“Isn’t There Any Other Way than Calling the Cops?”: How Differences in Initiation of Police Intervention Influence Survivor Safety

As formal crisis responders, police are trained in de-escalation tactics that are expected to mitigate intimate partner violence and promote survivor safety. However, the alignment between expected and actual practice of police intervention varies, especially when the survivor does not initiate the call, police treat the survivor poorly, or provide an undesirable arrest outcome. At best, unsuccessful interventions do not change survivors’ risk level, and at worse, elevate their risk of experiencing harm. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore survivors’ perspectives on the process of police intervention, specifically how variations in initiation, quality of engagement, and arrest influence survivors’ safety. Twenty-four women whose partners were in a relationship violence intervention program were recruited to participate in the study. Results showed that many survivors described a range of ongoing, strategic violence perpetrated by their partners that required intervention; yet the complex nature of the violence often extended beyond police capacity. Either survivors called the police, or they were initiated externally by neighbors or strangers; some survivors had dual initiations. Whether survivors reported that police used safety practices during the intervention was related to who initiated the police. Arrests of abusive partners were inconsistent, and they varied based on number of previous calls to the police and visible signs of injury. Survivors of color, specifically Black women, self-initiated at higher rates, experienced fewer safety strategies used by police, and had fewer arrests. No matter the outcomes of police intervention, survivors actively engaged in strategies outside of formal systems to protect themselves and their families. Study results imply that police intervention may be ill-suited to support survivors’ safety goals and highlight a need for alternative interventions focused on de-escalation and prevention.

The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health calls for police service

Drawing upon seven years of police calls for service data (2014–2020), this study examined the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on calls involving persons with perceived mental illness (PwPMI) using a Bayesian Structural Time Series. The findings revealed that PwPMI calls did not increase immediately after the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020. Instead, a sustained increase in PwPMI calls was identified in August 2020 that later became statistically significant in October 2020. Ultimately, the analysis revealed a 22% increase in PwPMI calls during the COVID-19 pandemic than would have been expected had the pandemic not taken place. The delayed effect of the pandemic on such calls points to a need for policymakers to prioritize widely accessible mental health care that can be deployed early during public health emergencies thus potentially mitigating or eliminating the need for increased police intervention, as was the case here.

Agentes electorales y reformistas: La acción política de la policía bonaerense en las variaciones del conservadurismo, 1902-1914

This article analyzes the police institution as a main player in the politics of the period of 1902-1914 in the province of Buenos Aires. Although the “conservative order” (1880-1916) is currently under historiographical review in Argentina, the police has not come under scrutiny for its interventions and representations in such a context. In dialogue with this task are varying agreements and tensions in police intervention both constituting policy and defining the institutional configuration itself. The police’s monolithic and malleable visions are therefore discussed, revealing that beyond the strong links between the police and the provincial/local authorities were significant differences and a constant need to negotiate loyalties. The police was thus not a heteronomous institution, instead appropriating the requisitions of the political authorities from a standpoint permeated by the aspirations and specifics that conferred its roles.

Establishing Standards for the Assessment and Decontamination Cleanup of Opioid-Contaminated Properties

A case is described where a property was used as a clandestine opioid (fentanyl and carfentanil) processing, handling, pill pressing, and packaging site. These activities resulted in potentially lethal opioid residue contamination which remained after police intervention. This case details the environmental assessment and sampling procedures, findings, and decontamination processes that were used to mitigate the property. A safe re-occupancy criterion was established and used as the basis for adoption of a state standard for residential cleanup in California. Regulatory hurdles and key lessons are presented so that others may consider development of similar public health policy. Involvement of public health departments in the assessment and cleanup of sites contaminated with opioids and other illicit drugs and the development of standards for cleanup and worker protection is an important and yet often overlooked public health measure.

The Request for Postponement of the Blashphemy Case Criminal Charge Reading by Police and Prosecutors

This research aims to evaluate the police's request to postpone the criminal charge reading of the blasphemy case at the North Jakarta District Court, which was not based on Indonesia's positive law. The request to postpone a trial by the police without a legal basis could be considered a form of police intervention against the trial process, which has legal criminal consequences based on Article 3 Paragraph 2 and 3 of Law Number 48 of 2009 concerning Judicial Power. Meanwhile, the request for a two-week trial postponement by the public prosecutors due to their inability to complete the criminal indictment, as well as considering the request from the police, has created an impression that the public prosecutors have complied with the request of the police. It also injured public trust that demanded a fair and transparent law enforcement process.

