Officer networks and firearm behaviors

Abstract

We reconstruct the networks of officers co-involved in force incidents to test whether interactions with weapon-prone peers impact firearm use. We draw from a statewide dataset of force incidents across law enforcement agencies in New Jersey and employ conditional likelihood models to estimate whether exposure to peers with histories of firearm use is associated with an officer’s own likelihood of firearm use net of other contextual confounders. We find preliminary evidence that officer firearm behaviors, including drawing, pointing, and discharging a firearm, are influenced by an officer’s peers. Greater exposure to colleagues with histories of firearm use is associated with a lower risk of using a firearm. We also find that officer features, including experience and race/ethnicity, are associated with the risk of firearm use. Our study suggests officers’ peers structure the risk of firearm use. Our data allow us to look at time order and rule out situational confounders pertaining to firearm use, however, do not allow us to infer causality. We discuss the study’s implications for understanding forearm behaviors and the role of network science in moving policing research forward

Marie Ouellet

Principal Investigator

Her research focuses on delinquent groups, including how they emerge and evolve, and how networks structure this process. She is currently leading a longitudinal study on police networks to better understand the informal structure of policing, including organizational cohesion and fragmentation within departments, and the consequences of these network structures on the diffusion of behaviors and attitudes. Ouellet’s work has been published in Criminology, Criminology & Public Policy, Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, and Justice Quarterly.

Sadaf Hashimi

Assistant Professor

Dr. Hashimi’s research centers on issues pertaining to policing and policy, peer influence and crime, and violence prevention efforts. Specifically, Dr. Hashimi employs social network analysis and various other research designs to uncover patterns of criminal and non-criminal behaviors that relate to co-offending, police misconduct, police use of force, and gang involvement.