Policing Strategies Research Articles

Ranking policing strategies as a function of criminal complaints: application of the PROMETHEE II method in the Brazilian context

PurposeThe purpose of this study is modelling of a problem of policing strategy order using a multicriteria method.Design/methodology/approachFor the construction of the impact matrix strategies under the reduction of crime rates, considering a portfolio of crimes, a questionnaire applied to specialists was used. In a second moment, defined the criteria and strategies to be ordered, the multicriteria PROMETHEE II method was used, which with the help of the Visual PROMETHEE software, emulated the systematised data in the impact matrix and produced the final ordering of the most efficient strategies, in the fight against crime, in the perception of decision makers.FindingsAs a result, this research revealed that radio patrol, when used in a non-randomised manner, is the most effective policing strategy in reducing the 18 criminal demands studied in the perception of decision makers after data emulation with the PROMETHEE II method.Research limitations/implicationsAs research implications, it can be inferred that the use of multicriteria methods in the modelling of problems in public security area can contribute to the rationalisation of use of the available means in the fight against crime in large cities. This research showed that it is possible to use customised policing strategies to absolute reality.Practical implicationsThe practical impact of this research lies in optimising the resources available to law enforcement agencies in the fight against crime in general.Social implicationsIt can be inferred that by choosing appropriate strategies to combat local crime, there is a direct implication in optimising the resources that the government makes available to police agencies. This optimisation allows pressure reduction under the public budget for more features. The model for choosing more effective strategies contributes to local crimes decrease, increasing the sense of the population security.Originality/valueThe originality lies in filling a gap in the literature with the elaboration of the impact matrix of policing strategies in reducing criminal indices and in their associated use in ordering strategies through a multicriteria method. This study contributed to applied police intelligence.

Colonial policing and urban space in the notorious Commune Rouge of Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo

AbstractZooming in on the urban history of the Kenya neighbourhood in Lubumbashi, this article deals with the relation between urban space, colonial policing and African unrest. Colonial policy-makers feared the populous neighbourhood and its African masses, and deployed urban planning to materialize an ambiguous agenda of ‘welfare colonialism’ and discipline. The implementation of these planning projects was incomplete, and a spatial analysis of subsequent African local unrest, everyday colonial policing and military schemes sheds additional light on how colonial forces and Africans utilized urban space as a resource for protest and control. As such, the article aims to contribute to the academic debate on colonial policing, in which spatiality has been lacking.

‘There’s A Certain Group of Cops that have their Own Vendetta’: Resident Perceptions of Notorious Police Officers and ‘Cop Clockin’ in the Inner-City

Abstract Many inner-city neighbourhoods across North America are disproportionately subject to heightened and aggressive policing strategies. Consequently, many inner-city residents have developed strategies to limit their encounters with police. Research examining police–community relationships has traditionally examined how residents perceive and respond to ‘the police’. However, this homogenizes and over-simplifies nuanced processes. Based upon 48 interviews with Toronto inner-city residents, we demonstrate how narratives about allegedly ‘notorious’ officers reveal that residents differentiate between individual officers and modify their behaviours accordingly. This process of officer differentiation—‘cop clockin’—results in strategic responses to specific officers as residents attempt to hinder the potential harms of interactions with ‘notorious cops’. Furthermore, officer complacency raises questions about police legitimacy and strengthening police–community relationships.

The impact of context on real-life serious crime interviews

ABSTRACT This study examined real-life audio-taped police interviews with 56 serious crime suspects in English and Wales. It provides an analysis of how suspects responded and behaved during the interviews and considers how suspects’ responses may be affected by contextual characteristics including the presence of legal advisors. It was found that fewer suspects admitted these serious offences in comparison to previous studies, with most suspects who did admit doing so early on in the interview. The majority of suspects’ responses were identified as ‘relevant’, only a very small proportion of interviews were assessed as ‘challenging’. Significant associations between suspects’ responses and context were found. Specifically, if the (alleged) victim was female, the location of the offence was in-doors, and there was no clear motive; then, suspects were more likely to say ‘no comment’ than to respond relevantly. Suspects who were 32 years of age or over, and had previous criminal convictions, were more likely to respond ‘relevantly’ than say ‘no comment’. The study also found that whilst present in the majority of interviews, the contributions of legal advisors were minimal (though more frequent legal advisor contributions were associated with the increased use of police strategies).

