From Conflict to Cooperation: Examining Turning Points in Police Interactions

The turning points framework (Druckman, 2001[MC1.1]) has been used to evaluate shifts in cooperation during high stakes business negotiations. These shifts, referred to as turning points, are detectable by examining the actions and behaviours that precede them, referred to as precipitants. Due to the high stakes nature of police-suspect interactions, new perspectives for evaluating these interactions remains a core focus of police research to help provide insight into the current strengths of police training, identify possible gaps, and pinpoint variables outside the control of law enforcement that may affect how these interactions proceed. As police practices have shifted from being outcome-based towards emphasizing the entire interactional process, research perspectives that mirror this trend are essential for providing accurate and realistic findings and recommendations for law enforcement and future research. To test the potential of the turning points framework in police-suspect interactions, a sample of body-worn camera footage was selected from available open-access body-worn camera footage. Due to the limited availability of open-access footage, the sample used constitutes a convenience sample. To evaluate each video, and each turning point, Chiller et al. (2021) body-worn camera coding book will be used in the current study. For each video, general details will be coded using the static variable portion of the coding book. For each turning point, the dynamic variable portion of the coding book will be used. Based on the existing literature on de-escalation and use of force factors, it is anticipated that positive turning points, in which a favourable shift in cooperation occurs, will be preceded by more behaviours and actions that are consistent with the literature on de-escalation. In contrast, negative turning points in which cooperation is reduced are expected to be preceded by a greater number of actions and behaviours that are not associated with successful de-escalation, and are more likely to involve a use of force incident or an increase in the use of force.