William Terrill
Biographic Data
| ID | 4214147 |
|---|---|
| NAME | William Terrill |
| GIVEN NAMES | William |
| FAMILY NAME | Terrill |
| SIGNATURE | TERRILL W |
| AFFILIATIONS | Arizona State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3076-1869 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 27 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 150 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 27 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1965 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Finding the path of least resistance
Research Summary This study investigated the impact of patrol officer communication tactics on suspect compliance by using Systematic Social Observation (SSO) to code 438 body‐worn camera and dashcam video recordings from two police agencies. Specifically, we examined officer tenor/demeanor, use of noncoercive directives, use of verbal coercion, and accusations, while controlling for a host of suspect and situational factors. Results showed that …
Applying Video-Based Systematic Social Observation to Police Use of Force Encounters
Although researchers have generated many studies related to police use of force, with an increasing focus on de-escalation, none have sought to systematically assess escalation, related factors, and the extent to which force usage may be considered appropriate from an objectively reasonable framework. Using video-based data (N = 540) from two agencies (Dallas and Smith County, TX) this study employs a Systematic Social Observation (SSO) methodolo…
Confidence in Their Craft
The detailed study of officer experience has received relatively little attention within the policing literature despite it being integral to nearly every facet of their role. Drawing on survey data ( N = 691 officers), the current study examines how the unique work experiences of officers (i.e., shifts, crime areas, duty assignments, in-service trainings) are related to their perceptions of confidence (i.e., self-efficacy) in the ability to perf…
The effect of suspect race on police officers’ decisions to draw their weapons
Researchers are working to identify appropriate benchmarks for exploring racial bias in the officer-involved shooting (OIS) context. Two recent studies benchmarked OIS against incidents in which officers drew weapons but did not shoot. A problem is that the decision to draw a weapon may itself be subject to bias. Using 2017 use-of-force data from the Dallas Police Department, we modeled officers’ decisions to draw their weapons as a function of s…
Is There Evidence of Racial Disparity in Police Use of Deadly Force? Analyses of Officer-Involved Fatal Shootings in 2015–2016
Is there evidence of a Black–White disparity in death by police gunfire in the United States? This is commonly answered by comparing the odds of being fatally shot for Blacks and Whites, with odds benchmarked against each group’s population proportion. However, adjusting for population values has questionable assumptions given the context of deadly force decisions. We benchmark 2 years of fatal shooting data on 16 crime rate estimates. When adjus…
Making Every Police–Citizen Interaction Count
Procedural justice policing is considered to be central to better policing (President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing, 2015). To implement procedural justice policing, police need to understand and build four key principles into their interactions with members of the public: (1) treating people with respect, (2) being neutral in their decision making, (3) conveying trustworthy motives, and (4) giving citizens a voice during the encounter. D…
Banishment Policies
Police Culture and Officer Behavior
Although recent advancements have been made in the understanding and studying of police culture, several significant gaps remain, including deficiencies in theoretical development and the lack of research on culture's influence on police practice. In the current study, we apply a multilevel theoretical framework to the examination of officers’ cultural attitudes and behavior to help bridge these gaps. In doing so, police culture is treated as a c…
Deadly Force
Race and the Police use of Force Encounter in the United States
Perennial conflict between police and black citizens has led to calls for greater representation of black officers, yet the presumption that black officers deliver better treatment to—and garner positive reactions from—black citizens has not received sufficient empirical testing. The present examination focusses on the use of force incident, given the symbolism inherent in this encounter. Drawing from prior research and deference exchange theory,…
Police service delivery and responsiveness in a period of economic instability
The ongoing fiscal crisis has resulted in substantial challenges for many police departments, not only in terms of how administrators staff and manage operations, but with respect to how street-level officers go about handling their daily tasks. Using data collected as part of an observational study (i.e. the Flint Twenty-first Century Policing Project), the present inquiry assesses how street-level officers deliver service to the public and resp…
Higher Education, College Degree Major, and Police Occupational Attitudes
Existing police research has produced mixed results regarding the benefits of college education on the outlooks of officers. In addressing many of the well-documented methodological concerns of prior research, the current study augments the existing police education-occupational attitudes literature by examining the impact of varying levels of education (i.e. high school, some college, and bachelor’s degree and higher) on officers’ job satisfacti…
Relational demography and officer occupational attitudes
A Multilevel Framework for Understanding Police Culture
