MORE ON DEMEANOR AND ARREST IN DADE-COUNTY

A recent study of police behavior using data collected in Dade County, Florida, found that citizen demeanor is a spurious correlate of arres t in Eight of control for criminal conduct (Klinger, 1994). This findi ng calls into question the long-standing belief that hostility directl y increases the odds of arrest in police-citizen encounters. Respondin g to this research, Lundman (1994) reanalyzed data used in several pre vious studies that had reported hostility effects. His reanalysis offe red limited support for a demeanor-arrest link. Because the measures o f demeanor he used and the models he estimated were somewhat different from those Klinger had used and estimated, Lundman suggested that it would be valuable to revisit the Dade County data to see whether Kling er's null finding regarding hostility effects might be artifactual. Th is study reanalyzes the Dade County data. It indicates that one of fou r measures of demeanor is a significant net correlate of arrest under some circumstances. The implications of this finding are discussed.