Municipal Law Enforcement Research Articles

A One Health Approach to Public Safety: A Review of Police Canines in the United States.

Working dogs are an essential part of modern society, and police canines (K9s) in the United States are amongst the most recognizable of all working dogs. Given the dearth of published data on active police canines in the U.S. and the calls for police reform, an interdisciplinary effort is necessary to comprehensively understand how these dogs are best used for the benefit of society. This review paper relies on veterinary public health expertise to present a comprehensive overview of police canine use by municipal law enforcement in the United States, including known impacts and gaps in knowledge. The existing literature from animal-assisted interventions (AAI) provides evidence to ensure working dog well-being, while human-animal bond research contributes to officer safety and canine partnership. Lastly, law enforcement and public health agendas (LEPH) assure the team's successful efforts in built environments and local neighborhoods. These frameworks acknowledge the complexity of police dog use, spanning from punitive to public relations, which mirrors the role of law enforcement in U.S. society. This paper proposes the use of a One Health framework to ensure police canine contributions to society, including suggested approaches to partner municipal police with veterinary medicine and public health, and integrate One Health in promoting public safety for local communities.

A hatékony fellépést nehezítő jogi akadályok a hulladékká vált járművek közterületről történő eltávolításával összefüggésben

Aim: The aim of the study is to present the problem of the removal of vehicles left in public areas, which is a common problem in large cities, and which is little known by many, and to present the municipal police responses and possible solutions. Methodology: The authors of this paper, as law enforcement professionals with experience in municipal policing, analyse the legal environment related to the removal of abandoned vehicles from public areas, pointing out the obstacles and possible solutions. Findings: The police, as the state actors in the creation of our security, and in particular the activities of the police organisation, have been and are still dealt with in many different ways. However, only very few police researchers have focused their attention on the specialised bodies of policing, such as the municipal police force which is the subject of this study. The authors present a problem that affects many, but which is little known and little researched: the legal obstacles to effective law enforcement action in the context of the removal of abandoned vehicles from public spaces. Giving a glimpse into the complex workings of municipal law enforcement and the daily life of one of the specialised agencies responsible for providing security as part of our common mission. Value: The authors of the study wish to contribute to the comprehensive scientific research and mapping of the operation of municipal police forces, recognising the fact that the topic under research is a continuously topical issue of police operation, since the last two decades have brought about a number of unprecedented situations in the operation of the police. The quantitative and qualitative transformation of tasks and expectations also necessitates a reassessment of the relationship between the police and the municipal police. This study will help to examine these activities.

The functions of a Municipal Law as a branch of law: debatable issues of theory

In article problems of the theory of functions of a modern Municipal Law are considered. The basic essential and meaningful, objective and subjective, internal and external aspects of modern Municipal Law. It is noted that among the basic tasks that are currently faced domestic science Municipal Law, is the formation of a coherent and comprehensive knowledge of the system of municipal law of Ukraine, its legal aspects and patterns of development and operation of its norms and institutions. A holistic conception of the Municipal Law of Ukraine in the unity of its static and functional, material and procedural elements are important theoretical and methodological basis for the development and improvement of the system of national municipalism, current municipal legislation and municipal law-making and law enforcement activities.
 However, if the theory of problematic issues of Municipal Law as in law, its genesis, sources, norms and institutions are reflected in the works of ukrainian researchers, the problem functions of this area of law remains almost unexplored. Understanding the nature and content of the functions of Municipal Law makes it possible to understand the importance of this area of law to regulate social relations and answer questions about the role of Municipal Law in society and the state.
 Characteristic signs of functions of a Municipal Law are analyzed. The functions of municipal law should be considered exclusively in the focus of the subject and method(s) of municipal law. Therefore, they are inextricably linked with the functions of municipal power and the functions of municipal human rights.
 Based on the above and other characteristics, the functions of municipal law as a branch of law should be defined as the main directions and types of influence of municipal law on social relations that arise in the process of recognition, formation, organization and exercise of municipal power, as well as the implementation and protection of municipal rights a human’s.

