkinson and Pickett's The Spirit Level.