Police Abuse Research Articles

University students’ accounts of police use of force: implications for trust in the police

ABSTRACT This empirical research explores the effect of police use of excessive force on university students’ trust in the police. Although the use of force by the police has continued to resonate in academic discourse, particularly from developed Western societies, the challenge is that there is a dearth of empirical research that precisely measures police use of excessive force among university students and how it shapes their trust in the police. The few existing studies were drawn from the general population survey, and they showed that the police in most African transitional societies tend to misuse their powers and are typically unaccountable to the public. From a survey data of participants delineated to a large public university in South Africa, this study specifically assessed the effect of direct experience of police abuse, vicarious experience of police abuse, experience of police corruption, and predatory policing on university students’ trust in the police. Findings confirmed, among others, that police use of excessive force (direct and vicarious experience of police abuse and predatory policing) significantly negatively affects students’ trust in the South African Police Service (SAPS). The implications of the findings for effective policing in the country are discussed.

Recognizing “camera cues”: policing, cellphones and citizen countersurveillance

AbstractOver the past decade, recording technologies have enabled organized activists and ordinary residents to capture and circulate videos of police misconduct. Existing research focuses primarily, however, on organized activists who rely on formal training programs to record police behaviors. If formal programs train organized activists to capture police abuses on camera, how then do ordinary residents determine when they should record police behavior? Drawing on in-depth interviews with Black men who live in a Southside Chicago neighborhood, this study finds that residents’ recurrent interactions with police enable them to interpret officers’ words and actions as symbols of police misconduct, which, in subsequent exchanges, serve as signals to record events with their cellphones – what I term “camera cues.” Camera cues facilitate situated conceptions of legal authority that trigger residents’ distrust of police, reflecting the micro-dynamic connections between individuals’ legal consciousness and legal cynicism. Equipped with cellphones, residents scrutinize officers’ outward displays and police–citizen interactions to challenge police misconduct. While recording police behavior makes it possible at least occasionally to resist the dominance of legal authority, doing so often involves additional risks, including the destruction of their cellphones, verbal and physical threats, and arrests.

Categorical Inequalities and Canadian Attitudes toward Positive and Negative Rights

Abstract Liberal democracies are expected to provide residents with both negative rights, such as limitations against the abuse of police powers, and some range of positive (social) rights, such as access to social benefits. These rights are commonly deemed to apply equally, without respect to individuals’ ascriptive backgrounds. Existing research, often in the US context and focused on social programs, shows both support for abstract rights and group-specific prejudices. We interrogate whether similar patterns exist in Canada and innovate by directly examining negative and positive rights in the same study. Using a series of novel survey experiments, we demonstrate the degree to which categorical inequalities based on race and legal status affect public support for rights provision in Canada. Both rights are more recognized for citizens relative to out-of-status migrants, and legal status at times interacts with racialized minority status. Rights appear far from universal in the minds of Canadians.

Digital Activism in Transitional Democracies

Abstract This study examines the deployment of digital tools in pushing citizen activism on political accountability and empowerment using the 2018 #EndSARS campaign in Nigeria as point of reference. In so doing, the article explores the utility of digital activism and analyze the successes and challenges associated with the effectiveness of its use to advance citizens’ voices in transitional democracies. The study deployed Chorus Analytics to harvest and thematically analyze 13,000 tweets of Nigerians that relate to the 2018 #EndSARS campaign. The article argues that the campaign can be deemed successful given that it elicited and raised public discourse on police abuse in Nigeria. The study observes the absence of strong institutions as a challenge to digital activism in transitional democracies. The individuality of activism leaders also poses a significant danger to digital activism. The findings demonstrate the weaknesses associated with transitional democracies in the area of building strong institutions.

Comparing typologies of violence exposure and associations with syndemic health outcomes among cisgender and transgender female sex workers living with HIV in the Dominican Republic.

