ORIGINAL ARTICLES

Excessive use of force by police: a survey of academic emergency physicians

H R Hutson¹, D Anglin², P Rice³, D N Kyriacou⁴, M Guirguis⁵, J Strote⁶

¹ Department of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
² Department of Emergency Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
³ Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
⁴ Department of Emergency Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA
⁵ Kaiser Permanente Fontana, Fontana, California, USA
⁶ Division of Emergency Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

Correspondence to:
Dr J Strote, Division of Emergency Medicine University of Washington Medical Center, Box 356123, 1959 NE Pacific Street, Seattle, WA 98195, USA; strote{at}u.washington.edu

Objective: To determine the clinical experience, management and training of emergency physicians in the suspected use of excessive force by law enforcement officers.

Methods: Surveys were mailed to a random sample of academic emergency physicians in the USA.

Results: Of 393 emergency physicians surveyed, 315 (80.2%) responded. Of the respondents, 99.8% (95% CI 98.2% to 100.0%) believed excessive use of force actually occurs and 97.8% (95% CI 95.5% to 99.1%) replied that they had managed patients with suspected excessive use of force. These incidents were not reported by 71.2% (95% CI 65.6% to 76.4%) of respondents, 96.5% (95% CI 93.8% to 98.2%) had no departmental policies and 93.7% (95% CI 90.4% to 96.1%) had not received training in the management of these cases.

Conclusions: Suspected excessive use of force is encountered by academic emergency physicians in the USA. There is only limited training or policies for the management of these cases.

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Ford, J S (2009). Emergency physicians and police brutality. Emerg. Med. J. 26: 761-761 [Full Text]  
• Hutson, H R, Anglin, D, Strote, J (2009). Authors' response. Emerg. Med. J. 26: 761-762 [Full Text]  

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