The Data Science, Police Accountability, and Community Engagement (DSPACE) Research Lab recently released their findings analyzing whether trends in misconduct, use of force, or other types of police behavior within a department tends to cluster within specific subgroup(s) of officers and, if so, what characteristics drive these patterns. 

A few key findings include: 

• Use-of-force incidents are not randomly distributed across pairs of individuals but tend to concentrate within officer partnerships, particularly among those who share similar characteristics such as race, rank, or years of experience.
• Bad behavior can diffuse through social networks—prior exposure to peers involved in problematic conduct can influence an officer’s future behavior.
• Officers who are more centrally connected in a social network, particularly those who act as bridges between otherwise unconnected peers, are significantly more likely to shoot, even after accounting for demographic factors and career movements, such as promotions or transfers.

To learn more about the findings and methods used in this study, visit https://dspace-qside.github.io/posts/complaint-network/.

To read more criminal-legal system research, visit: www.qsideinstitute.org/criminal-legal-system-justice/