Steve Bishopp - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Steve Bishopp

Research paper thumbnail of Asset Forfeiture

Research paper thumbnail of What Factors Influence an Officer’s Decision to Shoot? The Promise and Limitations of Using Public Data

Justice Research and Policy, 2017

We analyze a set of 207 Dallas Police Department officer-involved shooting incidents in reference... more We analyze a set of 207 Dallas Police Department officer-involved shooting incidents in reference to 1,702 instances in which officers from the same agency drew their firearms but did not shoot at the suspect. We find that situational factors of whether the suspect was armed and whether an officer was injured were the best predictors of the decision to shoot. We also find that African Americans are less likely than Whites to be shot. It is important to collect data on encounters in which weapons are and are not discharged. Analyses examining only shootings is fundamentally limited in assessing racial bias.

Research paper thumbnail of Re-Opening Dallas: A Short-Term Evaluation of COVID-19 Regulations and Crime

Crime & Delinquency, 2021

We investigated the relationship between COVID-19 stay-at-home regulations and property and viole... more We investigated the relationship between COVID-19 stay-at-home regulations and property and violent crime indexes in Dallas, TX during the first 6 months of 2020. We tested for changes in property and violent crime trends using four key “intervention” dates: the stay-at-home order issued by Judge Clay Jenkins (March 24), the start of Governor Abbott’s phase one of re-opening (May 1), a second phase of more widespread re-openings (May 18), and a third phase of increased capacity limits for businesses (June 3). Our analyses point to two main findings: (1) the time between the initial stay-at-home policy and the phase one re-opening was associated with an increase in the trend of both violent and property crime (although at lower levels than pre-pandemic); and (2) the third phase of re-opening the City of Dallas was associated with higher daily counts of property and violent crime. Our findings suggest that policy makers need to consider policies not only related to police enforcement ...

Research paper thumbnail of Examining the Spatial Distribution of Crime by Victim Characteristics

Deviant Behavior, 2021

It is well known that victims do not consistently report crimes. More problematically, victims in... more It is well known that victims do not consistently report crimes. More problematically, victims in disadvantaged neighborhoods with high percentages of minority residents are not likely to report at high rates. Crime mapping is often considered at an aggregate level; however, the present study examines crime from a victim-perspective to better understand how crime is distributed by victim characteristics. Results reveal interesting similarities and differences in the geographical distribution of crime when disaggregated by victim race. Implications and directions for future research are also discussed.

Research paper thumbnail of Examining the Risk of Recurring Use of Force Incidents Among Newly Hired Police Officers

Crime & Delinquency, 2021

Police force, though rare, has profound implications for citizens and officers involved and the c... more Police force, though rare, has profound implications for citizens and officers involved and the community-at-large. It is vital for police agencies to review officer use of force, identify potential misconduct, and reduce repeated officer misconduct. Yet, little is known about what predicts subsequent uses of force and temporal distance between uses of force. The current study employs use of force data from a large, metropolitan police agency in the southwestern United States to examine the likelihood and timing between repeated uses of force. Results indicate officers may be affected by police-citizen encounters, as the likelihood of a subsequent use of force was reduced when their initial use of force occurred in neighborhoods with higher minority composition and the time to a subsequent use of force increased when their initial use of force resulted in citizen injury. For officers with a subsequent use of force, more than half had their next use of force within 3 months of their ...

Research paper thumbnail of A Longitudinal Analysis of Sexual Assault Incidents by Race/Ethnicity

International Journal of Criminal Justice, 2019

Research paper thumbnail of Negative Affective Responses to Stress among Urban Police Officers: A General Strain Theory Approach

Deviant Behavior, 2018

The larger literature on police stress indicates that much of their stress emanates from two sour... more The larger literature on police stress indicates that much of their stress emanates from two sources: organizational and environmental. These sources coexist in officers' lives but function differently across police agencies. Officer experiences with stress also tend to lead to emotional reactions, some of which can be negative and increase the risk of misconduct. Agnew's general strain theory provides one useful theoretical framework within which the relationship between officer strain and negative emotions can be investigated. Using data from three urban Texas police agencies, this study investigates the main sources of police strain as predictors of anger, depression, and burnout. Further, differences in negative emotions across agencies are also examined. Results show that organizational stress is significantly related to all three negative emotions across agencies. Implications and future research directions are highlighted.

