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.     

The “thinning” blueline: a Bourdieuian appreciation of police subculture

The notion of a recalcitrant “police subculture” is pervasive in the literature on policing, often invoked to explain many of the ills linked to police misconduct and corruption. This article argues that the failure of reform efforts is the result of interventionist strategies which had sought to change police subculture “head-on” without a corresponding change in the structural conditions in which the policing role is so located, and that these efforts, theoretically, have been informed by a conceptualisation of police subculture as homogenous, monolithic, and static. Using the Bourdieuian concepts of the “habitus” and “field”, the view of a “recalcitrant” subculture will be challenged in this article. Using the Singaporean experience as a case in point, it will be shown how changes in the field of policing can bring about changes, intended or otherwise, in the occupational habitus of the police: refashioning the informal repository of knowledge guiding police work.     

Teaching procedural justice and communication skills during police–community encounters: Results of a randomized control trial with police recruits

Objectives

To describe and evaluate Chicago’s Quality Interaction Program (QIP) for police recruits. The training focused on procedural justice, interpersonal communication, decision-making, cultural awareness, and stress management during encounters with the public. Attention was given to emotions, empathy, and communication skills.

Methods

The QIP is an underutilized approach to police training that involves engaging recruits through applied case studies, role-playing scenarios, repetitive opportunities for practice, and individualized feedback. The impact of QIP training on 142 officers’ attitudes and behaviors was evaluated in a randomized control trial. Treatment and control groups were assessed through responses to self-reported questionnaires as well as research-coded videos that recorded officers during role-playing scenarios.

Results

The QIP did not change recruits’ attitudes toward procedural justice, nor did it impact their self-reported interpersonal communication skills. However, the program was effective at creating more respectful and reassuring behaviors during role-playing scenarios that were videotaped. The program also improved recruits’ decision-making during a scenario with rebellious youths and reduced officers’ reliance on force and arrest relative to controls.

Conclusion

The QIP initiative was instrumental in moving police training beyond “talking heads” to interactive adult education, while promoting a more sophisticated understanding of human dynamics during police–public encounters. The results, however, were mixed, due in part to a training academy environment that emphasized aggressive policing and officer safety. Thus, reform-minded agencies may need to rethink the totality of the training experience to achieve strong results.

     

“Demystifying” the police: a participant observation study of police stops (and searches)

Police are empowered by law to stop and search vehicles and their occupants, once reasonable grounds for suspicion come into being. However, as attested by this study, not all suspicions are followed up, nor all stops-searches follow on suspicions. Police stops-searches involve bounteous discretion of whom, where, and when to stop-search, and this process entails a long chain of judgments and actions on behalf of the constables faced with given street-level situations. A six-month complete participant observation study of the Emergency Response Unit of the Cyprus Police resulted in asserting that police stops-searches of vehicles and their occupants rest upon multiple, perplexed, and intertwined factors that range from racial predilections to heat tolerance levels of constables who may or may not be inclined to enforce the law. In all, over one hundred dimensions were found to relate to constables’ decision-making process on whether to conduct a stop-search or not.     

A Monte Carlo simulation and sensitivity cost benefit analysis for use of nylon 4N6FLOQSwabs®

Forensic genetic laboratories are challenged with implementing innovation even if the benefits to operational performance are well demonstrated often because of internal budget constraints. A prospective cost–benefit analysis (CBA) could support justification for an increased budget by effectively demonstrating in a system-based approach the relatively small cost of increasing a laboratory budget can substantially reduce costs to society (both qualitatively and monetarily). A Monte Carlo simulation and sensitivity CBA was performed using a more expensive swab (i.e., nylon 4N6FLOQSwabs®) compared with a less costly cotton swab. Ranges of input values and tangible and intangible benefits were considered. The outcome is that the relatively small increased cost of using a nylon swab pales compared with the potential tangible and intangible benefits to the overall system. This approach provides a sounder basis for requesting additional funds to support implementation of technologies and better approximates realistic situations while accommodating uncertainty of input values.     

Victims’ perceptions of the police response as a predictor of victim cooperation in the Netherlands: a prospective analysis

The current study prospectively explores whether crime victims’ willingness to cooperate with the police is predicted by victims’ perceptions of police officers’ behaviour with regard to their case through their perceptions of police legitimacy. Structural equation modelling was used to examine the interrelationships between the study variables while controlling for baseline values among a sample of 201 crime victims in the Netherlands. Results indicate that victims’ perceptions of procedural justice and police performance were predictive of both indicators of perceived police legitimacy (i.e. obligation to obey the law and trust in the police). Moreover, victims’ willingness to cooperate with the police was indirectly predicted by victims’ perceptions of procedural justice and police performance, through their perceptions of obligation to obey the law. These findings suggest that police officers may play an important role in stimulating victims’ willingness to cooperate with the police by treating victims fairly and by taking investigative actions to solve the crime.     