Violence against women research largely excludes transgender women's experiences and violence from perpetrators other than intimate partners. This study compares patterns of violence exposure among cisgender and transgender female sex workers (FSWs) and the associations with syndemic health outcomes. We used cross-sectional surveys from samples of cisgender and transgender FSWs living with HIV in the Dominican Republic (N = 211 and 100, respectively). We used latent class analysis to identify patterns of emotional, physical, and sexual violence and harassment by partners, clients, and police. We assessed sociodemographic and occupational predictors in relation to class membership, and class membership in relation to health (HIV continuum of care outcomes, mental health, substance use), using logistic regression. Two classes were identified in cisgender sample: Low Reported Violence Exposure (Class 1) and Sex Work-related Police Harassment (Class 2). Class 2 participants had greater odds of scoring abnormal or borderline abnormal anxiety on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-A) (adjusted OR = 3.97, p<0.01), moderate-to-severe depression per the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) (aOR = 5.74, p<0.01), and any illicit drug use in the past six months (aOR = 3.06, p<0.05), compared to Class 1. The transgender sample produced three classes: Low Reported Violence Exposure (Class 1); Sex Work-related Police Harassment (Class 2); and Sex Work-related Violence and Harassment (Class 3). Class 3 participants had greater odds of having anxiety (aOR = 6.65, p<0.01) and depression (aOR = 4.45, p<0.05), while Class 2 participants had greater odds of perfect ART adherence during the previous four days (aOR = 2.78, p<0.05), compared to Class 1. The more diverse and extreme violence patterns uncovered for the transgender sample show this group's heightened risk, while similar patterns across groups regarding police abuse highlight a need for police-focused violence prevention interventions. Each sample's highest violence class was associated with poor mental health, underscoring the need for mental health interventions for all FSWs.

MANAJEMEN KRISIS PUBLIC RELATIONS POLDA JABAR DALAM MEMBANGUN CITRA POSITIF MELALUI MEDIA MASSA

West Java Police experienced a crisis due to cases of police abuse of his own stepson. Crisis management is an effort taken in facing a crisis while trying to prevent the widespread impact of a crisis event with the aim of regaining public trust. In crisis situations, the role of Public Relations becomes very important because they must have the ability to maintain the company's reputation when facing challenges from the public. This study aims to determine the extent of crisis management public relations (PR) applied by the West Java Regional Police in building a positive image through the mass media. Researchers used crisis management theory from Coombs &amp; Holladay with three subanalysis, namely pre-crisis, crisis, and post-crisis in analyzing the crisis management of West Java Regional Police PR. The method used by the researcher is qualitative with PR case study approach. The results showed the identification of the crisis carried out with the Coordination of the Cirebon police and the investigation by the PROPAM, West Java Police Public Relations also conducted news monitoring through the mass media, crisis analysis by analyzing the perpetrators and also conducting a visa for victims, followed by providing an explanation to the media in a transparent manner and carrying out the role of the mass media during the crisis, then at the last stage, namely by conducting positive activities, building relationships and good relations and always updating positive activities. With the crisis management stage carried out by the West Java Regional Police Public Relations, the case of police misconduct against her stepdaughter can be resolved properly.&#x0D; Keywords: crisis management, mass media, positive image, public relations

High-speed mobile networks and police repression during the COVID-19 pandemic: the case of Nigeria

PurposeGovernment repression against civilians while enforcing COVID-19 related lockdowns was widely reported in Africa. At the same time, many have claimed that high-speed (4G) mobile network proliferation provide an accountability mechanism that may constrain police abuses. This study focused on Nigeria to examine (1) the effect of COVID-19 lockdowns on police repression and (2) whether widespread high-speed mobile data networks constrain police repression.Design/methodology/approachUsing data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Database (ACLED) and the Mobile Coverage Database, this study used difference-in-differences (DID) and triple difference (DDD) estimation on a sample of 423,925 observations (local government area-days) between January 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020 to estimate the causal effects of COVID-19 lockdowns and high-speed (4G) mobile data on police repression.FindingsLockdowns increased certain forms of police repression in areas with substantial high-speed (4G) mobile networks. Separate from the lockdowns, widespread 4G network increased police repression even without lockdowns.Research limitations/implicationsProliferation of high-speed mobile networks in Nigeria appears to facilitate, rather than constrain, police repression. It is possible that high-speed mobile data networks allow police to detect and repress citizen behaviors, rather than permitting citizens to correct repressive police behaviors.Originality/valueAlthough many studies have explored the COVID-19 pandemic and police behavior in Western countries, only a few have examined its effects in states with even more troubled policing institutions, including those in sub-Saharan Africa, using DID and DDD estimation.

