Using GIS to Monitor and Investigate Police Use of Force: The Spatial Distribution of Force Factors

This chapter describes the potential utility of geospatial analysis as applied to monitoring, understanding, and responding to police use-of-force incidents . Data are drawn from 1,240 official use-of-force reports in the City of Seattle, representing a two and a quarter year period. Each report includes officer identifier information, suspect demographic information, a categorization of the type of suspect resistance and how force was applied, as well as information about location, booking, injuries, and evidence of impairment or suspected impairment. In addition to coding these administrative data elements, the authors coded the content of the officer narratives with regard to the nature of officer-suspect interactions as well as relevant Graham factors. Force and resistance levels were classified based on complementary scales drawing from previous research. All use-of-force data was attributed to geocoded incident locations. A series of maps and basic spatial statistics demonstrate how GIS can assist in understanding the nature and scope of police use of force and potentially improve the quality of police monitoring and accountability mechanisms.