Social capital in Scottish and Danish neighbourhoods: paradoxes of a police–community nexus at the front line

Community-oriented social capital strategies and punitive-oriented policing approaches conflict. Establishing local networking initiatives with community-oriented policing at the centre lends itself to an assets-based policing approach, based on honouring, mobilizing and extending the assets of community members. Scholars argue about the need for comparative research on convergences and divergencies across subcultures on the streets and communities. Based on qualitative data gathered from working class communities in Scotland and Denmark in 2014, the article draws inspiration from community-generated theory of social capital to explore the micro-sociology of experiences and understandings about community–police integration policy initiatives. We use this perspective to argue that the building of positive inter-generational and police–community relationships is the result of social exchanges and officers’ use of what we call ‘constructive investment strategies’. Ironically, our insights from Scotland to Denmark also suggest what appear as positive achievements of community policing may instead intensify residents’ negative perceptions of police officers and organizations. In this way, the article illuminates the tangled and conflicted nature of these embedded symbolic interactions, social capital formations and the latter’s form as a potential positional and ‘tribal’ commodity.     

Policing terrorism and police–community relations: views of the Arab minority in Israel

Police involvement in counterterrorism has special ramifications on minority groups that may be viewed as presenting high risk to homeland security. Our public survey shows that the Jewish respondents in our sample expressed positive attitudes toward police involvement in mission of counterterrorism, while Israeli Arabs expressed more concern with the ramifications of police involvement in counterterrorism on its relations with the Arabs in particular. The results show that both communities recognized the central role that the police may play in dealing with terrorism, and they both expressed high levels of willingness to cooperate with the police to fight against terrorism.     

The construction of ‘So What?’ criminology: a realist analysis

From a realist perspective there is a growing body of criminology that can be classified as ‘So What?’ criminology in that it involves a low level of theorisation, thin, inconsistent or vague concepts and categories, embodies a dubious methodology or has little or no policy relevance. The production of ‘So What?’ criminology is, of course, no accident but the outcome of a number of lines of force that have served to shape the nature of mainstream academic criminology in recent years. The aim of this article is to identify some of these lines of force and to assess their impact.     

The cost of educating children: The accounts of a nineteenth century girls' boarding school in Orléans,France

Using a collection of 73 bills of a boarding school in Orléans (France), the article examines the cost of educating a child at the end of the nineteenth century. These bills concern the four daughters of a family from the Brittany nobility who each spent about 12 years at boarding school. Items on the bills reveal details of the daily life of the young girls through general boarding expenses, education costs, private lessons, clothing, medicine, and trips home for the holidays. Aspects of the family life of the girls and the boarding school (meals, religious instruction, health, and welfare) are described.     

The cost of educating children: The accounts of a nineteenth century girls' boarding school in Orléans,France

Using a collection of 73 bills of a boarding school in Orléans (France), the article examines the cost of educating a child at the end of the nineteenth century. These bills concern the four daughters of a family from the Brittany nobility who each spent about 12 years at boarding school. Items on the bills reveal details of the daily life of the young girls through general boarding expenses, education costs, private lessons, clothing, medicine, and trips home for the holidays. Aspects of the family life of the girls and the boarding school (meals, religious instruction, health, and welfare) are described.     

The making of an expert detective: the role of experience in English and Norwegian police officers’ investigative decision-making

Biased decision-making in criminal investigations can impede or arrest the progress of justice. Previous research has not systematically addressed the effects of professional experience on the quality of detectives’ decision-making. Using a quasi-experimental design, this study compared the quality of investigative decisions made by experienced detectives and novice police officers in two countries with markedly different models for the development of investigative expertise (England and Norway). Participants (N?=?124) were presented with two semi-fictitious cases and were asked to report all relevant investigative hypotheses and necessary investigative actions in each case. The quality of participants’ responses was gauged against a gold standard established by a panel of senior homicide experts. In the English sample, experienced detectives vastly outperformed novice police officers in the number of reported gold-standard investigative hypotheses and actions. In the Norwegian sample, however, experienced detectives did not perform any better than novices. We argue that English (vs. Norwegian) detectives may benefit more from professional experience due to their Professionalising Investigation Programme and a nationwide accreditation program, requiring them to engage in extensive standardized training, systematic evaluation and synchronized development. In contrast, Norway lacks such requirements. Methodological limitations and implications for police training and accreditation policies are discussed.     

