The Crisis of Legitimacy After Police-Related Civilian Deaths: Applying the Cynefin Framework to Legitimacy-Developing Policies

Abstract

Police-related civilian deaths, caused by direct force or occurring during custody, pose one of the central challenges to police legitimacy. This thesis studied five police departments that experienced such a crisis of legitimacy, as evidenced by either deadly retaliatory violence against police or substantial civil unrest in response. Specifically, this thesis examined how each agency implemented expert-recommended legitimacy-developing policies before and in response to the challenge of these deaths. This thesis then applied the Cynefin framework to these implementations, revealing which domains better conform to expert recommendations and sustain legitimacy policies in the wake of a crisis. This research recommends and provides a method for police leaders to leverage the Cynefin framework to assess their legitimacy policy implementations.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2021
Accession Number
AD1150511

Entities

People

  • Stephen Espinoza

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Business Administration
  • Civil Rights
  • Crime
  • Criminal Investigations
  • Criminal Justice System
  • Criminals
  • Criminology
  • Employment
  • Management Personnel
  • Online Communications
  • Pepper Spray
  • Personnel Management
  • Police
  • Social Media
  • Societies
  • Students
  • Tasers

Readers

  • Criminal Law
  • Government and Public Administration Law.
  • Military and Counterinsurgency Studies.