‘I really felt wanted’: Police recruitment strategies within a competitive labour market

Abstract As law enforcement organizations report challenges surrounding recruitment, evidence-based practices are critical and cost-effective measures which fundamentally support and advance the policing profession. To combat a hiring crisis and remain competitive among endless options of agency vacancies, employers must recognize internal data resources at hand along with the advantages of researcher-practitioner partnerships. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the effectiveness of a single mid-size southeastern municipal law enforcement agency’s recruitment program to identify unique indicators present within career decisions from the incoming officer workforce. Primary findings identified the recruitment process to play an integral role in the ultimate application and agency selection decision for participants, regardless of participant background. Further, participant interviews identified elements such as Responsiveness, Communication, Personal, and Timeliness critical to perceived success of the recruitment program. Regarding police staffing, this study introduces a self-sustaining model for agency-specific key motivating factors in recruit agency selection, to include application of strong recruitment practices and benchmark identification for sustained program effectiveness. Implications include the impact of customer-service approaches to police staffing and evidence-based strategies for agency-specific strengths during a nation-wide staffing crisis.

The functions of a Municipal Law as a branch of law: debatable issues of theory

In article problems of the theory of functions of a modern Municipal Law are considered. The basic essential and meaningful, objective and subjective, internal and external aspects of modern Municipal Law. It is noted that among the basic tasks that are currently faced domestic science Municipal Law, is the formation of a coherent and comprehensive knowledge of the system of municipal law of Ukraine, its legal aspects and patterns of development and operation of its norms and institutions. A holistic conception of the Municipal Law of Ukraine in the unity of its static and functional, material and procedural elements are important theoretical and methodological basis for the development and improvement of the system of national municipalism, current municipal legislation and municipal law-making and law enforcement activities.
 However, if the theory of problematic issues of Municipal Law as in law, its genesis, sources, norms and institutions are reflected in the works of Ukrainian researchers, the problem functions of this area of law remains almost unexplored. Understanding the nature and content of the functions of Municipal Law makes it possible to understand the importance of this area of law to regulate social relations and answer questions about the role of Municipal Law in society and the state.
 It is proven that the legal features and qualifications of the functions of municipal law find their logical continuation in each independent group of these functions, which can be distinguished according to the appropriate division criteria. These criteria, which are the basis for the classification of functions of municipal law, should include: a) objects of influence of municipal law. According to this criterion, it is necessary to distinguish such objective functions of municipal law, from among the main ones, such as political function, economic function, social function, ideological function and corresponding external functions of municipal law; b) ways and means of influence of municipal law on relevant social relations. Such functions should include regulatory, establishing, protective, control, integrative (system-forming), law-making, law­enforcing, informational, axiological and a number of other functions of municipal law; c) conditions of influence of municipal law on relevant social relations. Such functions should include temporal (permanent and temporary) and territorial (national and local).
 These criteria are the main criteria for the classification of functions of municipal law and do not exclude the possibility of identifying other criteria that would make it possible to improve their classification.

Police Decisions in a Rape Scenario: The Effect of Trauma Response, Forensic Evidence, Stranger-Perpetrators, and Rape Mythology.

This study examined the direct effect of "classic rape" characteristics, and how they were moderated by rape myth endorsement, on the likelihood of arrest, perceived district attorney charge acceptance, and perceived suspect conviction using a formal rape disclosure among a sample of 468 police participants from a sizeable municipal law enforcement agency in one of the fifth largest and most diverse U.S. cities. A randomly assigned, between-subjects factorial vignette design was employed. Manipulations included stereotypical trauma response, forensic medical exam, and perpetrator type. Path modeling revealed statistically significant relations between stereotypical trauma response, forensic medical exam, perpetrator type, and the three outcome variables. Rape myth endorsement moderated the effect of manipulations on the dependent variables. Implications for research and policy are discussed.

Settlement security, local law enforcement at the Southern Great Plain Region I.

Aim: The aim of the study is to present the municipal security of the Southern Great Plain Region and the police and complementary law enforcement agencies involved in local policing. In addition, it is intended to describe the difficulties associated with the operation of municipal police forces, to identify anomalies in practice and to suggest optimal solutions.Methodology: The research was carried out by interviewing the police chiefs of three county police headquarters in the region, as well as the municipalities through an online questionnaire. In addition, in order to develop a complex opinion, focus group discussions with various participants in two districts were held to find out about local government measures in the field of local policing. Thirdly, in the framework of secondary research, the author processed domestic legal regulations, professional studies and statistical data.Findings: The results of the research carried out reveal that the development of municipal law enforcement agencies can only be achieved through a long-term and well designed strategy. It has been demonstrated that municipal security and local law enforcement tasks are extremely complex and require the active and coordinated action of several actors. It has also been shown that municipalities have a permanent need for stable and balanced public security and are willing to make commitments to achieve this, if the right opportunities and knowledge are available. In this complex system of policing tasks, continuous and extensive cooperation between the partners and the flow of information through regular communication are indispensable factors.Value: The conclusions of the study can be used in the development of future action programs by local law enforcement contributors as well as police chiefs. The author has formulated recommendations for improving municipal security that deepen the theoretical and practical knowledge of specialists.

