Local television news and voter support for law enforcement

Television has become “the” medium of the masses in contemporary America. However, there has been very little systematic investigation about television’s impact upon agents of political authority, such as municipal police agencies. This research analyzes potential linkages between voter support for local police and voter viewing habits of local television news. The impact of television news upon voter support for police is assessed in the context of a multivariate model, which includes media and non-media predictor variables. Voter “support” for a municipal police agency is deemed a multidimensional concept and is measured in absolute and relative terms. The findings of this exploratory study suggest that local television news has minimal or no impact (positively or negatively) upon voter attitudes toward local police agencies. The inability of mediaand non-media variables to explain voter support for municipal law enforcement indicates the need for a completely new paradigm to guide research in this niche of criminal justice.     

Environmental “Citizen Suits” in the Czech Republic

For several decades citizens of the Czech Republic have endured a severely degraded environment, stemming partially from reportedly lax enforcement of environmental protection laws. During this period, Czech citizens have lacked the right to litigate citizen suits as a means of increasing environmental enforcement and have never initiated civil litigation against a polluter. However, since 1958, Czech citizens have exercised the right to use citizen correspondence as a means of pursuing their legal interests by alerting government agencies to environmental problems. By Czech law, citizen correspondence obligates government agencies to respond to the cited environmental problems. This paper analyzes how environmental authorities responded to citizen correspondence related to water problems (e.g., drinking water contamination) during the years 1988 to 1992. Since responses may include enforcement actions—monetary fines, remediation requirements (i.e., mandatory cleanup), and correction requirements (e.g., replacement of a leaky storage tank), this type of legal action on the part of citizens approximates a citizen suit. By examining enforcement actions taken in response to these citizen suits, this paper is able to test hypotheses regarding the relationships among the three different types of enforcement actions and empirically identify the liability rule guiding each type of enforcement action.     

Tennessee Citizen Police Academies: Program and Participant Characteristics

Citizen police academies (CPAs) are popular programs developed by police departments with the twin goals of educating the public about law enforcement and improving police-community relationships. Citizen police academies can help law enforcement agencies by providing them with graduates who may support police departments through volunteering, crime reporting, advocacy, and crime prevention. CPAs may aid citizens by providing them with opportunities to work with the police to make their communities safer. During the course of the citizen police academy, not only will participants have opportunities to learn more about the police depar'tment and their communities, but they may be given opportunities to patrol with police officers, solve mock crime scenes, or attend moot court. This study examines citizen police academies in Tennessee and provides an exploratory investigation of the programs and its participants. Data obtained from 31 police departments indicate CPA programs with more than a 20 year history in Tennessee. Results of a pretest and posttest of 4 citizen police academies’ participants found that attending these programs significantly and positively changed participants’ familiarity with the police chief, local law enforcement, community crime, and the criminal justice system.     

中国土地执法摇摆现象及其解释

中国土地执法实践呈现“摇摆现象”,即有时执法有效,有时执法失灵。执法摇摆现象的发生,并非完全因为法律不完备或者土地执法部门能力有限,还在于中国集中体制下的“嵌入式执法”。在中国国家体系中,土地执法部门被嵌入在集中体制及其建构的中心工作中。在中心工作完成过程中,土地执法部门真正完成的并非其职能目标,而是集中体制目标。不同中心工作的建构,导致土地执法效果可能有效也可能失灵,呈现出摇摆不定的执法效果。集中体制本身的分化,即中央和各级地方政府目标重点的不同,也使得土地执法效果更不可预期。     

Perceived Citizen Cooperation, Police Operational Philosophy, and Job Satisfaction on Support for Civilian Oversight of the Police in South Korea

While civilian oversight in matters pertaining to police accountability is commonly found in law enforcement agencies in Western countries, this concept is fairly new to many emerging democracies. This study examines the origins and development of citizen oversight of the police in South Korea. Using a sample consisting of 406 surveyed Korean police officers, this study further examines the effects of individual factors and organizational characteristics, such as police operational philosophy, citizen support, and job satisfaction, on officers’ perceptions of civilian oversight of the police. The findings suggest that, although South Korean police officers are generally ambivalent about the role of civilian oversight, there is a strong relationship between organizational characteristics and support for a civilian role in police oversight.     

Public perceptions of police efficacy and image: The “fuzziness” of support for the police

Most studies concerning police-community relations have operationalized support for-law enforcement agencies in unidimensional terms. The present study dissects the notion of support for the police into two distinct dimensions: efficacy and image. Efficacy includes perceptions of the police ability to protect citizens, solve crime, and prevent crime. Image includes perceptions of friendliness and fairness of the police. A series of conventional individual-level and contextual variables are modeled in an effort to explore their relative influence on citizen perceptions of police efficacy and image. Data gathered from a national telephone survey of 1,005 citizens reveal that support for local police is both complex and multidimensional. Moreover, the results demonstrate that efficacy and image are independent dimensions, and that each is susceptible to quite different ratings depending upon which independent and dependent variables are modeled. Thanks go to Dennis Longmire, Barbara Sims, and Timothy Flanagan for providing the data used in this study.     

