Police Foundation Research Articles

The Police Foundation

The Police Foundation

Reproducing police culture in a British university: findings from an exploratory case study of police foundation degrees

Most of the research into police culture has been conducted by ‘outsider’ academics on police practitioners and finds the situated workplace to be the key site of cultural influence. This article turns that standpoint on its head. The author is a British police officer who carried out doctoral research into a scheme to train police recruits at a university. The research found unintended consequences and in this article the social theory of Pierre Bourdieu is employed to examine how the pedagogic practices of the academics and other aspects of the university programme operated to reproduce negative facets of police culture.

Joining Forces: Maximizing Ways of Making a Difference in Policing

Janet Foster is in the Department of Sociology at The London School of Economics. She directed the Diploma and Masters programme in Applied Criminology for senior police officers at Cambridge University in the 1990s, co-led the evaluation of the impact of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry on policing (Foster et al 2005), and has worked as an adviser on policing issues in Britain and Europe. Between 2006 and 2009, Janet was seconded to The Police Foundation—an independent charity dedicated to improving policing for the benefit of the public. Simon Bailey is Assistant Chief Constable in Norfolk Constabulary with responsibility for operational policing. Prior to his appointment in May 2009, he led the force modernization programme. In this article, the authors outline their experiences of working together on a major change programme in Norfolk Constabulary that required radical re-structuring and cultural change. They describe why police/academic collaborations are beneficial, the critical tensions inherent in such partnerships, and what they regard as the pre-requisites for academics and police successfully ‘joining forces’.

Anti-terrorism and police powers: should we be concerned?

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsAbie LongstaffAbie Longstaff is a non-practising barrister and Research and Policy Analyst at the Police FoundationJohn GrahamJohn Graham is Director of the Police Foundation

A Thinning Blue Line? Police Independence and the Rule of Law

Shami Chakrabarti is Director of Liberty. Since 2001, she has been heavily involved in the organization's engagement with the ‘War on Terror’ and with the defence and promotion of human rights values in parliament, the courts and wider society. Shami is a barrister by background, a Governor of the London School of Economics, a Visiting Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford and a Master of the Bench of Middle Temple. She has written, spoken and broadcast widely on the importance of the post-war human rights framework as an essential component of democratic society. This article is a reproduction of the Police Foundation John Harris Memorial Lecture she delivered in July 2008. In the article, she examines the role of policing in a democracy, arguing that policing should serve the rule of law and not the interests of the executive.

REFORMING TO PRESERVE: COMPSTAT AND STRATEGIC PROBLEM SOLVING IN AMERICAN POLICING*

Research Summary:This paper provides the first national description of Compstat programs, considered in the framework of strategic problem solving. Relying on a survey of American police departments conducted by the Police Foundation, we examine the diffusion of Compstat programs and the nature of Compstat models throughout the United States. We also assess the penetration of models of strategic problem solving more generally into American policing. Our findings document a process of “diffusion of innovation” of Compstat‐like programs in larger police agencies that follows a rapid pace. At the same time, our data suggest that many elements of strategic problem solving had begun to be implemented more widely across American police agencies before the emergence of Compstat as a programmatic entity, and that such elements have been adopted broadly even by departments that have not formally adopted a Compstat program.Policy Implications:Compstat holds out the promise of allowing police agencies to adopt innovative technologies and problem‐solving techniques while empowering traditional police organizational structures. However, our analysis suggests that at this stage, what most characterizes Compstat departments and distinguishes them from others is the development of the control element of this reform. This leads us to question whether the rapid rise of Compstat in American police agencies can be interpreted more as an effort to maintain and reinforce the “bureaucratic” or “paramilitary” model of police organization (that has been under attack by scholars for most of the last two decades) than as an attempt to truly reform models of American policing.

The Role of Crime Victims in American Policing: Findings from a National Survey of Police and Victim Organizations

The role of victims in enhancing community policing has received little scholarly attention. This paper adds to the current state of knowledge about the role of victims in policing and the relationship between victim organizations and police departments as part of community policing. Relying upon a national survey of police departments and victim organizations carried out by the Police Foundation and the National Center for Victims of Crime, we present a broad snapshot of community policing partnerships that draw from the experience and knowledge of victims and victim service providers. Our research indicates that while a majority of police executives believe there are benefits to involving victims in community policing, most also report that when it comes to problem solving and crime prevention it is more useful for officers to interact with community members without special attention to who has been a crime victim. Regardless of this view, a large proportion of police agencies report supporting abroad set of practices that focus on crime victims. Finally, our study reinforces the position that the broad approach and policies of a police agency toward victims play a central role in the development of partnerships between police and victim organizations.