The ‘civilizing effect’ and ‘deterrence spectrum’ revisited: results of a national study of body-worn cameras on fatal police force

ABSTRACT Body-worn cameras have, since their rapid emergence from 2014 onward, long been touted as an important part of police reform efforts, given their hypothesised effects. The two most prominent mechanisms through which they reduce police force are the ‘civilizing effect’, whereby citizens self-monitor their behaviour when they are aware of being recorded, and the ‘deterrence effect’, whereby law enforcement officers are deterred from misusing coercion when there are more agency policies in place that remove their discretion in camera activation. Using a national sample of local (municipal and county) law enforcement agencies in the United States that have adopted and deployed body-worn cameras, we examine whether a policy requiring officers to inform the public of recording (a measure of the ‘civilizing effect’) and an index of policies requiring officers to activate their cameras for specific events (a measure of the ‘deterrence spectrum’) significantly reduce fatal police use of force, which we measure through a comprehensive dataset linking four major open-source fatal force datasets. Our multilevel Poisson model indicates that neither hypothesised mechanism significantly affects an agency’s fatal police use of force numbers. Given these findings, it is unlikely that these two predominate explanations behind BWC efficacy are actually impacting the fatal force-reducing capabilities of body-worn cameras. We therefore discuss further implications and additional considerations for agencies to reduce their fatal police force.

Dirty money and financial inequality in North Philadelphia

Between 1984 and 2016, Philadelphia prosecutors seized over US$86 million dollars, most of it in the form of cash taken from Black and Latinx Philadelphians. These seizures of dirty money were realized through civil forfeiture, which has the unique capacity to enrich municipal law enforcement agencies while dispossessing alleged participants in the drug trade. As a civil intervention into the illicit narcotics trade, cash forfeiture is characteristic of the carceral state's increasing use of non-criminal sanctions. In this essay I argue that Philadelphia police and prosecutors mobilize cash forfeiture to assert social control over the interfaces between licit and illicit economies in Philadelphia's poorest and most racially segregated neighborhoods. Drawing from historical accounts of the racial capitalist state's disciplinary oversight of the monetary system, I show how cash forfeiture operates through a racializing framework of socio-moral remediation that reproduces the harms associated with longstanding financial inequality in these neighborhoods.

An empirical analysis of depolicing behavior

ABSTRACT Depolicing is a behavior that occurs when law enforcement officers disengage from proactive police work. Despite the term’s more recent popularity, these behaviors have been identified in policing literature for decades. Scholars have primarily tried to quantify the depolicing phenomenon through the lens of public scrutiny and the Ferguson Effect. However, there are currently no quantitative studies that have attempted to examine the multitude of reasons as to why depolicing behavior could potentially occur. The current inquiry uses survey data retrieved from eight municipal law enforcement agencies to further examine potential predictors of depolicing. The predictor variables consisted of public scrutiny, liability concerns, organizational unfairness, burnout, physical danger, COVID-19, and years of experience. Our results indicate that public scrutiny, liability concerns, COVID-19, and years of experience are all significant and positive predictors of depolicing. We also found that agency location and rank significantly impacted depolicing behavior. The findings and limitations are discussed.

Ethnographic semantics and documentary method in criminology. A combination of reconstructive approaches using the example of Municipal Law Enforcement Services

Although a common German sociological methodology, the documentary method has rarely been received outside the German-speaking region or in the field of criminology in general. Additionally, while ethnographic semantics is a recognized means of analysis in the field of ethnography, it is less known in criminological research. This paper proposes that the approaches in themselves but especially a combination of both allow for a deeper understanding of the cultural practices, everyday routines, and implicit knowledge of security actors. While the police are a constant focus of criminological and social science research, the study of Municipal Law Enforcement Services (MLES), particularly qualitative approaches, have been largely neglected, despite the increasing number of municipalities implementing their own security personnel. Consequently, their increased presence in public space warrants further investigation. The added value of linking two reconstructive approaches to analysis is demonstrated using MLES as an example. Thereby, both the advantages of such a combination for criminological research and new insights regarding the ways MLES interact with people in public space are illustrated. The research follows an ethnomethodological design and is based on expert interviews and participant observation. The paper addresses peripheral issues on three levels: the use of a previously geographically limited method of data analysis, an innovative triangulation of approaches to analysis that has not yet been applied in international criminological research as well as the presentation of German MLES as an under-researched subject.

