This is a precursor study of de-escalation and non-escalation. Using an interdisciplinary framework, we code emotion dysregulation derived from body-worn camera footage. We then test the influence of individual, situational, and environmental predictors on emotion dysregulation. We apply systematic social observation and systematic social event modeling to body-worn camera footage associated with 568 separate interactions for a small agency in the United States; involving more than 11,000 minutes of contact between police officers and community members. The largest predictor of emotion dysregulation on the part of the officer is dysregulation on the part of the person of interest. Given the role of emotions in decision-making and their largely neglected state in the policing literature, these results demonstrate the utility of drawing upon the rich data contained within body-worn camera footage. Results also highlight contextual factors influencing dysregulation.
AndersonCABushmanBJ (2002) Human aggression. Annual Review of Psychology53(1): 27–51.
2.
AndersonE (2000) Code of the Street: Decency, Violence, and the Moral Life of the Inner City. New York, NY: WW Norton.
3.
BabinSKoslickiWVogelR, et al. (2017) Resilient Communications Project: Body Worn Camera Perception Study Phase 1 Memorandum Report. Washington, DC: Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate.
4.
BakkerABHeuvenE (2006) Emotional dissonance, burnout, and in-role performance among nurses and police officers. International Journal of Stress Management13(4): 423.
5.
BayleyDHGarofaloJ (1989) The management of violence by police patrol officers. Criminology; An Interdisciplinary Journal27(1): 1–26.
6.
BeckettKNyropKPfingstL (2006) Race, drugs, and policing: understanding disparities in drug delivery arrests. Criminology; An Interdisciplinary Journal44(1): 105–137.
7.
BeckettKNyropKPfingstL, et al. (2005) Drug use, drug possession arrests, and the question of race: Lessons from Seattle. Social Problems52(3): 419–441.
8.
BerkingMMeierCWuppermanP (2010) Enhancing emotion-regulation skills in police officers: results of a pilot-controlled study. Behavior Therapy41(3): 329–339.
9.
BragaAABrunsonRKDrakulichKM (2019) Race, place, and effective policing. Annual Review of Sociology45: 535–555.
10.
BrownMK (1981) Working the Street: Police Discretion and the Dilemmas of Reform. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
11.
BruchMA (1989) Familial and developmental antecedents of social phobia: issues and findings. Clinical Psychology Review9(1): 37–47.
12.
BrunsonRKMillerJ (2006) Gender, race, and urban policing: the experience of African American youths. Gender & Society20(4): 531–552.
13.
BuckR (1990) Mood and emotion: a comparison of five contemporary views (book). Psychological Inquiry1(4): 330–336.
14.
BurgessJGreenJ (2018) YouTube: Online Video and Participatory Culture. Cambridge: Wiley.
15.
ChapmanD (2009) Emotional labour in the context of policing in Victoria: a preliminary analysis. International Journal of Police Science & Management11(4): 476–492.
16.
ChoYNRutherfordBNParkJ (2013) Emotional labor's impact in a retail environment. Journal of Business Research66(11): 2338–2345.
17.
CollinsR (2009) Violence: A Micro-Sociological Theory. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
18.
CraddockACollinsJJTimrotsAD (1994) Fact Sheet: Drug-related Crime. Rockville, MD: US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics.
DottoloALStewartAJ (2008) “Don’t ever forget now, you’re a Black man in America”: intersections of race, class and gender in encounters with the police. Sex Roles59: 350–364.
21.
EisenbergNStrayerJ (1987) Critical issues in the study of empathy. In: EisenbergNStrayerJ (eds) Cambridge Studies in Social and Emotional Development. Empathy and its Development. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 3–13.
22.
ElliottDSWilsonWJHuizingaD, et al. (1996) The effects of neighborhood disadvantage on adolescent development. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency33(4): 389–426.
23.
FieldingN (1994) Cop canteen culture. In: Newburn TA and Stanko EA (eds) Just Boys Doing Business?: Men, Masculinties and Crime. London: Routledge, 46–63.
24.
