Evaluating the effectiveness of the fatigue and shift working risk management strategy for UK home office police forces: a pilot study

PurposeTo evaluate the effectiveness of a fatigue-management training and sleep health promotion intervention in a sample of officers from UK Home Office Police Forces.Design/methodology/approachUsing a pre- and post-design we exposed 50 officers from selected UK police forces to a fatigue-management training intervention. Pre- and post-intervention data collection included wrist actigraphy, a physiological and objective measure of sleep quantity and quality, as well as surveys including the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL) instrument, the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the PTSD Checklist (PCL-5).FindingsWe found the training significantly increased sleep quantity by 25 min per 24-h period, from 6.9 h to 7.3 h (f = 9.2; df = 519; p = 0.003), and improved sleep quality scores from 84% before the intervention, to 87% after the training (f = 10.6; df = 519; p = 0.001).Research limitations/implicationsContinued research is necessary to guide nationwide implementation of fatigue-management and sleep health promotion programs.Practical implicationsOur findings show that a fatigue-management training resulted in a significant and meaningful increase in sleep among police officers.Originality/valueThis is the first piece of research to emerge from a full population survey (response rate 16.6%) of the UK police service exploring issues of sleep and fatigue.

IDEOLOGICAL INTERPELLATION AND SUBJECTS’ RESPONSES IN ANDI NOOR’S SHORT STORY, “KOPI DAN CINTA YANG TAK PERNAH MATI”

State is a machine of power for the ruling class to maintain its authority. The effort is practiced by interpellating individuals as its subjects. The state can be defined as repressive and ideological apparatus. This study aims to identify the interpellation’s category and the subjects’ responses that are portrayed in Andi Noor’s short story titled “Kopi dan Cinta yang Tak Pernah Mati” from Althusser’s perspective. The study is carried out by first identifying the ideologies that empower the interpellation. There are two categories of ideology that interpellate individuals as the subjects of ideology: (1) Totalitarianism and (2) Socialism. Next, the researcher identifies the category of apparatus that is used by the ideologies. The short story portrays the empowerment of the repressive state apparatus of armed or police forces by the ruling ideology and the empowerment of the ideological cultural apparatus by the opposition. Subjects’ responses that are found in this research vary, and not all subjects recognize the interpellation by the ideology. The responses are influenced by the empowerment of the apparatuses of each ideology. The subjects tend to resist the empowerment of the repressive state apparatus, but they recognize the interpellation by the empowerment of the ideological cultural apparatus. Negara merupakan mesin kekuasaan yang menjadi alat bagi kelas penguasa untuk melanggengkan kekuasaanya. Usaha ini dilakukan melalui penaklukan atau interpelasi terhadap individu agar menjadi subjek ideologi. Keberadaan Negara dapat dipahami sebagai aparatus represif dan aparatus ideologis. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengungkap kategori interpelasi dan respon subjek yang digambarkan oleh cerpen “Kopi dan Cinta yang Tak Pernah Mati” karya Andi Noor berdasarkan pandangan Althusser. Penelitian ini diawali dengan mengungkap ideologi-ideologi yang melakukan interpelasi. Terdapat dua ideologi yang saling melakukan interpelasi terhadap subjek-subjek, yaitu (1) Totalitarian dan (2) Sosialisme. Selanjutnya, peneliti melakukan pemetaan terhadap kategori aparatus yang digunakan oleh ideologi-ideologi baik itu aparatus represif atau ideologis. Cerita pendek ini menggambarkan aparatus negara yang represif yang diwakili oleh tentara yang digunakan oleh ideologi penguasa, sedangkan pihak lawan melakukan pemberdayaan aparatus kultural ideologis. Respon subjek yang ditemukan cukup beragam. Tidak semua subjek merekognisi interpelasi ideologi. Terdapat subjek yang pada awalnya melakukan misrekognisi namun pada akhirnya melakukan rekognisi terhadap interpelasi ideologi. Respon yang ditunjukkan oleh subjek dipengaruhi oleh pemberdayaan aparatus oleh masing-masing ideologi. Subjek cenderung melakukan misrekognisi terhadap aparatus represif, dan cenderung merekognisi pemberdayaan aparatus ideologis kultural.

“The More You Do, the More Comfortable You Feel”: the Police Hostage and Crisis Negotiator Journey

Hostage and crisis negotiators are specialist police officers utilised internationally by police forces to resolve hostage and crisis incidents. Whilst the role has been heavily documented in some parts of the world (namely the United States of America), there is a lack of literature relating to the organisational and operational processes and procedures in place for police negotiators in the United Kingdom. Equally, there is limited research that has explored the experiences of negotiators who perform an essential function within a variety of life-or-death situations with a view to understanding how officers transition from trainee to qualified negotiators. This paper outlines the development of a grounded theoretical model that depicts the “hostage and crisis negotiator journey,” as represented by English negotiators. Interviews were conducted with 15 negotiators from nine police forces in England and a conceptual model was developed including five primary, 12 secondary, and 32 tertiary categories. The negotiator journey is chronologically recounted by means of the five main primary categories identified: (1) ‘Why? Reasons for entering (and remaining within) the negotiator world’, (2) ‘Who and how? The negotiator profile and selection’, (3) ‘Negotiator training’, (4) ‘Operational negotiator roles’, and (5) ‘Negotiator welfare and support’. This paper demonstrates one of the first attempts to empirically map the processes and procedures in place for negotiators in England and the findings are discussed in line with their potential implications for police policy and practice.

