Assessing law enforcement preparedness to address Internet fraud

Recent societal concern regarding computer crime was well documented in the research literature. To date, however, modest research addressed how large, local police and sheriff's departments confront Internet fraud. Using data collected from surveys distributed to the seven hundred largest police- and sheriff's departments, the present article addresses law enforcement: (1) preparedness to enforce Internet fraud crimes; (2) perceptions of Internet fraud; (3) cooperative policing efforts; and (4) Internet fraud information dissemination practices. Among other things, results suggested that individuals within these departments believed Internet fraud was problematic, although they lacked the resources to properly address the problem. These results are discussed as they relate to the organizational design of law enforcement agencies and their potential to adapt to innovative crimes. Suggestions are offered for a more effective approach to confronting Internet fraud.     

Book reviews

M.B. Hayne, The French Foreign Office and the Origins of the First World War 1898-1914 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993) £35. ISBN 019-820270-9.

Keith Hamilton, Bertie of Thame: Edwardian Ambassador (Woodbridge/Suffolk: Boydell Press 1990 (= Royal Historical Society Studies in History, No. 60)), ix + 436 pp. ISBN 0-86193-217X. £35.

Anita Inder Singh, The Limits of British Influence: South Asia and the Anglo-American Relationship, 1947-56 (Pinter, 1993) pp. 309. £45.

Robert H. Ferrell (ed.), Truman in the White House: The Diary of Eben A. Ayers (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1991) $37.50. ISBN 0-8262-0790-1.

Robert Pearce (ed.), Patrick Gordon Walker: Political Diaries 1932-1971 (London: The Historians Press, 1991) £20. ISBN 1-872273-05 X.

Richard J. Aldrich (ed.), British Strategy and the Cold War, 1945-51 (London: Routledge, 1992) £40. ISBN 0-415-07851-2.

Timothy Garton Ash, In Europe's Name. Germany and the Divided Continent (London: Jonathan Cape, 1993) £25. ISBN 0-224-02054-4.     

Book reviews

Ephraim Maisel, The Foreign Office and Foreign Policy 1991-1926 (Brighton: Sussex Academic Press 1994), £35. ISBN 1-898723-04-4.

Timothy P. Maga, The World of Jimmy Carter: U.S. Foreign Policy 1977-1981 (West Haven, CT: University of New Haven Press, 1994). 189 pp. ISBN 0-936385-23-0.

Michael Leifer, Dictionary of the Modern Politics of South-East Asia (London and New York: Routledge, 1995), xii + 271pp. £45. ISBN 0-415-04219-4.

Christopher C. Harmon and David Tucker (eds.), Statecraft and Power: Essays in Honor of Harold W. Rood (Lanham and London: University Press of America with the National Institute for Public Policy, 1994), 284pp ISBN 0-8191-8718-6.     

Using Bayesian Aldrich‐McKelvey Scaling to Study Citizens' Ideological Preferences and Perceptions

Aldrich‐McKelvey scaling is a powerful method that corrects for differential‐item functioning (DIF) in estimating the positions of political stimuli (e.g., parties and candidates) and survey respondents along a latent policy dimension from issue scale data. DIF arises when respondents interpret issue scales (e.g., the standard liberal‐conservative scale) differently and distort their placements of the stimuli and themselves. We develop a Bayesian implementation of the classical maximum likelihood Aldrich‐McKelvey scaling method that overcomes some important shortcomings in the classical procedure. We then apply this method to study citizens' ideological preferences and perceptions using data from the 2004–2012 American National Election Studies and the 2010 Cooperative Congressional Election Study. Our findings indicate that DIF biases self‐placements on the liberal‐conservative scale in a way that understates the extent of polarization in the contemporary American electorate and that citizens have remarkably accurate perceptions of the ideological positions of senators and Senate candidates.     