FyfeJJ (1988) The Metro-Dade Police–Citizen Violence Reduction Project, Final Report, Executive Summary. Washington, DC: Police Foundation.
25.
GabbertFHopeLLutherK, et al. (2021) Exploring the use of rapport in professional information-gathering contexts by systematically mapping the evidence base. Applied Cognitive Psychology35(2): 329–341.
26.
GastonS (2019) Enforcing race: a neighborhood-level explanation of Black–white differences in drug arrests. Crime & Delinquency65(4): 499–526.
27.
GeorgeSRogersRDDukaT (2005) The acute effect of alcohol on decision making in social drinkers. Psychopharmacology182(1): 160–169.
28.
GilchristJConroyDEPincusAL, et al. (2019, March 27) Associations between empathy and self-conscious emotions during social interactions. Preprint at: DOI: https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/7vdeu.
29.
GrandeyAA (2000) Emotional regulation in the workplace: a new way to conceptualize emotional labor. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology5(1): 95.
30.
GrossJJ (2015) Emotion regulation: current status and future prospects. Psychological Inquiry26(1): 1–26.
31.
HatfieldECacioppoJTRapsonRL (1994) Emotional contagion. In: Studies in Emotion and Social Interaction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
32.
HochschildA (1983) The Managed Heart. Berkley, CA: University of California Press.
33.
HolladayBPMakinDA (2021) Baselining incivility in one-on-one police encounters from BWC archival footage: exploratory study of race, gender, and contact type effects. Police Practice and Research22(6): 1618–1636.
34.
IngramJR (2007) The effect of neighborhood characteristics on traffic citation practices of the police. Police Quarterly10(4): 371–393.
35.
IngramJRPaolineEAIIITerrillW (2013) A multilevel framework for understanding police culture: the role of the workgroup. Criminology; An Interdisciplinary Journal51(2): 365–397.
36.
IngramJRTerrillWPaolineEAIII (2018) Police culture and officer behavior: application of a multilevel framework. Criminology; An Interdisciplinary Journal56(4): 780–811.
37.
JordanPJTrothAC (2004) Managing emotions during team problem solving: Emotional intelligence and conflict resolution. Human Performance17: 195–218.
38.
KahnJHSchneiderKTJenkins-HenkelmanTM, et al. (2006) Emotional social support and job burnout among high-school teachers: is it all due to dispositional affectivity?Journal of Organizational Behavior27(6): 793–807.
39.
KopNEuwemaMSchaufeliW (1999) Burnout, job stress and violent behaviour among Dutch police officers. Work & Stress13(4): 326–340.
40.
LumsdenKBlackA (2018) Austerity policing, emotional labour, and the boundaries of police work: an ethnography of a police force control room in England. The British Journal of Criminology58(3): 606–623.
41.
MakinDA (2017) Avoiding the technological panacea: The case of the body-worn camera. In: Moriarty LJ (ed) Criminal Justice Technology in the 21st Century. 3rd edn. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 86–102.
42.
MakinDAWillitsDWKoslickiW, et al. (2019) Contextual determinants of observed negative emotional states in police–community interactions. Criminal Justice and Behavior46(2): 301–318.
43.
MastrofskiSDReisigMDMcCluskeyJD (2002) Police disrespect toward the public: an encounter-based analysis. Criminology; An Interdisciplinary Journal40(3): 519–552.
44.
MatsuedaRL (2006) Differential social organization, collective action, and crime. Crime, Law, and Social Change46(1): 3–33.
45.
MatsuedaRLDrakulichKKubrinCE (2006) Race and neighborhood codes of violence. In: The Many Colors of Crime: Inequalities of Race, Ethnicity, and Crime in America, 334–356.
46.
NowackiJSMakinDWillitsD, et al. (2023) Gender, police–community contacts, and situational outcomes. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice17. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/police/paac064.
47.
ParrottDJEckhardtCI (2018) Effects of alcohol on human aggression. Current Opinion in Psychology19: 1–5.
48.
ReinerR (2010) The Politics of the Police. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
49.
ReisigMDMcCluskeyJDMastrofskiSD, et al. (2004) Suspect disrespect toward the police. Justice Quarterly21(2): 241–268.