Vots al carrer l’1 d’octubre de 2017 a Catalunya: la ‘fake news’ menys aclarida

Catalunya va viure l’1 d’octubre del 2017 un dels moments informatius més importants de la seva història. El Govern català va habilitar, desobeint el Tribunal Constitucional, 2.243 col∙legis electorals per preguntar als ciutadans si estaven a favor o en contra de la inde­pendència de Catalunya. El fet que els principals òrgans dels poders judicial i polític d’Espanya consideressin il∙legal aquest referèndum no va fer desistir els organitzadors. La jornada va estar mar­cada per la gent que va mobilitzar-se per votar i per l’actuació de la policia espanyola que va intervenir amb força. La recerca analitza com un viral de You­Tube, per denunciar irregularitats en la consulta, conté tots els ingredients per considerar-lo la principal fake news d’aquell dia. L’anàlisi es contextualitza amb opinions sobre la cobertura del re­ferèndum de quatre periodistes catalans entrevistats (Crónica Global, El País i Ara). També es confronten els relats de TV3 i TVE, en el Telenotícies i el Tele­diario. Mentre la televisió catalana va presentar l’1-O de manera èpica, per la resistència popular per salvaguardar uns drets que simbolitzaven les urnes enfront les càrregues policials; la televi­sió pública espanyola va emfatitzar que va ser una acció il∙legal, sense garanties democràtiques. Votes in the Streets on October 1, 2017 in Catalonia: An Example of Covert Fake News On October 1st, 2017 (1-O), Catalonia experienced one of the most important newsworthy moments in its history. The Catalan government set up 2.243 polling stations to conduct a referendum on Catalonia’s independence, thereby disobeying Spain’s Constitutional Court. Although the main bodies of the Spa­nish judiciary and political powers con­sidered the referendum illegal, the orga­nizers persisted. The day was marked by people’s mobilizations, which consisted of defending polling stations and pro­tecting voters from police intervention. With this study, we seek to analyse how a YouTube video, which reported irregu­larities about the referendum and went viral, contains all the ingredients to be considered fake news. The analysis is contextualized with opinions about the media coverage of the referendum by four interviews with Catalan journalists (Crónica Global, El País, Ara). The ac­counts of TV3 (Televisió de Catalunya) and TVE (Televisión Española), in Tele­notícies (TV3’s news) and Telediario(TVE’s news) are also juxtaposed. While the Catalan public television (TV3) pre­sented the 1-O in an epic way, stressing the citizens’ resistance to safeguard the rights as symbolized by the ballot boxes against the Spanish police, the Spanish public television (TVE) emphasised that 1-O was an illegal referendum lacking democratic legitimacy.

Battered Immigrant Women and the Police: A Canadian Perspective

Since the 1970s, the state response to intimate partner violence (IPV) has increasingly become one of criminalization—particularly police intervention. Little is known, however, about marginalized women’s experiences with the police within a context of intimate partner violence in Canada. Drawing on interviews with 90 battered immigrant women, this study examines which women contact the police, why some do not, and what characterizes their experiences when the police are involved in an IPV incident. This study demonstrates that while the women who called the police were demographically similar to those who did not call, the women who called reported much greater levels of physical abuse. Findings indicate that general fear of the police and fear of police being racist or culturally insensitive continue to be important reasons why women do not call the police. Notably, the majority of women who had contact with the police reported the encounter as positive.

Sudden cardiac death in excited delirium, and how to prevent it

The purpose of this study was to review data on restraint related deaths in persons in a state of excited delirium (ExDS) and to propose guidelines for treatment. We analysed three unexpected deaths in persons in a state of ExDS shortly after police restraint. Death which occurs during a police intervention, using physical restraints, may be related to placing the individual in a prone position, the use of neck holds, expert grips, and handcuffs or pepper spray. ExDS results in an altered mental state with agitation, aggression, paranoia, and panic attacks, and is a life-threatening condition. Therefore, before police intervention is initiated, a medical emergency team should be present. In patients with ExDS, physical restraints used by the police should be brief, effective, and include rapid tranquilization (sedation) using benzodiazepines, and antipsychotics.

The Textile Response

This chapter explores the textile industry’s response to wartime shortages, postwar overstocks, and sectoral crises in the mid-1920s. In the prewar era, industrialists became accustomed to government intervention and continuous labor supply. The war fundamentally changed the Paulistano labor composition and the state’s relative protection of the textile sector, but industrialists continued to manipulate labor costs by employing children and women. Budget constraints often prevented the implementation of new machinery, but in contrast to other sectors that adopted rationalization, training, and innovation, textile industrialists lobbied for extreme protection, actively dismissed labor laws, and were at the forefront of labor repression. The Centro dos Industriais de Fiação e Tecelagem de São Paulo formed after the 1917 General Strike demonstrates this preference for repressive labor tactics that included blacklists and even disappearing problematic workers. A case study of the Jafet textile factory highlights how these choices negatively impacted workers’ lives. Jafet increasingly employed women for shorter tenures, awarded minimal wage increases to combat the rising cost of living, and relied on blacklists and police intervention. As the company failed to provide schools, training, childcare, and adequate housing, these choices disproportionately impacted women and intensified labor inequities.