Crime fighting: law enforcement and service provider role orientations in community‐based police officers

1995 ◽  
Vol 14 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 173-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen B. Perrott ◽  
Donald M. Taylor
Author(s):  
Jacinta M. Gau ◽  
Nicholas D. Paul

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine police officers’ attitudes toward community policing and order maintenance, as well as the facets of the work environment that impact those attitudes. Design/methodology/approach Survey data come from a sample of officers in a mid-sized police department. Ordinary least squares regression modeling is used to examine community-policing, order-maintenance and law-enforcement role orientations. Findings Officers endorse community partnerships, but are less enthusiastic about order maintenance. They also display mid-level support for traditional law enforcement. Work–environment variables have inconsistent impacts across the three role orientations. Research limitations/implications This was a survey of attitudes in one department. Future research should examine officers’ involvement in community-policing and order-maintenance activities and any impediments to such activities. Practical implications The findings have implications for police leaders seeking to implement community policing and ensure street-level officers are carrying out partnership and order-maintenance activities. In particular, top management must foster a positive work environment and personally model commitment to policing innovations. Originality/value This paper adds to the currently sparse body of literature on officer attitudes toward community policing and order maintenance, and incorporates traditional law-enforcement attitudes as a point of contrast. This paper advances the scholarly understanding of police officers’ role orientations.


Author(s):  
Anita Lam ◽  
Timothy Bryan

Abstract In contrast to quantitative studies that rely on numerical data to highlight racial disparities in police street checks, this article offers a qualitative methodology for examining how histories of anti-Blackness configure civilians’ experiences of present-day policing. Taking the Halifax Street Checks Report as our primary object of analysis, we apply an innovative dermatological approach, demonstrating how skin itself becomes meaningful when police officers and civilians make contact in the process of a street check. We explore how street checks become an occasion for epidermalization, whereby a law enforcement practice projects onto the skins of civilians locally specific histories and emotions. To think with skin, we focus on the narratives shared by African Nova Scotians, a group that has been street checked at higher rates than their white counterparts. By doing so, we argue that current debates about police street checks in Halifax must attend to the emotional stakes of police-initiated encounters in order to fully appreciate the lived experience of street checks for Black civilians.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Y. Franco ◽  
Angela E. Lee-Winn ◽  
Sara Brandspigel ◽  
Musheng L. Alishahi ◽  
Ashley Brooks-Russell

Abstract Background Syringe services programs provide sterile injection supplies and a range of health services (e.g., HIV and HEP-C testing, overdose prevention education, provision of naloxone) to a hard-to-reach population, including people who use drugs, aiming to prevent the transmission of infectious diseases. Methods We performed a qualitative needs assessment of existing syringe services programs in the state of Colorado in 2018–2019 to describe—their activities, needs, and barriers. Using a phenomenological approach, we performed semi-structured interviews with key program staff of syringe services programs (n = 11). All interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed, and validated. A data-driven iterative approach was used by researchers to develop a coding scheme to organize the data into major themes found across interviews. Memos were written to synthesize main themes. Results Nearly all the syringe program staff discussed their relationships with law enforcement at length. All syringe program staff viewed having a positive relationship with law enforcement as critical to the success of their program. Main factors that influence the quality of relationships between syringe services programs and law enforcement included: (1) alignment in agency culture, (2) support from law enforcement leadership, (3) police officers’ participation and compliance with the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program, which provides intensive case management for low-level drug offenders, and (4) implementation of the “Needle-Stick Prevention Law” and Drug Paraphernalia Law Exemption. All syringe program staff expressed a strong desire to have positive relationships with law enforcement and described how a collaborative working relationship was critical to the success of their programs. Conclusions Our findings reveal effective strategies to foster relationships between syringe services programs and law enforcement as well as key barriers to address. The need exists for both syringe services programs and law enforcement to devote time and resources to build a strong, positive partnership. Having such positive relationships with law enforcement has positive implications for syringe services program clients, including law enforcement being less likely to ticket persons for having used syringes, and encourage people who use drugs to seek services from syringe services programs, which can then lead them to other resources, such as housing, wound care, and substance use treatment programs.


Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 194
Author(s):  
Aaron Griffith

Though several powerful explorations of modern evangelical influence in American politics and culture have appeared in recent years (many of which illumine the seeming complications of evangelical influence in the Trump era), there is more work that needs to be done on the matter of evangelical understandings of and influence in American law enforcement. This article explores evangelical interest and influence in modern American policing. Drawing upon complementary interpretations of the “antistatist statist” nature of modern evangelicalism and the carceral state, this article offers a short history of modern evangelical understandings of law enforcement and an exploration of contemporary evangelical ministry to police officers. It argues that, in their entries into debates about law enforcement’s purpose in American life, evangelicals frame policing as both a divinely sanctioned activity and a site of sentimental engagement. Both frames expand the power and reach of policing, limiting evangelicals’ abilities to see and correct problems within the profession.


2021 ◽  
pp. 174889582110173
Author(s):  
Tobias Kammersgaard ◽  
Thomas Friis Søgaard ◽  
Mie Birk Haller ◽  
Torsten Kolind ◽  
Geoffrey Hunt

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.


2021 ◽  
pp. 009385482110247
Author(s):  
Meret S. Hofer

The functional breadth of the police role is a primary issue facing law enforcement. However, few empirical data examine how officers are experiencing an occupational environment characterized by an increasingly wider range of new (but routine) duties. I take a qualitative approach to explore experiences of work-role overload via in-depth, semi-structured interviews with a sample of U.S. police officers ( N = 48). By applying the framework for thematic analysis, I find that work-role overload is a robust feature of police officers’ occupational experiences and presents in two ways: (a) through quantitative overload related to the excessive volume of work demands and (b) qualitative overload related to strained or diminished psychological resources. The findings provide valuable insights for improving the theoretical understanding of work-role overload among police in light of international trends toward broadening law enforcement’s social functions and add to contemporary discussions to “defund the police.”


Author(s):  
Wendi Pollock ◽  
Natalia D Tapia ◽  
Deborah Sibila

The death of George Floyd on 25 May 2020 again left people asking why U.S. police officers so commonly resort to the use of deadly force when interacting with Black individuals. The current article proposes that media, combined with cultivation theory and social cognition concepts may create implicit biases that are potential contributors to this problem. Police officers have a greater vulnerability to these biases because intake of crime-related media positively predicts their interest in selecting law enforcement as a career. Other predictors of an interest in working in law enforcement, and implications of these findings, are discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 78 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence Judge ◽  
Tonya Skalon ◽  
Makenzie Schoeff ◽  
Shannon Powers ◽  
James Johnson ◽  
...  

While most law enforcement agencies recognize the importance of physical fitness for their officers and encourage them to maintain an adequate level of fitness, many find it difficult to implement a fitness program successfully. Prior studies and literature support the implementation of community-centered fitness initiatives. The purpose of this study was to (1) describe participant outcomes from the service- learning project Officer Charlie Get Fit Project and (2) delineate Kolb’s experiential learning model implemented by undergraduate kinesiology majors when applied in an exercise setting. Students were charged with working directly with police officers over an 8-week program with the goal of lowering health-risk factors for the participants. Additionally, the project provided an opportunity for students to assess their own learning style and infuse it in a real-world professional application. Participants included 16 police officers (M = 44.6, SD = 10.7 years of age) and one elected city administrative official. Paired sample t tests revealed nonsignificant differences between the pretest and posttest scores on the 10 fitness measures. Descriptive statistics revealed improvements in categories of body weight, BMI, waist circumference, hip circumference, resting heart rate, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, sum of skinfolds, and overall body fat percentage. Participant exit interviews indicated positive qualitative results. The student reflection piece indicated that the frequent writing helped with (1) the myriad of planning and preparation issues, (2) selecting a community partner and recruiting participants, and (3) data collection and analysis. This study was an important assessment of immersive learning opportunities provided through classroom lecture and development of community partnerships.


