Law Enforcement Sectors Research Articles

Provenance Inference for Instagram Photos Through Device Fingerprinting

Sensor pattern noise (SPN) has been extensively studied in the scientific community and has found its applications in many practical scenarios in the law-enforcement sector. However, the emergence of photo-sharing social networking sites (SNSs) poses new challenges to SPN-based digital image provenance analysis. One particular issue is that the SNSs' built-in image editing tools tend to inflict distortion on SPNs. One well-known example of such tools is the image filters on Instagram. We observed that some Instagram image filters manipulate the high-frequency bands of the images and hence damage the SPNs, making source-oriented clustering (SOC) of the filtered images unsatisfactory. To address this issue, we propose to first separate the images processed by different filters beforehand into two groups, with Group Malignant (M) containing the filters that significantly distort SPNs and Group Benign (B) covering the other filters that have no significant impact on SPNs. We then cluster the images processed by Group B filters and calculate the centroid of each cluster, with one centroid representing the reference SPN of the corresponding camera. Finally, we use the centroid of each cluster to attract the images processed by the Group M filters in order to complete the SOC task. To identify the filter applied to each image so as to facilitate the clustering, a convolutional neural network based filter-oriented image classifier is proposed. Tested on 19,332 images processed by 18 different filters, the classifier delivers a very promising accuracy of 98.5%. Moreover, compared to the F1-measure of 47.74% by directly clustering on 1,800 filtered images, our proposed clustering framework achieves a much higher F1-measure of 90.33%.

Особливості формування іншомовної комунікативної компетентності правоохоронців з використанням технологій дистанційного навчання

Modern educational processes in the law-enforcement sector predetermine the urgent need to create an integral pedagogical system which provides an optimal combination of traditional and innovative approaches to the problem of forming foreign-language communicative competence of future law enforcement officers using innovative experience of scientific researches of this problem. Today training of future law enforcement officers should be focused on the prospects of international cooperation providing mobility for scientists, teachers and students/cadets within the global educational and scientific environment. Searching areas, methods of training, their improvement, development and implementation in the educational process are intensively conducted. One of such areas, especially in periods of emergencies, is the introduction and improvement of distance learning technology at higher educational institutions in the process of training future law enforcement officers. Positive influence on the level of the formed foreign communicative competence of future law enforcement officers in the conditions of the limited amount of educational time is organization of their language training by facilities of distance learning. Contemporary programs of the distance learning are a complex of synchronous and asynchronous technologies, all subjects of technological co-operation of which are active simultaneously or in different time and co-operate with the help of the Internet network. Elements and resources of the distance course of the informative environment of Moodle and Teams gives unlimited possibilities to teachers for creation of informatively high-quality, dynamic, logically structured courses.

Remodeling the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA)

The intelligence community and the law enforcement sector are supposed to be working closely to keep us all safe from terrorists and other dangers. The benefits of this cooperation should not be frittered away by unnecessary burdens in trying suspected terrorists in civilian courts. If the executive branch is to be kept away from the dark side of counterterrorism, the courts, Congress, or a combination of the two should modernize their approach to alignment, to Section 6 of Classified Information Procedures Act, and to closed portions of trials. First, a prosecutor’s discovery obligations should apply to the intelligence community only when spymasters have most actively participated in the investigation. When defining “most actively” and in determining who falls within the prosecution unit, all three branches of government should err toward non-alignment. The recent creep toward conceding alignment on all cases since 9/11 should stop. Second, courts should be less inclined to admit top-secret information into trial than information at a lower level of classification. The more sensitive the information, the more leeway courts should give prosecutors in proposing substitutions and summaries. The common sense that probably fills the gaps of CIPA practice, squeezing around cases and the statute, should be formalized by an update of CIPA. Third, it should be possible to close portions of trials to all but the judge, jury, and the parties to the case when especially sensitive information is being presented. These limited closures will allow courts, as a compensating benefit, to lean toward defendants on Section 6 decisions as to the use of classified information at trial. By this compensation, the either/or of full disclosure versus complete suppression is traded for a range of options. CIPA is showing its age. Even so, because its foundation is solid, it does not require a tear down as much as a remodeling. In at least three areas – alignment, Section 6, and closed portions of trials – our nation deserves a better resolution between the conflicting interests of prosecutors and spymasters.