Desire for Smart Growth: A Survey of Residential Preferences in the Salt Lake Region of Utah

As an alternative to sprawling development, smart growth combines proximity to work, proximity to shopping and other destinations, neighborhood housing mix, shared and paid parking, complete street designs, and proximity to public transit. This article uses a stated-choice experiment to determine residents' attitudes toward these various aspects of smart growth in the Salt Lake region of Utah. Utah is a conservative state, where attitudes toward auto-oriented suburbia may be more positive than in other parts of the United States. So, one might wonder whether changing national attitudes toward smart growth, documented in several surveys, apply to residents of the Salt Lake region. In this stated-choice experiment, respondents were asked to choose between pairs of housing scenarios with different attributes and different prices. Mixed logit (random parameters logit) was used to relate individuals' choices to attributes, prices, and sociodemographic characteristics of respondents. The results show that, generally, respondents have positive attitudes toward most aspects of smart growth but still express preferences for single-family neighborhoods with free parking in their own driveways or garages. Different life cycle cohorts have different preferences. Proximity to work is more important for childless young adults. Young families with children place higher value on living in a neighborhood with only single-family homes and transit access. Retired empty nesters favor a mix of housing types over single-family housing on one-acre-plus lots. The results suggest that while residents of the Salt Lake region like suburban neighborhoods with primarily single-family houses, they would also like to have improved accessibility to amenities in the suburbs.     

Federal Systems in the Global Economy: Research Issues

The emerging global economy has altered makeup of federal systemsand set the stage for new international institutions. This articleidentifies key research issues that bear upon the connectionbetween federalism and globalism. Five specific research questions are considered. The first concernsthe impact of global economic change on the sovereignty of nationaland subnalional governments. Second, the effect of the globaleconomy on intergovernmental relations is considered. Next,the question of placement of economic policy responsibilitiesin a federal system is posed. Finally, the article asks whetherfederalism eases adaptation to the global economy and protectsdemocratic values.     

Does Dumcree ’96 tell us anything about the RUC?

Violence, disorder, and social schism are well-known features of contemporary Northern Ireland resulting in the high profile of the province’s police, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). Since 1968, in particular, the policing of some major events has resulted in the RUC being viewed variously as saint and sinner by different sections of society. The most recent cause for acceptance, or condemnation, of police performance was the 1996 ‘marching season’. In particular, withdrawal of the police from the scene of the Drumcree stand-off, once it became evident that the many members of the Orange Order gathered there intended to march down the predominantly Garvaghy Road with or without the approval of the Chief Constable, and the province-wide acts of solidarity related to that event, by other members of the order, led to much controversy. First, this essay identifies some of the potential consequences of policing Drumcree for the RUC public image. Second, it compares these potential perceptions of police performance with some published views of their response to the Ulster Workers’ Council strike in 1974 and during the negotiations leading up to, and in the aftermath of, the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985. Finally, it considers if there is anything new that can be learned about the RUC from its handling of the Drumcree crisis.     

DAYLIGHT SAVING IN NEW SOUTH WALES: A CASE OF EMOTIVE SYMBOLIC POLITICS?

Abstract: This is a case study of the campaign over daylight saving in New South Wales from the mid-1960s. The period leading to the legislation making daylight saving a permanent feature in 1972 was marked by the involvement of various groups, media campaigns and inter-governmental negotiations. After the legislation was passed, the character of the campaign changed. Conflict was confined mainly to the rural sector, where large-scale citizen involvement occurred. Many anti-daylight saving bodies were created and a petition of over 40,000 names protesting about daylight saving was presented to the Premier. The Country Party was pressured sufficiently to promise during 1973, 1974 and 1975 that a referendum would be held, and this was achieved in May 1976. The results of the poll showed majority approval lay with continuing daylight saving. Until 1972 the policy area appeared to correspond to Theodore Lowi's "regulative" category, but from 1972 the policy arena altered to one which may be viewed in terms of T. Alexander Smith's "emotive symbolic" policy. The article assesses the Smith concept and its usefulness in explaining the issue of daylight saving as an example of intense community debate.     

Focus of attention and locus of control as moderators of fraternal justice effects

The influence of a colleague's performance outcomes on individual's own subsequent performance was investigated. Internal and external locus of control subjects were given information about another person's outcome which indicated two things about organizational standards: how easy or difficult they were to meet and how stringently they were applied. An attentional focus manipulation was employed to influence how subjects used this information. Half of the subjects received a group-focus manipulation and the other half a self-focus one. We proposed that perceived difficulty of standards and stringency of application would interact with attentional focus and subject locus of control to alter subject's own subsequent performances. This expectation was supported by the data. Theoretical and applied implications of this result are discussed.