Police abuse in the State of Paraíba and human dignity in local journalism

The violation of the principle of human dignity through police abuse and the sensationalist approach made by the media is a reality that plagues the State of Paraíba. In view of this, it is necessary to analyze how this problem occurs and how it represents an impasse for the realization of Human Rights. Thus, the present study, through an analytical and hermeneutic methodology, makes a bibliographic review, based on the analysis of Brazilian legislation on the subject and an exploratory and descriptive research, by examining newspaper articles that report cases of police abuse. in the studied State and, also, when verifying what the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of Paraíba says about these specific cases. In the meantime, it is clear that the minimum guarantees listed in the Federal Constitution of 1988 and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, even after a few decades, still need to be truly implemented in the context of the State of Paraíba, since detainees lose only their political rights, but they are holders of all the others listed throughout the constitutional text, including the right to dignity, however, in practice it is noticeable that this does not occur. Therefore, it is concluded that these constant violations by the media and the public security agents themselves are the result of a problem deeply rooted in the Brazilian reality and that affects, mostly, those who are on the margins of the State, suffering from its neglect of the situation.

Warriors and Vigilantes as Police Officers: Evidence from a Field Experiment with Body Cameras in Rio de Janeiro

Research QuestionCan requiring police to wear body-worn cameras (BWC) on duty restrain police misconduct in contexts such as a favela in Rio de Janeiro, where police use militaristic and highly aggressive tactics?DataWe collected quantitative and qualitative data on a wide range of behaviors, including police wearing BWC, turning on the BWC for recording citizen contacts, use of force by and against police officers, stop and search, responding to citizen requests for police assistance, and police supervisors wearing BWC. A total of 857 different police officers were tracked during the 1-year study, with a mean of 470 officers each month participating in the test of BWC across 52,000 officer shifts.MethodsBWC status was randomly assigned by shifts to all officers in the shift, within five different kinds of police units. Analyses focused on intent-to-treat effects, with high compliance of wearing BWC but less than half of measured encounters recorded. Regression analyses provided estimates of different effects for officers who had previously been injured or had injured civilians.FindingsCamera assignment, regardless of whether police turned cameras on, reduced stop-and-searches and other forms of potentially aggressive interactions with civilians. Cameras also produced a strong de-policing effect: police wearing cameras were significantly less likely to engage in any activity, including responding to calls and dispatch and street requests for help. These changes in police behavior occurred even when in 50% of the registered interactions with civilians, officers disobeyed the protocol that required them to turn their cameras on. Yet when officers’ supervisors wore cameras, policing activities and camera usage increased. Police surveys, interviews, and focus groups strengthen the findings.ConclusionThe potential of BWC to reduce police abuse finds limitations where an organizational culture that perpetuates a lack of compliance with internal protocols and violence persists.

Human Rights and Racial Inequality Shifts in Contemporary United States

Racial inequality is a major aspect of Americas history due to the major impacts that slavery had, with black people being the primary victims. Over the past decades, the shapes and forms of racism have changed from overt practices, such as slavery to covert forms. Reviewing the literature on racism in America showed that the changes led to the false illusion that racism ended in America, which is not true, considering the widespread discrimination of blacks and other groups. This paper mainly discusses human rights and racial inequality shifts in contemporary United States with cases studies, critically analyzes racism in contemporary America, including the case of police killing and abuse, show that racial minorities, for instance, African Americans endure high poverty rates, injustice, and victimization by the criminal justice system. The evidence of widespread racism in contemporary America demonstrates the need for change, focusing on addressing the underlying causes, including poor and unfair policies.