The Spatial and Social Patterning of Property and Violent Crime in Toronto Neighbourhoods: A Spatial-Quantitative Approach

Criminal activities are often unevenly distributed over space. The literature shows that the occurrence of crime is frequently concentrated in particular neighbourhoods and is related to a variety of socioeconomic and crime opportunity factors. This study explores the broad patterning of property and violent crime among different socio-economic stratums and across space by examining the neighbourhood socioeconomic conditions and individual characteristics of offenders associated with crime in the city of Toronto, which consists of 140 neighbourhoods. Despite being the largest urban centre in Canada, with a fast-growing population, Toronto is under-studied in crime analysis from a spatial perspective. In this study, both property and violent crime data sets from the years 2014 to 2016 and census-based Ontario-Marginalisation index are analysed using spatial and quantitative methods. Spatial techniques such as Local Moran’s I are applied to analyse the spatial distribution of criminal activity while accounting for spatial autocorrelation. Distance-to-crime is measured to explore the spatial behaviour of criminal activity. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) linear regression is conducted to explore the ways in which individual and neighbourhood demographic characteristics relate to crime rates at the neighbourhood level. Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) is used to further our understanding of the spatially varying relationships between crime and the independent variables included in the OLS model. Property and violent crime across the three years of the study show a similar distribution of significant crime hot spots in the core, northwest, and east end of the city. The OLS model indicates offender-related demographics (i.e., age, marital status) to be a significant predictor of both types of crime, but in different ways. Neighbourhood contextual variables are measured by the four dimensions of the Ontario-Marginalisation Index. They are significantly associated with violent and property crime in different ways. The GWR is a more suitable model to explain the variations in observed property crime rates across different neighbourhoods. It also identifies spatial non-stationarity in relationships. The study provides implications for crime prevention and security through an enhanced understanding of crime patterns and factors. It points to the need for safe neighbourhoods, to be built not only by the law enforcement sector but by a wide range of social and economic sectors and services.

НАПРЯМИ ВДОСКОНАЛЕННЯ ДІЯЛЬНОСТІ ДЕРЖАВНИХ ОРГАНІВ У СФЕРІ РЕАЛІЗАЦІЇ ФІСКАЛЬНОЇ ПОЛІТИКИ В УКРАЇНІ

In the article, based on the analysis of the norms of the current legislation of Ukraine, the key directions of improvement of activity of state bodies in the sphere of implementation of fiscal policy in Ukraine are identified and characterized. The purpose of the article is to iden-tify key areas for improving the performance of public authorities in the field of fiscal policy implementation in Ukraine. It is determined that the steps aimed at reorgan-ization of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine by dividing it into the above central executive bodies should generally be regarded as positive, since a single agency cannot ef-fectively perform such a significant number of tasks and functions in the area of fiscal implementation policy in Ukraine. However, in our opinion, the legal framework for the activity of the State Tax Service of Ukraine and the State Customs Service of Ukraine should be enshrined not at the subordinate regulatory level, but at the level of individual laws of Ukraine, as is done with respect to a number of central executive bodies. It is found that the legal status of the central executive body responsible for ensuring the formation and implementation of activities in the field of financial control at the regulatory level is regulated with significant shortcomings. Such shortcom-ings are manifested both in a considerable number of legal acts, at the level of which the legal status of a given body of state power is fixed, and in the name of the body itself, which does not correspond to either its functional pur-pose or the content of its activity. It is concluded that the paramount problems of functioning of public authorities in the field of fiscal policy implementation in Ukraine, which need their immediate solution, is the need to regu-late the legal status of such bodies. At present, they need regulatory acts at the level of which the legal status of the main central executive bodies, which implement fis-cal policy in the respective areas, is fixed. In this case we are talking about the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, the State Audit Service of Ukraine, the State Tax Service of Ukraine and the State Customs Service of Ukraine. The law enforcement sector also needs to reform its implemen-tation of fiscal policy in Ukraine.

Transnational Child Sexual Abuse: Outcomes from a Roundtable Discussion.

The phenomenon of men who travel across international borders to engage in child sexual abuse presents significant public health, legal, diplomatic, cultural, and research challenges. Briefed in the current scope of this issue by relevant stakeholders across legislation, research, and social policy, a roundtable discussion held in London aimed to synthesise plenary discussions from multidisciplinary attendees across law enforcement, academia, non-profit, and industry sectors with direct relevance to the UK. Specifically, the roundtable discussions aimed to gather the central themes relating to attendee discussions on the key challenges, affected countries, response strategies, and knowledge gaps. Four key themes were identified from the data, relating to the definition of Transnational Child Sexual Abuse (TCSA), criminal justice, geographical considerations, and issues surrounding tourism/hospitality. The data highlighted four priorities for future development and research, namely developing offender typologies, victim-centric investigative practice, prevalence and definitions, and collaborations. These themes provide insight into the issue of transnational child sexual abuse from the perspective of different disciplines and offer a strategy to prioritise, and collaborate, in the efforts against transnational child sexual abuse.

