CIT in context: the impact of mental health resource availability and district saturation on call dispositions

The goals of Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) programs include improving safety during encounters between police and persons with mental illnesses, diverting persons with mental illnesses away from the criminal justice system, and increasing referral and access to mental health services. CIT is a systemic intervention, and as such, its implementation and effectiveness are influenced by existing practices and infrastructures. However, little research has considered the context in which CIT programs are implemented. In this paper, we present research on CIT in four Chicago police districts that vary in terms of two contextual factors hypothesized to influence the impact of CIT training on how calls involving persons with mental illnesses are resolved. Using data from 112 patrol officers in four Chicago police districts, we consider the impact of mental health services availability and CIT saturation (the percentage of district personnel that are CIT certified). Findings indicate that CIT training increased direction to mental health services primarily in districts with greater availability of mental health services. In districts with low service availability, higher CIT saturation increased direction to mental services. The opposite pattern emerged for contact only or informal call resolution. No effects were found for arrest as a call outcome.     

The stages of cybercrime investigations: Bridging the gap between technology examination and law enforcement investigation

Cybercrime investigation can be argued as still in its infancy. The technical investigation practices and procedures of global law enforcement are also still evolving in response to the growing threat of the cybercriminal. This has led to considerable debate surrounding the adequacy of current technical investigation models, examination tools and the subsequent capability of law enforcement to tackle cybercrime. To bridge the gap between low-level technology recovery and digital forensic examination, and to overcome the many technical challenges now faced by law enforcement; this paper presents an extended cybercrime investigation model capable of guiding the investigative practices of the broader law enforcement community. The Stages of Cybercrime Investigations discussed throughout this paper, demonstrate the logical steps and primary considerations vital to investigating cyber related crime and criminality. The model is intended to provide both technical and non-technical investigative resources, covering mainstream law enforcement, partner agencies and specialist technical services, with a formal and common structure when investigating the complex technical nature of cybercrime. Finally, the model is further aimed at providing cybercrime investigators with a means to consolidate understanding, share knowledge and communicate the resulting outcomes as an investigation moves through each relevant stage.     

Police officers’ perceptions of organizational justice and their trust in the public

Research in organizational psychology has consistently demonstrated that employee perceptions of organizational justice have significant effects on employee attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors. Similar studies utilizing the organizational justice model in policing have also noted these effects, including the relationship of justice perceptions with officer attitudes toward the public. Recent theoretical developments in policing contend that the association between internal perceptions of justice and external attitudes may be the result of organizational and supervisory practices that ‘trickle-down’ into the police-community relationship. This paper explores this association by assessing the effects of officer perceptions of organizational justice on officer trust in the public. A sample of patrol division police officers were surveyed using measures taken from the organizational justice literature and Mayer, Davis, and Schoorman’s model of organizational trust. Results show a strong relationship between perceptions of organizational justice and trust in the public even when other relevant predictors are controlled.     

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.     

构筑以信息化指挥为核心的城区快速反应机制的理论和实践探索

以信息化指挥为核心的快速反应机制是在信息化的基础上,运用4CIS系统构成一个灵活、机动、可靠、无缝的多层网络,能迅速直接调动各街面动态反应点,以最佳效益方式处置目标警情的警务运作机制。近期,上海市公安局普陀分局开始了分局指挥中心“一级指挥”和基层派出所警力“三警合一”的改革试点工作,正逐步建设完整的以信息化指挥为核心的快速反应机制。     

对香港少年警讯的几点思考

香港少年警讯是香港警务处推行防止罪案工作中最为成功的项目之一,它的成功经验对我们有着积极的借鉴作用。我 们应当适应时代要求,转变观念,积极引入警察公关理念,对内地青少年教育资源进行有效整合。     

警务改革的原动力-犯罪现象与警务改革

目前 ,面对日益严峻的国际犯罪形势 ,世界各国对如何有效地预防和控制犯罪 ,给予了越来越多的关注 ,并在世界范围内揭起了第四次警务改革 ,即以“主动警务”为特征的警务革命———社区警务。使警务活动从管理型向行动型转变 ,从静态管理向动态管理转变。使警察与社区和居民之间进一步保持直接的接触 ,使警察能够利用自己所掌握的信息、知识 ,发挥才智 ,与社区居民一道共同寻求解决社区治安问题的办法。鼓励有关警方采取多种多样的巡逻措施 ,不同程度地满足公众在安全和秩序方面的特殊需要 ,从而实现警务方式变被动式为主动式的最终目标。     

论社区警务改革

我们进行社区警务改革 ,就是要通过社区警务的全面实施 ,真正使我国公安工作实现由被动型向主动型转变 ,由打击型向打击与防范型转变 ;由管理型向服务型转变。农村和城市的情况不尽相同 ,故在实行社区警务改革时也应有所侧重或区别。     

论社会治安防控体系的构建

社会治安综合治理的深化,是我国预防犯罪、维护治安稳定、建立社会治安综合治理模式的必然选择。不断探索社会治安综合治理是适应日益动态化、复杂化的严峻社会治安形势的迫切需要,在构建社会主义和谐社会和建设小康社会的进程中,用科学的发展观构建行之有效的社会治安防控体系是十分必要。