A new simulation study from Paul Taylor, professor of criminology at the University of Colorado Denver, has linked inaccurate dispatch information to an increase in police shootings. For the first time, the experiment has helped quantify and demonstrate the importance of accurate dispatch information and the vital role it plays in the safety of police and citizens.
Taylor’s simulation involved more than 300 active law enforcement officers armed with laser guns. The officers were broken into three groups—with three different dispatch calls—and then responded by engaging with a big-screen video of the situation.
All of the officers listened to a simulated dispatch call for a potential trespass in progress with a description of the subject involved. One group of officers received the initial dispatch information. When they later encountered a subject matching the description from the call who rapidly produced a cellphone from his pocket, 28 percent of the officers shot him. The second group of officers listened to the same initial call with an update that said the subject "appeared to be holding a gun”—62 percent of the officers in this group shot the subject when he produced a cellphone. The third group of officers received the initial dispatch information with an update that said the subject "appeared to be talking on a cellphone"—only 6 percent of officers shot the subject who quickly drew their cellphone from their pocket.
“Inaccurate information can affect decision-making in general. We tend to cling to our initial understanding of an event and seek information that confirms that understanding rather than information to disconfirm it,” Taylor explained to Forensic. “This is particularly true when we are faced with novel and/or rapidly unfolding events. Any time a police officer receives pre-event information, regardless of the source, that leads her or him to believe a weapon may be involved, it will increase the likelihood that the officer may interpret subsequent behavior in that light.”
According to the study, published in Police Quarterly, officers shot a subject more than twice as often when the dispatch call reported the subject appeared to be holding a gun. These types of shootings are sometimes called “cellphone shootings” as officers mistaken a suspect’s cellphone or other non-harmful item for a gun.
In the context of the study, Taylor said the random assignment to the different dispatch groups, the video scenarios and the subsequent differences in how the groups responded to the dispatched information allowed him to ensure it was the dispatched information that was causal, as opposed to an officer’s instinct to protect him or herself.
“What we can say with some certainty is that dispatched information significantly changed shoot/no-shoot decision-making of experienced police officers in a simulated environment,” Taylor said.
Of course, if a dispatcher is informed of a weapon at the scene, the dispatcher must pass along that information. That is something that cannot be altered; however, Taylor said a change in the way officers approach the scene—when possible—could help.
“While it is certainly not always possible, where officers can slow things down and approach a person they suspect is armed from positions that allow them to observe and begin to take in information from the scene itself rather than relying on pre-event information, I think we may be able to improve some outcomes,” he said.
This is just the first step for this research, as Taylor said he will continue to look for ways to improve the resilience of the police response when dispatch information about a person being armed or unarmed is inaccurate.
“We won't prevent all error in the dynamic and complex world of police encounters with potentially armed people, but I certainly think we can reduce them. Even fractions of a second can make a big difference when it comes to improving outcomes without significantly increasing the risk to the involved officers,” said Taylor.