scholarly journals In Every Artery of Society? How Dutch Community Police Officers Perceive Their Role in Early Detection of Violent Extremism among Youth

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annemarie van de Weert ◽  
Quirine A M Eijkman
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
Early Detection ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Community Policing ◽  
Information Gathering ◽  
Risk Assessments ◽  
Community Police ◽  
Local Police ◽  
Violent Extremism

Abstract Early detection of radicalization processes that may lead to violent extremism takes place in a grey area. Primarily because no one can truly predict when someone poses a risk before there are any indications of criminal acts. The local police have been given an important role in countering violent extremism (CVE) policy; namely proactive information gathering at a stage in which people are still law-abiding citizens. However, little is known about how they perceive their role in CVE. Therefore, this article examines how community police officers deal with their mandate to engage in early detection, and discusses the side effects that accompany this practice. Based on open interviews with 22 constables in the Netherlands, we focus on the risk assessments made by these local professionals. In this article, we aim to contribute to a more thorough, inclusive, and well-informed debate about community policing with regard to suspicions of extremist behaviour among youth.

scholarly journals The The Making of Crime Predictions: Sociotechnical Assemblages and the Controversies of Governing Future Crime

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-215
Author(s):  
Daniel Edler Duarte
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Risk Assessments ◽  
Risk Scores ◽  
Police Departments ◽  
Think Tank ◽  
Private Companies ◽  
Migrant Communities ◽  
Local Police ◽  
Gut Feelings

We are witnessing an upsurge in crime forecasting software, which supposedly draws predictive knowledge from data on past crime. Although prevention and anticipation are already embedded in the apparatuses of government, going beyond a mere abstract aspiration, the latest innovations hold out the promise of replacing police officers’ “gut feelings” and discretionary risk assessments with algorithmic-powered, quantified analyses of risk scores. While police departments and private companies praise such innovations for their cost-effective rationale, critics raise concerns regarding their potential for discriminating against poor, black, and migrant communities. In this article, I address such controversies by telling the story of the making of CrimeRadar, an app developed by a Rio de Janeiro-based think tank in partnership with private associates and local police authorities. Drawing mostly on Latour’s contributions to the emerging literature on security assemblages, I argue that we gain explanatory and critical leverage by looking into the mundane practices of making and unmaking sociotechnical arrangements. That is, I address the chain of translations through which crime data are collected, organized, and transformed into risk scores. In every step, new ways of seeing and presenting crime are produced, with a significant impact on how we experience and act upon (in)security.

scholarly journals The contested community police officer: An ongoing conflict between different institutional logics

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 244-253
Author(s):  
Jan Terpstra ◽  
Renze Salet
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Community Policing ◽  
Institutional Logics ◽  
Organizational Control ◽  
Trust Building ◽  
Managerial Control ◽  
Community Police ◽  
New Type ◽  
New Community ◽  
The One

This paper concentrates on the ongoing conflict about the role and work of community police officers in the Netherlands. This conflict can be understood as a result of conflicting institutional logics. Although there are important differences between the community officers, there is the logic or perspective used by most of the community officers. This logic puts much emphasis on personal relations, trust-building, direct information, craftsmanship, tacit knowledge, involvement and discretion and experience. However, community officers have also been confronted with two other logics, with more emphasis on crime fighting and managerial control. In addition, there is also a third, more implicit logic, built upon a frame consisting of two opposing images of community officers. On the one hand, many of the current community officers are seen as old-fashioned and outdated. On the other hand, a more positive image of new community police officers is presented, called community officers 2.0 This can be seen as a way to create a new type of community police officers that is more in line with the managerial need for organizational control and with a more limited and instrumental view on community policing.

scholarly journals Keeping an eye on the neighbours: Police, citizens, and communication within mobile neighbourhood crime prevention groups

2018 ◽  
Vol 92 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Pridmore ◽  
Anouk Mols ◽  
Yijing Wang ◽  
Frank Holleman
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Crime Prevention ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
Community Police

Mobile neighbourhood crime prevention has become increasingly popular in the Netherlands. Since 2015, 7,250 WhatsApp neighbourhood crime prevention (WNCP) groups have been registered online, most of which are initiated and moderated by citizens. This entails a form of participatory policing aimed at neighbourhood crime prevention, which may provoke increased feelings of anxiety and interpersonal surveillance. Community police officers and citizens need to adapt to changed interactions and trust relations in the neighbourhood. This mixed-methods research examines both the mediation of messaging applications and its implementation by both citizens and police, indicating the tensions and negotiations around formal and informal ‘policing’.