‘Ndrangheta Dynasties: A Conceptual and Operational Framework for the Cross-Border Policing of the Calabrian Mafia

Abstract Attention to the Calabrian mafia, the ‘ndrangheta, has been increasing across law enforcement authorities around the world. This paper aims at bringing forward a theoretical and operational conversation on how to best approach, from a policing perspective, what is a complex clan-based criminality able to operate simultaneously in different states. The paper will therefore formulate a preliminary framework for strategies focusing on the policing of mafia dynasties. It will do so by identifying how ‘ndrangheta clans can be studied as family dynasties, including in their assessment also the factors of family life (familiness) that can facilitate or obstruct the dynasty’s success. By looking at ‘ndrangheta clans as family dynasties, we can inform a framework that cuts through the most common policing aims and strategies against organized crime, as shared by states involved in current anti-mafia efforts.

Border Land, Border Water: A History of Construction on the US-Mexico Divide

Border Land, Border Water: A History of Construction on the US-Mexico Divide

The mediating roles of law legitimacy and police legitimacy in predicting cooperation with police in China

Public’s willingness to assist the police in preventing and fighting crime forms one of the fundamental pillars for implementing effective policing strategies and reforms. Despite widely supported by research conducted around the world, the process-based model of policing has received little research attention in authoritarian settings. Based on survey data collected from Shanghai, China, this study assesses the roles of law and police legitimacy in mediating the relationships between police fairness and effectiveness and willingness to cooperate with the police. We found that Chinese people’s greater senses of police fairness can lead to their higher levels of trust in and willingness to obey the police, but the total effect of police fairness on willingness to cooperate with the police is non-significant. Police effectiveness, meanwhile, directly promotes cooperation with the police. We also found that people who perceived the law as legitimate expressed greater willingness to cooperate with the police. Police legitimacy, compared to law legitimacy, is a more pronounced linking factor connecting police fairness to public cooperation. Implications for future research and policy are discussed.

Reflections on community-based participation to reduce violent crimes in South Africa

ABSTRACT This article reflects on community-based participation to reduce violent crimes in South Africa. Despite many policing strategies being developed and implemented over the years to reduce violent crimes in South Africa, these crimes are still on the increase. Against this background, the researcher reflects on some of the perceptions of violent crimes and policing that erode public confidence daily. The study is essentially qualitative in its approach. The researcher used the snowball sampling technique to identify community members from the Tshwane metropolitan area in Gauteng for in-depth interviews. The findings revealed that community members were unhappy with the level of community participation in the day-to-day policing of violent crimes in communities. This alienated them from the police and had an adverse effect on the ability of the police to enforce safety and security in communities. In view of these findings, there is a need for the police to enhance community participation so that the needs and expectations of communities are given priority.

Trust Through Intelligence?

It would be understandable to view community policing and counter-terrorism policing as two distinct concepts which are intrinsically situated at opposites poles in the world of policing. While one invokes cultures such as transparency, public engagement and visibility, the other is traditionally considered as a series of clandestine operations more akin to the intelligence-led policing model. This paper will argue that the two policing strategies are in fact compatible. With a shift in the nature of terrorism itself apparent, the contemporary lone wolf attacker is not only a deadly threat, but one which is incredibly difficult to detect using methods such as background checks and covert investigation. This is due to a lack of communication and/or physical ties between attackers, a high level of isolation stemming from affinity to extremist ideologies, combined with self-struggle and anger. In order to combat prospective attacks, effective preventative measures must be implemented in both geographical and social spaces. Such measures warrant the implementation of community policing philosophies which can help establish trust and promote co-operation, leading to accurate, reliable community intelligence, as well as reassurance and security for the members of the community itself.

‘Rhetoric without reality’ or effective policing strategy? An analysis of the relationship between community policing and police fatal force

•Permanent beat proportion is associated with higher rates of police fatal force.•Community training for recruits is associated with higher rates of fatal force.•Problem solving partnerships are not significant when outliers are removed.•No other community policing measures were significantly related to fatal force.

Community Policing Strategy (Polmas) In The Implementation Of Bhabinkamtibmas Tasks As A Radical Detection Basis

