Krameddine Yasmeen I, Silverstone Peter H
Department of Psychiatry, 1E7.17 Mackenzie Centre, University of AB, Edmonton T6G 2B7, Canada.
Int J Law Psychiatry. 2016 Jan-Feb;44:81-90. doi: 10.1016/j.ijlp.2015.08.034. Epub 2015 Aug 24.
The police interact with homeless individuals frequently. However, there has been relatively little research on the attitudes of homeless individuals towards the police, and how police interactions may impact these. This is important since the attitudes of homeless individuals can impact how often they report crimes, and how well they support police when they are investigating crimes in this population. We interviewed 213 homeless individuals in a single city, representing approximately 10% of the total homeless population. They were interviewed at either homeless shelters, or events held specifically for the homeless population. Of these individuals, 75% were male, and 47% had interacted with a police officer within the past month. Self-reports suggested that 60% had a drug and/or alcohol issue and 78% had a mental illness. We found a highly statistically significant difference between the group that had been handcuffed and/or arrested compared to those that had not. This was across multiple domains and included how the individual regarded the police in terms of their empathy and communication skills, and how much they trusted the police. These changes were long-term, and if a homeless individual had been arrested or handcuffed (and verbal reporting suggested that being handcuffed was the by far the most important factor) then these negative attitudes lasted at least 2 years. The primary conclusion from this study is that when police handcuff a homeless individual, this can lead to long-term negative views about the police across several domains that appear to be long lasting, and were linked to feelings of not being respected by the police. It is therefore proposed that police officers should be made aware of the potential long-term negative consequences of this single action, and that police forces should consider providing specific training to minimize any unnecessary overuse of handcuffs.
警方经常与无家可归者打交道。然而，关于无家可归者对警方的态度以及警方互动可能如何影响这些态度的研究相对较少。这一点很重要，因为无家可归者的态度会影响他们报案的频率，以及在警方调查该群体犯罪时他们对警方的支持程度。我们在一个城市采访了213名无家可归者，约占无家可归者总人口的10%。他们在收容所或专门为无家可归者举办的活动中接受了采访。在这些人中，75%为男性，47%在过去一个月内与警察有过接触。自我报告显示，60%有药物和/或酒精问题，78%患有精神疾病。我们发现，与未被戴上手铐和/或逮捕的群体相比，被戴上手铐和/或逮捕的群体之间存在高度统计学意义上的差异。这种差异体现在多个方面，包括个人对警察的同理心和沟通技巧的看法，以及他们对警察的信任程度。这些变化是长期的，如果一名无家可归者被逮捕或戴上手铐（口头报告表明，被戴上手铐是迄今为止最重要的因素），那么这些负面态度至少会持续两年。这项研究的主要结论是，当警察给无家可归者戴上手铐时，这可能会导致在多个方面对警察产生长期的负面看法，这些看法似乎会持续很长时间，并且与感觉不被警察尊重有关。因此，建议警察应该意识到这一单一行动可能产生的长期负面后果，并且警察部队应该考虑提供特定培训，以尽量减少手铐的任何不必要过度使用。
