An exploration of use of force among law enforcement officers with military service

Abstract

This project explores whether military service is correlated with the use of force required to gain compliance by law enforcement officers (LEOs), asking whether military-affiliated LEOs are more likely to (1) use force, (2) engage in higher levels of officer presence, verbal, physical, weapon display, or nonlethal force, and (3) have higher rates of force per incident. Using the Dallas Police Department's 2020 Police Response to Resistance data, the researchers measure force usage collectively and by specific category and consider LEO military background both dichotomously and by branch. Compared to those without military experience, military-affiliated LEOs do not have statistically higher odds of using force overall, but Army-affiliated LEOs have statistically higher odds of using force. Furthermore, military-affiliated LEOs were at a greater risk (approximately 35%) of using any form of force, but Army-affiliated LEOs were at nearly twice the risk of using all categories of force. However, when considering counts of force per incident, Army-affiliated LEOs required significantly lower rates of force to gain compliance across all use of force categories, and Marine Corps-affiliated LEOs had significantly lower incident rates for displaying their weapon.