Bryce Jenkins

Carleton University · Department of Psychology

Significant concerns have been raised about the use of tactical officers, who are suggested to be predisposed to use force—particularly deadly force—when interacting with the public. Given this, we conducted a systematic review of research that compares the decision-making of officers with tactical experience and those without tactical experience (...

Based on an analysis of data released through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, Canadian researchers have suggested that Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams are no longer exclusively deployed to resolve high-risk incidents but now frequently respond to routine calls that do not necessitate their involvement. Given concerns about these con...

In the wake of recent fatal police–public interactions, some of which have involved individuals in crisis, there has been an increase in calls for police training that emphasizes de-escalation. Despite the investment of significant resources dedicated to de-escalation training, there are several barriers that are likely to detract from the effectiv...

Previous research has suggested that tactical officers across North America commonly respond to calls characterized as 'routine,' which has raised significant concerns. However, most of this research relies on de-contextualized data, such as the broad call category of an incident (e.g., domestic), to ascertain the nature of the incidents that recei...

Given the implications of officer decisions during potentially volatile interactions with the public, it is imperative that police training provides officers with the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities to effectively manage conflict. Fortunately, there is growing effort to expand our knowledge base on how best to train officers for the chal...

We conducted a narrative review of existing literature to identify the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) necessary for officers who police in democratic societies to successfully manage potentially volatile police–public interactions. This review revealed 10 such KSAs that are frequently discussed in the literature. These KSAs include: (1) kn...

Under conditions of physiological stress, officers are sometimes required to make split-second life-or-death decisions, where deficits in performance can have tragic outcomes, including serious injury or death and strained police–community relations. The current study assessed the performance of 122 active-duty police officers during a realistic le...

Concerns surrounding the use of force by police officers appear to be growing, fuelled by perceptions that the police use force too frequently, research showing that force is applied disproportionately to members of certain groups, and the view held by some that the mechanisms for holding police responsible for unjustified force are inadequate. In...

A small body of research suggests that the use of police tactical officers has become normalized in that they now commonly respond to “routine” calls rather than being restricted to high-risk situations. However, this research has tended to rely on crude data (i.e., call type), which fails to account for the context of the calls (e.g., the presence...

To develop a more informed understanding of why tactical officers are used in Canada, we interviewed patrol and tactical officers from three Canadian police services (Jenkins et al., 2020). Interviewees indicated that tactical officers tend to be used on calls that go beyond the capabilities of patrol officers, including high-risk calls and calls u...

The current study examines the impact of a recently implemented community-based Crisis Outreach and Support Team (COAST) in a small Canadian police service. COAST pairs a police officer from the South Simcoe Police Service in Ontario, Canada with a crisis response worker from either the Canadian Mental Health Association or York Support Services Ne...

It is important to understand how uniforms influence public perceptions of the police. The current study utilized a randomized design in which undergraduate students at a Canadian university were exposed to a series of photographs of officers wearing different uniform configurations (i.e., special duty vs. traditional uniform, dark vs. light shirt,...

People are known to offload memory processing tasks to devices, such as cameras. We examined whether body-worn cameras (BWCs) are used in this way by police officers. Fifty officers responded to a simulated domestic dispute that resulted in lethal force. Half the sample was provided a BWC and told their footage would be available to assist with pos...

Given their potential to reach a large audience, online recruitment videos are likely a useful way for police services to recruit applicants. To increase the likelihood of people applying, these videos should focus on issues potential employees consider when making career decisions. A literature review revealed six job factors that people consider...

In order to optimize public and officer safety, law enforcement training needs to adequately prepare officers for the complex tasks they will experience in the field. The incorporation of carefully-designed scenario-based training (SBT) into pre- and in-service training is essential for the development of effective decision making during dynamic, p...

Purpose A narrative review of existing research literature was conducted to identify practices that are likely to improve the quality of de-escalation and use-of-force training for police officers. Design/methodology/approach Previous reviews of de-escalation and use-of-force training literature were examined to identify promising training practic...

Purpose There has been an increasing emphasis on developing officers who can effectively make decisions in dynamic and stressful environments to manage volatile situations. The aim of this paper is to guide those seeking to optimize the limited resources dedicated to police training. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on research related to stres...

In order to better understand the use of tactical police resources in Canada we interviewed patrol and tactical officers (N = 28) from three Canadian police services. A thematic analysis indicated that tactical officers are primarily responding to calls beyond the capabilities of patrol to resolve optimally which included high-risk calls as denoted...

This literature review assessed research related to injuries and deaths proximate to oleoresin capsicum (OC) spray deployment. Our review of 22 relevant documents suggests that OC spray is often effective and is typically associated with decreased odds of both subject and “deployer” injury. When OC-associated injuries do occur, they consistently ap...

Policing is a highly stressful and dangerous profession that involves a complex set of environmental, psychosocial, and health risks. The current study examined autonomic stress responses experienced by 64 police officers, during general duty calls for service (CFS) and interactions with the public. Advancing previous research, this study utilized...