Choose your weapon

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 340-344
Author(s):  
Stefan D. Cassella
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Criminal Conviction ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Essential Tool ◽  
The Usa

Purpose Civil forfeiture is an increasingly common way for governments to relieve criminal wrongdoers of the proceeds of their crimes and to restore the property to the victims of the offense. The question that is asked, however, is this: Is civil forfeiture an essential tool that is needed to fill a gap in the arsenal of weapons available to law enforcement or is it a prosecutorial shortcut that allows cases to be closed without obtaining the evidence needed to obtain a criminal conviction in cases that should be prosecuted criminally. The answer is that it is both. When properly used, civil forfeiture is an essential tool that provides a means of recovering property, but it is a tool that can also be used to save time and money even though the investment of those resources in bringing a criminal to justice would better serve the public interest. The aim of this paper is to show why this is so. Design/methodology/approach Analysis of the use of civil forfeiture in the USA. Findings Civil forfeiture is an essential law enforcement tool. Originality/value While undeniably an essential law enforcement tool, civil forfeiture is sometimes used as a shortcut to conserve resources.

Georgia rural hospital authorities as “shadow governments”

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 98-112
Author(s):  
Mary Eleanor Rawlings Wickersham ◽  
Robert Yehl
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Private Interests ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Special District

Purpose The tenuous financial viability of many of Georgia’s rural hospitals has driven increased scrutiny of the hospital authorities (HAs) that own and govern them. HAs are a type of “special district” established in state law to allow for specialization of function, while evading statutes that can limit local government borrowing and multi-year contracts. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses a case example to introduce transparency and accountability in one local Georgia hospital and expands to include a descriptive analysis of transparency measures in 29 rural Georgia HAs. Findings Findings indicate that, like many other special districts in Georgia and the USA, Georgia’s rural HAs often act more like private entities than the public organizations they are. The lack of transparency demonstrated in this sector limits access to public information and reduces opportunities for citizen engagement, a necessary component of representative institutions. Research limitations/implications This case study is limited to Georgia HAs; however, the data support the lack of accountability and transparency found in many special district governments. Originality/value The lack of transparency in all of the organizations reviewed in this study demonstrates blurred lines between between public matters and private interests and raises questions of transparency, a key value in democracies.

Recognising changes in visual representation of clothing in CCTV imaging

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 233-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Anne Denny
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Visible Light ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Visual Representation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Recording Conditions ◽  
Cctv Camera

Purpose – Closed circuit television (CCTV) imaging is an increasingly used technology and it is now common place for law enforcement to access CCTV footage as an investigative tool to assist in the nomination of a person of interest, or to aid in the prosecution of an offender. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of imaging practitioners in the analysis and interpretation of CCTV images within a law enforcement context. It explores and addresses the limitations of CCTV imaging in evidence with a focus on the interpretation of changes in the visual representation of clothing items. Design/methodology/approach – This paper demonstrates the variations observed in four dark toned garments imaged using one CCTV camera with two different recording settings – visible light and near infrared. The device used was installed and operated in a manner comparable to that used in the public domain, the resulting images indicative of those experienced in casework. Findings – The results display a noticeable change to the tonality of each clothing item between the varied recording conditions. These inconsistencies highlight the limitations of layperson analysis and identify the importance of the inclusion of imaging practitioners when interpreting and analysing such images as evidence. Originality/value – With an abundance of images in the society, layperson interpretation has become common place. Recognising the value of trained imaging practitioners who can assist law enforcement in analysis and interpretation is paramount to ensuring CCTV images as evidence are used appropriately.

Documenting current practices in the management of deaf suspects in the USA

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 347-361
Author(s):  
Beau James Shine
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Critical Case ◽  
Deaf Studies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Common Practices ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Common ◽  
Sampling Approach ◽  
Current Practices

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to combine previous research on deaf suspects with the findings from data gathered from law enforcement personnel nationwide to gain an understanding of the common practices of US law enforcement when arresting, interrogating and communicating with deaf suspects. Design/methodology/approach In light of the limited amount of research available on handling deaf suspects, a two-part sampling approach was used. Using critical case sampling, the author surveyed law enforcement via open-ended surveys designed to solicit information about their involvement with deaf suspects and any related questions and concerns. Guided by the Wave 1 data, Wave 2 surveys were administered to law enforcement nationwide (using expert sampling). Findings An analysis of the two waves of data collected was used to assemble the list of current practices. Originality/value This study combines previous research on deaf suspects, which has been published largely through the framework of deaf studies, with the insight of practitioners to identify a list of current practices used by US law enforcement when handling deaf suspects.