Research paper thumbnail of Toward a Constructive Public Health Agenda on Race and Police Use of Force

American Journal of Public Health, 2017

Research paper thumbnail of OUP accepted manuscript

Journal Of Public Health, 2019

Research paper thumbnail of Stress Inside Police Departments

Research paper thumbnail of Exploring the police use of force continuum with a partial proportional odds model

Policing: An International Journal

PurposeThe present study examines a range of police force on the continuum (firearms, TASER/chemi... more PurposeThe present study examines a range of police force on the continuum (firearms, TASER/chemical spray and physical force) to see whether they are associated with individual (subject and officer), situational and/or neighborhood factors.Design/methodology/approachA partial proportional odds model is used to analyze police use of force data from 2003 to 2016 in Dallas. Independent variables are allowed for varying effects across the different cumulative dichotomizations of the dependent variable (firearms vs TASER/chemical spray and physical force and firearms and TASER/chemical spray vs physical force).FindingsMost officer demographic and situational factors are consistently significant across the cumulative dichotomizations of police force. In addition, suspect race/ethnicity (Hispanic) and violent crime rates play significant roles when officers make decisions to use firearms, as opposed to TASER/chemical spray and physical force. Overall, situational variables (subject gun po...

Research paper thumbnail of Stress Inside Police Departments

Research paper thumbnail of The Police “Presence”

Appearance Bias and Crime, 2019

Research paper thumbnail of Who Is At-Risk? An Examination of the Likelihood and Time Variation in the Predictors of Repeated Police Misconduct

Police Quarterly, 2021

Increasing transparency and accountability in policing is a top priority for police administrator... more Increasing transparency and accountability in policing is a top priority for police administrators, community groups, academics, and many others. The internal affairs process is an accountability tool designed to hold officers and agencies accountable to the citizens they serve, yet very little is known about the effect of internal investigative units on such outcomes as subsequent complaints and temporal distances between complaints. This current study examines two critical aspects of the internal affairs process, the likelihood of subsequent complaints and temporal distance between the first and a subsequent complaint of misconduct. Officers’ complaint data were collected from the internal affairs unit of a large, metropolitan police agency in the southwestern United States. Results indicate that a longer time to initial complaint and regional patrol assignment were related to a reduced likelihood of receiving future complaints. Moreover, of those officers who received a subsequen...

Research paper thumbnail of Reply to Gonzalez et al

American Journal of Criminal Justice, 2020

You can disagree without being disagreeable"-Ruth Bader Ginsburg We appreciate Editor Miller's in... more You can disagree without being disagreeable"-Ruth Bader Ginsburg We appreciate Editor Miller's invitation to provide some remarks on a recent commentary submitted by Gonzalez et al. We reflected for some time on whether to dedicate our effort and time to countering the inaccuracies in the commentary but feel that the errors, contradictions, inconsistencies, and tone of the commentary, unfortunately demand our attention. Accordingly, and because journal space is precious, we take a brief moment to provide our thoughts on their work and highlight some key differencesdoing so in a constructive way-the way the community of scholars is meant to operate. The authors raise several points regarding our study: (1) the design itself was flawed and did not include more than 1 year of data for comparison; (2) the analytical methodology was non-conventional and appeared to be biased in favor of detecting a significant association; and (3) the authors' conclusions in the manuscript are contradictory and inaccurate findings were disseminated. We address each of them in turn.

Research paper thumbnail of Can police shootings be reduced by requiring officers to document when they point firearms at citizens?

