Evaluating liaison and diversion schemes: an analysis of health,criminal and economic data

Introduction: Liaison and Diversion (L&D) currently serves 50% of the population of England. L&D relies on modified working practices with key delivery partners, especially the police. Service evaluation data is thus presented from both police and health services. Method: A before and after intervention review of 3 months of operational data of L&D in Cornwall focusing on health, criminal and economic outcomes. Results: After L&D intervention individuals’ contact with the police as either victim or perpetrator reduced significantly. Implications: Preliminary findings suggest that L&D enabled reduced use of police and criminal justice resources. National reporting procedures may be unable to demonstrate the multi-agency impact if criminal justice data are not considered within the outcome data-set. Recommendations echo international observations that specifying outcome measures and the consistent definition of L&D services would enable generalisation of findings.     

Mental health outreach and street policing in the downtown of a large French city

ContextMarseille, the second largest city in France, has a large population of homeless persons. A mental health outreach team was created in 2005 as a response to high rates of mental illness among this group. In a national political context where security is a government priority, a new central police station was created in Marseille in 2006 to address robberies, violence and illegal traffic in the downtown area of the city. While not directly related to such crimes, police also are responsible for public safety or behavioral issues related to the presence of individuals who are homeless in this area.ObjectiveThis report on a two-year pilot study (2009–2011) addresses collaborative work between a mental health outreach team and the police department responding to the clinical needs of persons who are homeless with serious psychiatric disorders. It also describes the homeless persons' interactions with, and perceptions of the presence of, police and mental health professionals on the streets.MethodsInvestigators adopted a mixed-methods approach. Data were collected on 40 interactions using brief standardized report for each interaction. Focus groups were conducted with police officers, outreach team members, peer workers, and service users. Minutes of partnership meetings between police officers and outreach workers also served as a source of qualitative data.ResultsOutreach workers initiated just over half (n = 21) of the encounters (n = 40) between police and outreach workers. Interactions mainly involved persons with psychosis (77%), the vast majority (80%) of which involved persons in an acute phase of psychosis. Two key themes that emerged from data analysis included the violent nature of life on the streets and the high percentage of ethnic minorities among subjects of the interactions. In addition, it was found that the practices of the outreach workers are sometimes similar to those of the police, especially when outreach workers use coercive methods. “Users” (homeless persons) described police as sometimes using less coercion than the outreach team, and noted that they were more fearful of psychiatrists than police.ConclusionFormal initiatives between mental health outreach teams and police departments involve some common street practices. This study demonstrates the potential for closer working relationships between the two parties to help persons who are homeless with mental illnesses receive needed care, and to reduce inappropriate coercion including involuntary hospitalization and arrests.     

Multi-sector cooperation in preventing crime: the case of a South African Neighbourhood Watch as an effective crime prevention model

Abstract

This case study describes the experience of effective and sustainable multi-sector co-operation in the prevention of crime between the Roodekrans Neighbourhood Watch (RNW) in Roodepoort, South Africa, the South African Police Service, private security businesses and the local business sector. This case study is illustrated in the context of empowering communities to take ownership of community safety by facilitating a multi-sector approach. Many studies have highlighted the role of the police in driving crime prevention, however, this paper focuses on the role and contribution of communities themselves as an effective vehicle of crime prevention drawing on multi-sector co-operation. Knowledge regarding best practices in this field of crime prevention remains a work in progress, therefore this paper aims to contribute to the general framework for the growth of successful multi-sector community-based crime prevention initiatives.     

THE RELATIONSHIP OF POLICE AND CRIME

This study develops a model to measure the impact of police expenditure on crime rates across cities. It specifically allows for the two-way relationship between police and crime. Other things being equal, cities with more police per capita should have lower crime rates, if police reduce crime. Simultaneously, the higher the crime rate, the greater the public demand for police. In its final formations, the model contains two identifiable equations with two endogenous variables, police expenditure per capita and the crime rate. Following a discussion of the reliability of crime statistics, the model is estimated by two-stage least squares, using FBI crime data for 119 cities in 1960. These two-stage results are compared with ordinary least-square estimation results and are found to be clearly superior.     

