Public Allegations Research Articles

An analysis of police traffic stops and searches in Kentucky: a mixed methods approach offering heuristic and practical implications

Is race a significant predictor of being searched by the police? Is race a significant predictor of having positive search results during traffic stop? We address these two questions by analyzing traffic stop data (n > 93,000) collected by two state and 24 local police agencies in a single state during the 2001 calendar year. Our findings show that race does correlate with a fruitful traffic stop but not in the manner that may be commonly thought. To supplement and better contextualize our quantitative findings, an exploratory study was then designed that used the focus group interviewing technique with groups of officers from five of the participating agencies to explore their perceptions of (1) traffic stops and searches and (2) public allegations of racial profiling and bias-based policing. The findings from this qualitative phase of the study highlighted the officers’ perceived role as community problem solvers “who profile problems and not people.” In tandem, this mixed-method approach was instrumental in advancing our knowledge of both the patterns and results from related searches, in addition to better contextualizing the underlying perceptions of officers regarding the use of race in “solving” community problems. The results from this combination of methodological approaches offer important heuristic and practical implications.

Answering allegations: the use of the corporate website for restorative ethical and social disclosure

Company websites have become increasingly ambitious and elaborate in their functionality (Adams & Frost 2003). From websites that contained information that was little more than an electronic rendering of hard copy publications (e.g. accounting reports), advancing technology, increasing sophistication and interactivity have precipitated an information-transfer environment in which websites can not only contain a much broader range of information but also provide for the information needs of a broader (in historical terms) range of stakeholders. Companies have employed website technology for an increasing number of purposes. These have included marketing, selling (Lymer 1999), reporting (Xiao et al. 2002; Marston 2003) and, in a recent study (Adams & Frost 2003), reputation management was cited as a possible function. In order to explore the usefulness of websites as a possible vehicle for ‘ethical’ reputation management communication (and in so doing, address an empirical deficit), a method was developed for testing for website responses to public allegations of specific ethical malpractice or faux pas. In addition to informing the question as to the uses that corporate websites may be put, a second purpose of this paper is to explore qualitative and quantitative aspects of content analysis method relevant to website interrogation. Eight large organisations were selected on the basis that they had had one or more publicly made allegations of an ethical nature against them. Upon interrogating their websites in the summer of 2002, all were found to provide voluntary website disclosures pertaining to the allegations although the ‘quality’ and ‘quantity’ of the responses were not consistent. The responses to the allegations did not appear to be affected by the ‘age’ of the allegation, thus suggesting that a threat to an otherwise good reputation may be long-lasting. The remainder of this paper proceeds as follows. In the next section, the literature relating to the uses of websites in disclosure and reporting is reviewed. Some of the issues surrounding the pros and cons of using websites over hard copy for reporting purposes are discussed. The method used in the study is then discussed and the results are presented. A discussion of the findings concludes the paper.

Bendectin and birth defects. II: Ecological analyses.

Bendectin was the primary pharmaceutical treatment of nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP) in the United States until the early 1980s. Its manufacture was then discontinued after public allegations that it was causing birth defects. Subsequently, meta-analyses of the many epidemiological cohort and case/control studies used to examine that hypothesis have demonstrated the absence of a detectable teratogenic effect. This study presents an ecological analysis of the same hypothesis that examines specific malformations. Annual birth defect prevalence data for the 1970s to the 1990s have been obtained for specific birth defects from the Center for Disease Control's nationwide Birth Defect Monitoring Program. These data for the US have been compared graphically to the annual US Bendectin sales for the treatment of NVP. Data have also been obtained for annual US rates for hospitalization for NVP. The three data sets have been temporally compared in graphic analysis. The temporal trends in prevalence rates for specific birth defects examined from 1970 through 1992 did not show changes that reflected the cessation of Bendectin use over the 1980-84 period. Further, the NVP hospitalization rate doubled when Bendectin use ceased. The population results of the ecological analyses complement the person-specific results of the epidemiological analyses in finding no evidence of a teratogenic effect from the use of Bendectin.

Fraud, mismanagement and nepotism: The Committee of Independent Experts and the fall of the European Commission 1999

The collective resignation of the Commission of the European Communities in March 1999 was unprecedented. It followed public allegations of fraud, mismanagement and nepotism within the organisation, an unsuccessful vote of censure in the European Parliament, and the establishment of a Committee of Independent Experts in January 1999 to investigate and report within less than two months. The report, compiled by a group of senior public auditors and lawyers, defined the standards of conduct required of senior European Union officials. It identified, through selective investigation of cases, serious instances of fraud by some permanent officials, poor administrative, budgetary, and management practices, and failures of supervision by Commissioners. It stated clearly the principles of individual and collective responsibility of Commissioners for policy implementation and the conduct of the permanent administration. The day after the report's publication, the twenty Commissioners resigned.

HYDROLOGICAL STUDIES IN THE NATAL WATTLE BELT

Summary The design of experiments which are being laid out to investigate the hydrological effects of wattle plantations in the Natal Midlands is described. The effects that wattle plantations in the Natal Midlands may have upon streamflow and water supplies constitute an important question that is coming more and more into prominence. On the one hand public allegations have been frequently made that these plantations completely dry up water supplies in the vicinity, while at the other extreme one prominent grower has gone into print to the effect that he has observed “springs running out of wattle plantations where none were ever seen before” (cited by Wicht, 1949). As in the case of the burning versus non-burning controversy that has agitated growers, there is a lack of experimental evidence. At the beginning of 1953 the Management of the Natal Tanning Extract Company Ltd. accordingly approved a project of hydrological research designed to clarify the problem. Research on the effect of vegetation on watersupplies may be either hydrometric or physical. In the former case the actual yield of water from a series of catchments is observed and measured, the catchments being treated in different ways. In the alternative, studies are made of the effect of vegetation on net rainfall, infiltration, run-off, soil moisture and so on with the object of deducing effects on water supplies. Hydrometric research must be carried on for many years before results can be obtained, as the catchments must first be gauged for a number of years before afforestation takes place in order to calibrate their behaviour under the previous conditions. After that there is further delay while the tree crop comes to maturity. In the case of wattle we are dealing with relatively a very short-term forest crop but, even so, cannot expect to obtain results from such a project for at least fifteen years. Physical research is far less laborious and could be expected to give at least some results in only one season. We have decided to follow both lines of investigation and the projects embarked upon are described below.