Relationships between demographic and behavioural factors and spatial behaviour in missing persons’ cases

To date, limited systematic focus has been directed to examining factors that influence the spatial behaviour of missing people. Accordingly, this study examined whether demographic and behavioural factors were related to distance between missing and found locations in 16,454 archival cases of missing reports from two UK police forces. Findings from ordinal regressions showed that children were more likely to be found at further distances if they were deemed to be at high or medium risk of coming to harm but less likely to be located further away when victims of a violent attack. Adults were more likely to be found at further distances if planning behaviours were present (e.g. had taken their passport), but less likely to if they were above the age of 65 years or suffering from abuse. Findings indicate the role of age, planning and vulnerability on travel when missing. Implications for search strategies and directions for future research are considered.

At What Price? Managing the Costs of Tolerating Corrupt or Criminal Partners in Stability Interventions

States or coalitions may conduct intervention operations to stabilise weak or failing states. Intervening powers often use military or police forces to impose security while development agencies rebuild the affected state’s institutions, including the Rule of Law. However, recent experience suggests that interventions may perpetuate criminal conduct. This paper examines the NATO missions in Afghanistan and other interventions to suggest links between partnering with corrupt or criminal actors and subsequent setbacks in stabilisation. It then proposes strategies by which future intervention forces may mitigate the risks of perpetuating criminal conduct. The paper asserts that intervention forces may empower criminal actors inadvertently or deliberately. It suggests that criminal allies may offer apparent security gains, and command popular support; and may be the only allies available. However, it concludes that perpetuating crime and corruption undermines the legitimacy of the affected state’s government and the intervention force, and potentially enables state capture. These outcomes may perpetuate violence. The paper suggests that intervention forces may mitigate these risks by setting clear priorities, planning against all potential threats including organised criminals, linking aid to the achievement of governance objectives, delaying transition until the affected state’s institutions are ready, and conducting deep selection of future leaders.

The recruitment of women and visible minorities into Canadian police forces: Should we expect further progress?

The recruitment of women and minority group members was intended to move Canadian police forces towards societal representation and to enhance services provided to, and improve relations with, women and racially marginalized groups. This review contemplates progress towards these goals at a time of extraordinary public dissatisfaction with Western policing. A rationale is offered for reconsidering the 50% representation target for women and it is emphasized just how little we yet know about racial bias in policing. The review ends with a call for rigorous, apolitical, research to untangle the complex interactions underscoring the considered questions within.

Securing the Levantine Empire

The chapter traces the struggle of British military authorities to secure their grip over the cities they occupied. New legal measures and security institutions were developed to combat the challenges emanating from the permeable, connected character of the Levantine city. Martial law and military police forces, however, proved insufficient to suppress anti-imperial movements, while their institutionalisation advanced the militarizing, anglicizing tendencies of military rule that further alienated local partners who were relied on for the functioning of this informal empire. The chapter shows how escalating urban and extra-urban violence resulted in the major retrenchment and retreat of British military forces in 1922 and 1923, bringing to an end the distinct Levantine empire that had bound these cities together over the preceding years

The Prevalence and Predictors of Hypertension and the Metabolic Syndrome in Police Personnel

Hypertension and metabolic syndrome (METSYN) are reportedly high in police forces. This may contribute to health deterioration and absenteeism in police personnel. Police forces comprise of staff in ‘operational’ and ‘non-operational’ job types but it is not known if job type is associated to hypertension and METSYN prevalence. This study aimed to explore the prevalence of hypertension and METSYN, the factors associated with the risk of hypertension and METSYN, and compare physiological, psychological, and behavioural factors between operational and non-operational police personnel. Cross-sectional data was collected from 77 operational and 60 non-operational police workers. Hypertension and METSYN were prevalent in 60.5% and 20% of operational and 60.0% and 13.6% of non-operational police personnel, respectively (p > 0.05). Operational job type, moderate organisational stress (compared with low stress) and lower high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were associated with lower odds of hypertension, whereas increasing body mass index was associated with increased odds of hypertension (p < 0.05). None of the independent variables were significantly associated with the odds of METSYN. Operational police had several increased cardiometabolic risk markers compared with non-operational police. Given the high prevalence of hypertension and METSYN in operational and non-operational personnel, occupational health interventions are needed for the police and could be informed by the findings of this study.

The exclusion of serious and organised offenders and their victims from the offer of restorative justice: Should this be so and what happens when the offer is put on the table?

There is scarce research evidence of restorative justice being used in the context of serious and organised crime offending. This study sought to explore the feasibility of using restorative justice by canvassing the views of experts, serious and organised crime offenders and serious and organised crime victims in England. Offenders and victims were given the opportunity to engage in a restorative justice initiative and individual cases were pursued accordingly as a series of case studies. Case studies were limited to large-scale serious and organised fraud. Stark differences in views were apparent between serious and organised crime experts and restorative justice experts, the former doubting offenders’ motivations and pointing to their dangerousness without fully considering victim perspectives. Despite high attrition rates among some offenders expressing an initial willingness to pursue restorative justice, where both parties wished to participate, sustained motivation was observed. This study highlights inequities in the way that police forces have implemented the 2015 Victims Code requirements for restorative justice in England and Wales, potentially blocking opportunities for closure, social integration and reduced reoffending.

Where should police forces target their residential burglary reduction efforts? Using official victimisation data to predict burglary incidences at the neighbourhood level

Expected crime rates that enable police forces to contrast recorded and anticipated spatial patterns of crime victimisation offer a valuable tool in evaluating the under-reporting of crime and inform/guide crime reduction initiatives. Prior to this study, police forces had no access to expected burglary maps at the neighbourhood level covering all parts of England and Wales. Drawing on analysis of the Crime Survey for England and Wales and employing a population terrain modelling approach, this paper utilises household and area characteristics to predict the mean residential burglary incidences per 1000 population across all neighbourhoods in England and Wales. The analysis identifies distinct differences in recorded and expected neighbourhood burglary incidences at the Output Area level, providing a catalyst for stimulating further reflection by police officers and crime analysts.