Author(s):  
Павел Николаевич Красоткин ◽  
Александр Николаевич Ласточкин

В статье рассматриваются некоторые вопросы правовой регламентации и практики проведения первоначальных розыскных мероприятий в отношении осужденных к наказаниям в виде обязательных работ, исправительных работ и ограничения свободы, уклоняющихся от контроля уголовно-исполнительных инспекций, а также исследованы проблемы их осуществления в некоторых территориальных органах Федеральной службы исполнения наказаний. К проблемам организационно-правового характера, связанным с порядком проведения первоначальных розыскных мероприятий в отношении указанных категорий осужденных, следует отнести: формулировку понятия первоначальных розыскных мероприятий; незаконное проведение мероприятий по установлению местонахождения осужденных к лишению права занимать определенные должности или заниматься определенной деятельностью; низкий уровень взаимодействия уголовно-исполнительных инспекций с полицией (по вопросам задержания, доставления в суд, представления интересов инспекций в судах) и судами (по вопросам замены наказания и обязательному личному присутствию осужденных в зале судебного заседания); границы полномочий сотрудников инспекций и полиции по вопросам задержания осужденных, направления представления в суд о заключении осужденного под стражу, их доставления в суд; особенности расчета сроков, установленных для проведения мероприятий; неопределенность сроков подачи в суд представления о замене ограничения свободы другим видом наказания; материальную ответственность осужденных; форму участия осужденных в судебном процессе; особенности сроков исчисления задержания; проведение первоначальных розыскных мероприятий в случае неявки осужденного для постановки на учет; особенности задержания уклоняющихся осужденных в других регионах России, других государствах. Высказываются предложения по совершенствованию российского законодательства и правоприменительной практики. The article discusses some issues of legal regulation and the practice of conducting initial investigative measures in relation for persons sentenced to punishment in the form of compulsory labor, correctional labor and restriction of freedom, evading control of penal inspections and also explores the problems of their implementation in some territorial bodies of the Federal Penal Service. The organizational and legal problems associated with the procedure for conducting initial investigative measures in relation to these categories of convicts include: the wording of the initial investigative measures; illegal measures to establish the whereabouts of persons deprived of their right to occupy certain positions or engage in certain activities; low level of interaction of the penal inspectorates with the police (regarding detention, transfer to court, representing the interests of inspections in the courts) and the courts (regarding the replacement of sentences and the mandatory personal presence of convicts in the courtroom); the boundaries of the powers of inspectorates and police officers in matters of detention of convicts, the direction of submission to the court on the detention of the convicted person, their transfer to court; features of calculating the deadlines set for events; the uncertainty of the deadline for filing with the court the idea of replacing the restriction of freedom with another type of punishment; liability of convicts; the form of participation of convicts in the trial; features of terms of calculation of detention; conducting initial investigative measures in case of non-appearance of the convicted person for registration; features of detention of evading convicts in other regions of Russia and other states. Suggestions are made for improving Russian legislation and law enforcement practice.


2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 246-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brooke McQuerrey Tuttle ◽  
Zachary Giano ◽  
Michael J. Merten

The nature of police work includes toxic work environments and uncertain danger which imparts a unique type of occupational stress spillover or the transfer of stress from work life to home life for law enforcement officers. Work stress places officers at risk for negative health and psychosocial outcomes. While it has been shown that occupational stress can compromise the well-being of police officers, little is known about how spillover can effect other areas of life for officers such as marital relationships. This study investigates the association between work demands, emotional stress spillover, and marital functioning in a law enforcement sample. Data from 1,180 married law enforcement respondents to the Police Officer Questionnaire which included 148 items assessing work stress, health, family, and support were examined. Responses were analyzed using regression analyses. Results showed that career demands and emotional spillover were statistically significant predictors of the variance in marital functioning. Social and emotional spillover of work-related stress carries negative consequences for communication and emotion regulation within law enforcement marriages.


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