50.
RoncekDWBellR (1981) Bars, blocks, and crimes. Journal of Environmental Systems11(1): 35–47.
51.
RoncekDWPravatinerMA (1989) Additional evidence that taverns enhance nearby crime. Sociology and Social Research73(4): 185–188.
52.
RoomRFerrisJLaslettAM, et al. (2010) The drinker’s effect on the social environment: a conceptual framework for studying alcohol’s harm to others. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health7(4): 1855–1871.
53.
SchaferJHibdonJKyleM (2022) Studying rare events in policing: the allure and limitations of using body-worn camera video. Journal of Crime and Justice 47(4): 1–6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0735648X.2022.2062036.
54.
ShermanLWGartinPRBuergerME (1989) Hot spots of predatory crime: routine activities and the criminology of place. Criminology; An Interdisciplinary Journal27(1): 27–56.
55.
SmithDA (1986) The neighborhood context of police behavior. Crime and Justice8: 313–341.
56.
SmithDAVisherCADavidsonLA (1984) Equity and discretionary justice: the influence of race on police arrest decisions. Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology75: 234.
57.
SuriGWhittakerKGrossJJ (2015) Launching reappraisal: it’s less common than you might think. Emotion15(1): 73.
58.
SutherlandEH (1947) Principles of Criminology. 4th edn.Philadelphia: Lippincott.
59.
SykesREBrentEE (1980) The regulation of interaction by police: a systems view of taking charge. Criminology; An Interdisciplinary Journal18(2): 182–197.
60.
TerrillWPaolineEAIIIManningPK (2003) Police culture and coercion. Criminology; An Interdisciplinary Journal41(4): 1003–1034.
61.
TerrillWReisigMD (2003) Neighborhood context and police use of force. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency40(3): 291–321.
62.
TerrillWZimmermanL (2021) Police use of force escalation and de-escalation: the use of systematic social observation with video footage. Police Quarterly25(2): 155–177.
63.
TiceDMBaumeisterRFZhangL (2004) The role of emotion in self-regulation: differing role of positive and negative emotions. In: Philippot P and Feldman RS (eds) The Regulation of Emotion. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 213–226.
64.
UchidaCMcCluskeyJKringenJ, et al. (2022) Police accounts of critical incidents: a descriptive and empirical assessment. Journal of Crime and Justice47(1): 95–111.
65.
van Gelder JL, de Vries RE, Demetriou A, et al. (2019) The virtual reality scenario method: moving from imagination to immersion in criminal decision-making research. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 56(3): 451–480.
66.
van GelderenBRBakkerABKonijnEA, et al. (2011) Daily suppression of discrete emotions during the work of police service workers and criminal investigation officers. Anxiety, Stress & Coping24(5): 515–537.
67.
VigilJM (2009) A socio-relational framework of sex differences in the expression of emotion. Behavioral and Brain Sciences32(5): 375–390.
68.
WebsdaleN (2001) Policing the Poor: From Slave Plantation to Public Housing. Upne. Boston: Northeastern Univ. Press.
69.
WeitzerR (1999) Citizens’ perceptions of police misconduct: race and neighborhood context. Justice Quarterly16(4): 819–846.
70.
WheelerAP (2019) Quantifying the local and spatial effects of alcohol outlets on crime. Crime & Delinquency65: 845–871.
71.
WikströmP-O (2006) Individuals, settings and acts of crime. Situational mechanisms and the explanation of crime. In: Wikström P-O and Sampson RJ (eds) The Explanation of Crime: Context, Mechanisms and Development. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press, 61–107.
WillitsDWMakinDA (2018) Show me what happened: analyzing use of force through analysis of body-worn camera footage. Journal Of Research in Crime and Delinquency55(1): 51–77.
74.
WoodRC (1994) Hotel culture and social control. Annals of Tourism Research21(1): 65–80.
75.
ZapfD (2002) Emotion work and psychological well-being: a review of the literature and some conceptual considerations. Human Resource Management Review12(2): 237–268.