Behind the Uniform: Police Violence and Abuse before EndSARS Protests in Nigeria (1999-2020)

This study explores the violence and abuse by personnel of the Nigeria Police before the EndSARS protests in Nigeria in October, 2020. Adopting the library research method, the study made use of documentary evidence from reports of reputable organizations, journals, working papers and newspaper articles to highlight that despite the existence of the constitution, international conventions, Police Codes, etc which are instituted and deployed to regulate the conduct of Nigeria Police, police violence and abuse of citizen’s rights were rampant and widespread before the EndSARS protests. It was found that while it may be considered that poor governance and poor funding contributed to Police violence and abuse in Nigeria, the root cause is situated in the history of having served as the instrument by which colonialists perpetrated the culture exploitation of Nigeria through violence, brutality, abuse and gross violation. It recommends the adoption of strategic police reforms that will emphasize re-orientation of the police in Nigeria through concerted training and re-training programs to wean it off the colonial vestiges of class inequalities and contradictions in the exercise of its powers. This will vitiate the usual resort to gross violation, the culture that encourages violence and rights abuse and make the Nigeria Police not just an efficient and effective body, but also a trusted and affective partner in security and nation building.

Power and the Prison: A Foucauldian Perspective on Herman Charles Bosman’s Cold Stone Jug and Willemsdorp

Although the political angle in Bosman’s writings as expressed in his language style are recognized, the prison writing as featured in his two late novels, Cold Stone Jug (1949) and Willemsdorp (written in 1951, first published posthumously in censored form in 1977 and in full in 1998), have received less scholarly attention, especially in terms of his political intent. The present study explores his preoccupation in these works with the brutality of the prison system and the power of the apartheid state. Foucault’s Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison (1975/1995) was employed as a useful theoretical lens in examining Bosman’s critique of the prison system in South Africa and the abuse of power within it. An analysis of the details of police brutality and abuse of power in the censored and uncensored published versions of Willemsdorp has also been included, highlighting the applicability of Foucault’s theorisation on discipline and punishment in the penal system to Bosman’s texts. This study brings to the fore Bosman’s critique of the state, its officials, the unjust practices and the political intention behind his prison writing.

Behind the Uniform: Police Violence and Abuse after #Endsars Protests in Nigeria (2021-2023)

Violence and abuse by those behind uniforms, especially the Nigeria Police, have continued to occupy a position of prime concern to Nigerians. Despite being a critical instrument relied on by the government in ensuring social control and enhancing governance, the Nigeria Police continues to receive prime attention from the Nigerian citizenry. This became very concentrated after the #EndSARS protests of October, 2020, that sought far-reaching police reforms. This study primarily explores police violence and abuse in Nigeria after the #EndSARS protests. Informed by the nature of the research problem, this study adopted the library research method and documentary evidence collected was subjected to detailed examination. The Social Conflict Theory and the Routine Activities Theory were adopted for analysis. The study found that police violence and abuse remain rampant in Nigeria because the police continue to work to preserve the status quo of inequality and exploitation in Nigeria. This situation is escalating despite the commitment of Nigeria to various treaties and international protocols which prohibit the application of violence and abuse in police work. The prospect of effective and efficient policing of Nigeria lies in closing the inequality gap in the Nigerian society. This will create the requisite environment that will enable the transformation of the Nigeria Police to an institution that eschews violence and abuse and is able to protect citizens.

The Role of Ethics in Curbing Police Abuses

Police abuses have been brought into the limelight recently due to the killing of George Floyd and many other African Americans in the United States. This has led to various protests in other countries, recalling decades of police brutality and abuses. The police exist to serve the community's good, ensure law and order, foster the protection of human lives and properties, and help prevent crime. When police officers deviate from the purpose for which they are set up, abuses arise. In spite of the noble aims for which the police exist, there are police officers that have engaged in abusive practices, thus impeding their services. Police history seems to be rooted in a systematic culture of dehumanization and abuse. Police training and formation have privileged tactics and strategic training to the near negligence of moral character formation in police officers. This paper problematises this issue and argues through critical analytic and hermeneutic methods for the imperative of ethics in curbing police abuses. The paper finds that police abuses are global, and there is police impunity everywhere. It concludes, among other recommendations that police abuses can be restrained through ethical formation of police officers to respect the human dignity and rights of the citizens.

