Emergency call transcripts could reveal where racial bias enters community policing

Evidence

We drew from the literature on intergroup relations and cross-race interactions to provide an account of the potential mechanisms that lead civilians to make use of police intervention when they feel threatened. However, it is important to note that, for the most part, the empirical work we cited investigated threat in intergroup interactions more broadly and did not look specifically at cases of community enforcement. Thus, a first step in further understanding this process would entail obtaining and analyzing the transcripts of emergency calls in order to better understand any potential biased language used. This analysis, in turn, could provide insight into what kind of interventions would be most useful for reducing the occurrence of these events. — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 295

Categorization

• QUESTION: This is a genuine research gap — nobody has systematically analyzed 911 call transcripts for racialized framing language. A promising corpus study.
• SEED: A data-driven essay on what 911 call language reveals about civilian-perpetrated racial bias — every call a micro-essay in how threat is framed.