Stop and Search as a Respectful Encounter

2020 ◽  
pp. 68-94
Author(s):  
Gabrielle Watson
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Due Process ◽  
Crime Control ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Bodily Integrity ◽  
The Public ◽  
Minority Ethnic Groups ◽  
Statutory Power ◽  
Stop And Search ◽  
Minority Ethnic

In this chapter, there is a shift in focus to the statutory power of the police to stop and search, the controversial status of which is not new. Less well documented, however, is that stop and search is highly relevant to the study of respect, since the practice tends to undermine the value, if not render it conspicuously absent. The chapter is organised as follows. The opening section explores how we might sharpen our critique of stop and search by framing it in terms of respect. Stop and search—a common form of adversarial contact between the police and the public—taps into deep and ingrained tensions between preventive policing, the exercise of coercive state authority, due process, and crime control. Among the most incisive criticisms of the power are its disproportionate and discriminatory exercise in relation to minority ethnic groups, its role in eroding police legitimacy, and the invasion of privacy and violation of bodily integrity necessitated by the search itself. The next section assesses three prominent proposals for the reform of stop and search—procedural justice training for police officers, tighter legal regulation of the power, and abolition—in terms of respect.

Measuring Stops and Searches: Lessons from U.K. Home Office Research

2002 ◽  
Vol 4 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 143-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Miller ◽  
Nick Bland ◽  
Paul Quinton
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
General Pattern ◽  
Home Office ◽  
Video Cameras ◽  
Minority Ethnic Groups ◽  
Moving Vehicles ◽  
Resident Populations ◽  
Stop And Search ◽  
Minority Ethnic ◽  
New System

This article describes an evaluation of a new system of monitoring police stops and searches in five pilot police sites, along with related research on the disproportionate police stopping and searching of people from minority ethnic backgrounds (“disproportionality”). The evaluation shows that the new monitoring is characterized by a substantial underrecording of encounters, notably of stops. A comparison of data from officer-defined and self-defined ethnic categories on stop and search forms highlights different strengths and weaknesses of both types of ethnic monitoring. The article also explores public satisfaction with the new system of recording, noting that people typically did not understand the purpose of the form at the time they received it. The research into disproportionality explored the “available” populations on the street - using video cameras mounted in moving vehicles - and compared them with resident populations and with those stopped and searched. The research shows that available populations were very different from resident populations. Overall, the findings suggested no general pattern of bias in stops and searches against people from minority ethnic groups. The research also finds that while stops and searches tended to be targeted at areas that have higher than average proportions of residents from minority ethnic groups, this largely reflected patterns of crime.

scholarly journals Special Investigative Techniques For Human Trafficking Investigation In Ethiopia

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-24
Author(s):  
Negesse Asnake Ayalew
Keyword(s):  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Due Process ◽  
Crime Control ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Special Investigation ◽  
The Public ◽  
Investigative Techniques ◽  
The Government ◽  
Document Review

Purpose of the study: The police have the responsibility of balancing the protection of the public from harm with respecting the human right of the suspect during the prevention and investigation of crimes. However; it is difficult to strike absolute balances since it is determined based on government police is due process or crime control model especially the case of special investigation techniques, which are the covert means of investigation of serious crime and criminals based on the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality, and adequate safeguard. The purpose of this doctrinal article is to evaluate the role of special crime investigation techniques for drug trafficking in Ethiopia. Methodology:  Data were collected through document review and interview crime investigators, who were selected purposively since they have a direct relation. This is qualitative research and descriptive design. The collected data were analyzed thematically. Findings: The findings of this research revealed that there are some provisions of special investigation techniques in FDRE criminal justice policy, anti-human trafficking, and smuggling of migrant proclamation. However, these legal bases are not comprehensive such as the types of special investigation techniques, who conduct it, and how long the requirements to conduct these were not answered. Application: Therefore, the house of people representative should enact all-inclusive law on special investigation techniques for human trafficking in Ethiopia. The general attorney also should create awareness to the public about it. Novelty: Human trafficking investigation is challenging ous in Ethiopia, and nobody studied it. Therefore, this study may use as reference material for students’; the government may use it as input for policy and lawmakers.

PREVENTION OF THE TERRORISM IDEOLOGY IN THE FIELD OF EDUCATION (SOME PRACTICAL ASPECTS)

2021 ◽  
pp. 61-66
Author(s):  
Alexey V. Sumachev
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Law School ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Municipal Employees ◽  
Legal Foundations ◽  
Teachers And Parents

The article notes the public danger of the facts of public terrorism justification, as well as its propaganda, since recently the development of information technologies has also promoted this phenomenon. It is also indicated that among the measures to prevent the ideology of terrorism, the main importance belongs to the criminal-legal regulation on committing a crime in this area. The article defines measures to prevent the ideology of terrorism at the general social, special criminological and individual levels. The main focus is put on the methods of special criminological prevention of the ideology of terrorism. At this, the role of pedagogical collectives of secondary schools, colleges and higher educational institutions in the system of terrorism ideology prevention is analyzed. Possible practical forms of extracurricular work with students, teachers and parents of students, aimed at preventing the expansion of terrorism ideology in the field of education are indicated. At this, the article gives examples of preventive activities carried out in the form of: lectures by police officers, prosecutors and law school teachers in educational institutions; professional development of teachers of educational institutions, as well as state and municipal employees on implementing the tasks in the field of terrorism ideology preventing among young people; conducting scientific seminars on the problems of terrorism and extremism; developing and teaching a special course "Legal Foundations for Countering Extremism and Terrorism" not only for lawyers, but for students of other specialties as well.

scholarly journals International Experience of Legal Regulation of Liability for Insult of Police Officers and Possibilities of Its Use in Ukraine