Az európai katolikus keresztény szent helyeket érintő új típusú biztonsági kihívások elemzése a kritikus infrastruktúraként történő azonosításának érdekében

In this work, those challenges and risks associated with the susceptibility of European Christian sacred sites to attacks and threats, and their protection and security are analysed, which have been identified in the context of the perpetration of terrorist acts affecting certain Member States of the European Union. In the research, the Christian sacred sites are examined in terms of the specialised field of facility protection. The model presented in the study uses a structural system of critical infrastructure that highlights theoretical and practical capabilities of the law enforcement sector and the private security sector in order to demonstrate the hypotheses outlined. To identify and explore security challenges and risks associated with Christian sacred sited, it is necessary to analyse the domestic and international legislative systems and guidelines of the facility protection, and the possibilities for intervening by the state and the private security sector, as well as relevant international examples enabling us to highlight the need to protect European Christian sacred sites.

Building collaborative capability between law enforcement and civil society leaders to prevent urban violence

This research paper analyses how applying a Place-Based Leadership Development (P-BLD) programme adds value to an ongoing intersectoral Urban Violence Prevention Programme (IUVP) in Kenya building trust within collaboratives in the intersection between the historically adversarial law enforcement and civil society sectors. Data on participants' experience of the P-BLD programme were systematically collected through detailed pre- and post-session questionnaires which included a series of challenging but open questions. A framework analysis was undertaken to draw out the common themes. By surfacing emotional, relational and structural tensions between law enforcement and civil society within the context of IUVP, the P-BLD programme has enabled leaders to become more open to and respecting others' perspectives as a first step towards a more collaborative mindset. The P-BLD programme is having a positive impact, explicitly addressing the tensions and enabling leaders to share their concerns and challenges in working towards violence prevention at the intersection between law enforcement and civil society. Moreover, this approach is replicable creating new knowledge and sustainable mechanisms for violence prevention within urban areas across the world.

Workers compensation-reported injuries among security and law enforcement personnel in the private versus public sectors

BackgroundPrivate and Public security and law enforcement (SLE) sectors perform multiple overlapping job duties.MethodsWorkers’ compensation (WC) SLE first reports of injury (FROI) data (2005–2015) were analyzed to describe injuries, identify differences in awarded WC benefits, and compare the probability of a FROI resulting in awarded benefits between Public and Private SLE. A Pearson’s chi-square test was utilized and reverse selection logistic regression was performed to estimate the odds ratio that a FROI would result in an awarded benefit for Private vs. Public SLE, while adjusting for relevant covariates.ResultsPrivate SLE had higher FROI percentages for younger and for older workers, fall injuries, and back injuries, compared to Public SLE. The adjusted odds that a FROI resulted in an awarded benefit was 1.4 times higher for Private SLE compared to Public SLE; (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.09,1.69). Middle-aged SLE employee adjusted odds of awarded benefits was 3.3 times (95% CI [1.96, 5.39]) higher compared to younger employees. Adjusted odds of awarded benefits was 3.8 times (95% CI [1.34, 10.61]) higher for gunshots and 1.7 times (95% CI [1.22, 2.39]) higher for fractures/dislocations compared to other nature of injuries. Motor vehicle injury, fall/slip, and strain related FROIs had elevated adjusted odds of awarded benefits compared to other injury causes.ConclusionsResults highlight the importance of injury prevention education and worker safety training for Private and Public SLE sector workers on fall prevention (especially in Private SLE) and strain prevention (especially in Public SLE), as well as motor vehicle safety.

A preliminary analysis of high-stakes decision-making for crisis leadership

High-stakes decision-making is a critical component of crisis leadership. This study examined the decision-making processes of global, national and local crisis professionals to identify common decision-making process traits, and proposes a useful model to guide crisis leaders’ high-stakes decision-making. Crises have distinct factors: they are time-sensitive, pose significant risks and require consequential decisions. A sample group of 15 national and international expert crisis professionals in leadership positions from national security, law enforcement and government sectors participated in this study. Seven popular decision-making models were deconstructed into 50 individual process traits and converted into a survey. The experts were asked to identify process traits from the survey that they felt best reflected their approach to decisionmaking. The responses of the professionals were analysed, and a new model assembled based on their expertise. The findings identified a pattern of practice across the spectrum of crisis leaders and demonstrated the potential usefulness of a new decision-making model that captures the decision-making process traits of expert crisis leaders. This research provides inexperienced crisis professionals with a model drawn from the experiences of national and global crisis experts. In addition to benefiting the novice crisis professional, the model can be used by organisations to create a personalised company crisis plan.

