A Descriptive Existential-Phenomenological Study of Black Male Police Officers’ Experiences with a Racialized Deadly Force Incident.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The purpose of this descriptive-existential phenomenological study was to explore what it is like for Black male police officers to experience working in a department that has been involved in a high-profile racialized incident involving deadly force against a Black citizen in the United States. The sample included five Black male police officers from a Midwestern Police department. Data were collected by conducting individual, unstructured interviews using an analysis with Giorgi’s Five-Step Analytic. Critical race theory and symbolic interactionism provided the framework. The psychological constituents of working in a department involved in a high profile racialized incident are (1) Salient Sense of Racialization, (2) Felt-Sense of Historical Oppression by Law Enforcement, (3) Sense of Alienation and Ostracism, (4) Maintained Empathic Work Ethic, (5) Increased Racial Tensions When Deadly Force Shooting Involves White Officer and Black Citizen, (6) Understood Need for Self-Defense in Officer-Involved Shootings, (7) Disagreement with Tactical Soundness, (8) Deadly Force Shooting Viewed from a Black Male Perspective, (9) Interacialized Competence, (10) Polarization Between Black Protesters and Black Police Officers, (11) Valued Support During Crisis, (12) General Feelings of Nonsupport by Political Figures, (13) Overwhelmed by the Mass of Nonlocal Protesters, (14) Post-Protest Anxiety, (15) Distinct Feelings of Victimization, (16) Experienced Differentiation Between Black and White Officers, (17) Felt-Sense of Torness, (18) Felt-Sense of Dissociation with Blue Connotation. The participants experience a dualistic view of their lifeworld as they are members of the Black community and the police force, yet Black officers are polarized by both groups.