Why Police Ethics Matter

When police abuse their duties, it undermines the state's internal security. It creates a crisis of legitimacy of police because people detest them for their abuse and tyranny. In 1957, IACP (the International Association of Chiefs of Police) developed an ethics tool Code of Ethics for law enforcement. Nevertheless, training has been focused and emphasized on techniques and tactics of policing. Ethics is not the part of presell of the training. The Code of Ethics is pronounced once in a life only during pass-out day. Police face dilemmas in real-time situations with people and society. This is why, this article is concerned with ethics a tool, and procedures to reduce police abuse.

What factors drive trust in police after civil wars: the case of Colombia

ABSTRACT We know that civil wars have negative and long-term consequences for public trust in state institutions. However, few studies have examined the post-peace challenges of rebuilding trust in state institutions. In this study, we utilise the case of Colombia to explore the impact of civil wars on the institutional trust of the police. We find that perspectives on abuse, punishment, and corruption are significant predictors of trust in the Colombian police. Further, we find that when we test all three phenomena together, perceptions of police abuse and experience with bribery are the key drivers of trust of police in Colombia.

NIGERIAN CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM’S ABUSE OF CONFESSIONAL STATEMENTS: A CALL FOR JUDICIAL POLICY REFORM

The prosecution’s responsibility to prove the guilt of an accused person in Nigeria has, over the years, been watered down by the practice of the police extracting confessional statements from accused persons by extrajudicial means. The courts which are supposed to be the last hope of the common citizen or justice appear to be in synergy with the police in its interpretation and application of relevant provisions of statutes geared towards admissibility of coerced confessional statements. This article is a strident call for a reform of the judicial policy with regards to the admissibility of confessional statements in a manner which would clearly discourage the police from abusing the fundamental rights of accused persons in their bid to score a conviction on a coerced confessional statement. The paper adopted the doctrinal methodology by examining confessional statements in Nigeria through the Evidence Act 2011, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, and relevant Judicial interpretation. Relevant legal articles and news reports online which deal with confessional statements in Nigeria and detail abuses of fundamental rights of accused persons were referenced to show documented and prevalent police abuses and violation of citizens’ rights. It concludes with recommendations.

Introduction

Introduction

Exploring a Craft Learning Model for Reviewing Patrol Officer Decision-Making in Encounters with the Public

Since the 1960s, police departments have turned to rules and procedures to help control how patrol officers, as legal decision-makers, exercise their discretionary authority. The logic of the administrative rulemaking model depends on the development and enforcement of bureaucratic rules and regulations. The public outcry over high-profile incidents of police abuses of authority has renewed interest in this approach. This article conceptualizes a complementarycraft learning modelto supplement rulemaking. This model harnesses patrol officers’ knowledge and skills, learned through experience, to the development of criteria for assessing and guiding how they use their discretion in less dramatic encounters with the public. Using in-depth interviews with thirty-eight patrol officers reacting to a video clip of a fairly routine and low-key neighbor dispute, we derive seven evaluative standards (accountability, lawfulness, problem diagnosis, repair of harm, economy, fairness, and safety and order). We then explore how these standards could be used by first-line supervisors to structure reviews of patrol officer decision-making through a process of reflection-in-action. Our purpose is to imagine a reform strategy that tries to account for the complex technical and normative dimensions of everyday police work to facilitate more deliberate, transparent, and principled decisions.

Police violence and abuse against street‐connected adolescents in Bangladesh: A qualitative study of lived experiences

This article explores the lived experiences of Bangladeshi street-connected adolescents related to police violence and abuse, using data collected from qualitative in-depth interviews with adolescents aged 10–17. Using a purposive sampling technique, 33 semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted. Data were thematically analysed, and three major thematic areas emerged: (1) police as perpetrators of harm against street-connected adolescents, (2) the police's failure in their duty to protect street-connected adolescents and (3) police officers acting as judges, juries and executioners of so-called street justice against street-connected adolescents. Findings support the need for urgent reforms in the country related to child protection.