Neighbourhood or community policing is receiving renewed attention internationally as a means of responding to a perceived legitimacy crisis in police forces globally. However, with budgets still tight in the post-Covid environment, understanding which activities are most effective and efficient in supporting confidence and legitimacy is vital. This article looks at the workings of London’s community-driven ward panel system, chaired by volunteers but administered by the Metropolitan Police. It reports on a study that asked how ward panels contributed to neighbourhood policing; one of very few to explore ward panels as a community policing structure. A series of observations and interviews were carried out as part of a case study of a single London borough. The study found that ward panels contributed in a number of ways, facilitating partnership working, building connections with hard-to-reach communities, and enhancing police accessibility. Significantly, several panels had begun to develop autonomy in identifying and resolving local problems. This article discusses the potential for semi-autonomous community bodies such as ward panels to contribute to the work of community or neighbourhood policing, thereby relieving demand on forces, and weighs up the risks entailed.
{"title":"Autonomy and Connection: How Ward Panels Support Neighbourhood Policing","authors":"Carina O’Reilly","doi":"10.1093/police/paae010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/police/paae010","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Neighbourhood or community policing is receiving renewed attention internationally as a means of responding to a perceived legitimacy crisis in police forces globally. However, with budgets still tight in the post-Covid environment, understanding which activities are most effective and efficient in supporting confidence and legitimacy is vital. This article looks at the workings of London’s community-driven ward panel system, chaired by volunteers but administered by the Metropolitan Police. It reports on a study that asked how ward panels contributed to neighbourhood policing; one of very few to explore ward panels as a community policing structure. A series of observations and interviews were carried out as part of a case study of a single London borough. The study found that ward panels contributed in a number of ways, facilitating partnership working, building connections with hard-to-reach communities, and enhancing police accessibility. Significantly, several panels had begun to develop autonomy in identifying and resolving local problems. This article discusses the potential for semi-autonomous community bodies such as ward panels to contribute to the work of community or neighbourhood policing, thereby relieving demand on forces, and weighs up the risks entailed.","PeriodicalId":516781,"journal":{"name":"Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice","volume":"10 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140525751","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lacette R Valerio, Margaret Ashley Vaughn, Elizabeth Ekren, Valerie R Barnes
Little is known collectively about the contents of school-based law enforcement (SBLE) memoranda of understanding (MOUs), despite emerging evidence they may improve program operation. Using Texas as an exploratory case study, where contracted programs are the most common form of SBLE in K-12 schools, this study conducts a content analysis of all known state SBLE MOUs (289), examining them using 40 provision-derived codes grouped in five topical categories (contract logistics, responsible parties, officer logistics, officer duties, and officer roles). Findings show that most MOUs cover a wide breadth of provisions, but could expand enumerating officer duties and programmatic qualities that literature associates with improved SBLE outcomes, as well as spreading awareness of provisions among stakeholders. The goals of the study are to understand how MOUs define SBLE programs in Texas, provide a foundation for further research examining SBLE program structures and outcomes, and make general recommendations for enhancing SBLE MOUs.
{"title":"A content analysis of memoranda of understanding between Texas Public School Districts and law enforcement agencies","authors":"Lacette R Valerio, Margaret Ashley Vaughn, Elizabeth Ekren, Valerie R Barnes","doi":"10.1093/police/paae019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/police/paae019","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Little is known collectively about the contents of school-based law enforcement (SBLE) memoranda of understanding (MOUs), despite emerging evidence they may improve program operation. Using Texas as an exploratory case study, where contracted programs are the most common form of SBLE in K-12 schools, this study conducts a content analysis of all known state SBLE MOUs (289), examining them using 40 provision-derived codes grouped in five topical categories (contract logistics, responsible parties, officer logistics, officer duties, and officer roles). Findings show that most MOUs cover a wide breadth of provisions, but could expand enumerating officer duties and programmatic qualities that literature associates with improved SBLE outcomes, as well as spreading awareness of provisions among stakeholders. The goals of the study are to understand how MOUs define SBLE programs in Texas, provide a foundation for further research examining SBLE program structures and outcomes, and make general recommendations for enhancing SBLE MOUs.","PeriodicalId":516781,"journal":{"name":"Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice","volume":"129 3-4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140516968","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Domestic abuse (DA) is a high-volume area of police work and the utility of criminal justice intervention has been questioned, especially in relation to cases perceived as low risk. This paper initiates debate on conditional cautions being used by some police forces as an alternative to a criminal charge. We highlight limitations of existing evaluations of the Cautioning Adult Relationship Abuse (CARA) intervention and potential unintended consequences of wider roll-out that remain untested. We suggest continuing to grow the evidence-base for behaviour change while addressing issues around implementation, with a greater emphasis on controlling and coercive behaviour.
