Negative
police-public interactions in the United States and around the world raise
legitimate concerns about human rights, public safety, and negative
externalities that directly impact on UN Sustainable Development Goals 1 (No
Poverty), 10 (Reduced Inequalities), and 16 (Peace, Justice, and Stronger
Institutions). These interactions can be in the form of unnecessary or
avoidable arrests, unpleasant vocal exchanges, physical violence, and even
lethal force. Such events have happened in the United States and in other
countries to a level that has caused concern both in government and in the
public. These negative interactions can both exacerbate and stem from
inequalities and act against both true justice and local peace, as well as
easily weaken valuable institutions. In order to gain insight for the purpose
of improving these aspects of social sustainability, such negative
police-public interactions can be conceptualised by mechanisms of strategic
interaction and subconscious games. That conceptual framework can provide
underlying justification for a pathway to improvement. This study applies a
multipoint gravitational model as a model of influence, and considers the
presence of subconscious games in the style of Eric Berne and their impact on
strategic interaction. The study then subdivides the police, government, and
public into several logical categories regarding attitudes and opinions and
associated decision strategy regarding negative police-public interaction, and
models them according to Choice Waves within the framework of the Theory of Economic
Parallel Rationality. That is then used to propose a mechanism for reducing and
potentially eliminating negative police-public interactions and provide
mathematical, statistical, and logical justification for improvement pathways.
The current apparent misalignment of incentives identified in the study will
continue to provide a significant challenge to overcome. The result of not
doing so, however, is a continued cost to peace, true justice, and strength of
institutions. This study’s ultimate purpose is to apply strategic decision
analysis to help reduce violence and other forms of negative results during
interactions between the police and the public.
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