СОЦИАЛЬНАЯ СПРАВЕДЛИВОСТЬ В КОНТЕКСТЕ ИНТЕГРАЦИИ МИГРАНТОВ И ОБЕСПЕЧЕНИИ ГАРМОНИЗАЦИИ МЕЖЭТНИЧЕСКИХ ОТНОШЕНИЙ НА ЮГЕ РОССИИ

Objective of the study. The condition for the harmonization of interethnic relations in the South of Russia is social consolidation based on the interaction of regional, municipal authorities and national-cultural organizations in relation to the adaptation and integration of migrants. Accordingly, the purpose of the article is to identify ways of integration of migrants, which are recognized by all actors in the process of social consolidation as fair, since they are based on the concept of equality of subjects. The methodological basis of the research. To study the problem of integration of migrants in order to harmonize interethnic relations, a systematic approach is used, which will identify the system-wide prerequisites for the integration of migrants, as well as the sequence of phases of this process: the legalization of law rules governing the status of migrants; social control of their actions; legitimizing the interaction of all actors in the integration process - state authorities and municipal government, law enforcement and specialized structures for working with migrants, employers, public organizations, leaders of diasporas. Research results. In the current economic situation, when the flows of migrants from other countries are increasing, it is important to move from a situational migration policy to a program-target method of its regulation at the level of macro-regions or recipient regions that receive foreign migrants. In this case, the effectiveness of the legal regulation of relations in the field of migration depends on federal laws, on the basis of which it is advisable to develop an appropriate regulatory framework in the regions. This will allow the implementation of relevant regional or municipal programs in order to harmonize interethnic and interethnic relations. By analogy with cities of federal significance, effective practices of social adaptation and integration of migrants are implemented in the Southern Federal District, which are recognized as socially significant and fair, since they ensure the protection of their rights. Prospects of the study. Prospects for the development of the presented topics are associated with the implementation of a representative survey of migrants aimed at verifying the hypothesis about the conditions and factors for their adaptation and integration into the host community in the context of the theory of justice as equality of ethnonations depending on the balance of resources and retribution.  

СЕЛЕКТИВНОЕ ПРОФИЛАКТИЧЕСКОЕ ФЛЮОРОГРАФИЧЕСКОЕ ОБСЛЕДОВАНИЕ СОЦИАЛЬНО-ДЕЗАДАПТИРОВАННОЙ ГРУППЫ НАСЕЛЕНИЯ г. ЯКУТСКА

The article analyzes the effectiveness of a selective preventive fluorographic examination of a socially maladjusted group of the population, conducted in Yakutsk in 2018-2021. The socially maladjusted groups of the population include persons without a fixed place of residence and work (homeless), suffering from alcohol addiction, persons released from places of the penitentiary system. The analysis of data from field fluorographic examinations of 667 persons from a socially maladjusted group who found themselves in difficult life situations was carried out. The examination revealed 114 fluoropositive individuals with various radiographic changes in the chest organs. As a result of additional examination of fluoropositive persons in the anti-tuberculosis dispensary, active tuberculosis of the chest organs was detected in 7 persons, metatuberculous changes in the lungs - in 28, oncological and non-specific inflammatory diseases, as well as post-inflammatory changes in the lungs - in 41. The group of the population amounted to 10.5 per 1,000 examinations, which is significantly higher than the similar indicator of mass continuous examination of the entire population of the republic for 2012-2019, which amounted to 0.57 per 1,000 examinations. Thus, persons from the socially maladjusted group of the population remain one of the main risk groups for tuberculosis. Tuberculosis remains largely a social disease and requires special attention not only from healthcare organizations, but also from social protection authorities, administrations of municipal institutions, public organizations, law enforcement and justice agencies.

Strategies Used by Local Law Enforcement Agencies to Prevent Overservice of Alcohol in the United States.