{"title":"Time to exercise caution? Project CARA and out-of-court responses to domestic abuse","authors":"A. Myhill, Andy Bartlett","doi":"10.1093/police/paad094","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/police/paad094","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Domestic abuse (DA) is a high-volume area of police work and the utility of criminal justice intervention has been questioned, especially in relation to cases perceived as low risk. This paper initiates debate on conditional cautions being used by some police forces as an alternative to a criminal charge. We highlight limitations of existing evaluations of the Cautioning Adult Relationship Abuse (CARA) intervention and potential unintended consequences of wider roll-out that remain untested. We suggest continuing to grow the evidence-base for behaviour change while addressing issues around implementation, with a greater emphasis on controlling and coercive behaviour.","PeriodicalId":516781,"journal":{"name":"Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice","volume":"14 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140520055","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The national authority Økokrim was established several decades ago to become a policing centre of excellence in the investigation and prosecution of economic and environmental crime in Norway that is especially concerned with white-collar and corporate crime. This article focusses on deterrence effects from Økokrim investigations that never lead to prosecution or conviction. The research raises the issue of the use of law enforcement publicity regarding investigations of potential offenders, often long before possible convictions. The issue is explored by the press releases from the Norwegian body. The apparent shift in strategy and practice at Økokrim might be explained by the devastating evaluation of the national authority some years ago. The evaluation was initiated after the Transocean court scandal where all defendants were acquitted of all charges. Deterrence strategy by investigations implies that Økokrim passes negative consequences on suspects who never have a chance to defend themselves in court. In jurisdictions with criminal justice, a suspect should always have the benefit of the doubt. Conviction should only occur when guilt is proven beyond any reasonable and sensible doubt. Until eventually proven guilty, a suspect is supposed to be considered innocent. This is a basic principle of justice.
{"title":"Deterrence effects despite lack of prosecution: Punishment outcomes of white-collar crime investigations in Norway","authors":"Petter Gottschalk","doi":"10.1093/police/paae015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/police/paae015","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The national authority Økokrim was established several decades ago to become a policing centre of excellence in the investigation and prosecution of economic and environmental crime in Norway that is especially concerned with white-collar and corporate crime. This article focusses on deterrence effects from Økokrim investigations that never lead to prosecution or conviction. The research raises the issue of the use of law enforcement publicity regarding investigations of potential offenders, often long before possible convictions. The issue is explored by the press releases from the Norwegian body. The apparent shift in strategy and practice at Økokrim might be explained by the devastating evaluation of the national authority some years ago. The evaluation was initiated after the Transocean court scandal where all defendants were acquitted of all charges. Deterrence strategy by investigations implies that Økokrim passes negative consequences on suspects who never have a chance to defend themselves in court. In jurisdictions with criminal justice, a suspect should always have the benefit of the doubt. Conviction should only occur when guilt is proven beyond any reasonable and sensible doubt. Until eventually proven guilty, a suspect is supposed to be considered innocent. This is a basic principle of justice.","PeriodicalId":516781,"journal":{"name":"Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice","volume":"2 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140520077","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Policing is a job characterised by high levels of blame risk, with the notion of blame becoming particularly prominent feature in law enforcement in recent years, with organisations often being quick to identify other external bodies as being cognisant in perpetuating this problem. This paper investigates the extent to which fear of blame exists within policing organisations, as well as the techniques utilised by staff to neutralise this particular hazard. I will utilise Hood’s concept of ‘the blame game’ to investigate such techniques and will also outline how engaging in such games leads the organisation and its staff to pit themselves against one another by engaging in framing contests designed to shift the blame away from themselves onto other individuals within the organisation. This paper thus examines the extent to which policing organisations themselves perpetuate blaming practises and preserve the never-ending cycle of blame by engaging in such processes.