Injury Prevention, 2021

ObjectiveTo examine the impact of a novel firearm ‘pointing’ policy that requires officers to doc... more ObjectiveTo examine the impact of a novel firearm ‘pointing’ policy that requires officers to document when they directly point their guns at citizens.MethodsSixteen years (2003–2018) of narrative officer-involved shooting (OIS) reports from the Dallas Police Department were qualitatively coded to explore both the total frequency and specific characteristics of OIS before and after the policy change in 2013.Resultsχ2 tests found that the firearm pointing policy was associated with a reduction in the proportion of ‘threat perception failure’ shootings (ie, those where an officer mistakes an item for a gun). Auto Regressive Integrated Moving Average analysis found that the policy change was associated with a gradual, permanent reduction in total OIS; however, that impact was not immediate.ConclusionsFirearm pointing policies have the potential to alter organisational behaviour, particularly in highly discretionary shootings. It is unclear whether the specific mechanisms for the change...

Research paper thumbnail of Do policy and training changes influence patterns of police use of force? An interrupted time-series analysis

Policing: An International Journal, 2020

PurposeThe current study examines the effect of changing a specific use-of-force policy coupled w... more PurposeThe current study examines the effect of changing a specific use-of-force policy coupled with de-escalation training implementation on patterns of police use of force.Design/methodology/approachAn interrupted time-series analysis was used to examine changes in police use-of-force incident records gathered from a large, southwestern US metropolitan police department from 2013 to 2017 based on a TASER policy change and de-escalation training implementation mid-2015.FindingsResults demonstrate that changes to use-of-force policy regarding one type of force (i.e. use of TASERs) coinciding with de-escalation training influence the prevalence of use-of-force incidents by increasing the reported police use-of-force incidents after the changes were implemented. This finding is somewhat consistent with prior literature but not always in the desired direction.Practical implicationsWhen police departments make adjustments to use-of-force policies and/or trainings, unintended consequence...

Research paper thumbnail of Police Stress and Race: Using General Strain Theory to Examine Racial Differences in Police Misconduct

Crime & Delinquency, 2020

A large body of research demonstrates the toll stress takes on police. However, with recent high-... more A large body of research demonstrates the toll stress takes on police. However, with recent high-profile force incidents that have fueled distrust of police especially within minority communities, there is reason to expect that minority officers experience stress differently than their white counterparts. Within the context of Agnew’s (1992) General Strain Theory, this study examines the relationship between police stress and misconduct. As well, since a police stress/anger relationship has been found, we also analyze racial differences in the extent to which negative affect (anger) mediates the stress/outcome relationship. Using data from a survey of over 1,400 police officers working in three large cities in Texas, we find that stress is significantly related to officers’ acts of misconduct within both races. Moreover, there are noticeable differences in the role anger plays in the stress/misconduct relationship among white and minority officers.

Research paper thumbnail of Cumulative, high-stress calls impacting adverse events among law enforcement and the public

BMC Public Health, 2020

Background The unpredictable, and sometimes dangerous, nature of the occupation exposes officers ... more Background The unpredictable, and sometimes dangerous, nature of the occupation exposes officers to both acute and chronic stress over law enforcement officers’ (LEO) tenure. The purpose of this study is two-fold: 1) Describe multi-level characteristics that define high-stress calls for service for LEO; and 2) Characterize factors that impact cumulative stress over the course of a LEO’s shift. Methods Qualitative data were collected from 28 LEOs at three law enforcement agencies in the Dallas-Fort Worth areas from April 2019 to February 2020. Focus group data were iteratively coded by four coders using inductive and deductive thematic identification. Results Five multi-level factors influenced officer stress: 1) officer characteristics (e.g. military experience; gender); 2) civilian behavior (e.g. resistance, displaying a weapon); 3) supervisor factors (micromanagement); 4) environmental factors (e.g. time of year); and, 5) situational factors (e.g. audience present; complexity of ...

Research paper thumbnail of The effect of suspect race on police officers’ decisions to draw their weapons

Justice Quarterly, 2020

Abstract Researchers are working to identify appropriate benchmarks for exploring racial bias in ... more Abstract 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 suspect race and other suspect, officer, and incident characteristics. We benchmarked by limiting analyses to arrest and active aggression cases, thereby excluding interactions in which it was less likely suspects would have had weapons drawn against them. The key finding was that black suspects were no more or less likely to have weapons drawn against them than other suspects.