Institutionalising the war against corruption: new approaches to assets tracing and recovery

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 217-230
Author(s):  
Ehi Eric Esoimeme
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Research Papers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Asset Recovery ◽  
Recovery Scheme ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Nigerian Government ◽  
The Uk

Purpose This paper aims to critically analyse the existing framework on assets tracing and recovery in Nigeria. It will thereafter provide analysis of the asset and recovery measures of advanced countries such as the USA and the UK. The results from the analysis will yield maximum insight and help the Nigerian Government to make better policies and laws on assets tracing and recovery. Design/methodology/approach This paper will rely on primary and secondary data drawn from the public domain. It will also rely on documentary research. Findings This paper determined that the Nigeria asset recovery scheme is likely to be more effective if Nigeria adopts the approach of the UK and the USA. Research limitations/implications This paper will suggest new ways for assets tracing and recovery. The suggested approaches/methods are being used in advanced countries such as the UK and the USA. Originality/value Previous research papers have extensively discussed the problems faced with assets tracing and recovery from a prohibitive and investigative standpoint. This paper will discuss the topic from a preventive standpoint with little focus on investigative mechanisms.

The legacy of LEMAS

2014 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 630-648 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew C. Matusiak ◽  
Bradley A. Campbell ◽  
William R. King
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Data Series ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
Organizational Research ◽  
Justice Statistics ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Police Agencies ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Law Enforcement Management

Purpose – Since 1987, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) has periodically collected data from police agencies in the USA and disseminated these data as the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) series. The purpose of this paper is to outline LEMAS's impact on criminal justice scholarship by describing the nexus between policing scholarship and LEMAS, and by analyzing the LEMAS constructs and variables used by researchers in refereed journal articles. Design/methodology/approach – A systematic review of the literature is undertaken to better comprehend how scholars use LEMAS variables and constructs. In total, 114 peer-reviewed journal articles were analyzed to parcel out variables and constructs derived from LEMAS data. Findings – The paper's analysis reveals that LEMAS is the second-most used BJS data series and the majority of authors use LEMAS to measure elements of organizational structure but not organizational behaviors, outcomes, or outputs. Originality/value – The study is the first to systematically identify all peer-reviewed journal articles that utilize LEMAS data. Police organizational research is unique in the fact that most authors agree on the operationalization of variables and constructs.

Policing in a pandemic: how law enforcement communicates with the public

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley K. Farmer ◽  
Allen Copenhaver
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Police Departments ◽  
Law Enforcement Agencies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
The Usa

PurposeThis study, a content analysis, aims to analyze general communications from law enforcement via agency websites about the COVID-19 pandemic and how this affected police roles. The authors study the extent to which police departments used their websites to inform the public about COVID-19, changes to their policies and additional information they felt necessary to give members of the public. This is important for understanding how the police inform the public during a pandemic and how the pandemic affected their police role.Design/methodology/approachThe data gathered for this project came from a content analysis of the official websites of the largest municipal police departments in the USA. The researchers collected quantitative data from the official websites of law enforcement agencies who serve the 200 largest cities in the USA in March 2020 and coded the information from the websites to determine what themes were most prevalent.FindingsThe messages most often provided on department websites included information about COVID-19 (52% of websites included this information), modifications to services (33%) and informing users that services such as fingerprinting would be altered (42%). Websites also reminded the public of restrictions on public gatherings (25%) and stay-at-home orders (38%). Further logistic regression analyses explored significant associations among these variables to understand how police/public communications influenced the role of law enforcement during the pandemic.Originality/valueLittle is known about how law enforcement communicates online with the public during a global pandemic like COVID-19 or how this might affect the police role. Police departments can use their websites to communicate important information to citizens and keep communities updated. Policy implications suggest that agencies continue to update websites with important information and be direct about expectations from the public regarding compliance while also being transparent about how police roles might change.

Cyberstalking: are we on the same (web)page? A comparison of statutes, case law, and public perception

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
David DeMatteo ◽  
Suraji Wagage ◽  
Jaymes Fairfax-Columbo
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Case Law ◽  
National Sample ◽  
Web Page ◽  
Public Preference ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Demographic Questionnaire ◽  
The Usa

Purpose As society becomes more technology oriented, cyberstalking is becoming an increasing concern. The purpose of this paper is to compare US state and federal statutory and case law to a survey of public perception of cyberstalking to examine if cyberstalking laws reflect public opinion. Design/methodology/approach A national sample of 303 participants ranging in age from 18 to 69 years (M=33.35, SD=10.45) completed a novel cyberstalking survey and demographic questionnaire. The survey encompassed participants’ perceptions about the scope of cyberstalking as a crime, views on punishment of cyberstalking, and behaviors they have engaged in online or experienced from others that could constitute cyberstalking. Findings Findings indicated numerous areas of disagreement between public perception and statutory case law, such as a public preference that cyberstalking be treated as a separate offense from stalking, that a threat of violence is not required for behavior to constitute cyberstalking, and that there should be a private civil cause of action for cyberstalking. Findings also indicated that a substantial minority of participants had engaged in or been the victim of cyber actions that could be considered cyberstalking, and that the public preferred sanctions other than incarceration for cyberstalking. Originality/value This is the first study to examine whether cyberstalking policy in the USA reflects public perception of cyberstalking.