Trust and Confidence in Police Officers and the Institution of Policing: The Views of African Americans in the American South

2021 ◽  
Vol 67 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 808-838
Author(s):  
Daniel K. Pryce ◽  
Joselyne L. Chenane
Keyword(s):  
African Americans ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Community Policing ◽  
American South ◽  
The American South ◽  
The Relationship

The relationship between the police and African Americans has been beset by a lack of trust for decades. Improving this relationship is important to scholars, practitioners, and citizens; as a result, we examine in this study African Americans’ trust and confidence in the police. Using trust questions found in the literature, we interviewed 77 African Americans in Durham, NC, to assess their views about the police. We found that for the police to earn the trust of African Americans, the police should treat African Americans equitably, invest in community policing, and respect African Americans. Although some respondents do not believe that their relationship with the police could be repaired, this is a small percentage of respondents, less than 5%.

Community policing in Danish “ghetto” areas: Trust and distrust between the police and ethnic minority youth

2021 ◽  
pp. 174889582110173
Author(s):  
Tobias Kammersgaard ◽  
Thomas Friis Søgaard ◽  
Mie Birk Haller ◽  
Torsten Kolind ◽  
Geoffrey Hunt
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Procedural Justice ◽  
Ethnic Minority ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Community Policing ◽  
Minority Youth ◽  
Ethnic Minority Youth ◽  
Challenges And Strategies ◽  
The Way

Recent years have seen trends within police to use different forms of “community policing” strategies that aim to foster closer relationships and trust with citizens, as well as an orientation toward “procedural justice” in law enforcement practices. Based on 25 interviews with police officers in two different police precincts in Denmark, this article explores the policing of ethnic minority youth in so-called “ghetto” areas from the perspectives of police officers. In doing this, we describe the specific challenges and strategies in implementing such policing methods in neighborhoods where some residents display low trust or even hostility toward the police. The article sheds light on the emotional, organizational, and practical challenges involved in doing community policing in marginalized neighborhoods and the way in which this shapes how community policing is being organized in practice.

scholarly journals Effect of Self-reported Height on Occupational Rank Among Police Officers: Especially for Women it Pays to be Tall

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abraham P. Buunk ◽  
Gert Stulp ◽  
Wilmar B. Schaufeli
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Educational Level ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Similar Percentage ◽  
Average Population ◽  
Female Police Officers

AbstractThis study among 725 male and 247 female police officers from The Netherlands examined the association between self-reported height and occupational rank from the perspective of sexual selection. Male and female police officers were taller than the average population. A larger percentage of women than of men was found in the lowest ranks, but in the leadership positions, there was a similar percentage of women as of men. Overall, but especially among women, height was linearly associated with occupational rank: the taller one was, the higher one’s rank. These effects were independent of educational level and age. The implications for evolutionary theorizing from the perspective of sexual selection on the effect of tallness on status and dominance among women are discussed.

Reconsidering Early Detection in Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) by Local Frontline Professionals

Proceedings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
Annemarie van de Weert
Keyword(s):  
Early Detection ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Violent Behavior ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Local Approach ◽  
Performative Power

In recent years, the fight against terrorism and political violence has focused more on anticipating the threats that they pose. Therefore, early detection of ideas by local professionals has become an important part of the preventive approach in countering radicalization. Frontline workers who operate in the arteries of society are encouraged to identify processes towards violent behavior at an early stage. To date, however, little is known about how these professionals take on this screening task at their own discretion. Research from the Netherlands suggests that subjective assessment appears to exist. This is due to the absence of a clear norm for preliminary judgments. However, such an approach affects prejudice or administrative arbitrariness, which may cause side effects due to unjustified profiling. The publications about the Dutch case are inspired by the concept of “performativity”, (de Graaf, B., & de Graaff, B. G. J. (2010). Bringing politics back in: The introduction of the ‘performative power’ of counterterrorism. Critical Studies on Terrorism, 3(2), pp. 261–275.) which points to a distinct relationship between the performative power of counterterrorism instruments and the effectiveness of the local approach. Performativity contends that the overall effect of the policy in question is not necessarily determined by the policy measures and their intended results, as such, but more by the way in which they are presented and perceived. This means that, in order to create an equitable approach, governments, whether local or national, should focus more on the actual practice performed by frontline practitioners. The focus on practices is part of a larger project, entitled ‘Gatekeepers of Justice’ (See: https://www.internationalhu.com/research/access-to-justice), by the Research Group Access2Justice (Research Centre of Social Innovation at Utrecht University of Applied Science), led by professor Quirine Eijkman, Deputy President of the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights.

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