Empirical evaluation of a technology acceptance model for mobile policing

Technology acceptance in policing is under-researched, yet mobile devices are widely implemented across UK police forces. The paper validates a mobile technology acceptance model (M-TAM) developed in a single police force. It shows that the M-TAM is transferrable to other UK police forces, and potentially worldwide. The influence of local supervision and fit of technology to roles and tasks are shown to be the most influential factors. Factors beyond the technology itself, such as the influence of peers and involvement of operational officers in technology investment decisions, must be considered to accommodate the strong cultural barriers in policing.     

Spatial displacement and diffusion of benefits among geographically focused policing initiatives: a meta-analytical review

Objectives  

To undertake a systematic review of the extent to which geographically focused policing initiatives appear to displace crime (simply relocate it to other places) or diffuse benefits (lead to reductions elsewhere).     

The Australian Cross-border Justice Scheme: an evaluation of a unique policing experiment

Abstract

Spanning the three jurisdictions of Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory, the central Australian cross-border region is sparsely populated, with an estimated 7000 people living in some 26 communities. In 2009 a new initiative was introduced to the region – the Cross-border Justice Scheme. Its creation was driven primarily by a need to deliver a more people-centred system. The new arrangements were designed to promote high quality trans-jurisdictional practice by all key criminal justice institutions, namely police, prosecutions, courts and corrections, but especially police. This paper looks at the impetus of the Scheme from its political roots. It describes its implementation, and the evaluative process completed in 2013. Finally, it takes readers through the pivotal role played by police services, both in changing the environment in which the Scheme operated and in contributing to some positive but limited changes in cross-jurisdictional co-operation     

Setting the legal standard of care for treatment and evidence-based medicine: a case study of antenatal corticosteroids

This article argues that liability for negligent medical treatment should be predicated upon a standard of care reflecting what is medically and scientifically reasonable. Legal science (jurisprudence) and medical science (evidence-based medicine) should be reconciled to improve patient care and outcomes. The use of antenatal corticosteroids in obstetrics during the 1990s illustrates how most jurisprudence for setting the standard of care for treatment is ill equipped to meet the fundamental aims of tort law. The proliferation of evidence-based medical practice provides a unique opportunity for the law to encourage best medical practice when setting the standard of care for treatment. It is argued that, eventually, the law should recognise clinical practice guidelines as the prima facie standard of care for treatment. This will provide legal certainty, appropriate medical practitioner accountability, and ultimately improve patient care and outcomes.     

The pluralization of policing and the rise of private policing in China

Policing in China has undergone tremendous change during the economic transformation of the past three decades. This paper describes the plural policing bodies that have existed during pre- and post-reform periods in China. In the pre-reform period the policing bodies were generally public in nature with the public security police playing an important role in providing professional guidance to the other policing bodies. In the post-reform period, there has been a transition from a monopoly of public policing to an integration of public/private policing, with the public security police still playing a leading role in the policing network. Apart from the emergence of private policing (the security service industry), there is also a trend towards privatizing some previously public policing bodies in line with the movement toward strengthening the rule of law and towards privatization in general.     

Determinants of citizen support for community-oriented policing

The extent to which community members are willing to cooperate with the police and become involved with various community crime prevention programs depends on citizen perceptions of the police and of the community in which they reside. The purpose of the present study is to explore factors that affect support for community policing in a small rural city. Findings revealed that the majority of respondents supported community policing. Using community survey data collected from over 400 citizens in a small metropolitan area in the intermountain West, this study also explored the importance of demographic factors, community characteristics, and public perceptions and experiences with police in predicting citizens’ support for community policing. Citizen support for community-oriented policing varied somewhat by demographic factors (i.e., gender, education), and by community characteristics (i.e., disorder, social cohesion).     

Perceptions of community policing in a small town

Much of the information regarding community policing is based upon research conducted in large urban areas. In contrast, this article utilizes survey data to examine resident perceptions of community-policing practices in a small southern town. Low response rates from minority citizens, along with the negative impressions reported by minority participants, point to race as a major concern. Black respondents are less willing to trust the police, express greater dissatisfaction with the police, and grade the police significantly lower than do white participants. Interestingly, community-policing measures do not appear to enhance perceptions of the police. Suggestions for future research are offered.     

Combating child homicide: preventive policing for the new millennium

High-profile media coverage of crimes against children has heightened public awareness of critical child safety needs and issues. However, numerous research studies in the area of child homicide have illustrated the importance of the power of science to correct false perceptions and misinformation, improving how to best serve and protect our children. Age-based analyses of childhood crime patterns have vastly improved how law enforcement and social service practitioners identify, investigate, and resolve child victimization cases. Future protective efforts must involve multiagency and multidisciplinary collaboration. Law enforcement, social service clinicians, educators, and academicians should jointly develop and implement pragmatic and effective prevention, detection, and resolution programs and policies.     

The reasons for choosing a career in policing among South Korean police cadets

Despite the importance of understanding the reasons for choosing the police as an occupation for developing effective recruiting strategies, there is a surprising lack of research about what motivates people to choose careers in policing in South Korea. Employing the sample of 410 Korean police cadets, the study found that a financial factor — “steady salary” and “job security” — was the most important factor affecting the decisions of police cadets to join the police. Regression analyses indicated that gender and social-economic status had significant effects on cadets' motivation of joining the police. In the conclusion, policy implications for developing an effective recruitment strategy are discussed.     