scholarly journals Self-regulation and compliance enforcement practices by the Investment Dealers Association in Canada

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Lokanan
Keyword(s):  
Public Interest ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Core ◽  
The One ◽  
Time Future

Purpose This paper aims to examine the enforcement practices of the Investment Dealers Association of Canada (IDA) and argue that self-regulation simply does not work in the financial sector, as the sanctions available are neither applied with sufficient severity nor are the responsibilities for enforcement adequately divided between self-regulation, provincial securities commissions and the police. Design/methodology/approach The core compliance data for the study came from the IDA’s tribunal cases that were heard between 1984 and June 2008. The theoretical approach involves the invocation of classic articles by the likes of Stigler, Posner and Becker, the essence of whose conclusions is that institutions will act in their own best interests and cannot be expected to act in the public interest. Findings The findings show that over the period from 1984 to 2008, the severity of the sanctions increased consistently over the period. When penalty ceilings were increased, penalties increased. When in the latter phase of the period, public members (i.e. non-members of the industry) chaired the tribunals, penalties also increased. Research limitations/implications Researchers can use the data to write a paper which asks “Why did the IDA tribunal penalties increase so consistently with time?” Future research could canvass various possible explanations, including the one presented in this paper, to focus sustained attention on the issue of self-regulation. Originality/value This study is the first to systematically examine the enforcement performance of the IDA.

scholarly journals Whistleblowing and accounting for the public interest: a call for new directions

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Annette Quayle
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Public Value ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
New Directions ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
New Research

PurposeThis paper aims to generate new research directions at the intersection of accounting, whistleblowing and publicness: defined as the attainment of public goals, interests and values.Design/methodology/approachA problematising review is used to challenge and rethink the existing accounting and whistleblowing literature by incorporating readings from the public interest and public value literature. The paper draws on the work of Dewey (1927), Bozeman (2007) and Benington (2009) to open up new ways of theorising relations between accounting, whistleblowing and publicness.FindingsFirstly, the paper develops a public interest theoretical framework which shows whistleblowing is a public value activity that moves organisational wrongdoing into the public sphere where it is subject to democratic debate and dialogue required to reconcile the public's interests with what the public values. Secondly, this framework provides one answer to continuing questions in the literature of how to define accountings relationship to the public interest. Finally, the paper suggests this conceptual framework be used to stimulate debate on whether and how one should expand existing accounting and accountability knowledge boundaries to incorporate the broader social, political and moral concerns highlighted by whistleblowers acting in the public interest.Originality/valueAccounting and whistleblowing research has ignored the theoretical implications of whistleblowing in the public interest. The paper shows how accounting and accountability can respond to the challenges of a shifting and intangible public interest by providing a conceptual framework to guide current and future theoretical questions of how accounting is connected to the public interest.

Impacts of the FoSHU (Food for Specified Health Uses) system on food evaluations in Japan

2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (7) ◽  
pp. 542-550 ◽  
Author(s):  
Makoto Ono ◽  
Akinori Ono
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Regulatory System ◽  
Health Claims ◽  
Food Marketing ◽  
External Effects ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Consumer Evaluation ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Usa ◽  
First Time

Purpose – This study aims to examine the various effects of two licensing factors – health claims and “FoSHU seal”, which can be appeared on packages only with permission. In the Food for specified health uses (FoSHU) system, Japanese Government controls all health claims on packages of food products for the first time in the world. Design/methodology/approach – In Study 1, the authors investigate the signaling effects of the two licensing factors with a 2 (health claims: yes/no) × 2 (FoSHU seal: yes/no) factorial design. Then, in Study 2, the authors investigate the external effects on alternative brands with a 2 (package of the non-FoSHU brand: similar/dissimilar to the FoSHU brand) × 2 (presentation of the FoSHU brand: yes/no) design. Findings – The results show that food evaluations are affected by the FoSHU seal, indicating that, with the symbolic mark, FoSHU foods can be successfully differentiated from non-FoSHU foods. In contrast, food evaluations are not affected by health claims – health claims have external effects on evaluations of non-FoSHU products in the category if both FoSHU and non-FOSHU products have a similar package. Originality/value – Although there are many studies regarding the impacts of health claims on food evaluations, they have assumed only US regulatory system and, therefore, have not examined the effects of licensing marks. Also, because Japanese approval system is dissimilar to US regulatory system, the effects of health claims in Japan are different from those in the USA. By analyzing various effects of Japanese system on consumer evaluation of food healthiness, this study contributes to a better understanding of the impacts of the public policy and food marketing on consumer behavior.

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