Research paper thumbnail of Asset Forfeiture

Research paper thumbnail of What Factors Influence an Officer’s Decision to Shoot? The Promise and Limitations of Using Public Data

Justice Research and Policy, 2017

We analyze a set of 207 Dallas Police Department officer-involved shooting incidents in reference... more We analyze a set of 207 Dallas Police Department officer-involved shooting incidents in reference to 1,702 instances in which officers from the same agency drew their firearms but did not shoot at the suspect. We find that situational factors of whether the suspect was armed and whether an officer was injured were the best predictors of the decision to shoot. We also find that African Americans are less likely than Whites to be shot. It is important to collect data on encounters in which weapons are and are not discharged. Analyses examining only shootings is fundamentally limited in assessing racial bias.

Research paper thumbnail of Re-Opening Dallas: A Short-Term Evaluation of COVID-19 Regulations and Crime

Crime & Delinquency, 2021

We investigated the relationship between COVID-19 stay-at-home regulations and property and viole... more We investigated the relationship between COVID-19 stay-at-home regulations and property and violent crime indexes in Dallas, TX during the first 6 months of 2020. We tested for changes in property and violent crime trends using four key “intervention” dates: the stay-at-home order issued by Judge Clay Jenkins (March 24), the start of Governor Abbott’s phase one of re-opening (May 1), a second phase of more widespread re-openings (May 18), and a third phase of increased capacity limits for businesses (June 3). Our analyses point to two main findings: (1) the time between the initial stay-at-home policy and the phase one re-opening was associated with an increase in the trend of both violent and property crime (although at lower levels than pre-pandemic); and (2) the third phase of re-opening the City of Dallas was associated with higher daily counts of property and violent crime. Our findings suggest that policy makers need to consider policies not only related to police enforcement ...

Research paper thumbnail of Examining the Spatial Distribution of Crime by Victim Characteristics

Deviant Behavior, 2021

It is well known that victims do not consistently report crimes. More problematically, victims in... more It is well known that victims do not consistently report crimes. More problematically, victims in disadvantaged neighborhoods with high percentages of minority residents are not likely to report at high rates. Crime mapping is often considered at an aggregate level; however, the present study examines crime from a victim-perspective to better understand how crime is distributed by victim characteristics. Results reveal interesting similarities and differences in the geographical distribution of crime when disaggregated by victim race. Implications and directions for future research are also discussed.

Research paper thumbnail of Examining the Risk of Recurring Use of Force Incidents Among Newly Hired Police Officers

Crime & Delinquency, 2021

Police force, though rare, has profound implications for citizens and officers involved and the c... more Police force, though rare, has profound implications for citizens and officers involved and the community-at-large. It is vital for police agencies to review officer use of force, identify potential misconduct, and reduce repeated officer misconduct. Yet, little is known about what predicts subsequent uses of force and temporal distance between uses of force. The current study employs use of force data from a large, metropolitan police agency in the southwestern United States to examine the likelihood and timing between repeated uses of force. Results indicate officers may be affected by police-citizen encounters, as the likelihood of a subsequent use of force was reduced when their initial use of force occurred in neighborhoods with higher minority composition and the time to a subsequent use of force increased when their initial use of force resulted in citizen injury. For officers with a subsequent use of force, more than half had their next use of force within 3 months of their ...

Research paper thumbnail of A Longitudinal Analysis of Sexual Assault Incidents by Race/Ethnicity

International Journal of Criminal Justice, 2019

Research paper thumbnail of Negative Affective Responses to Stress among Urban Police Officers: A General Strain Theory Approach

Deviant Behavior, 2018

The larger literature on police stress indicates that much of their stress emanates from two sour... more The larger literature on police stress indicates that much of their stress emanates from two sources: organizational and environmental. These sources coexist in officers' lives but function differently across police agencies. Officer experiences with stress also tend to lead to emotional reactions, some of which can be negative and increase the risk of misconduct. Agnew's general strain theory provides one useful theoretical framework within which the relationship between officer strain and negative emotions can be investigated. Using data from three urban Texas police agencies, this study investigates the main sources of police strain as predictors of anger, depression, and burnout. Further, differences in negative emotions across agencies are also examined. Results show that organizational stress is significantly related to all three negative emotions across agencies. Implications and future research directions are highlighted.