Relying on a well‐established theoretical paradigm from organizational psychology, the aim of the current inquiry is to apply a multilevel approach to the study of police culture that identifies workgroups as important entities that influence officers’ occupational outlooks. More specifically, we propose that police culture be assessed in a way similar to concepts in criminology, such as collective efficacy and street culture, whereby the shared …
The Effect of Higher Education on Police Behavior
In the past, police scholars have examined the impact of higher education on different measures of officer behavior, most notably arrest and the use of force. Much of this prior work has suffered from poor methodologies, such as inadequate samples and the inability to control for theoretically relevant variables. In addition, previous inquires have focused on but one single behavior per study. In an attempt to overcome some of these limitations, …
The elusive nature of reasonableness
Police Education, Experience, and the Use of Force
Police researchers have devoted a considerable amount of empirical attention to testing the impact college education has on police performance. The counterargument to the education debate is that experience, in learning the police craft, is what contributes to differences in performance. The current study adds to both lines of research by examining the impact of education and experience on one of the core features of the police role: the use of c…
Police use of force
Drawing on Tedeschi and Felson’s (Citation1994) theory of coercive actions for conceptual guidance as well as principles underlying the notion of a force continuum structure (i.e., proportionality and incrementalism), this research examines 3,544 police–suspect encounters from an observational study of the police in an attempt to better understand the transactional process of the police–suspect encounter. Results indicate, within the context of a…
Peer group aggressiveness and the use of coercion in police–suspect encounters
The aim of this paper is to add the dimension of police 'peer group' to our understanding of how officers exercise coercive power in day‐to‐day encounters with citizens. Using data from the Project on Policing Neighborhoods (POPN) collected in St Petersburg, Florida, we examine 1,458 police–suspect encounters to determine whether collective peer group attitudes towards aggressive patrol influences police use of force behavior. Analysis of the dir…
Suspect disrespect toward the police
Research shows that suspects' behavior influences police officers' decisions. Those who are disrespectful to the police are more likely to have that behavior reciprocated. To date, the factors influencing whether suspects will show deference remain largely unexamined. Guided by social interactionist theory and recent developments in urban sociology, we use systematic social observations and census data to investigate. We find that elevated levels…
Women Police Officers and the Use of Coercion
Despite numerous advances in the last thirty years, women police officers continue to face acceptance issues in a male-dominated occupation. Qualitative accounts of policewomen have noted that many of the integration barriers stem from traditional assumptions about police work, much of which revolves around the cultural mandate to display one's coercive authority over citizens. Female officers are often perceived as unwilling (or lacking in abili…
Neighborhood Context and Police Use of Force
Explanations of police coercion have been traditionally embedded within sociological, psychological, and organizational theoretical frameworks. Largely absent from the research are examinations exploring the role of neighborhood context on police use-of-force practices. Using data collected as part of a systematic social observation study of police in Indianapolis, Indiana, and St. Petersburg, Florida, this research examines the influence of neig…
Police Use Of Force And Suspect Resistance
Using data collected as part of an observational study of the police in Indianapolis, Indiana, and St. Petersburg, Florida, this research examines 3,544 police-suspect encounters in an attempt to better understand the application of nonlethal force and the relationship between officer use of force and suspect resistance. More specifically, it examines the extent of and variation in force and resistance and the interplay between the two. Results s…
Police Culture and Coercion
Researchers have long noted the link between police culture and coercion. To date, however, there have been no empirical studies of this relationship. Using data collected as part of a systematic social observation study of the police in Indianapolis, Indiana, and St. Petersburg, Florida, this research examines the relationship between traditional views of police culture—from an attitudinal perspective‐and coercion—from a behavioral perspective. …
Situational and officer-based determinants of police coercion
Using data collected as part of an observational study of the police in Indianapolis, Indiana, and St. Petersburg, Florida, this article examines police use of force to gain a better understanding of why the police resort to force. Like analyses from previous observational studies, the present inquiry borrows from both sociological and psychological theoretical orientations to explore various determinants of force. Unlike previous examinations, t…
Police Culture and Coercion
Researchers have long noted the link between police culture and coercion. To date, however, there have been no empirical studies of this relationship. Using data collected as part of a systematic social observation study of the police in Indianapolis, Indiana, and St. Petersburg, Florida, this research examines the relationship between traditional views of police culture—from an attitudinal perspective‐and coercion—from a behavioral perspective. …
Police Culture and Officer Behavior
Although recent advancements have been made in the understanding and studying of police culture, several significant gaps remain, including deficiencies in theoretical development and the lack of research on culture's influence on police practice. In the current study, we apply a multilevel theoretical framework to the examination of officers’ cultural attitudes and behavior to help bridge these gaps. In doing so, police culture is treated as a c…