城市管理综合执法手段的合比例原则考察

城市管理综合执法手段的实质就是相对集中行政处罚权行使的具体方法、方式,有其丰富的表现形式,实践中由行政综合执法机关依法进行自由裁量。通过运用比例原则的三个子原则剖析实践中城市管理综合执法手段的行使,提出从立法、执法和司法三个方面来运用比例原则以对城市管理综合执法手段的行使进行有效控制。     

修订药品管理法，强化药品执法行刑联动机制——中美药品行刑联动机制比较研究

本文旨在理顺药品行政执法与刑事司法的关系,强化药品执法力度,为修改《药品管理法》奠定理论基础。文章运用规范研究方法、比较法学和案例分析法对中美药品行刑联动机制作深入的比较分析。通过研究发现我国药品执法行刑联动机制存在的问题,并借鉴美国药品行刑联动机制建设经验,提出修改《药品管理法》的建议。     

Multijurisdictional drug task forces: An analysis of impacts

In the past decade, municipal police organizations have devoted significant resources toward drug enforcement. One popular strategy in addressing the American drug problem is the formulation of multijurisdictional drug task forces. Despite their popularity, the impact of these cooperative ventures on law enforcement agencies has not been adequately evaluated. The research reported here examined the effect of membership in a drug enforcement task force on levels of drug enforcement outputs and perceptions of effectiveness by comparing law enforcement agencies participating in drug task forces to agencies which do not participate. Results suggest that task force membership impacts perceptions, but does not appear to influence objective measures of drug enforcement outputs.     

The lynching of William Parker: The criminal justice system at work in 19th century North Carolina

An examination of primary sources of a nineteenth century lynching reveals that in some parts of the south the criminal justice system often involved non-official citizen involvement rather than official agencies of law enforcement in the investigation of crimes.     

Assessing strategies for improving law enforcement / security relationships: Implications for community policing

Though much has been written about law enforcement agencies developing partnerships with citizen groups in the context of community policing, very little research has addressed the role of private security as a viable partner in law enforcement. The basis for developing working relationship is sharing common goals as well as having mutual respect for each other. A further important ingredient for developing sound relationships includes the presence and fostering of positive perceptions and attitudes toward each other. In this paper we examine a sample of 284 police officers and 236 security professionals in a Midwestern state to assess their perceptions on strategies to improve police/security relationships. Implications for developing partnerships are discussed.     

STYLES OF COMMUNITY POLICING

Police agencies have distinctive philosophies, or styles, of policing. James Q. Wilson identified three policing styles by analyzing the approach of police in order-maintenance and law enforcement situations Styles can also be developed by considering policing methods in relation to their impact upon the general community. The reactive-procrctive emphasis given to wrious combinations of positive and negative methods, or counselor and enforcer roles, is the basis for the four policing styles discussed.     

城镇规划区违建执法困境及其解释——国家能力的视角

既有理论框架难以全面解释违建执法的困境.实际上,违建执法的困境反映执法领域国家能力的不足.从执法的结构和过程看,国家能力不足表现在多个层面:执法机构的"孤岛现象"普遍,不同机构之间难以有效合作;一线执法人员的素养欠缺,且其工作难以被执法机构有效考核;执法人员在进入社区空间、处理执法事务时受阻严重.由于国家能力的不足,执法人员常常接受执法对象的讨价还价,违建执法表现出"日常惰性—专项治理"的循环结构,强力执法与违法不究处于共生状态.改善社会治理,需要在执法领域强化国家能力,需要从执法机构、执法人员及其与社会的互动等多方面着手.     

A taxonomy of law enforcement decision support systems

The term “decision support system” is a recent one in the vocabulary of computer-based information systems. Because of increasing dependence of law enforcement agencies on computers to manage much of their data and produce in increasing amount of their information, the concept of decision support systems is an important one. This article presents a framework for classifying the data-processing tools used in providing the information necessary to support law enforcement. This raxonomy differentiates between the clerical functions of an electronic data-processing system and the decision-making orientation of a decision support system. DSSs are not in widespread use in law enforcement because they are difficult to understand, priorities for computerization often minimize or do not include applications conducive to DSSs, and the value of these systems is sometimes difficult to see. The framework described will help agencies map the development of their systems, determine what areas conducive to computerization are being emphasized and which are lacking, and recognize the planning considerations necessary for expansion into the DSS area.     

