Policing Protest Events: The Great Strike of 1877 and WTO Protests of 1999

The notion of the police as protecting dominant economic interests is explored by presenting two case studies of direct action social movements occurring nearly 100 years apart. Recent protests in response to a non-state international organization (the World Trade Organization) are compared with a major labor strike of the late 19th century (the Great Strike of 1877). Historical data supports the contention that, despite many changes to contemporary policing strategies, the police are routinely used to protect existing economic structures. These narratives demonstrate how shifts in economic institutions shape formal social control practices. Comparing these events reveals how new technologies have allowed for certain adaptations and innovations for contemporary protesting and protest breaking activities. It is argued that the police institution should not be understood as only charged with responding reactively to criminal violations, but rather as serving more important social functions such as protecting dominant economic structures.     

Policing of Political Protest. The Security Police's Control of the Extra-parliamentary Opposition in Sweden During and after the Cold War

Throughout history, those in power have monitored and exercised control over individuals and groups who have been perceived as representing some form of threat to their power. Irrespective of the system of government in place, political crime is a matter of central interest to a society's security police. Political crimes are often committed by extra-parliamentary groups or organizations. The focus of this paper is how the Swedish secret police (SÄPO) have acted against what they have perceived as the extreme left, mainly anarchists and autonomists, during and after the cold war. Did SÄPO's perception of this part of the extra-parliamentary opposition change when the cold war was over in the early 1990s? Were these groups and individuals perceived as the new enemy in the threat vacuum that temporarily arose in the aftermath of the cold war? Furthermore, had the new security concept that was introduced at that time any impact on SÄPO's activities?     

Patterns of Policing and Policing Patten

In September 1999 the Independent Commission on Policing in Northern Ireland, chaired by Chris Patten, published its recommendations. This article examines the political context of policing reform, the contents of the report and the rejection of its core ideas in the Police (Northern Ireland) Bill published in May 2000. The central argument of the paper is that the Commission's radical model of policing – a network of regulating mechanisms in which policing becomes everyone's business – failed, because it gave insufficient attention, like much modern writing on policing, to the role of the state and the vested interests within policing. The overall outcome is that the Patten Commission has been effectively policed and Northern Ireland will be left with a traditional, largely undemocratic and unaccountable model of policing with most of the control resting with the Secretary of State and the Chief Constable.     

Policing the homeless

Research Summary Police officials across the United States are increasingly relying on place-based approaches for crime prevention. In this article, we examine the Safer Cities Initiative, a widely publicized place-based policing intervention implemented in Los Angeles's “Skid Row” that focused on crime and disorder associated with homeless encampments. Crime reduction was the goal. The police division in which the program was undertaken provides 8 years of time-series data serving as the observations for the treatment condition. Four adjacent police divisions in which the program was not undertaken provide 8 years of time-series data serving as the observations for the comparison condition. The data are analyzed using a generalized additive model. On balance, we find that this place-based intervention is associated with meaningful reductions in violent, property, and nuisance street crimes. There is no evidence of crime displacement. Policy Implications This study provides further evidence that geographically targeted police interventions can lead to significant crime prevention benefits, with no evidence that crime is simply displaced to other areas. Criminologists and the media have given the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) little credit for major reductions in crime that have occurred during the past 5 years following a number of major policy reforms. We suggest that researchers should look more closely at the targeted interventions the LAPD has undertaken for evidence-based examples of effective policing. Importantly, this work suggests that crime associated with homeless encampments can be meaningfully reduced with targeted police actions. However, law enforcement actions do not address the roots of homelessness nor most of its consequences. Getting tough on the homeless should not be confused with policies or programs that respond fundamentally to the social and personal problems that homelessness presents.     