A Multilevel Framework for Understanding Police Culture
Relying on a well‐established theoretical paradigm from organizational psychology, the aim of the current inquiry is to apply a multilevel approach to the study of police culture that identifies workgroups as important entities that influence officers’ occupational outlooks. More specifically, we propose that police culture be assessed in a way similar to concepts in criminology, such as collective efficacy and street culture, whereby the shared …
Citizen complaints and problem officers
The elusive nature of reasonableness
Finding the path of least resistance
Research Summary This study investigated the impact of patrol officer communication tactics on suspect compliance by using Systematic Social Observation (SSO) to code 438 body‐worn camera and dashcam video recordings from two police agencies. Specifically, we examined officer tenor/demeanor, use of noncoercive directives, use of verbal coercion, and accusations, while controlling for a host of suspect and situational factors. Results showed that …
Making Every Police–Citizen Interaction Count
Procedural justice policing is considered to be central to better policing (President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing, 2015). To implement procedural justice policing, police need to understand and build four key principles into their interactions with members of the public: (1) treating people with respect, (2) being neutral in their decision making, (3) conveying trustworthy motives, and (4) giving citizens a voice during the encounter. D…
Deadly Force
Management Organization and Methods in Turkey
Westernization of Turkey began with Kemal Ataturk only forty years ago. This was an attempt to bring about a complete social, economic, and political revolution through new legislation, organizations, and activities directed at discarding Ottoman oriental concepts of life
Situational and officer-based determinants of police coercion
Using data collected as part of an observational study of the police in Indianapolis, Indiana, and St. Petersburg, Florida, this article examines police use of force to gain a better understanding of why the police resort to force. Like analyses from previous observational studies, the present inquiry borrows from both sociological and psychological theoretical orientations to explore various determinants of force. Unlike previous examinations, t…
Citizen complaints and problem officers
Neighborhood Context and Police Use of Force
Explanations of police coercion have been traditionally embedded within sociological, psychological, and organizational theoretical frameworks. Largely absent from the research are examinations exploring the role of neighborhood context on police use-of-force practices. Using data collected as part of a systematic social observation study of police in Indianapolis, Indiana, and St. Petersburg, Florida, this research examines the influence of neig…
Police Use Of Force And Suspect Resistance
Using data collected as part of an observational study of the police in Indianapolis, Indiana, and St. Petersburg, Florida, this research examines 3,544 police-suspect encounters in an attempt to better understand the application of nonlethal force and the relationship between officer use of force and suspect resistance. More specifically, it examines the extent of and variation in force and resistance and the interplay between the two. Results s…
Police Culture and Coercion
Researchers have long noted the link between police culture and coercion. To date, however, there have been no empirical studies of this relationship. Using data collected as part of a systematic social observation study of the police in Indianapolis, Indiana, and St. Petersburg, Florida, this research examines the relationship between traditional views of police culture—from an attitudinal perspective‐and coercion—from a behavioral perspective. …
Suspect disrespect toward the police
Research shows that suspects' behavior influences police officers' decisions. Those who are disrespectful to the police are more likely to have that behavior reciprocated. To date, the factors influencing whether suspects will show deference remain largely unexamined. Guided by social interactionist theory and recent developments in urban sociology, we use systematic social observations and census data to investigate. We find that elevated levels…
Women Police Officers and the Use of Coercion
Despite numerous advances in the last thirty years, women police officers continue to face acceptance issues in a male-dominated occupation. Qualitative accounts of policewomen have noted that many of the integration barriers stem from traditional assumptions about police work, much of which revolves around the cultural mandate to display one's coercive authority over citizens. Female officers are often perceived as unwilling (or lacking in abili…
Police use of force
Drawing on Tedeschi and Felson’s (Citation1994) theory of coercive actions for conceptual guidance as well as principles underlying the notion of a force continuum structure (i.e., proportionality and incrementalism), this research examines 3,544 police–suspect encounters from an observational study of the police in an attempt to better understand the transactional process of the police–suspect encounter. Results indicate, within the context of a…
Peer group aggressiveness and the use of coercion in police–suspect encounters
The aim of this paper is to add the dimension of police 'peer group' to our understanding of how officers exercise coercive power in day‐to‐day encounters with citizens. Using data from the Project on Policing Neighborhoods (POPN) collected in St Petersburg, Florida, we examine 1,458 police–suspect encounters to determine whether collective peer group attitudes towards aggressive patrol influences police use of force behavior. Analysis of the dir…
