In this study, Laura Keesman develops an innovative microsociological approach to examine (de)escalation processes—specifically, how interactions between police and citizens escalate into violence or, conversely, de-escalate.
Interactions between police and citizens are crucial moments in which state authority is not only exercised but also actively negotiated and contested. When these interactions escalate into violence - whether by or against police officers - they have disproportionately significant consequences for those involved (officers and citizens), public trust, and legitimacy. Despite extensive research on police-citizen interactions, however, we know surprisingly little about how violence develops and how situations escalate, de-escalate, or stabilize. This knowledge gap exists largely because existing research relies primarily on police-centered perspectives, situational factors, survey data, or video analyses alone, without access to the interpretations and context-specific meanings attributed by both police and citizens.
“A great deal of existing research on police-citizen interactions focuses on the police side. That is to say, research is often based on interviews with officers and/or video analyses of footage that, unfortunately, frequently lacks audio. In addition, the emergence of violence is often linked to resistance from citizens or personal factors related to officers, such as gender and age. But we know very little about how resistance arises, and these factors do not adequately explain how interactions unfold. In short, current research on violence in police-citizen interactions is still insufficiently theorized, and we still know very little about the interactional processes through which violence arises.”
A missing perspective: citizens
“Even more problematic is that the perspective of citizens who have been stopped - with or without the use of force - is vastly underrepresented in research. The citizen perspective is primarily present in survey research on ‘citizen satisfaction’ or ‘procedural justice’: the feeling of whether they were treated fairly. However, these samples usually consist of people who have had little or even no direct contact with the police. Let alone have they ever been stopped - precisely the situations where violence could arise. So far, we do not know enough about how individuals who have been stopped view their interactions with the police and how those interactions unfolded. What are their actual experiences?”
With her research, Keesman shifts the focus from analyzing individuals to analyzing interactions and builds upon elicitation methods she has developed and applied in previous research. Her project pioneers a dual-perspective approach by combining video-elicitation interviews with both police officers and citizens with ethnomethodological/conversation analysis (EMCA) of body-worn cameras (BWC) and closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage of arrests.
“The most important thing is to address a gap in the literature: I systematically collect police and citizen accounts of the same interactions to analyze how they understand and respond to one another. By comparing these interpretations side by side and conducting video analysis, we hope to learn more about the mechanisms associated with (de)escalation processes and tipping points in interactions.”
“I am very pleased that my project has been selected for funding and incredibly grateful for all the support from my immediate colleagues in the Sociology Department and at VU Amsterdam, as well as colleagues in the broader academic community who have supported me,” says Keesman.