{"title":"Blame culture: The line between blame and accountability in policing","authors":"Kathryn Farrow","doi":"10.1093/police/paae034","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/police/paae034","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Policing is a job characterised by high levels of blame risk, with the notion of blame becoming particularly prominent feature in law enforcement in recent years, with organisations often being quick to identify other external bodies as being cognisant in perpetuating this problem. This paper investigates the extent to which fear of blame exists within policing organisations, as well as the techniques utilised by staff to neutralise this particular hazard. I will utilise Hood’s concept of ‘the blame game’ to investigate such techniques and will also outline how engaging in such games leads the organisation and its staff to pit themselves against one another by engaging in framing contests designed to shift the blame away from themselves onto other individuals within the organisation. This paper thus examines the extent to which policing organisations themselves perpetuate blaming practises and preserve the never-ending cycle of blame by engaging in such processes.","PeriodicalId":516781,"journal":{"name":"Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice","volume":"3 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140519674","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Working in policing can be psychologically challenging in an environment which requires officers and staff to be self-disciplined in adhering to procedural and legal frameworks. These role demands can lead to increased mental health problems. The ability to craft one’s job to personal and career needs and aspirations can reduce stress and burnout. This study aims to identify the level of job crafting and any benefit of job crafting in UK policing. Four thousand six hundred seventy-three police officers and staff completed an online survey as part of a regular psychological surveillance programme. The survey measured anxiety, depression, burnout, and traumatic stress together with a job crafting questionnaire. The results did not find any difference in mental health between officers and staff who used job crafting from those who did not. An analysis of comments provided insight into the role job crafting plays in policing. The evidence on the benefits of job crafting in terms of mental health is mixed. The study highlighted the need for job crafting to be seen in a broader context where an individual’s opportunity for flexibility and autonomy is balanced with their legal and professional obligations and organizational requirements.
{"title":"Job crafting: Does it have a role to play in improving well-being in policing?","authors":"Noreen Tehrani, Ian Hesketh","doi":"10.1093/police/paae026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/police/paae026","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Working in policing can be psychologically challenging in an environment which requires officers and staff to be self-disciplined in adhering to procedural and legal frameworks. These role demands can lead to increased mental health problems. The ability to craft one’s job to personal and career needs and aspirations can reduce stress and burnout. This study aims to identify the level of job crafting and any benefit of job crafting in UK policing. Four thousand six hundred seventy-three police officers and staff completed an online survey as part of a regular psychological surveillance programme. The survey measured anxiety, depression, burnout, and traumatic stress together with a job crafting questionnaire. The results did not find any difference in mental health between officers and staff who used job crafting from those who did not. An analysis of comments provided insight into the role job crafting plays in policing. The evidence on the benefits of job crafting in terms of mental health is mixed. The study highlighted the need for job crafting to be seen in a broader context where an individual’s opportunity for flexibility and autonomy is balanced with their legal and professional obligations and organizational requirements.","PeriodicalId":516781,"journal":{"name":"Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice","volume":"28 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140524005","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sworn police officers have a duty to report any legal offence that comes to their attention, and refraining from reporting constitutes misconduct. This article discusses the implications of the duty to report for handling sexual harassment within the Swedish police force. The discussion is based on interviews with police officers and on testimonies from the 2017 #metoo call from Swedish police. We show that the duty to report contributes to silence about experiences of sexual harassment, since reporting might initiate a legal process and break ‘the blue code of silence’. The duty to report implies an approach to sexual harassment along a criminal logic, focusing on legal classification, documentation of proof, and witness tampering. This criminal logic individualizes sexual harassment, raises the bar for what is interpreted as harassment, and closes off alternative approaches to prevent organizational factors that enable harassment.
{"title":"How the duty to report prevents reporting and reinforces silence around sexual harassment within the police","authors":"Silje Lundgren, Malin Wieslander","doi":"10.1093/police/paae032","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/police/paae032","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Sworn police officers have a duty to report any legal offence that comes to their attention, and refraining from reporting constitutes misconduct. This article discusses the implications of the duty to report for handling sexual harassment within the Swedish police force. The discussion is based on interviews with police officers and on testimonies from the 2017 #metoo call from Swedish police. We show that the duty to report contributes to silence about experiences of sexual harassment, since reporting might initiate a legal process and break ‘the blue code of silence’. The duty to report implies an approach to sexual harassment along a criminal logic, focusing on legal classification, documentation of proof, and witness tampering. This criminal logic individualizes sexual harassment, raises the bar for what is interpreted as harassment, and closes off alternative approaches to prevent organizational factors that enable harassment.","PeriodicalId":516781,"journal":{"name":"Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice","volume":"21 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140522096","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Educational formats that seek to raise police officers’ awareness about racial discrimination often focus on formal violations of the principle of non-discrimination or canons of values. First, based on a critical discussion of positions on discrimination in policing and proposals for police training in Germany this paper argues based on human rights for a broader understanding of the challenge to tackle racial discrimination in policing. In reference to neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics, competencies for proactive encounters with affected groups will thereby be explored. Second, it outlines a framework for educational formats on this issue that address police officers as whole persons, who should, in the context of their professional practice, develop the virtue to understand the perspectives of and to build relationships of care with marginalized individuals. An example of a tested format that integrates perspectives from civil society will be presented.
