The Role of Officer Characteristics in the Post-Floyd Era: A New Approach to De-Policing Research

Abtracts Despite growing concerns of de-policing following highly controversial use of force events, few scholars have considered whether these events have a greater impact on some officers’ post-stop behaviors more than others. Indeed, most studies on de-policing have relied on aggregate police data or surveys from officers to make claims about police behavior that occurs at the encounter-level. Using Terry stop data from one large police agency, I considered whether officer-level characteristics had a significant impact on officers’ post-stop behaviors following the death of George Floyd. Multi-level logistic regression models were used to assess whether these factors influenced the likelihood that an officer: (1) took no further official action, (2) completed an offense report, (3) conducted an arrest, or (4) frisked a subject. The odds of a Terry stop ending in an arrest or including a frisk significantly increased after Floyd’s death. These differences, however, were generally unrelated to officers’ demographic characteristics. The findings lend partial support to the socialization perspective. Future research must continue to examine officers’ proactive police behaviors and determine how, and to what extent, it changes after high-profile use of force events.