Working Paper: NBER ID: w24202
Authors: Bocar Ba; Jeffrey Grogger
Abstract: In March 2010, the Chicago Police Department changed its Taser policy, issuing the weapons to patrol officers instead of largely restricting their use to sergeants. We used that policy change to obtain difference-in-difference estimates of how the availability of Tasers affected the types of force employed by police, the total number of use-of-force incidents, injury rates per incident, the total number of injuries, and the race distribution of civilians involved in use-of-force incidents. The policy change initially led to a large increase in the use of Tasers, with limited substitution from other types of force. After a period of re-training, substitution between Tasers and other types of force, both greater and lesser, increased. Police injuries fell, but neither injury rates nor the number of injuries to civilians were affected. There is no evidence that Tasers led to a reduction in police use of firearms.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: K4
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| introduction of tasers (Y50) | increased use of tasers among patrol officers (J45) |
| increased use of tasers among patrol officers (J45) | reduction in use of minor force (Y50) |
| increased use of tasers among patrol officers (J45) | increased total use-of-force incidents (H56) |
| retraining in late 2012 (M53) | substitution of tasers for intermediate and major uses of force (Y50) |
| substitution of tasers for intermediate and major uses of force (Y50) | reduction in total use-of-force incidents (H56) |
| introduction of tasers (Y50) | fall in police injury rates (J28) |
| introduction of tasers (Y50) | no reduction in civilian injury rates (H56) |
| introduction of tasers (Y50) | no evidence of reduction in police use of firearms (J45) |