Identifying changes in spatial patterns from police interventions: the importance of multiple methods of analysis

The policing initiative of foot patrol was implemented to reduce crime and disorder as well as benefit the relationship between the community and the police in the community of Lower Lonsdale, North Vancouver, British Columbia. In this paper, police incident data are analyzed to evaluate the impact of police foot patrol on the hot spots of crime in this community. Specifically, two spatial analysis techniques (kernel density estimation and local Moran’s I) are used to show how the nuances of changes in spatial crime patterns can emerge when multiple methods of analysis are used.     

Reporting of crime to the police in the Federal Republic of Germany: A comparison of the old and the new lands

A victimization survey of 7,026 households in the former east and west German Länder (states) carried out one year after the unification of Germany presented a unique opportunity to examine factors associated with the reporting of crime to the police. Logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with variation in the dependent variable, reporting of crime to the police, controlling for victimizations which occurred prior to and subsequent to unification, as well as whether the victim resided in the former east or west German Länder. The amount of loss in German Marks or seriousness of physical injury were the principle determinants of whether a crime was reported to the police.     

The interface between exercise of state power and personal powerlessness: a study of police perceptions of factors impacting professional practices

Police legitimacy is crucial to the maintenance of law and order in any society. In communities marred by high instances of societal manifestations of dysfunction, tenuous legislative frameworks, poradic implementation, and dismantling of crime fighting strategies, there is greater emphasis placed on quick-fix crime fighting solutions and policing initiatives. The focus is placed primarily on what police officers are mandated to do as opposed to practical applications underscored by systematic hindrances to professional practice. Examining interview data from a pilot study on police fear of crime in Trinidad and Tobago, this study is intended to explore connections between police perceptions about personal powerlessness and the exercise of state power. Here we examine the discourses of N = 12 senior police officers with an average of 22.83 years of service to attain a preliminary understanding of instances presenting a conflict between professional practice and perceptions of self-preservation. The findings suggest a need for officers’ constant consideration of the repercussions of professional competence and the need for continued navigation of blurred constructions of police legitimacy and subjective determinants of criminality against a backdrop of acknowledged personal powerlessness.     

Demographic and clinical characteristics of 1092 consecutive police custody mental health referrals

The 43 police forces in England and Wales have made over 13 million arrests in the last decade. Yet, despite this high volume criminal justice system activity, and evidence of substantial health morbidity across the criminal justice pathway, mental health services in police custody have only been patchily developed, and the literature in this area is limited. Referrals (n = 1092) to a pilot mental health service operating across two police stations in a London borough were examined over an 18-month period in 2012/2013. The referred group had high levels of mental health and substance misuse problems (including acute mental illness, intoxication and withdrawal), self-harm, suicide risk and vulnerability (including intellectual disability), with some important gender differences. Although this work has limitations, the findings are broadly consistent with the small existing literature and they confirm the need for services that are sufficiently resourced to meet the presenting needs.     

Problem-oriented policing in public housing: The Jersey City evaluation

This paper examines the impact of a problem-oriented policing project on serious crime problems in six public housing sites in Jersey City, New Jersey. Representatives from the police department and the local housing authority, social service providers, and public housing tenants formed six problem-solving teams. Using systematic documentation of the teams' activities and calls for police service, we examine changes in serious crime both across and within the six sites over a 2 1/2-year period. We find that problem-oriented policing, as compared with traditional policing strategies used before the problem-oriented policing project, led to fewer serious crime calls for service over time and that two public housing sites in particular succeeded in reducing violent, property, and vehicle-related crimes.     

Police,Crime and the Problem of Weak Instruments: Revisiting the “More Police,Less Crime” Thesis

Objectives

A key question in the general deterrence literature has been the extent to which the police reduce crime. Definitive answers to this statement, however, are difficult to come by because while more police may reduce crime, higher crime rates may also increase police levels, by triggering the hiring of more police. One way to help overcome this problem is through the use of instrumental variables (IV). Levitt, for example, has employed instrumental variables regression procedures, using mayoral and gubernatorial election cycles and firefighter hiring as instruments for police strength, to address the potential endogeneity of police levels in structural equations of crime due to simultaneity bias.

