미국 지역경찰의 공권력 남용 논란에 대한 연구

Recent high-profile cases of tragic interactions between the police and citizens in the US have raised concerns among community members, police leaders, and elected officials. In addition, these incidents have brought up important issues of the role of police in the modern society. The goal of this study is to explore the socioeconomic and historical contexts in which local police departments function in the US. Furthermore, this paper investigates organizational and management aspects of one critical phenomenon in the US local policing: police use of force. This paper argues that many factors need to be considered to have a complete understanding of the fundamental subject of American policing. It presents the role of local politics, organizational and management issues, police subculture, police unions, and tense relationships between police and minority groups that have contributed or mitigated officers’ decision to use force on the street. Although the main goal of this study is to describe numerous factors that might contribute to police use of force in the US, it may also has practical and scholarly implications for Korean practitioners and scholars. Korean policing scholars and practitioners have paid much attention to issues, theories, strategies, and technological developments in American policing. However, the discussions of American local policing might be limited or fragmented without the consideration of several issues introduced in this paper. Therefore, it will be ideal to think about the implications for Korean policing only after a careful examination of contexts and background of American local policing.