Officer Gender and Suspects Resisting Arrest: A Case-Control Study in Brazil

PurposeThe paper is an exploratory study that investigates how the presence of a female police officer relates to the exposure to suspect resistance in a LATAM country.Design/methodology/approachWe adopted a case-control design, using a random sample of 1,716 official reports of a Brazilian southern state's police department. Reports were analyzed regarding the type of resistance, presence of female officers on the scene, municipality size, and hour of the day.FindingsOur results showed that the presence of a policewoman does not seem to be associated with an increase in the likelihood of suspect resistance during encounters. Suspects seem to resist more in small towns regardless of female presence.Practical implicationsAssembling teams with female officers should not be a safety concern for police leaders.Originality/valuePast studies indicate that local-level factors may affect suspect resistance. This study was the first investigation into the exposure of policewomen to resistance in a LATAM nation.