金融危机与反垄断法实施

反垄断法服务于社会发展和社会总体利益，金融危机下可对其执法松紧进行适当的调整。反垄断法需要进一步细化以赋予执法机构调整执法的灵活性。金融危机下反垄断执法制度性完善需配合相应的惩戒措施。     

Examining the blue line in the rainbow: the interactions and perceptions of law enforcement among lesbian,gay, bisexual,transgender and queer communities

ABSTRACT

Despite the fact that LGBTQ individuals are at greater risk of victimization than the average citizen, the LGBTQ community’s relationship with law enforcement has been a turbulent one. Using a mixed-methods approach, including surveys, semi-structured interviews and observations of town hall meetings, and following the participatory action research framework, this study examines the interactions between the LGBTQ community and law enforcement, and the perceptions of police within the LGBTQ community. The current study demonstrates how members of the LGBTQ community continue to have negative experiences with police that adversely impact their perceptions of law enforcement. Moreover, the findings underline the importance of examining how multiple identities impact an individual’s experiences with and their perceptions of law enforcement. Expanding past research on this topic, this study offers an analysis based upon suggestions of the study’s participants of what steps must be taken in order to improve relations between these two groups.     

Civil asset forfeiture, equitable sharing, and policing for profit in the United States

Purpose

Critics of asset forfeiture claim that forfeiture laws create financial incentives that inappropriately influence police behavior. The present study examines the relationship between measures of the financial incentive and legal burdens for civil asset forfeiture on federal equitable sharing payments to local law enforcement to determine whether police behavior is affected by different statutory incentives for forfeiture activity.

Methods

Using LEMAS and DOJ forfeiture data, this study addresses some of the limitations of previous research by using a multi-year average for forfeiture activity, an improved measure of financial incentives for law enforcement, and multiple measures of statutory burdens to law enforcement to determine the impact of forfeiture laws on forfeiture activity.

Results

Consistent with anecdotal reports and limited prior research, findings indicate that agencies in jurisdictions with more restrictive state forfeiture laws receive more proceeds through federal equitable sharing.

Conclusions

Results suggest that state and local law enforcement agencies use federal equitable sharing to circumvent their own state forfeiture laws when state laws are more burdensome or less financially rewarding to these agencies, providing additional evidence that police operations are influenced by financial incentives.     

Racial profiling and searches: Did the politics of racial profiling change police behavior?*

Research Summary Scholarly research has documented repeatedly that minority citizens are disproportionately stopped, searched, and arrested relative to their baseline populations. In recent years, policymakers have brought increased attention to this issue as law‐enforcement agencies across the United States have faced allegations of racial profiling. In the 1990s, the politics generated by accounts of racially biased policing placed heightened pressure on law‐enforcement agencies. However, to date, few studies have explored whether the increased social and political scrutiny placed on police organizations influenced or changed their general pattern of enforcement among black and white citizens. Using data in the search and citation file from the North Carolina Highway Traffic Study, this research specifically examined whether the politics generated by the media coverage of racial profiling and racial profiling legislation in North Carolina influenced the search practices of officers of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol's drug interdiction team. The findings suggest that media accounts and the passage of new legislation were particularly powerful influences, which thereby reduced racial disparity in searches. Declines in the use of consent searches and an increased probability of finding contraband also were influenced by the politics of racial profiling. Policy Implications The results of this study suggest several important policy recommendations. First, law‐enforcement agencies must monitor the policing practices of their officers because such supervision can influence officer compliance with fair and unbiased policing policies. Next, supervisors need to familiarize themselves with enforcement data to identify potential problem officers and organizational practices. By doing so, police organizations will not only increase officer accountability but also will potentially improve communication with their local communities. Such communication can empower community members to file charges against officers who violate their civil rights. Next, the media and political effects documented in this study suggest that external oversight can be particularly influential on police practices. Therefore, police agencies should consider developing a citizen complaint board, which is an external oversight board that would be responsible for investigating allegations against officers who engage in racial profiling or other racially biased enforcement practices. Such a board could assist police administrators in identifying problem officers as well as in making recommendations for corrective action. Finally, external social and political pressure must continually be placed on police forces to improve equity in police behavior. These external forces can assist in creating opportunities for police to increase the overall quality and efficacy of policing.     

城管执法领域违法黑数问题与对策——以北京为视角

随着近年城管执法机关职能不断增加,执法任务不断增多,违法行为难以有效发现或者发现违法行为后难以追究违法行为人责任并记录在案即"违法黑数"的问题显得日益突出.为此,我们有必要对"违法黑数"现状及其形成的原因进行深入调查和研究,从而采取有针对性的对策和措施,减少违法黑数,破解执法难题,以切实提高城管执法机关的执法效能,改善城市环境秩序.