Overservice of alcohol, defined as commercial provision of alcohol to an individual who is obviously intoxicated, is illegal in most states and contributes to motor vehicle crashes and violence. Law enforcement agencies use various strategies that aim to reduce overservice at licensed alcohol establishments (e.g., bars, restaurants). Place of Last Drink (POLD) data collection is an emerging overservice enforcement strategy. POLD identifies patterns of overservice, which can provide support for targeted interventions to prevent overservice at offending establishments. We describe the prevalence of POLD and other overservice enforcement strategies and associations with agency characteristics, which has important implications for public health and safety. We conducted a national survey of 1024 municipal (e.g., town, city) and county law enforcement agencies in 2019 (response rate = 73%). We assessed the use of overservice enforcement strategies conducted by the agencies over the past year. We examined associations of each type of overservice enforcement strategy with agency and jurisdiction characteristics using regression models. 27% of responding agencies reported conducting overservice enforcement and 7% conducted POLD data collection specifically. Municipal (vs. county) agencies and agencies with an officer assigned primarily to alcohol enforcement activities were significantly more likely to conduct overservice enforcement generally but not POLD data collection specifically. Overservice enforcement in general, and POLD data collection specifically, are not widely conducted. Prevention of overservice has the potential to reduce harms related to excessive alcohol consumption. Increased evaluation of overservice enforcement strategies should be prioritized.

Assessing law enforcement websites: a comparative analysis exploring types, quantity and quality of information available

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore the availability of information on law enforcement websites in the state of Wisconsin.Design/methodology/approachThe study conducted a content analysis of all 179 county and municipal local law enforcement agency websites within Wisconsin. The authors then implemented a comparative analysis that explored whether the quantity and quality of information available on law enforcement websites are similar to those of local governments and school districts. The authors then estimated models to test whether there is a relationship between the population size served and gender distribution of law enforcement departments to the availability of information on law enforcement websites.FindingsLaw enforcement websites contain a noticeable lack of information. The finding is even more apparent when comparing law enforcement websites to the websites of local governments and school districts. Finally, the authors show a positive link between information sharing on law enforcement websites and the proportion of the civilian staff at an agency that are women.Originality/valuePast studies that reviewed the make-up of law enforcement websites analyzed large law enforcement departments rather than local law enforcement departments, which notably represent the majority of most law enforcement departments. The authors also explicitly demonstrate that the commitment to information sharing is lagging within law enforcement websites compared to local-level governments. Future scholarship and law enforcement departments may benefit from exploring the employment of female civilians.

Crime and place: differences in spatial relationship between calls for service and recorded incidents for municipal and campus law enforcement

ABSTRACT With the advent of more law enforcement open data, researchers are exploring the use of calls for service (CFS) as a proxy for recorded incident information by law enforcement. However, indications are that law enforcement activities are mediated by the agency’s goals with its data. Using data from two different types of law enforcement agencies within the same community, CFS and incident reports for property crimes were tested for spatial association using the co-location quotient. Findings from this study show there is a modest amount of detectable clustering of CFS for the municipal law enforcement agency. However, the large university campus agency did not show any detectable spatial association for these events. This suggests that the movement towards using open data in research will need to take greater care in the selection of data to understand if assumptions about the data can be supported.

Municipal Law Enforcement and Its Transmissions

The arrival of police radio inaugurated a vast and punitive new media ecology. Between the 1920s and the 1950s the installation and implementation of police radio systems – now ubiquitous and utterly naturalised – in towns and cities across the USA restructured the practice of policing and the experience of being policed. These processes radically revised the social, psycho-geographic and spatiotemporal relations unfolding amid the new medium’s localised atmospheres of broadcast, reception and swift weaponised response. Image makers working in a range of media, including painters and news photographers, operated within this atmosphere. Positing police radio as a vital and violent representational infrastructure, this article tracks its technological reordering of municipal space as tactical policed space, both as this space was given to appear in Municipal Law Enforcement, a large oil painting created circa 1950 by Kansas City police officer Charles M. ‘Pat’ Murray for his department, and as this painting was reproduced, and its signal thereby amplified photographically, both locally and nationally by daily newspapers.