The Effect of Paramilitary Protest Policing on Protestors' Trust in the Police: The Case of the “Occupy Israel” Movement

The use of paramilitary methods in civil policing tasks has become common in Western police agencies. Despite propositions that such methods should undermine the relationship between the police and the public, the effect of paramilitary policing on public trust in the police has not been empirically tested. In the present study, we examine this question in the context of protest policing, which has become a major concern for Western police agencies. Using a survey of 470 protesters who participated in “Occupy” protest events in Israel in 2012, we find that the perceived use of paramilitary methods has an independent and negative effect on trust, stronger than that of police effectiveness and the “neutrality” component of procedural justice. In‐depth interviews suggest that the significance of paramilitarism may be the result of a sense of alienation and criminalization it elicits among protesters who generally perceive themselves as law‐abiding citizens.     

American Policing and the Danger Imperative

In spite of long‐term declines in the violent victimization of U.S. police officers, the danger of police work continues to structure police socialization, culture, and behavior. Existing research, though attentive to police behavior and deviance that negatively affects the public, analytically ignores how the danger of policing engenders officer behavior that harms police themselves. Drawing on ethnographic observations and interviews in three U.S. police departments, this article describes how police are informally and formally socialized into the danger imperative—a cultural frame that emphasizes violence and the need for officer safety—and its effect on officer behavior. As a result of perception mediated through the danger imperative, officers engage in policy‐compliant and policy‐deviant behaviors to protect themselves from violence. Unfortunately, policy‐deviant behaviors such as unauthorized highspeed driving and not wearing a seatbelt, though justified in the name of safety, lead to catastrophic car accidents that injure and kill both police and members of the public. This article concludes with discussion of how seemingly mundane policy deviant behaviors are a reflection of assumptions within police culture that undergird police practices that damage public wellbeing and perpetuate boarder inequalities in U.S. policing.     

警事治理:国家警事社会化的新定义

治理理论对国家与市民社会关系的认识思路是国家和市民社会相互"型塑"达致社会公共事务管理的"善治"。在国内外警务战略模式变革中成为潮流的"国家警事社会化"战略,是指在警察机关专业警务活动的同时,动员社会组织和社区公众共同参与防控违法犯罪、维护社会治安秩序活动的过程。显然,"国家警事社会化"寻求警察与社会组织及社区公众的互动合作基础上公共安全管理的改善。因为警察与国家的对应、社会组织及公众正是市民社会的具象,所以可以用治理理论作为分析"国家警事社会化"的框架,并将其定义为"警事治理"。     

Aggressive Policing and the Deterrence of Crime

Recent analyses of the relationship between crime and an aggressive patrol strategy have led to no single conclusion concerning the deterrent power of aggressive policing. This research adds to that debate by exploring the effects of a variety of aggressive patrol tactics on several different crimes. The empirical analysis, based on cross-sectional data from sixty urban neighborhoods, indicates that there appears to be no stable complex of police actions that constitute an aggressive patrol strategy. However, one form of police action usually included under the rubric of aggressive patrol—suspicion stops—may indeed deter certain types of criminal activity.     

论人民警察权力与警务规范化

人民警察权力的运作,是警务规范化建设的核心内容。警务规范化的实质就是人民警察权力的规范化。人民警察权力与警务规范化是一个问题的两个方面,二者不可偏废。加强人民警察的执法权威与完善警务规范化建设是历史发展的必然趋势。     

论警察学原理

警察学原理即警察本质属性、警察领域基本规律的反映和表述.警察学原理理论研究应以"一般警察"为对象,在马克思主义指导下,运用科学方法,通过对古今中外的警察实践和理论的归纳、概括、升华,建立起科学、规范、严密的原理理论体系.该体系应包括警察本体论、警察价值论、警察范畴论、警务远行论等内容.     