Research paper thumbnail of Toward a Constructive Public Health Agenda on Race and Police Use of Force

American Journal of Public Health, 2017

Research paper thumbnail of OUP accepted manuscript

Journal Of Public Health, 2019

Research paper thumbnail of Stress Inside Police Departments

Research paper thumbnail of Exploring the police use of force continuum with a partial proportional odds model

Policing: An International Journal

PurposeThe present study examines a range of police force on the continuum (firearms, TASER/chemi... more PurposeThe present study examines a range of police force on the continuum (firearms, TASER/chemical spray and physical force) to see whether they are associated with individual (subject and officer), situational and/or neighborhood factors.Design/methodology/approachA partial proportional odds model is used to analyze police use of force data from 2003 to 2016 in Dallas. Independent variables are allowed for varying effects across the different cumulative dichotomizations of the dependent variable (firearms vs TASER/chemical spray and physical force and firearms and TASER/chemical spray vs physical force).FindingsMost officer demographic and situational factors are consistently significant across the cumulative dichotomizations of police force. In addition, suspect race/ethnicity (Hispanic) and violent crime rates play significant roles when officers make decisions to use firearms, as opposed to TASER/chemical spray and physical force. Overall, situational variables (subject gun po...

Research paper thumbnail of Stress Inside Police Departments

Research paper thumbnail of The Police “Presence”

Appearance Bias and Crime, 2019

Research paper thumbnail of Who Is At-Risk? An Examination of the Likelihood and Time Variation in the Predictors of Repeated Police Misconduct

Police Quarterly, 2021

Increasing transparency and accountability in policing is a top priority for police administrator... more Increasing transparency and accountability in policing is a top priority for police administrators, community groups, academics, and many others. The internal affairs process is an accountability tool designed to hold officers and agencies accountable to the citizens they serve, yet very little is known about the effect of internal investigative units on such outcomes as subsequent complaints and temporal distances between complaints. This current study examines two critical aspects of the internal affairs process, the likelihood of subsequent complaints and temporal distance between the first and a subsequent complaint of misconduct. Officers’ complaint data were collected from the internal affairs unit of a large, metropolitan police agency in the southwestern United States. Results indicate that a longer time to initial complaint and regional patrol assignment were related to a reduced likelihood of receiving future complaints. Moreover, of those officers who received a subsequen...

Research paper thumbnail of Reply to Gonzalez et al

American Journal of Criminal Justice, 2020

You can disagree without being disagreeable"-Ruth Bader Ginsburg We appreciate Editor Miller's in... more You can disagree without being disagreeable"-Ruth Bader Ginsburg We appreciate Editor Miller's invitation to provide some remarks on a recent commentary submitted by Gonzalez et al. We reflected for some time on whether to dedicate our effort and time to countering the inaccuracies in the commentary but feel that the errors, contradictions, inconsistencies, and tone of the commentary, unfortunately demand our attention. Accordingly, and because journal space is precious, we take a brief moment to provide our thoughts on their work and highlight some key differencesdoing so in a constructive way-the way the community of scholars is meant to operate. The authors raise several points regarding our study: (1) the design itself was flawed and did not include more than 1 year of data for comparison; (2) the analytical methodology was non-conventional and appeared to be biased in favor of detecting a significant association; and (3) the authors' conclusions in the manuscript are contradictory and inaccurate findings were disseminated. We address each of them in turn.

Research paper thumbnail of Can police shootings be reduced by requiring officers to document when they point firearms at citizens?