Mechanisms for ensuring public order protection at the local level in conditions of decentralization of government: EU experience for Ukraine

The aim of the article is to study the experience of the emergence and development of municipal law enforcement agencies, to analyse the current state of local police in European countries. The other aim of the article is to study the development of local police, the state of legal, economic support in Ukraine, to form suggestions for the development of municipal police in Ukraine.The initiated reform of decentralization of power in Ukraine, active development of local self-government, building civil society, creation of united territorial communities, transfer of resources, powers from the central level to local levels in the framework of decentralization and local government reform have necessitated the strengthening role of local self-government. Protection of public order should go together with strengthening of a role of local governments in the spheres of medicine and education, in rendering accessible and qualitative administrative, municipal, social services. An additional condition for the formation of local law enforcement is the connection between the development of local self-government in democracies with the development of local law enforcement.Accordingly, the urgency and need to create municipal police in Ukraine, which is a democratic state, is beyond doubt, as evidenced by the active discussion of this topic, both among officials and the public.The world experience of the emergence and current state of functioning of the municipal police in European countries with democratic political regimes has been analysed in the article. Trends in the development of municipal police in European countries have been identified. The existing world models of financial support of the municipal police have been determined.Domestic approaches to the creation of municipal police have been considered. The current state of development of projects of municipal law enforcement forces, the state of adoption of the regulatory framework for the implementation of the functioning of the municipal guard has been studied. An analysis of problematic aspects of the functioning of the National Police of Ukraine, the state of corruption in Ukraine as a way for possible abuse and use of law enforcement agencies for the interests of certain classes has been made. Based on the experience of European EU member states, recommendations on the organization and definition of sources of funding for municipal law enforcement agencies have been made.

Prevalence of COVID-19 IgG Antibodies in a Cohort of Municipal First Responders.

Although first responders (FRs) represent a high-risk group for exposure, little information is available regarding their risk of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection. The purpose of the current study was to determine the serological prevalence of past COVID-19 infection in a cohort of municipal law enforcement (LE) and firefighters (FFs). Descriptive analysis of a de-identified data reporting Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) immunoglobulin G (IgG), or COR2G, serology results for municipal FRs. As part of the serology process, FRs were surveyed for COVID-19-like symptoms since February 2020 and asked to report any prior COVID-19 nasal swab testing. Descriptive statistics and two-sided Chi Square tests with Yates correction were used to compare groups. Of 318 FRs, 225 (80.2%) underwent serology testing (LE: 163/207 [78.7%]; FF: 92/111 [82.9%]). The prevalence of positive serology for all FRs tested was 3/255 (1.2%). Two LE (1.2%) and one FF (1.1%) had positive serology (P = 1.0). Two hundred and twenty-four FRs responded to a survey regarding prior symptoms and testing. Fifty-eight (25.9%) FRs (44 LE; 14 FFs) reported the presence of COVID-19-like symptoms. Of these, only nine (15.5%) received reverse transcriptase - polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing; none were positive. Two of the three FRs with positive serology reported no COVID-19-like symptoms and none of these responders had received prior nasal RT-PCR swabs. The overall community positive RT-PCR rate was 0.36%, representing a three-fold higher rate of positive seroprevalence amongst FRs compared with the general population (P = .07). Amongst a cohort of municipal FRs with low community COVID-19 prevalence, the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-19 IgG Ab was three-fold greater than the general community. Two-thirds of positive FRs reported a lack of symptoms. Only 15.5% of FRs with COVID-19-like symptoms received RT-PCR testing. In addition to workplace control measures, increased testing availability to FRs is critical in limiting infection spread and ensuring response capability.

Environmental Influences on Sheriff Perceptions and Strategies

Scholars generally agree that law enforcement organizations are influenced by the environment. While most research on criminal justice organizations has focused on municipal law enforcement agencies, sheriff agencies are distinct from municipal police agencies for a variety of reasons. As such, sheriff agencies may be uniquely impacted by environmental pressures. In the current study, electronic surveys were sent to sheriffs in 9 states to assess their concern about juvenile trafficking, their perception of environmental groups’ concern, and the agency’s response to juvenile trafficking. Results suggested a complex relationship between environmental groups, respondent perceptions, and agency response. Most notably, sheriffs seemed to view themselves as most in sync with local groups, especially the community. Additionally, rural agencies did seem to be influenced differently by environmental groups than urban and suburban agencies. Future research should study rural agencies and also seek to more deeply understand the complex relationships between the environment and sheriffs.