Law enforcement officers in the USA have one of the highest lethal force rates in the world. A shortcoming of previous research on the use of force is that officer-subject encounters are observed as static events, and not a complex escalation of behaviours. Behaviour sequence analysis can identify common pathways that show chains of behaviours occurring at a level greater than what was expected by chance. The current study used 40 body-worn camera videos of officer-subject interactions leading to either lethal or non-lethal outcomes. The current results show that officers are more likely to use lethal force in response to physical threats from subjects, and likewise, use non-lethal force in response to verbal threats. The outcomes of this research extend to law enforcement and public safety, to understand and potentially reduce use of force incidents, particularly lethal force. It also serves to highlight the dynamic and challenging nature of these interactions to aid in establishing a greater rapport between officers and the communities they serve.

美国的执法人员拥有世界上最高的致命武力率之一。先前关于使用武力的研究的一个缺点是，军官与受试者的遭遇被观察为静态事件，而不是行为的复杂升级。行为序列分析可以识别常见路径，这些路径显示发生的行为链的水平高于偶然预期的水平。当前的研究使用了 40 个军官与受试者互动的随身摄像机视频，这些视频导致了致命或非致命结果。目前的结果表明，警官更有可能使用致命武力应对来自受试者的身体威胁，同样，使用非致命武力应对口头威胁。这项研究的成果延伸到执法和公共安全，了解并可能减少使用武力事件，尤其是致命武力事件。它还有助于突出这些互动的动态和挑战性性质，以帮助在官员和他们所服务的社区之间建立更融洽的关系。