Interagency collaboration models for people with mental ill health in contact with the police: a systematic scoping review

ObjectiveTo identify existing evidence on interagency collaboration between law enforcement, emergency services, statutory services and third sector agencies regarding people with mental ill health.DesignSystematic scoping review. Scoping reviews map particular...

Реалізація державної кадрової політики у правоохоронній сфері України

Реалізація державної кадрової політики у правоохоронній сфері України

Формування державної кадрової політики у правоохоронній сфері України

Формування державної кадрової політики у правоохоронній сфері України

The reform of the EU data protection framework in the context of the police and criminal justice sector: harmonisation, scope, oversight and enforcement

ABSTRACTThis paper considers select emergent issues arising from the reform of the EU data protection framework, and how these might impact upon data processing in the law enforcement and criminal justice sectors. It analyses those aspects of the recently enacted Directive 2016/680 on data protection in the police and criminal justice sectors that will be determinative of its effective and consistent application in practice. It considers the extent to which the Principles laid down in Council of Europe Recommendation R(87)15 regulating the use of personal data in the police sector have been retained, adapted, strengthened, weakened or abandoned in Directive 2016/680. Certain problems arising from the Directive, not to mention the very medium of a Directive, separate from the General Regulation, as the instrument of choice, could be said to have been ‘writing on the wall’, as evidenced by the on-going discussions in the Commission expert group on the Regulation 2016/679 and Directive 2016/680 (E03461) on, for example, the complicated matter of delimitation between Directive 2016/680 and the General Data Protection Regulation (2016/679), oversight and enforcement; in particular, ensuring control by independent Supervisory Authorities, and international transfers and transfers to private parties.

Workplace aggression against health care workers, law enforcement officials, and bus drivers: Differences in prevalence, perceptions, and psychological consequences

ABSTRACTInvestigations into workplace aggression (WPA) remain largely occupation specific, with few studies using a comparative approach. The aim of the present study was to compare the health care, law enforcement, and public transportation sectors with regards to the prevalence of different types of WPA, the perceptions of workers toward WPA, and the psychological consequences of such acts. A cross-sectional survey was completed by 1,774 workers in Canada. Multinomial regressions were utilized to address the objectives. Findings revealed that verbal abuse victimization was particularly common in bus drivers, witnessing death threats was most frequent among law enforcement officials, and witnessing all types of WPA was most common among health care workers. Although bus drivers did not normalize WPA, they feared complaining about violence to their employer and thought it useless to talk it about unless wounds were visible. Fear of complaining about violence to colleagues was prevalent in health care and law enforcement, both sectors in which WPA was normalized. Finally, flashbacks and irritability following WPA were most likely to affect bus drivers whereas health care workers experienced hypervigilance to a greater extent. Strategies to tailor primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention according to these distinctions are suggested to offer a better-informed response to WPA.

The Effects of Trivialization of Workplace Violence on Its Victims: Profession and Sex Differences in a Cross-Sectional Study among Healthcare and Law Enforcement Workers.

Workers from the law enforcement and healthcare sectors tend to normalize or mute their victimization from workplace violence (WPV). This study aims to assess the impact of the trivialization of WPV on psychological consequences for workers who have been affected by a WPV incident. The second aim is to assess the moderating effect of sex on the trivialization of WPV. The third and overarching aim is to assess the moderating effect of professional identity on the relations between individual and organizational factors and psychological consequences following a WPV incident. The findings are based on a convenience sample of 377 (204 female and 173 male) workers from the law enforcement and healthcare sectors. Individual factors (sex, age, professional identity, prior victimization, witnessing WPV, injuries, and trivialization of violence) and perceived support factors (colleagues' support and employer's support) were used as predictor variables of psychological consequences in hierarchical linear regression models. Sex was used as a moderator of trivialization while professional identity was used as a moderator of all predictors. When individual and social support factors were controlled for, normalizing violence was negatively associated with psychological consequences while perceiving a taboo associated with complaining about WPV was positively associated for all participants. When these relations were moderated by the sex of the participants and then by their professional identity, normalization was found to decrease psychological consequences only for male healthcare workers. To help employees cope with WPV, organizations should promote strategies adapted to profession and sex differences. For male healthcare workers, normalization as a cognitive coping strategy should be formally recognized. For both professions and sexes, organizational strategies that counter the perceived taboo of complaining about violence should be reinforced.

