Editing Use of force (section)

==Officer attributes==
===Education===

Studies have shown that law enforcement personnel with some college education (typically two-year degrees) use force much less often than those with little to no higher education.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Galvan|first1=Astrid|title=Study: Educated Cops Less Likely To Use Force|url=http://www.abqjournal.com/news/metro/3023320metro11-30-10.htm|access-date=October 10, 2014|work=Albuquerque Journal|date=November 30, 2010}}</ref> In events that the educated officers do use force, it is usually what is considered "reasonable" force.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Worden|first1=Robert E.|title=And Justice for All: Understanding and Controlling Police Abuse of Force|date=1995|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven, CT|pages=23–51|url=https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/abstractdb/AbstractDBDetails.aspx?id=155434}}</ref> Despite these findings, very little – only 1% – of police forces within the United States have education requirements for those looking to join their forces.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Rydberg|first1=Jason|last2=Terrill|first2=William|title=The Effect of Higher Education on Police Behavior|journal=Police Quarterly|year=2010|volume=13|issue=1|pages=92–120|doi=10.1177/1098611109357325|s2cid=146747653}}</ref> Some argue that police work deeply requires experience that can only be gained from actually working in the field.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Paoline III|first1=Eugene A.|last2=Terrill|first2=William|title=Police Education, Experience, and the Use of Force|journal=Criminal Justice and Behavior|date=February 2007|volume=34|issue=2|page=182|doi=10.1177/0093854806290239|s2cid=143021093}}</ref>

===Experience===
It is argued that the skills for performing law enforcement tasks well cannot be produced from a classroom setting. These skills tend to be better gained through repeated exposure to law enforcement situations while in the line of work.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Terrill|first1=William|title=Police Education, Experience, and the Use of Force|journal=Criminal Justice and Behavior|date=February 2007|volume=34|issue=2|page=182|url=http://cjb.sagepub.com/content/34/2/179.full.pdf+html|access-date=November 14, 2014}}</ref> The results as to whether or not the amount of experience an officer has contributes to the likelihood that they will use force differ among studies.

=== Other characteristics ===
It has not been strongly found that the race, class, gender, age etc. of an officer affects the likelihood that they will use force.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Travis|first1=Jeremy|last2=Chaiken|first2=Jan|last3=Kaminski|first3=Robert|title=Use of Force by Police|journal=National Institute of Justice|date=October 1999|page=9|url=https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/176330-1.pdf|access-date=November 7, 2014}}</ref> Situational factors may come into play.

==== Split-second syndrome ====
Split-second syndrome is an example of how use of force can be situation-based. Well-meaning officers may resort to the use of force too quickly under situations where they must make a rapid decision.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dunham|first1=Roger G.|last2=Alpert|first2=Geoffrey P.|title=Critical Issues in Policing|date=2010|publisher=Waveland Press, Inc.|location=Long Grove, IL|pages=466|edition=6}}</ref>

===Police dogs===
A 2020 investigation coordinated by the [[Marshall Project]] found evidence of widespread deployment of [[police dog]]s in the U.S. as [[disproportionate force]] and disproportionately against people of color. A series of 13 linked reports, found more than 150 cases from 2015 to 2020 of K-9 officers improperly using dogs as weapons to catch, bite and injure people.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=VanSickle |first1=Abbie |last2=Stephens |first2=Challen |last3=Martin |first3=Ryan |last4=Kelleher |first4=Dana Brozost |last5=Fan |first5=Andrew |date=2020-10-02 |title=When Police Violence Is a Dog Bite |url=https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/10/02/when-police-violence-is-a-dog-bite |access-date=2023-02-20 |website=The Marshall Project |language=en}}</ref> The rate of police K-9 bites in [[Baton Rouge, Louisiana]], a majority-Black city of 220,000 residents, averages more than double that of the next-ranked city, [[Indianapolis]], and nearly one-third of the police dog bites are inflicted on teenage men, most of whom are Black. medical researchers found that police dog attacks are "more like shark attacks than nips from a family pet” due to the aggressive training police dogs undergo. Many people bitten were not violent and were not suspected of crimes. Police officers are often shielded from liability, and federal civil rights laws don’t typically cover bystanders who are bitten by mistake. Even when victims can bring cases, lawyers say they struggle because jurors tend to love police dogs.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Remkus |first=Ashley |date=2020-10-02 |title=We Spent A Year Investigating Police Dogs. Here Are Six Takeaways. |url=https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/10/02/we-spent-a-year-investigating-police-dogs-here-are-six-takeaways |access-date=2023-02-20 |website=The Marshall Project |language=en}}</ref>