Drugs: Dilemmas and Choices By a Working Party of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Royal College of Physicians. London: Gaskell. 2000. 304 pp. £9.50 (pb). ISBN 1 901242 447

The production of a major review of international and national drug policy is a feat of juggling and balance. This report was published in the same week as the Police Foundation Report. The latter, which called for some minor changes in the drug laws, made the headlines of all the national daily

Drugs dilemmas and choices by a working party of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Royal College of Physicians. Gaskell, London, UK (2000). 291 pages. ISBN 1 901242 44 7.Drugs and the law: report of the independent inquiry into the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 by The Police Foundation, London, UK (2000). 148 pages. ISBN 0 947692 47 9.

Drugs dilemmas and choices by a working party of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Royal College of Physicians. Gaskell, London, UK (2000). 291 pages. ISBN 1 901242 44 7.Drugs and the law: report of the independent inquiry into the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 by The Police Foundation, London, UK (2000). 148 pages. ISBN 0 947692 47 9.

Community Policing Grows in Brooklyn: An Inside View of the New York City Police Department's Model Precinct

In 1990 the New York City Police Department committed itself to implementing community-oriented policing throughout the city. They selected the 72nd precinct in Brooklyn to test a comprehensive police model with full staffing and resources. The Police Foundation, with funding from the National Institute of Justice, conducted a process evaluation of the program, which among other things, examined its effects on the structure and operations of police activities. Results showed that officers had favorable impressions of community policing and that they were able to identify residents' concerns and develop effective methods for solving neighborhood problems.

On the move: The status of women in policing : by Susan E. Martin The Police Foundation (1001 22nd Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037), 1990, 197 pp., softcover—$19.95.

On the move: The status of women in policing : by Susan E. Martin The Police Foundation (1001 22nd Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037), 1990, 197 pp., softcover—$19.95.

Abolishing the right of silence

Abstract In the summer of 1987 the then Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd, delivered the Police Foundation Lecture (Hurd, 1987). He resurrected a topic which ‘most people, police, lawyers and public alike thought had been dead and buried these last ten years' (Morton, 1987). The so-called right to or of silence, left intact by the Royal Commission on Criminal Procedure (1981), was on the agenda for criminal justice reform again, resuming the position it held with the publication of what Zander (1985) called ‘the ill-fated and notorious eleventh report of that prestigious Committee' (Criminal Law Revision Committee, 1972).

Helping the police with their inquiries: the development of special care questioning techniques

SUMMARY. When children are dealt with in the justice system, by the police or the courts, the results are often highly emotionally distressing, and damaging to the true purpose of testimony. This paper describes a training programme of ‘special care questioning’ developed by a police force which employs clinical pychologists. An outline rationale is described, and the results discussed. It concludes that the task of protecting children cannot be the exclusive domain of either Clinical* social service practitioners or legal officers. Creative and ethical cooperation is possible and necessary.The special care questioning programme was developed from experimental work previously carried out with the Metropolitan Police with funding from the Police Foundation, UK.

Returning to First Principles: Reducing the Fear of Crime in Newark

The fear of crime has become a major problem in contemporary society. The National Institute of Justice selected the Police Foundation to conduct rigorous evaluations of several different law enforcement programs designed to address that problem in Newark and Houston. This article describes how the programs in Newark were developed, implemented, and evaluated and summarizes the results of those evaluations. The findings indicate that programs designed to carry out the original mandate of urban policing—to remain in close and frequent contact with citizens—were most effective. In response to these results, the Newark Police Department has adopted and expanded those program components found to be successful.

The Specific Deterrent Effects of Arrest for Domestic Assault

The specific deterrence doctrine and labeling theory predict opposite effects of punishment on individual rates of deviance. The limited cross-sectional evidence available on the question is inconsistent, and experimental evidence has been lacking. The Police Foundation and the Minneapolis Police Department tested these hypotheses in a field experiment on domestic violence. Three police responses to simple assault were randomly assigned to legally eligible suspects: an arrest; advice (including, in some cases, informal mediation); and an order to the suspect to leave for eight hours. The behavior of the suspect was trackedfor six months after the police intervention, with both official data and victim reports. The official recidivism measures show that the arrested suspects manifested significantly less subsequent violence than those who were ordered to leave. The victim report data show that the arrested subjects manifested significantly less subsequent violence than those who were advised. The findings falsify a deviance amplification model of labeling theory beyond initial labeling, and fail to falsify the specific deterrence prediction for a group of offenders with a high percentage of prior histories of both domestic violence and other kinds of crime.

Drawing Inferences From Policy Experiments

The article argues that the sctentific credibility and policymaking utility of policy evaluation research is threatened by inappropriate inference strategies. These inference strategies are a consequence of a system of incentives and a methodology that encourage vague, ambiguous, or nonspecification of primary inferences and extended or unwar ranted tangential inferences. The result is policy research designed more to promote the enterprise of policy research than to assist in the useful application of research in policymaking settings. These points are illustrated through an analysis of the inference strategy pursued in the Police Foundation's Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment. One solution to the problem of inappropriate inferencing is for policy researchers to adopt the practice ofspecifying an illustrative range of potential primary inferences at the initial stages of analysis.

