Researchers studied how COVID-19 lockdowns and the 2020 George Floyd protests affected police officers' proactive work—like traffic stops and community patrols—in a major U.S. city. While COVID stay-at-home orders caused a temporary drop in this police activity that quickly bounced back, the Floyd protests led to a sharp and lasting decline in officers initiating contacts with the public. This matters because it shows how social unrest can have a more enduring impact on day-to-day policing than health emergencies, potentially affecting public safety and police-community relations long-term.
Researchers analyzed staffing data from 14 large police agencies to see if officer departures increased after the 2020 George Floyd protests and found that 11 of the 14 agencies experienced significantly higher resignation and retirement rates - with some losing up to 16% more officers than expected. These findings show that public criticism and protests following high-profile police incidents can lead to substantial workforce losses in police departments. Understanding these staffing changes is important because officer shortages can affect how police departments operate and serve their communities.
This study found that most large police departments across the US experienced significant increases in officer resignations and retirements in the two years following the 2020 protests over George Floyd's murder, with eleven of fourteen agencies losing between 2% and 16% more personnel than would normally be expected. These staffing losses matter because they can affect police departments' ability to respond to calls, maintain community relationships, and carry out daily operations. The research helps quantify how nationwide protests and criticism of policing have translated into real workforce changes within police agencies.
Police officers have legal authority to use force, but research shows we still have more questions than clear answers about when and how this power should be used. Courts, especially the Supreme Court, set the main rules for what counts as appropriate force, while new technology and research methods are helping both police departments and researchers better study and control how officers use force. Understanding police use of force is crucial because it directly shapes whether the public trusts and views police as legitimate.
This research examined violations in USDA organic food certification and found that most penalties were issued for paperwork and administrative errors rather than actual farming practices that violated organic standards. The findings reveal how complex bureaucratic requirements can create enforcement burdens that favor larger operations over smaller ones, since bigger companies can better afford the administrative costs of compliance. This demonstrates how regulatory enforcement systems can unintentionally reshape entire markets by making it harder for smaller players to navigate compliance requirements, even when they're following the substantive rules.
When a major police department suddenly ended its K-9 program in 2020, researchers found that officer injuries, suspect injuries, and suspects resisting arrest did not increase during felony arrests. This challenges common police arguments that K-9 units are essential for officer and public safety during dangerous situations. The findings suggest that police departments can restrict or eliminate K-9 programs without putting officers or suspects at greater risk of harm.
Researchers found that people can predict which police cadets will get promoted later in their careers simply by looking at their academy graduation photos, suggesting that facial appearance influences promotion decisions. When shown pairs of photos, observers correctly identified who would be promoted 70% of the time based solely on perceived leadership traits from facial features. This finding raises concerns that police promotions may not be based purely on merit and job performance, but are instead influenced by unconscious biases about how leaders should look.
This study surveyed 529 police officers nationwide to understand how they feel about wearing body cameras and whether different department policies affect their sense of being fairly monitored. The research found that officers' perceptions of fairness depend on specific policy details like when cameras must be turned on and who can review the footage. Understanding officer attitudes toward body cameras matters because negative perceptions could undermine the technology's implementation and effectiveness in improving police accountability.
Researchers surveyed over 1,300 police chiefs and sheriffs to understand what influences their support for civilian oversight of police departments. They found that police executives are much more likely to support oversight when other police agencies have already adopted it, but they largely ignore public opinion—even though voters overwhelmingly favor civilian oversight. This suggests that police reform spreads primarily through professional networks rather than democratic pressure, which helps explain why changes in policing often happen slowly despite strong public demand.
Police departments typically organize their use-of-force policies as a ladder where officers are expected to escalate from "lower" physical force (like strikes or takedowns) to "higher" technological tools (like tasers), but new research analyzing a year of police force incidents found this ranking doesn't match reality. When physical force was treated as a lesser option than electronic weapons, officers got injured more often while suspects got injured less, suggesting the traditional force hierarchy may be backwards. These findings challenge how police departments train officers and structure their policies about when and how to use different types of force.