The implementation of the Community Policing Strategy (POLMAS) in the implementation of BhabinKamtibmas duties as the basis for the detection of radical understanding, is very important in creating social security. This study aims to analyze the Polmas Strategy in the implementation of BhabinKamtibmas duties as the basis for the detection of radical understanding, potential constraints and problems related to the implementation of the Polmas Strategy in implementing the duties of BhabinKamtibmas as the basis for the detection of radical understanding. The method used in this research is normative legal research. Sources and data types use primary data and secondary data. The data collection method was done through literature study, while the data analysis method used qualitative analysis. The results showed that the implementation of the Community Police Strategy in the implementation of BhabinKamtibmas duties as the basis for the detection of radical ideology, namely BhabinKamtibmas carrying out door-to-door visits to all areas of its assignment, carrying out and assisting problem solving, organizing and securing activities the public, receive information about the occurrence of non-crime, provide guidance and guidance to the public or the community regarding issues of social security and police services. The obstacles faced are the developing police culture, young police officers, the idiom that police officers on the streets are better than police officers who work behind the desk, the accountability of the police in response to complaints and the dynamics that occur in society, limited human resources, welfare of police officers, 2 police car patrols, accountability command, structural rewards, community satisfaction with police performance, failure to integrate Police work with criminal detection. The problems faced are the public's negative perception of the police, low public awareness of environmental security, sociological diversity of society, ambiguity in people's attitudes, facilities and infrastructure.Keywords: Community Policing; Community Security; Radical Understanding.

A Tale of Force: Examining Policy Proposals to Address the Issue of Police Violence

President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing recommended that police forces increase officer demographic diversity, raise educational requirements for new officers, and implement community policing strategies. The purpose of these recommendations was to reduce police violence and improve police-community relationships, particularly relationships with minority communities. After reviewing prior research on these proposals, we estimate cross-sectional models regressing police department use of force counts on indicators of community policing, officer education, and officer racial and gender diversity to examine the baseline plausibility of these recommendations. We find that police forces with more college-educated officers are less violent toward citizens, but that the race and sex compositions of law enforcement organizations are not associated with the level of police violence. Ironically, most indicators of community policing are associated with more police violence, only a higher proportion of community beat officers is associated with significantly lower levels of police violence.

Police strategy development: the New Zealand police prevention strategy

ABSTRACT In 2009, the New Zealand Police implemented a comprehensive program called Policing Excellence, which by 2011 became Prevention First. This strategy was designed to place victims of crime and the prevention of crime at the foreground of their service delivery, with the view that in the longer-term crime would decrease. This article reviews the influence of the strategy on crime in New Zealand for the period 2009 to 2018 and finds that although the strategy was initially successful, in later years the strategy has not been as successful. The review also finds that the effectiveness of the New Zealand Police has decreased significantly during this period and argues for a more balanced strategy that includes an improved form of response to increase public satisfaction with the organization’s service delivery.

Police Chiefs’ Opinions on the Utility of a College Education for Police Officers

This paper explores police chiefs’ opinions about the utility of a college education for police officers. Arguments for and against requiring a college degree for local police officers have been discussed in the literature for years, but mostly involve measures of officers’ performance and opinions. The data used in this study come from survey responses of a sample of 98 police chiefs in western and central parts of a mid-Atlantic state. The association of variables, such as number of officers in the department, the extent to which the department gives hiring preferences to those with more education, the department’s involvement in community policing strategies, and the chief’s level of education with the chief’s opinion about the favorability of college education for police officers is explored using regression analyses. In addition, an interaction effect between a police chief’s level of education and his or her department’s involvement in community policing on the level of a police chief’s agreement with statements favorable to having college-educated officers is tested. Policy implications are discussed, with an emphasis on how police chiefs play a role in shaping educational standards for police officers.

A government–society confrontation

In legal courts the right to protest is often demarcated by its infringement on other constitutional rights in a typical illustration of graded absolutism when there is conflict between two overlapping sets of negative civil and political rights, with those of speech, expression, and movement culminating in rights to assembly and association on the one hand, and personal liberty and security on the other. The twentieth century ostensibly saw the end of blunt command and control policing in mature economies, but the practice of negotiated management is often thwarted at the scene. The strengths and limits of this philosophy are demonstrated in the political experiment that is Hong Kong, a postcolonial Chinese capitalist city with a proud legal and policing heritage from Britain. Crowd and riot management experiences have long been confined to festivities and peaceful rallies until the transfer of sovereignty in 1997. With constitutional freedoms of speech and assembly now upheld more explicitly than ever, the free, if less-than-democratically represented, population began to mobilize in discontent. Extraordinarily high public expectations of the police force highlighted its steep, treacherous learning curve as activists deployed, invented, and adapted protest techniques. As with many metropolitan forces, the tug of war between civil rights and public order rubs at the throat of the Hong Kong police. This essay examines these escalating developments in five key protest episodes that occurred after the 2003 Hong Kong mass rally. Police strategies are illustrated through established scholarly systems in police knowledge. Analysis suggests that, after the 2003 rally, the force has employed a passive–adaptive approach to evolving protest practices. The precious equilibrium, however, has been steadily disturbed following the loss of mutual trust between police and protesters, thus explaining the 2014 Umbrella Movement street confrontations.