{"title":"Training German police officers to tackle racial discrimination: Professional virtues between compliance with legal norms and dialogue with affected groups","authors":"Emanuel John","doi":"10.1093/police/paae048","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/police/paae048","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Educational formats that seek to raise police officers’ awareness about racial discrimination often focus on formal violations of the principle of non-discrimination or canons of values. First, based on a critical discussion of positions on discrimination in policing and proposals for police training in Germany this paper argues based on human rights for a broader understanding of the challenge to tackle racial discrimination in policing. In reference to neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics, competencies for proactive encounters with affected groups will thereby be explored. Second, it outlines a framework for educational formats on this issue that address police officers as whole persons, who should, in the context of their professional practice, develop the virtue to understand the perspectives of and to build relationships of care with marginalized individuals. An example of a tested format that integrates perspectives from civil society will be presented.","PeriodicalId":516781,"journal":{"name":"Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice","volume":"23 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140519715","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The current Police Entry Qualifications Framework in England and Wales has undergone much debate since its inception in 2018. Recently the Home Secretary backtracked on over a decade’s worth of party policy and undid the requirement for all new police officers to hold or obtain a degree in Professional Policing. This has been immediately followed by several chief constables and elected police and crime commissioners (PCC’s) dropping the requirement for a degree completely. Some have been quoted as saying “the public don’t want police officers sat in classrooms” or words to that effect. Yet no studies exist that do examine what the English and Welsh public do expect educationally of their police force. This study fills that gap by surveying n = 520 members of the public to ascertain their views. It finds that whilst a two-thirds majority of the public ostensibly say they don’t believe police officers need a degree, more than nine out of ten expect them to have some kind of police-specific higher education qualification. They would also feel overwhelmingly more confident if an officer investigating a crime they were a victim of, held a relevant policing-related degree qualification. This dichotomy is then analysed against the wider background of HE and vocational qualifications. It concludes that the problem is not with a requirement for higher education in policing, but the ‘d word’ itself and the marketing of the degree as a ‘requirement’ versus a degree as an ‘achievement’.
{"title":"Public expectations of police education in England and Wales","authors":"Tom Andrews","doi":"10.1093/police/paad101","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/police/paad101","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The current Police Entry Qualifications Framework in England and Wales has undergone much debate since its inception in 2018. Recently the Home Secretary backtracked on over a decade’s worth of party policy and undid the requirement for all new police officers to hold or obtain a degree in Professional Policing. This has been immediately followed by several chief constables and elected police and crime commissioners (PCC’s) dropping the requirement for a degree completely. Some have been quoted as saying “the public don’t want police officers sat in classrooms” or words to that effect. Yet no studies exist that do examine what the English and Welsh public do expect educationally of their police force. This study fills that gap by surveying n = 520 members of the public to ascertain their views. It finds that whilst a two-thirds majority of the public ostensibly say they don’t believe police officers need a degree, more than nine out of ten expect them to have some kind of police-specific higher education qualification. They would also feel overwhelmingly more confident if an officer investigating a crime they were a victim of, held a relevant policing-related degree qualification. This dichotomy is then analysed against the wider background of HE and vocational qualifications. It concludes that the problem is not with a requirement for higher education in policing, but the ‘d word’ itself and the marketing of the degree as a ‘requirement’ versus a degree as an ‘achievement’.","PeriodicalId":516781,"journal":{"name":"Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice","volume":"79 S3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139640829","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Correction to: Police Retention: A Systematic Review of the Research","authors":"","doi":"10.1093/police/paae046","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/police/paae046","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":516781,"journal":{"name":"Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice","volume":"48 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140527372","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}