2021 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-20
Author(s):  
К. Л. Бугайчук
Keyword(s):  
Police Officer ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
The Public ◽  
Current State ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Republic ◽  
National Police ◽  
Protection Of Life

The article highlights the problem of the need to strengthen the legal protection of employees of the National Police of Ukraine, who are subjected to illegal encroachments on their honor and dignity while performing their official duties. It is proved that there are acts concerning insults of police officers and insults or slanders committed against ordinary people in the normative legal acts of the countries of Europe and the former CIS. As a rule, insulting or slandering a law enforcement officer is a crime, while other actions are administrative offenses. Such actions have a qualified composition, which is manifested in the public dissemination of such insults or slander. It is argued that punishment for insulting a police officer is applied only in cases related to the performance of their official duties. Otherwise, the case will be considered in the usual way; the corpus delicti of such a crime may be recognized as qualified if such slander or insult is disseminated through the media or through the Internet. The current state of legal regulation of legal liability for insult and defamation of police officers in the Republic of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Poland, Germany, France and Spain is analyzed. Based on the study, the propositions to the Law of Ukraine «On the National Police» are formulated that are aimed at regulating the professional guarantees of police activities. It is emphasized that interfering in the activities of a police officer, failure to comply with his legal requirements, obstruction of the exercise of his respective powers, insult or slander against a police officer related to his official activities, insult to the police, as well as any other illegal actions they must be held legally liable for the police officer. The position that the profile law should enshrine in law the state protection of life, health, honor, dignity of a police officer, his professional reputation, members of his family, as well as property belonging to him and his family members from illegal encroachments in connection with the performance of official duties.

Security, the State, and the Citizen: The Changing Architecture of Crime Control

2010 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 379-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucia Zedner
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Due Process ◽  
Crime Control ◽  
Policy Formation ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Community ◽  
The Public ◽  
Bona Fide

Citizenship has become a buzz word of political discourse and policy formation. Recent formulations convey the message that rights are contingent on earning membership in a political community and carry corresponding responsibilities. Acquiring citizenship entails a more rigorous process of validation and conformity with prescribed norms. The notion of probationary citizenship (developed in respect of immigrants) is extended to all those whose standing as full citizens is in doubt. Citizenship comes to be used as a means of policing and a tool of the criminal law. Assertion of the state's duty to provide security for bona fide citizens provides the rationale for measures that are preemptive, exclusionary, and pay scant regard to procedural proprieties. They create a caste of outlaws and aliens whose status renders them suspect aside from any wrongdoing; whose interests are compromised in the name of protecting the public; and who must requalify to enjoy full citizenship. One means of resisting these trends is adherence to a liberal model of the criminal law and assertion of due process protections as security rights for all individuals against the state.

Good Policing

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Hough
Keyword(s):  
Procedural Justice ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Crime Control ◽  
Public Trust ◽  
Police Legitimacy ◽  
Justice Theory ◽  
Police Recruits ◽  
The Public ◽  
Police Contacts ◽  
The Law

This book conveys the ideas behind procedural justice theory as they apply to policing. It sets out important but complex ideas in jargon-free language to non-specialist readers with an interest in policing – including serving police officers and police recruits as they embark on a degree-level entry programme into the police service. The book’s main message is that public trust in the police builds police legitimacy, and people comply with the law and cooperate with the police when they see the police as legitimate. It argues that public trust in the police serves as the bedrock of police legitimacy. Procedural justice theory provides an account of the reasons why people obey the law that stresses the importance of fair and respectful treatment of the public, and an alignment between policing practice and people’s moral standards. It provides a narrative about crime control that questions the tough ‘no-nonsense’ solutions that politicians often reach for when crime problems emerge. The book’s main policy recommendations are that policing strategies and tactics should always be assessed against criteria of legitimacy, and that the quality of treatment in police contacts with the public is one of the keys to good policing.

scholarly journals The Police Officer’s Plight: The Intersection of Policing and the Law

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Cyr
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Due Process ◽  
Crime Control ◽  
Process Approach ◽  
Control Approach ◽  
Police Authority ◽  
Specific Definition

The article examines the interaction and tension between the attitudes of the police and the courts in the context of the criminal justice system. Canadian laws governing the authority of the police are argued to be generally permissive but lacking in clear and specific definition. Because of this, their application may be highly subjective which causes problems when the police and the courts have different expectations for the role of the police. Police generally adopt a crime control approach in their investigative processes while courts tend to use a due process approach in trials. The article examines the factors within law enforcement, as well as broader societal elements, which lead to police adopting a crime control approach. Also examined are behavioural and situational elements that influence police officers’ decisions, particularly when they work from a presumption of guilt. This approach often conflicts with the legal presumption of innocent until proven guilty that is required in the trial process. This creates tensions, especially when police are required to explain their decisions and actions in the course of a trial. The article argues that the lack of clarity in the laws of police authority has resulted in police officers defaulting to a crime control approach, since it matches their view of their role in society. It conflicts, however, with the courts’ assumptions of what police behaviour should be, which leads to tension between the two institutions.

scholarly journals Searching for Change: Scottish Stop and Search Powers

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 178-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Genevieve Lennon
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
The Other ◽  
Law Reform ◽  
European Convention ◽  
The Public ◽  
Statutory Power ◽  
Stop And Search ◽  
Poor Practice

Dr Lennon examines the existing Scottish law relating to police stop and search powers, and offers a critique of their compatibility with the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights. She argues that two of the three categories of powers – non-statutory and suspicionless statutory – are likely to be in breach of the ECHR, with the final category evidencing poor practice that provides insufficient protection to the public and insufficient guidance to officers. While she argues that the non-statutory power should be prohibited, the other categories can be amended to ensure they comply the requirements of the ECHR and best practice. There is an urgent need for law reform in this area.

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