Theory and practice in interviewing young children: A study of Norwegian police interviews 1985–2002

Abstract

Has the increased public and professional awareness of the challenges of interviewing children in forensic contexts led to changes and improvements in police interviewing practices? A representative sample (n=91) of police interviews conducted during the period of 1985–2002 from a large Norwegian police district was analysed. The results indicated that interviewer strategies have improved; there was a decrease in the use of suggestive, yes/no and option-posing questions and this decrease was accompanied by a comparable increase in the use of cued recall questions. The frequency of open-ended invitations was low and did not change much over time. Factors that might have led to the observed changes are briefly discussed.     

Researcher–practitioner partnerships and crime analysis: a case study in action research

This paper describes a recent researcher–practitioner partnership designed to address the challenges faced by law enforcement agencies when implementing crime control and prevention strategies. Using an action research methodology, the project embedded a group of trained students within the law enforcement community to assist with local crime problems and supplement existing crime analysis and research capabilities in six agency units. Results of this case study offer several implications for future researcher–practitioner partnerships focused on crime analysis and present an enhanced set of metrics for evaluating success.     

The complementarities between formal and informal channels of university–industry knowledge transfer: a longitudinal approach

In this paper we study the interplay between formal and informal channels of university–industry knowledge transfer (UIKT) over time. To do so, we rely on longitudinal and qualitative interview data analysis allowing us to observe the notable research and valorization trajectories of two reputable researchers in the fields of robotics and pharmacy at the University of Strasbourg. Our findings show that: (1) dynamic complementarities between formal and informal UIKT are important; (2) at the individual and team level, such interactions contribute to creating a strong cumulative effect with regard to valorization activity; (3) They also reinforce the collective dimension of valorization, which is performed by teams rather than by isolated individuals; and (4) the best academic entrepreneurs make use of the different UIKT channels in an entrepreneurial way with a clear long-run valorization strategy in mind. These results have strong managerial and political implications with regard to the valorization of academic research.

     

The age of war orphans: Construction and realities of a group of state wards between education and assistance (1917–1935)

At the beginning of the twentieth century there was a great diversity in the definition of “legal age” in France. The age of entrance into institutions for orphans, for example, varied greatly throughout the country. In 1917 a special status was introduced specifically for French war orphans that was unique in Europe—that of state ward. Having that status, a child was entitled to help in relation to needs over the life cycle. Orphans received assistance until they reached the age of majority. With time, the aging of these war orphans engendered new difficulties in the organization of assistance, notably because of the increase in the numbers of adolescents in need of higher subsidees. The debt contracted by the state on behalf of orphans who were “victims” of the service rendered by their fathers, met with resistance from various conflicting interests and financial realities.     

Punitive attitudes and causal attribution of crime among Israeli police officers: is there a gender gap?

Policy-makers and researchers have long been interested in the punitive attitudes and causal attribution of crime of police officers. Understanding the punitive attitudes and causal attribution of crime of those who enforce the law is necessary for both theoretical and practical reasons. The current study examines gender differences in punitive attitudes and causal attribution of crime among police officers at the beginning and at the end of their academic studies. One hundred and one police officers (47 policewomen and 54 policemen) participated in this study. The main results indicate that (a) policemen held more punitive attitudes than policewomen, (b) there were significant gender differences in the first year of academic study, with stronger support of classical theories (more punitive) among policemen compared with policewomen, but no gender differences were found in the last year, (c) police officers tended to attribute classical theories (more punitive) to the causes of crime regardless of gender and year of study, and (d) belief in individual positivism (less punitive) was greater among policemen than policewomen, and among the men, it was greater in the last year of studies than in the first year. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

The legal form of labour conflicts and their time persistence: an empirical analysis with a large firms’ panel

Using a panel of large firms from Spain, we check the relative time persistence of different types of labour conflicts such as strikes, collective conflicts, lockouts and other conflicts with lost working hours but with no specific legal form. The results show that no legal form labour conflicts do not have long-term persistence (only from quarter to quarter), and the other types of conflicts suffer short and long-term persistence of conflicts at the firm level. Strikes have the higher size of both types of persistence. As short and long term persistence of strikes have almost the same size, these results do not support asymmetric information theories of strike.     

Candidate Selection and a Crowded Parliament: The Israeli Knesset, 1988–2006

Candidate selection reform has its consequences. This article examines Israel as a case study in order to understand the changes in parliamentary activity (legislation, parliamentary questions and motions for the agenda) that resulted from the adoption of primaries as a candidate selection reform by the Labour Party in 1992 and later by three more parties: Likud, Meretz and Tzomet. The findings show that there has been a significant increase in parliamentary activity since the 13th Knesset (the first Knesset with Members of Knesset elected through primaries). The research hypothesises that posited reasons for the difference in parliamentary activities in the Knesset terms before and after the introduction of primaries were strongly supported.