Dr Rylan Simpson1
1Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada
Introduction: Public-police interactions can be conceptualized as a series of transactions. One seminal moment within the transactional record occurs when the attending officer designates the interaction as low risk (or “Code 4”). As part of the present research, I explore the correlates of such risk designation.
Methods: I draw upon calls for service data from a police agency in California to assess factors that affect officers’ perceptions of risk. Such factors include event, time, and officer information.
Results: My analyses are currently in-progress, however preliminary results reveal a series of patterns regarding officers’ perceptions of risk and associated “Code 4” designations.
Conclusion: Understanding how officers interpret risk is necessary for both reducing risk and accounting for risk in patrol work. The present research contributes to the growing evidence-based policing movement by providing empirical insight into an otherwise understudied element of frontline policing.
Biography:
Rylan Simpson, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University. His research interests include policing, perceptions of police, police organizations, theories of crime, and social psychology. He approaches his research using a variety of different methodologies, including experimental and quantitative analyses. He has published his work in several peer-reviewed journals and presented it for scholarly and policing communities across the world. He has also participated in more than 1,300 hours of police ride-alongs in Canada, Australia, the United States as well as the United Kingdom and worked as a police dispatcher since 2012.