Injury Prevention, 2021

ObjectiveTo examine the impact of a novel firearm ‘pointing’ policy that requires officers to doc... more ObjectiveTo examine the impact of a novel firearm ‘pointing’ policy that requires officers to document when they directly point their guns at citizens.MethodsSixteen years (2003–2018) of narrative officer-involved shooting (OIS) reports from the Dallas Police Department were qualitatively coded to explore both the total frequency and specific characteristics of OIS before and after the policy change in 2013.Resultsχ2 tests found that the firearm pointing policy was associated with a reduction in the proportion of ‘threat perception failure’ shootings (ie, those where an officer mistakes an item for a gun). Auto Regressive Integrated Moving Average analysis found that the policy change was associated with a gradual, permanent reduction in total OIS; however, that impact was not immediate.ConclusionsFirearm pointing policies have the potential to alter organisational behaviour, particularly in highly discretionary shootings. It is unclear whether the specific mechanisms for the change...

Research paper thumbnail of Do policy and training changes influence patterns of police use of force? An interrupted time-series analysis

Policing: An International Journal, 2020

PurposeThe current study examines the effect of changing a specific use-of-force policy coupled w... more PurposeThe current study examines the effect of changing a specific use-of-force policy coupled with de-escalation training implementation on patterns of police use of force.Design/methodology/approachAn interrupted time-series analysis was used to examine changes in police use-of-force incident records gathered from a large, southwestern US metropolitan police department from 2013 to 2017 based on a TASER policy change and de-escalation training implementation mid-2015.FindingsResults demonstrate that changes to use-of-force policy regarding one type of force (i.e. use of TASERs) coinciding with de-escalation training influence the prevalence of use-of-force incidents by increasing the reported police use-of-force incidents after the changes were implemented. This finding is somewhat consistent with prior literature but not always in the desired direction.Practical implicationsWhen police departments make adjustments to use-of-force policies and/or trainings, unintended consequence...

Research paper thumbnail of Police Stress and Race: Using General Strain Theory to Examine Racial Differences in Police Misconduct

Crime & Delinquency, 2020

A large body of research demonstrates the toll stress takes on police. However, with recent high-... more A large body of research demonstrates the toll stress takes on police. However, with recent high-profile force incidents that have fueled distrust of police especially within minority communities, there is reason to expect that minority officers experience stress differently than their white counterparts. Within the context of Agnew’s (1992) General Strain Theory, this study examines the relationship between police stress and misconduct. As well, since a police stress/anger relationship has been found, we also analyze racial differences in the extent to which negative affect (anger) mediates the stress/outcome relationship. Using data from a survey of over 1,400 police officers working in three large cities in Texas, we find that stress is significantly related to officers’ acts of misconduct within both races. Moreover, there are noticeable differences in the role anger plays in the stress/misconduct relationship among white and minority officers.

Research paper thumbnail of Cumulative, high-stress calls impacting adverse events among law enforcement and the public

BMC Public Health, 2020

Background The unpredictable, and sometimes dangerous, nature of the occupation exposes officers ... more Background The unpredictable, and sometimes dangerous, nature of the occupation exposes officers to both acute and chronic stress over law enforcement officers’ (LEO) tenure. The purpose of this study is two-fold: 1) Describe multi-level characteristics that define high-stress calls for service for LEO; and 2) Characterize factors that impact cumulative stress over the course of a LEO’s shift. Methods Qualitative data were collected from 28 LEOs at three law enforcement agencies in the Dallas-Fort Worth areas from April 2019 to February 2020. Focus group data were iteratively coded by four coders using inductive and deductive thematic identification. Results Five multi-level factors influenced officer stress: 1) officer characteristics (e.g. military experience; gender); 2) civilian behavior (e.g. resistance, displaying a weapon); 3) supervisor factors (micromanagement); 4) environmental factors (e.g. time of year); and, 5) situational factors (e.g. audience present; complexity of ...

Research paper thumbnail of The effect of suspect race on police officers’ decisions to draw their weapons

Justice Quarterly, 2020

Abstract Researchers are working to identify appropriate benchmarks for exploring racial bias in ... more Abstract 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 suspect race and other suspect, officer, and incident characteristics. We benchmarked by limiting analyses to arrest and active aggression cases, thereby excluding interactions in which it was less likely suspects would have had weapons drawn against them. The key finding was that black suspects were no more or less likely to have weapons drawn against them than other suspects.