Trash, Cities, and Politics: Urban Environmental Problems in Indonesia

Trash, Cities, and Politics describes Indonesia's ADIPURA, an environmental program begun in the mid 1980s to focus on waste management, cleanliness and sanitation, and green spaces. The paper discusses the program within the larger context of Indonesia's urbanization and its environmental consequences, from the time of the New Order up to today's decentralization era. The essay describes ADIPURA's continuity and evolution, with respect to central and local governments, law enforcement, financing, and community and private sector participation. It also provides specific data from more than 300 cities, and presents statistics to reveal trends and disconnects and to examine the program's successes and failures. For example, the study found that the program's incentives are inadequate, given Indonesia's regional autonomy and decentralization; that government ministers' credibility may be too weak to encourage municipalities' participation and compliance; and that the program comprises an unmanageable number of targets and is excessively expensive to administer, especially the inspections. The study concludes that ADIPURA is potentially useful to clean up cities, but needs to be overhauled, modernized, and coordinated with other government policies, and further transformed to eliminate actual and potential corruption and manipulation.

Trash, Cities, and Politics: Urban Environmental Problems in Indonesia

"Trash, Cities, and Politics" describes Indonesia's ADIPURA, an environmental program begun in the mid 1980s to focus on waste management, cleanliness and sanitation, and green spaces. The paper discusses the program within the larger context of Indonesia's urbanization and its environmental consequences, from the time of the New Order up to today's decentralization era. The essay describes ADIPURA's continuity and evolution, with respect to central and local governments, law enforcement, financing, and community and private sector participation. It also provides specific data from more than 300 cities, and presents statistics to reveal trends and disconnects and to examine the program's successes and failures. For example, the study found that the program's incentives are inadequate, given Indonesia's regional autonomy and decentralization; that government ministers' credibility may be too weak to encourage municipalities' participation and compliance; and that the program comprises an unmanageable number of targets and is excessively expensive to administer, especially the inspections. The study concludes that ADIPURA is potentially useful to clean up cities, but needs to be overhauled, modernized, and coordinated with other government policies, and further transformed to eliminate actual and potential corruption and manipulation.

Knowledge sharing enablers, processes and firm innovation capability

Purpose This paper aims to examine a research model that links knowledge sharing enablers, processes and outcome dimensions in law enforcement in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It attempts to examine the impact of knowledge self-efficacy and top management support on knowledge donating and collecting. It also attempts to examine the effect of these two aspects of knowledge sharing on firm innovation capability. Design/methodology/approach This study used a quantitative approach, with data collected by questionnaire from 685 police officers in a law enforcement agency in the UAE. Findings Knowledge self-efficacy and top management support have a positive impact on knowledge donating and collecting. Only knowledge collecting, however, had a positive effect on firm innovation capability. Research limitations/implications The study has significant academic and practical implications. It supports a previous research model that links enablers, processes and outcomes of knowledge sharing, and confirms them in the context of law enforcement in the UAE. It could also help law enforcement agencies to promote a knowledge sharing culture to support innovation in the UAE. Originality/value The research model is likely to be particularly valuable in knowledge-intensive organizations such as the law enforcement sector. Knowledge sharing is often overlooked by organizations in the UAE because there has to date been little research in this field.

Illuminating a New Domain: The Role and Nature of Military Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance in Cyberspace

Created in 2009 to “[synchronize] warfighting effects across the global security environment as well as providing support to civil authorities and international partners” the United States Cyber Command has spent the intervening years developing a foundation of cyber military doctrine, harnessing and integrating extant forces, and developing the critical mass needed to execute its global mission.Key among the challenges faced by the still fledgling US Cyber Command is the task of effecting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) in a domain where real-time cognizance is the lifeblood of needed agility while observable distinctions between ISR, preparation for attack, and offensive cyber operations are small and, in many cases, dependent more on context than on objective discriminants.This paper will make the case that real-time ISR in cyber space is an essential and achievable foundation for success in military operations in or dependent on cyberspace. The paper will focus on military vice law enforcement or private sector operations, and will summarize the characteristics of the cyber domain, the attributes needed for success in dynamic and time sensitive operations, and recommend both doctrine and strategy for further development along these lines.The paper assumes that issues of when and where to employ US Cyber Command resources will be resolved in a manner that leaves the current US Cyber Command roles and responsibilities largely intact. None of what follows is intended to suggest US Cyber Command attain authorities it does not currently enjoy under extant law, policy, and tasking. In a similar vein, the paper does not directly consider the organizational structure of operating cyber forces and their support elements though, in the spirit of ‘form follows function’, insights on which structures are best suited to accomplish organizational objectives may be derived from conclusions contained herein.Note: This paper was prepared for a workshop on the strategic use of offensive cyber operations held in March 2016 and organized by the Stanford Cyber Policy Program. On August 18, 2016, this paper was submitted to the Journal of Cybersecurity for entry into its review process and perhaps for publication.