**Purpose**: There has been growing interest from legislators and civil rights groups to identify subgroups within law enforcement agencies. Yet, few studies have examined the attributes and behaviors of officers recruited to join. This study adopts …
**Objectives**: The importance of peer relations is rooted in decades of policing research; however, scholars have largely overlooked the role of peers in officers’ use-of-force behaviors. The current study investigates the “connected” nature of …
BACKGROUND: WHAT ARE POLICE SUBGROUPS? Policing is inherently collaborative. Officers develop strong bonds to navigate stressful, high-pressure situations, relying on teamwork, shared duties, and coordinated efforts to maintain public safety. These shared bonds sometimes create unofficial “subgroups” with unique identities or symbols known only to their members.
BACKGROUND: WHAT DRIVES OFFICERS TO USE FORCE TOGETHER? Police use of force tends to involve groups of officers rather than individuals acting alone. The impact of individual acts of police use of force is evident, but the way in which groups of abusive officers emerge within police forces is still not fully understood.
Would police racial and gender diversification reduce Black Americans' fear of the police? The theory of representative bureaucracy indicates that it might. We tested the effects of officer diversity in two experiments embedded in a national survey …