Police officer decisionmaking in potentially violent confrontations

Instead of conceptualizing police use of deadly force incidents as single “shoot/don't shoot” decisions, Binder and Scharf (1980) and Scharf and Binder (1983) have characterized police-citizen encounters in terms of a series of events and decisions stretching back in time before the deadly force decision is made. This article presents the results of bivariate analyses of factors related to the Binder/Scharf model using data on potentially violent confrontations in four U.S. cities. The data base is comprised of both deadly force incidents and situations in which a shooting could reasonably have been expected to occur but, in fact, did not. The data provide preliminary indications that deadly force situations, more than averted shooting situations, are characterized by ambiguity and surprise. Additionally, they indicate that the “Information Exchange” phase of an encounter may be critical in determining whether deadly force will be used or averted.