Linear Panel Analysis: Models of Quantitative Change.

immaterial. In repeat victimization there is a tendency to repeat the same ype of c im (or nearly he same), but otherwise the transition matrix is homogeneous. Two papers discuss the benefit of using logistic regression as opposed to linear regression for predicting an individual's probability of success on parole from his characteristics. Carefully constructed models perform somewhat better than simple Burgess scales of predictor variables (counting yes, no or 0, 1, 2 on nine items), but surprisingly, the improvement is too modest to imply that one should use the theoretically correct methods. Two good papers on the deterrence effects of punishment seem dated after the publication of a comprehensive review by a National Academy of Sciences panel (Blumstein, Cohen and Nagin 1978). The family of JUSSIM models is described by Blumstein and Koch. JUSSIM I is a deterministic, steady-state, nonqueuing simulation of flows of individuals (arrestees, defendants, etc.) through stages of the criminal justice system. JUSSIM II expands on JUSSIM I by incorporating the feedback flow of recidivists through subsequent arrests. The paper focuses on JUSSIM III, a version that incorporates a crime generation process and a victim generation process. An unusually clear and useful description is given that shows how to construct the model's input data from available criminal justice system statistics. The final paper describes a fascinating redesign of the Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment, by Fienberg, Larntz, and Reiss. This controversial experiment, carried out in 1972-73 by a Police Foundation team headed by Kelling, is remarkable both for the wealth of detail and information it produced and for the vigorous criticisms it provoked. The experiment claimed to show that routine police preventive patrol has no effect on crime rates or citizens' sense of fear or opinion of police services. Although subsequent research has attempted to resolve the residual questions by means different from those suggested here by Fienberg et al., the paper is interesting because it shows how difficult it is to carry out a social experiment with a design adequate to identify reasonable-sized causal effects. The approach suggested here is a randomized controlled field trial with a balanced crossover design.

The Police Foundation: After the Launch

The Police Foundation: After the Launch

Book Notes

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF IMPERIALISM: Its Theoretical and Polemical Treatment from Mercantilist to Multilateral Imperialism. By Dan NabuderePROTEST AND PARTICIPATION: The New Working Class in Italy. By John R. Low‐BeerTHE POLITICS OF ECONOMIC DECLINE: Economic Management and Political Behaviour in Britain since 1964. By James E. AltCRISIS AND LEGITIMACY: The Administrative Process and American Government. By James O. FreedmanILLUSIONS OF CONFLICT: Anglo‐American Diplomacy toward Latin America, 1865–1896. By Joseph SmithTHE FINAL SOLUTION AND THE GERMAN FOREIGN OFFICE: A Study of Referat D III of Abteilung Deutschland 1940–43. By Christopher R. BrowningALBANY TO ZEEHAN: A New Look at Local Governments. By Ruth AtkinsTHE CAMBRIDGE APOSTLES: The Early Years. By Peter AllenA CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF AUSTRALIA. By W.G. McMinn‘IT'S COMING YET…’: An Aboriginal Treaty within Australia between Australians. By Stewart HarrisGOVERNMENT POLITICS AND POWER IN AUSTRALIA. Edited by John Summers, Dennis Woodward and Andrew ParkinSTRUCTURAL ADAPTATION IN AN AILING ECONOMY: Report to the Study Group on Structural Adjustment (Crawford Committee). By Peter B. Dixon and Alan A. PowellNATIVES AND STRANGERS: Ethnic Groups and the Building of America. By Leonard Dinnerstein, Roger L. Nichols and David M. ReimersTHE OFFICE OF GOVERNOR‐GENERAL. By Paul HasluckTHE QUALITY OF POLICE EDUCATION: A Critical Review with Recommendations for Improving Programs in Higher Education. A Report prepared with the Support of the Police Foundation. By Lawrence W. Sherman and the National Advisory Commission on Higher Education for Police OfficersTHE WEALTH REPORT. Edited by Frank FieldTHE MACMILLAN DICTIONARY OF AUSTRALIAN POLITICS. Edited by Dean Jaensch and Max TeichmannOIL AND AUSTRALIA'S FUTURE: Economic, Social and Political Aspects. Edited by Theo van DugterenOIL AND WORLD POWER. By P.R. Odell. Fifth editionMATTHEW ARNOLD: Culture, Society and Education. By Imelda PalmerCAPTAIN JAMES COOK IMAGE AND IMPACT: South Seas Discoveries and the World of Letters. Volume II ‐ The Pacific Syndrome: Conditions and Consequences. Edited by Walter Veit

The Crisis in Criminal Justice Education: Constructive Reappraisal or Intellectual Masochism

This is an in-depth study of the two decades of growth and controversy in criminal justice education. While hundreds of programs have proliferated at colleges through-out the country, problems of goals, content, and standards have intensified. In this regard, the problems of criminal justice education developed here mirror the growing problems in higher education in general. The article develops the major considerations by analyzing the landmark Police Foundation Report and the history of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, a pioneer institution.