Law Enforcement Situations Research Articles

THROUGH-THE-WALL DETECTION OF STATIONARY HUMAN TARGETS USING DOPPLER RADAR

In homeland security and law enforcement situations, it is often required to remotely detect human targets obscured by walls and barriers. In particular, we are speciflcally interested in scenarios that involve a human whose torso is stationary. We propose a technique to detect and characterize activity associated with a stationary human in through-the-wall scenarios using a Doppler radar system. The presence of stationary humans is identifled by detecting Doppler signatures resulting from breathing, and movement of the human arm and wrist. The irregular, transient, non-uniform, and non-stationary nature of human activity presents a number of challenges in extracting and classifying Doppler signatures from the signal. These are addressed using bio-mechanical human arm movement models and the empirical mode decomposition (EMD) algorithm for Doppler feature extraction. Experimental results demonstrate the efiectiveness of our approach to extract Doppler signatures corresponding to human activity through walls using a 750-MHz Doppler radar system.

Moral justification and feelings of adjustment to military law-enforcement situation: the case of Israeli soldiers serving at army roadblocks

The research examined the use of moral justification as a mediating mechanism of stress, used by compulsory Israeli soldiers who had served at army roadblocks in the West Bank. Employing Bandura’s model of moral disengagement, we expected that the greater the justification of army roadblocks by the soldier, the more he would feel adjusted to army demands. Feelings of adjustment to this situation were examined using three components: cognitive, affective and behavioral. The sample was composed of 170 Israeli ex-soldiers who had served for at least 1 month at army roadblocks in the West Bank during the Al-Aksa Intifada. The results supported the hypothesis regarding association between moral justification and feelings of adjustment at the end of army service. The mediating hypothesis was partially supported. Significance of moral justification as a mechanism of coping with the enforced situation of military law is discussed.

Policing Child Pornography on the Internet — In the Netherlands

Since crime on the internet does not adhere to national boundaries, police forces must acquaint themselves with the law enforcement situation in other countries. This article provides the reader with information about the Netherlands. Dutch attitudes towards child pornography will be discussed, as well as Dutch legislation, the organisational structure of the police, the division of labour between police units, and problems Dutch police encounter while combating child pornography on the internet. The Dutch police are confronted with two major problems. First, police officers know too little about the digital sides of contemporary police work, including the more technological facets as well as sociological and criminological characteristics of virtual communities. Secondly, the police must establish new formal as well as informal collaborations on both a national and international level, since internet crime does not fit into existing law-enforcement structures.

The Role of the Forensic Scientist in the Application of Chemical Tests for Alcohol in Traffic Law Enforcement

The role and ethical responsibilities of the forensic scientist are reviewed. The context of this discussion includes the application and support of chemical tests for alcohol statutes in the United States adversary system of justice. The goal of this review is to stimulate awareness among the various participants (that is, scientist, prosecutor, defense counsel, judges, and law enforcement officials) in traffic law enforcement situations. Their mutual understanding and cooperation is essential to the effective and efficient use of chemical test procedures. The relative scientific weight that should be given to blood, breath, and urine tests for alcohol is presented.

STYLES OF COMMUNITY POLICING

Abstract Police agencies have distinctive philosophies, or styles, of policing. James Q. Wilson identified three policing styles by analyzing the approach of police in order‐maintenance and law enforcement situations Styles can also be developed by considering policing methods in relation to their impact upon the general community. The reactive‐procrctive emphasis given to wrious combinations of positive and negative methods, or counselor and enforcer roles, is the basis for the four policing styles discussed.