Development and evaluation of a standard method for the quantitative determination of elements in float glass samples by LA-ICP-MS

Forensic analysis of glass samples was performed in different laboratories within the NITE-CRIME (Natural Isotopes and Trace Elements in Criminalistics and Environmental Forensics) European Network, using a variety of Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) systems. The main objective of the interlaboratory tests was to cross-validate the different combinations of laser ablation systems with different ICP-MS instruments. A first study using widely available samples, such as the NIST SRM 610 and NIST SRM 612 reference glasses, led to deviations in the determined concentrations for trace elements amongst the laboratories up to 60%. Extensive discussion among the laboratories and the production of new glass reference standards (FGS 1 and FGS 2) established an improved analytical protocol, which was tested on a well-characterized float glass sample (FG 10-1 from the BKA Wiesbaden collection). Subsequently, interlaboratory tests produced improved results for nearly all elements with a deviation of < 10%, demonstrating that LA-ICP-MS can deliver absolute quantitative measurements on major, minor and trace elements in float glass samples for forensic and other purposes.     

Networks, terrorists and criminals: the implications for community policing

This paper addresses both the connections between criminals and terrorists and the potential overlap and meshing of their networks and considers the implications of these intersections for counterterrorism policies and actions. It concludes with a focus on the community and community policing’s role in the disengagement of terrorists from terrorist organizations. While addressing the intersections between terrorists and criminals and the actions they commit, it explores important distinctions between terrorism and criminality, and the implications these distinctions imply for confronting terrorism and criminality within communities and their effect on successful counter terrorism policies and actions.     

Hong-Kong-style community policing: a study of the Yau Ma Tei fruit market

This paper explores the policing of a traditional wholesale fruit market located in a densely populated neighborhood of urban Hong Kong. Based on ethnographic and historical research, we outline the political arrangements that govern the discretionary arrangements of police power at the market. A historically developed system maintains an informal status quo against various pressures to change. We identify crucial features in the contemporary policing system that emerge from a fusion between the democratic ethos of community policing ideals and non-democratic aspects of local administration in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. These features of this historically developed mode of order-maintenance, we suggest, might be seen as broadly characteristic of a “Hong Kong style” community policing.     

Preparation of pyrolysis reference samples: evaluation of a standard method using a tube furnace

A new, simple method for the reproducible creation of pyrolysis products from different materials that may be found at a fire scene is described. A temperature programmable steady-state tube furnace was used to generate pyrolysis products from different substrates, including softwoods, paper, vinyl sheet flooring, and carpet. The temperature profile of the tube furnace was characterized, and the suitability of the method to reproducibly create pyrolysates similar to those found in real fire debris was assessed. The use of this method to create proficiency tests to realistically test an examiner's ability to interpret complex gas chromatograph-mass spectrometric fire debris data, and to create a library of pyrolsates generated from materials commonly found at a fire scene, is demonstrated.     

Accounting for rapid growth of private policing in South Korea

Although private policing has existed since the dawn of society, the widespread availability of private policing is a relatively new phenomenon. The purpose of this study was to explore the contributing factors in the rapid growth of private policing by examining the Korean case. This study also attempted to explore the nature and implications of private policing within large context of political, economic, legal, and cultural systems. Several factors contributed to the popularization of private policing in recent years. The decentralization of policing authority provided a political ground for the growth of private policing. The economic affluence in the late 1980s also paved the way for the wide availability of private policing and its specialization in Korea. The findings of this study revealed that the changing nature of legal culture, from mediation and reconciliation to litigation, contributed to the rapid growth of private policing in Korea. In addition, fear of crime and some historical events such as the Olympic Games were closely related to the expansion of private policing in Korea.     

13C4-secobarbital as the internal standard for the quantitative determination of secobarbital--a critical evaluation

In this study, 13C4-secobarbital was used as an exemplar compound to illustrate the mechanism based on which the effectiveness of a proposed internal standard (IS) could be evaluated. A deuterated analog, 2H5-secobarbital, was also studied in parallel for comparison purposes. Well-established solid-phase extraction and methylation procedures were used prior to the GC/MS measurement step. The contribution of the intensity of an ion designated for the analyte (secobarbital) by the proposed IS, and similarly, the contribution of the intensity of an ion designated for the IS by the analyte--a phenomenon termed "cross-contribution"-were evaluated based on a "direct measurement" procedure in which equimolar amounts of the analyte and the IS were used to generate intensity data. These intensity data were then used as the basis for the calculation of "cross-contribution" (in percentages) of ions designated for the analyte and the IS. Cross-contribution data were compared with the linearity data resulting from two series of standards containing 25 to 9600 ng/mL secobarbital using two sets of quantitation ion pairs--m/z 196/200 and 195/199 with 13C4-secobarbital as the IS and m/z 196/201 and 195/200 with 2HS-secobarbital as the IS. 13C4-secobarbital was found to be much less problematic and thus can serve as a very effective IS. Cross-contribution data alone cannot fully explain the observed differences resulting from the use of these two ISs; further systematic study is needed to provide better understanding of the underlying interference mechanism.