Offence characteristics: a comparison of lone, duo, and 3+ perpetrator robbery offences

ABSTRACT The current study investigated characteristics of robbery offences with a focus on lone versus multiple perpetrator crimes. The main aim was to outline differences between lone, duo, and 3+ perpetrator crimes. Police recorded crime data from West Midlands Police relating to 1574 personal robberies (including attempts) committed in Birmingham city centre (UK) were used in the analysis. Robbery offences were compared on victim and offender demographics and offence characteristics. The findings showed significant differences between the three group sizes (lone, duo, 3+ offenders) in victim and offender age; approach styles; victim control variables; weapon use; alcohol and violence; injuries; and carjacking. The findings of the current research can feed into developing policing strategies which take into account differences in group size.

Rural Policing, Youth and Overlapping Fields of Youth Justice

In the current article, we document the changing roles and responsibilities related to the implementation of the Canadian Youth Criminal Justice Act ( YCJA). Police officers’ experiences and responses to the implementation of the YCJA reveal a disparity between the officers’ idealised role and their actual tasks involving youth. Drawing on Bourdieu’s theory of the habitus and field, we consider the field of youth justice and its effects on rural policing strategies in Canada. We consider the shifting standard for police behaviours from data gathered through interviews and focus groups with police officers. We find standards in the field of policing shift to reflect new realities enacted with the YCJA.

Distortions of political bias in crowdsourced misinformation flagging.

Many people view news on social media, yet the production of news items online has come under fire because of the common spreading of misinformation. Social media platforms police their content in various ways. Primarily they rely on crowdsourced ‘flags’: users signal to the platform that a specific news item might be misleading and, if they raise enough of them, the item will be fact-checked. However, real-world data show that the most flagged news sources are also the most popular and—supposedly—reliable ones. In this paper, we show that this phenomenon can be explained by the unreasonable assumptions that current content policing strategies make about how the online social media environment is shaped. The most realistic assumption is that confirmation bias will prevent a user from flagging a news item if they share the same political bias as the news source producing it. We show, via agent-based simulations, that a model reproducing our current understanding of the social media environment will necessarily result in the most neutral and accurate sources receiving most flags.

Democratic Policing and Officer Well-Being.

Efforts to improve police–community relationships have increased initiatives that aim to build trust and mutual respect between officers and the communities they serve. Existing literature examines the impact of internal departmental dynamics and individual-level characteristics on officers’ endorsement of community-oriented policing strategies. Research has indicated that when officers feel fairly treated within their agencies and when they are less psychologically and emotionally distressed, they report stronger support for policing tactics that increase fairness in police processes and decision making. This mixed-method study is the first to examine the reciprocal relationship by asking: How do procedurally just and community-oriented policing strategies impact officer well-being and occupational stress? Sworn officers in a medium-sized California department completed a survey assessing their views on their agency, various police tactics, the communities they serve, and their physical and mental health. Results showed that officers’ increased support for community-oriented and procedurally just police strategies are significantly associated with decreased job stress, depression, anxiety, and negative affect, controlling for race, gender, perceived job dangerousness, cynicism, and how many years they had served as a police officer. In-depth interviews with officers in the department revealed three explanatory mechanisms for these statistical relationships. First, the tenets of procedural justice provided officers with tactics that reduce the threat and stress of intergroup interactions. Second, community-oriented policing activities increased opportunities for officers to have positive interactions with the communities they work in, mitigating the distrust, cynicism, and detachment fostered by enforcement activities. Last, procedural justice and community-oriented police strategies empowered officers to counter negative stereotypes about police and reaffirm their self-image. Taken together, these survey and interview findings highlight the mutuality of democratic policing and officer wellness.

Recruiting warriors or guardians? A content analysis of police recruitment videos

ABSTRACT United States police response to the 2014 Ferguson riots has directed scholarly and public attention towards police militarisation, renewing interest in community policing strategies as a potential strategy to decrease militarised policing. However, these concepts are vague and require further empirical examination. This article proposes a novel method of empirically studying militarisation and community policing by using police recruitment videos, which act as advertisements of departments’ self-depictions. Themes of militarisation and community-oriented policing are observed using a quantitative content analysis of videos collected from the 200 largest United States policing agencies. Community-oriented themes are found to occur across a higher percentage of the sample than militarised themes, and for longer average durations of time. However, there is some complexity present across the variables, and subsets of the videos fall into the extreme ends of the two concepts. This exploratory study acts as a foundation for examining future research questions regarding police culture and behaviour, viewer semiotics, and police administrator recruiting recommendations.