Methods

We assess the validity and reliability of the instruments used by Levitt for police hiring using recently-developed specification tests for instruments. We apply these tests to both Levitt’s original panel dataset of 59 US cities covering the period 1970–1992 and an extended version of the panel with data through 2008.

Results

Results indicate that election cycles and firefighter hiring are “weak instruments”—weak predictors of police growth that, if used as instruments in an IV estimation, are prone to result in an unreliable estimate of the impact of police levels on crime.

Conclusions

Levitt’s preferred instruments for police levels—mayoral and gubernatorial election cycles and firefighter hiring—are weak instruments by current econometric standards and thus cannot be used to address the potential endogeneity of police in crime equations.

     

Law enforcement response to mental health crises: citizen risk factors and preferences for social policy*

Despite having the potential to affect cooperation and support for law enforcement, community preferences for police training are generally unstudied. This paper seeks to understand (1) general community preferences for police training for responding to mental health crises, (2) where the public prioritizes this mental health crisis training relative to racial bias training, and (3) whether these preferences vary depending on respondent demographics and risk factors for police contact. Survey data from a general sample of Portland, Oregon residents (N = 259) shows public support for police training on responding to mental health crises, but the public as a whole is split over whether mental health, or racial bias training, should be prioritized as the best use of police training time. Logistic regression analyses demonstrate three main findings regarding the impact of respondent characteristics on preferences for police training: (1) black respondents appear concerned that, by drawing attention to mental health crises, police will be more limited in their responses to racial bias; (2) respondents facing the greatest, and those with the least, amount of risk in police/citizen encounters are most supportive of mental health crisis training; and (3) mental illness itself does not appear to affect support for police mental health crisis training. These differences in support for training need to be understood before law enforcement can cultivate community support for police officers and their training practices.     

Exonerees in Black and White: the influence of race on perceptions of those who falsely confessed to a crime

ABSTRACT

Black Americans account for 61% of those who have been released from prison through DNA exoneration. In the present study, we explored the influence of race on perceptions of wrongfully convicted individuals who have been exonerated. Participants (N?=?121) were randomly assigned to read a fictional newspaper article about a Black or White individual who was wrongfully convicted due to a false confession and then report their perceptions of the exoneree’s guilt, warmth, competence and aggression, how deserving the exoneree was of government assistance and the likelihood that once released, the exoneree would commit a crime resulting in his reimprisonment. Results indicated that a Black exoneree was perceived as more aggressive (but not less competent or warm), less deserving of assistance, and more likely to commit a crime post exoneration resulting in his reimprisonment than a White exoneree. We also explored whether there were differences in terms of race on perceptions of mental illness for those wrongfully convicted due to falsely confessing to a crime and found that participants perceived a White exoneree as more mentally ill than a Black exoneree. The implications for the post-incarceration experiences and challenges faced by Black exonerees relative to White exonerees are discussed.     

Building community resilience: strategic role of police with bombing victims

Abstract

In the context where terrorism is viewed as an act of crime based on ideology, healing bombing victims using various components of society along with the support of police is critical. The approach is distinct from treatment of other crime victims. This paper describes the strategic role of the police in transforming bombing victims into ‘champions’ to build community resilience, based on the author’s best practice. The transformation process includes five key stages namely physical rehabilitation, psychosocial rehabilitation, harmonization through group therapies and dialogues, empowerment programs, and generating change agents to deliver anti-violence messages. In the process, a collaborative work among police, professionals, experts, civil society, and other proponents is necessary in order to prevent future reciprocal acts of violence in the community.     