社区警务建设论略

社区警务是和谐社会的时代主题在警务实践中的折射。社区警务体制以和谐警民关系为内核,要求警察主动依靠民众、服务社区、提前预防犯罪。当前的社区警务实践中还存在一些弊端,社区警务理念与实践脱节、体制上存在欠缺等。在社区警务建设的渐次推进过程中,须培育起全警警务理念、主动警务理念和民生警务理念,并着力解决警种联动、警社合作和目标管理考核问题。社区警务建设离不开警察职业素养和执法权威的内质支撑,须以民为本,型塑警察职业素养,提升警察责任心和使命感;培育社区民众的认同感和信任感,重建警察执法权威。     

论社区警务建设的承继与创新

社区警务建设是做好公安工作的基石。在社会管理创新和构建和谐警民关系的新形势下,社区警务建设需要承继公安工作优良传统,专群结合、亲民为民,切实履行好社区民警的职责;还需要变革,不断创新社区警务的内涵、工作方法、形象和服务等。只有这样,才能筑牢维护稳定的第一道防线,服务群众的第一个平台,巩固政权的第一层基石,促进社会和谐稳定。     

Predictable Policing: Measuring the Crime Control Benefits of Hotspots Policing at Bus Stops

Objectives

A fairly robust body of evidence suggests that hotspots policing is an effective crime prevention strategy. In this paper, we present contradictory evidence of a backfiring effect.

Methods

In a randomized controlled trial, aimed at reducing crime and disorder, London’s ‘hottest’ 102 bus-stops were targeted. Double patrol teams of Metropolitan Police Service uniformed officers visited the stops three times per shift (12:00–20:00), 5-times per week, for a duration of 15 min, over a 6 month period. Crucially, officers arrived and departed the bus stop on a bus, with significantly less time spent outside the bus stop setting. Outcomes were measured in terms of victim-generated crimes reported to the police and bus driver incident reports (DIRs), within targeted and catchment areas. We used adjusted Poisson-regression models to compare differences in pre- and post-treatment measures of outcomes and estimated-marginal-means to illustrate the treatment effect.

Results

DIRs went down significantly by 37 % (p = 0.07) in the near vicinity of the bus stops (50 m), by 40 % in the 100 m catchment area (p = 0.04) and marginally and non-significantly in the farthest catchment (10 %; p = 0.66), compared to control conditions. However, victim-generated crimes—the primary outcome measured in previous experiments—increased by 25 % (p = 0.10) in the near vicinity, by 23 % (p = 0.08) and 11 % (p ≤ 0.001) within the 100–150 m catchment areas, respectively.

Conclusions

These findings illustrate the role of bounded-rationality in everyday policing: reductions in crime are predicated on an elevated perceived risk-of-apprehension. Previous studies focused on clusters of addresses or public facilities, with police moving freely and unpredictably within the boundaries of the hotspot, but the patrol areas of officers in this experiment were limited to bus stops so offenders could anticipate their movements. Hotspots policing therefore backfires when offenders can systematically and accurately predict the temporal and spatial pattern of long-term targeting at a single location.

     

警务制度改革与犯罪预防控制——以上海为例

面对犯罪的浪潮公安机关必须向科学的管理要警力,向身边的群众要警力,向高科技手段要警力。警务制度改革是应对犯罪挑战的必由之路,社区警务的最终目的是减少犯罪,实现这一目的的前提是警察与民众的紧密合作。我为人民管治安是警务制度改革的中国化实践,好秩序只能来源于公权力与私权利的合作。预防和控制犯罪的力量之源在民众之中,集中民智才能用“无穷民力”提升“有限警力”。我国公安机关已经在治安信息发布、预防犯罪提示、“110信箱”开通、警察博客的初创等方面作出了探索,未来还要进一步运用先进理念和科技手段实现犯罪预防的精细化。     

论公安队伍的警务规范化建设

面对市场经济的新形势,公安机关应当以依法治国,依法行政和维护社会稳定、群众满意为工作目标,以人为本,进一步明确警察的法律地位和政治角色,规范健全各项警务制度,内外同步协调发展,促进警务规范化建设,实现公安队伍的长效机制建设。