Police Education, Experience, and the Use of Force
Police researchers have devoted a considerable amount of empirical attention to testing the impact college education has on police performance. The counterargument to the education debate is that experience, in learning the police craft, is what contributes to differences in performance. The current study adds to both lines of research by examining the impact of education and experience on one of the core features of the police role: the use of c…
The elusive nature of reasonableness
The Effect of Higher Education on Police Behavior
In the past, police scholars have examined the impact of higher education on different measures of officer behavior, most notably arrest and the use of force. Much of this prior work has suffered from poor methodologies, such as inadequate samples and the inability to control for theoretically relevant variables. In addition, previous inquires have focused on but one single behavior per study. In an attempt to overcome some of these limitations, …
A Multilevel Framework for Understanding Police Culture
Relying on a well‐established theoretical paradigm from organizational psychology, the aim of the current inquiry is to apply a multilevel approach to the study of police culture that identifies workgroups as important entities that influence officers’ occupational outlooks. More specifically, we propose that police culture be assessed in a way similar to concepts in criminology, such as collective efficacy and street culture, whereby the shared …
Police service delivery and responsiveness in a period of economic instability
The ongoing fiscal crisis has resulted in substantial challenges for many police departments, not only in terms of how administrators staff and manage operations, but with respect to how street-level officers go about handling their daily tasks. Using data collected as part of an observational study (i.e. the Flint Twenty-first Century Policing Project), the present inquiry assesses how street-level officers deliver service to the public and resp…
Higher Education, College Degree Major, and Police Occupational Attitudes
Existing police research has produced mixed results regarding the benefits of college education on the outlooks of officers. In addressing many of the well-documented methodological concerns of prior research, the current study augments the existing police education-occupational attitudes literature by examining the impact of varying levels of education (i.e. high school, some college, and bachelor’s degree and higher) on officers’ job satisfacti…
Relational demography and officer occupational attitudes
Deadly Force
Race and the Police use of Force Encounter in the United States
Perennial conflict between police and black citizens has led to calls for greater representation of black officers, yet the presumption that black officers deliver better treatment to—and garner positive reactions from—black citizens has not received sufficient empirical testing. The present examination focusses on the use of force incident, given the symbolism inherent in this encounter. Drawing from prior research and deference exchange theory,…
Making Every Police–Citizen Interaction Count
Procedural justice policing is considered to be central to better policing (President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing, 2015). To implement procedural justice policing, police need to understand and build four key principles into their interactions with members of the public: (1) treating people with respect, (2) being neutral in their decision making, (3) conveying trustworthy motives, and (4) giving citizens a voice during the encounter. D…
Banishment Policies
Police Culture and Officer Behavior
Although recent advancements have been made in the understanding and studying of police culture, several significant gaps remain, including deficiencies in theoretical development and the lack of research on culture's influence on police practice. In the current study, we apply a multilevel theoretical framework to the examination of officers’ cultural attitudes and behavior to help bridge these gaps. In doing so, police culture is treated as a c…
Is There Evidence of Racial Disparity in Police Use of Deadly Force? Analyses of Officer-Involved Fatal Shootings in 2015–2016
Is there evidence of a Black–White disparity in death by police gunfire in the United States? This is commonly answered by comparing the odds of being fatally shot for Blacks and Whites, with odds benchmarked against each group’s population proportion. However, adjusting for population values has questionable assumptions given the context of deadly force decisions. We benchmark 2 years of fatal shooting data on 16 crime rate estimates. When adjus…
The effect of suspect race on police officers’ decisions to draw their weapons
Researchers are working to identify appropriate benchmarks for exploring racial bias in the officer-involved shooting (OIS) context. Two recent studies benchmarked OIS against incidents in which officers drew weapons but did not shoot. A problem is that the decision to draw a weapon may itself be subject to bias. Using 2017 use-of-force data from the Dallas Police Department, we modeled officers’ decisions to draw their weapons as a function of s…
Confidence in Their Craft
The detailed study of officer experience has received relatively little attention within the policing literature despite it being integral to nearly every facet of their role. Drawing on survey data ( N = 691 officers), the current study examines how the unique work experiences of officers (i.e., shifts, crime areas, duty assignments, in-service trainings) are related to their perceptions of confidence (i.e., self-efficacy) in the ability to perf…
Political science (24 works) · Policing Practices and Perceptions (23 works) · Crime Patterns and Interventions (21 works) · Law (21 works) · Psychology (21 works) · Criminology (19 works) · Social Psychology (19 works) · Sociology (15 works) · Officer (13 works) · Suspect (11 works)