Crime Scene Behaviors and Characteristics of Offenders with Mental Illness: A Latent Class Analysis

The current study aimed to identify distinct types of crime scene behaviors based on the criminal planning and motivation of offenders with mental illness in South Korea. Furthermore, our study examined the relationships between the identified types of crime scene behaviors in terms of the offenders’ sociodemographic characteristics, modus operandi, and types of mental illness. Utilizing latent class analysis, the associations between crime scene behavior types and offender characteristics such as demographic factors, crime scene actions, and criminal information were empirically investigated. In particular, based on a sample obtained from a national police database of offenses committed between 2006 and 2014, four offense groups were identified: (i) instrumental–planned, (ii) instrumental–unplanned, (iii) expressive–unplanned, and (iv) hybrid. Additionally, significant relationships were found between offense styles and offender characteristics as well as criminal backgrounds. The findings suggest that mental disorders influence the types of actions exhibited by offenders during the commission of their crime. The results are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical utility to criminal investigation.     

Procedural justice,obligation to obey,and cooperation with police in a sample of Jamaican citizens

ABSTRACT

Procedural justice theory plays a central role in understanding police–citizen relationships. To test the universality of procedural justice theory, researchers have tended to assess the relative impacts of normative and instrumental models of policing in different geopolitical contexts. Building on Reisig and Lloyd’s study in Jamaica, we test in the current study the relative impacts of procedural justice (a normative factor) and police effectiveness and risk of sanctioning (instrumental factors) on Jamaicans’ obligation to obey the police and willingness to cooperate with police. We found that procedural justice predicted both obligation to obey and cooperation, although obligation did not predict cooperation. And while effectiveness predicted obligation, it was not significantly related to cooperation. Lastly, older citizens were more willing to cooperate with police. The study’s implications for policy and future research are discussed.     

Online victimization risk and self-protective strategies: developing police-led cyber fraud prevention programs

ABSTRACT

The prevalence and impact of cyber fraud continues to increase exponentially with new and more innovative methods developed by offenders to target and exploit victims for their own financial reward. Traditional crime reaction methods used by police have proved largely ineffective in this context, with offenders typically located outside of the police jurisdiction of their victims. Given this, some police agencies have begun to adopt a victim focused, crime prevention approach to cyber fraud. The current research explores with a sample of two hundred and eighteen potential cyber fraud victims, the relationship between online victimization risk, knowledge and use of crime prevention strategies. The study found those most at risk of cyber fraud victimization despite accurate perceptions of risk and knowledge of self-protective behaviors in the online environment underutilise online prevention strategies. This research has important implications for police agencies who are designing and delivering cyber fraud education. It provides guidance for the development of effective prevention programs based on practical skills development.     

Conclusions from the history of research into the effects of police force size on crime—1968 through 2013: a historical systematic review

Objectives

We describe and explain how the findings from nonexperimental studies of the relationship between police force size and crime have changed over time.

Methods

We conduct a systematic review of 62 studies and 229 findings of police force size and crime, from 1971 through 2013. Only studies of U.S. policing and containing standard errors of estimates were included. Using the robust variance estimation technique for meta-analysis, we show the history of study findings and effect sizes. We look at the influence of statistical methods and units of analysis, and time period of studies’ data, as well as variation in police force size over time.

Results

Findings vary considerably over time. However, compared to research standards and in comparison to effect sizes calculated for police practices in other meta-analyses, the overall effect size for police force size on crime is negative, small, and not statistically significant. Changes in research methods and units of analysis cannot account for fluctuations in findings. Finally, there is extremely little variation in police force size per capita over time, making it difficult to estimate the relationship with reliability.

Conclusions

This line of research has exhausted its utility. Changing policing strategy is likely to have a greater impact on crime than adding more police.

     

Do stings control crime? An evaluation of a police fencing operation

Police antifencing operations, euphemistically called “stings,” have been and continue to be a popular police undercover tactic for combating property crime. This paper is a time-series analysis of the effects of an antifencing sting project on what Mohr (1973) described as transitive (environmental impact) and reflexive (organizational survival) police organizational goals. The study, based on data from a 1985–86 Birmingham, Alabama sting, finds that only the reflexive goals were served and that the project may have had a negative environmental impact. It is concluded that the potential benefits to police reflexive goal achievement do not offset the potential costs associated with storefront stings and that the police industry should give serious consideration to removing this tactic from its arsenal.