Excessive force: A comparative study of police in the Caribbean

Police scholars attribute police use of excessive force to various factors including individual characteristics, situational contingencies, organizational determinants and leadership styles. Most research investigating the determinants of excessive use of force concerns deadly force among urban police agencies in developed nations, primarily the United States. Only recently has research attention focused on excessive force that is less than lethal. This research reports the findings of a study on police perceptions regarding the use of less-than-lethal excessive force in three Caribbean nations. A model is developed based on current literature from developed nations that specifies the relationships among situational, individual, and organizational factors and the use of excessive force as measured by observations, interviews, and surveys. A questionnaire collected data from 672 street-level constables and their immediate supervisors. Observations of constables, interviews with their supervisors, and interviews with command personnel provided the remainder of the data analyzed here. The findings suggest that the determinants of perceived excessive use of force are similar in some respects and different in others between developing nations of the Caribbean and developed nations such as the United States and the United Kingdom. Policy implications for the control of excessive force in developing nations are discussed.