Peeling the paradigm: Exploring the professionalization of policing in Canada

Maintaining public trust, legitimacy, and credibility in a constantly evolving society has proven challenging for police in the 21st century. Rising public concerns regarding police accountability are driving the need to advance the paradigm of policing by reassessing the organizational structure of law enforcement in Canada. Supported by research identifying primary directives for maintaining public trust, this proposal argues that the time has come for policing to evolve from an occupation into a formal profession. Just as any other occupation that has advanced into a profession, provincial regulatory colleges of policing should be formed with the key objective of protecting the public from malpractice and malfeasance. A provincial college of policing would allow for (a) sustained and inclusive recruitment strategies, (b) foundational knowledge of the scholarship of policing, (c) evidence-based academy training, (d) mandatory ongoing (in-service) police education, and (e) expert, objective, community-focused, independent oversight. This proposal uses characteristics of the College of Policing in England and Wales as a guiding framework for the support and preparation of professionalizing policing in Canada.

A Longitudinal Study of the Effects of Academy Socialization on Police Integrity

The objective of this study was to examine changes in American recruits’ perceptions of the seriousness of behaviors related to police integrity from the beginning to the end of their academy training. Using a sample of 655 recruits from multiple academies in the United States, multilevel growth models were used. The results showed that the recruits rated scales related to misconduct, code of silence, and a noble cause less seriously at the end than at the beginning of their training. The results also showed that ethics training mitigated the effects of socialization, while organizational injustice intensified the effects of socialization. Female recruits rated the behaviors more seriously at the beginning and the end of training compared to male recruits. The results confirm the role of the academy in socializing officers into the negative aspects of the traditional police culture and highlight important avenues for police reform.

Exploring recruits’ motivations to enter policing in Small Island Developing States: The case of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service

Internationally, there is a substantial amount of research on motivations to enter the police profession; however, scant research attention has been paid to the motivations of individuals in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) such as Trinidad and Tobago who choose policing as a career path. As a result, this research was designed to analyze motivations for entering the police profession by gathering data from recruits who had recently entered police academy training in Trinidad and Tobago. The research utilized a quantitative approach with self-administered questionnaires as the data-gathering instrument. Using data collected from 160 police recruits at the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) police academy who were two months into their induction training, this study attempts to answer four questions related to their motivations for entering policing. Statistical analyses of the data included comparisons between groups in the sample (males/females) to determine the existence of competing motivations. The results indicate that job security was the main motivation for entry into the TTPS and that the motivations of male recruits were more altruistic when compared with those of female recruits, which were generally self-serving. Other results and implications for policy are discussed.

Emotional distress among police academy recruits: Humor and coping

Police work, beginning as early as academy training, is inherently stressful and carries risks for officer wellbeing. Humor has been cited as useful way for officers to handle stress. This study investigated the relationship between humor and emotional distress among a sample of 101 police recruits from Phase 1 of the National Police Research Platform. Findings indicated that reliance on humor as a coping strategy increased among recruits during the police academy and hierarchical regression analyses showed that greater levels of use of humor as a coping strategy in the academy predicted a decrease in emotional distress upon academy graduation.

Functional Movement Quality of Firefighter Recruits: Longitudinal Changes from the Academy to Active-Duty Status

Approximately half of the injuries experienced by firefighters consist of musculoskeletal injuries (MSKIs). Functional movement quality may be associated with MSKI risk within this tactical athlete population. Previous research indicates that measures of body composition change among firefighter recruits progressing from academy training through active-duty service, but similar changes in functional movement quality have yet to be examined. The purpose of this study was to describe longitudinal changes in functional movement quality of firefighter recruits. Body mass index (BMI), body fat (BF), and Functional Movement Screen (FMS) data were collected from 26 male firefighter recruits at the onset (W1) and completion (W14) of their training academy, and at the completion of their probationary period of active-duty service (W38). After adjusting for changes in BMI and BF across time, significant changes (ps < 0.05) in Composite FMS scores were identified, with significant increases in from W1 to W14 and from W14 to W38, as well as an overall increase from W1 to W38. These results suggest that the development of firefighter-specific skills can decrease the MSKI risk of firefighter recruits by facilitating enhanced functional movement competencies, particularly during tasks that require single-leg movement and core strength and stability.

Analysis of the Decision of Muslim Investors in Sharia Mutual Funds Investing with Maqasid Al-Sharia Approaches

This study is a quantitative survey research, namely statistical test data analysis in the form of multiple linear regression with purposive sampling. The data collection method was by distributing questionnaires to 200 participants of the Bareksa Fund Academy training. The results show that the decision of Muslim investors in investing in Islamic mutual funds is influenced by the maqasid sharia principle approach. Meanwhile, the result of F count is significant at 49,141, meaning that, overall, there is an influence of the factors of the maqasid sharia approach on investment decisions (value). This also implies that there is a significant influence of the variables of maintaining religion, soul, sense, and treasure on the investment decisions. Meanwhile, the variable maintaining offspring does not show any effect, because the probability is 0.961> 0.05. Keywords: Investment, Islamic Mutual Funds, Islamic Maqasid Abstrak. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis keputusan investor Muslim dalam berinvestasi di reksadana syariah dengan pendekatan maqashid syariah. Penelitian ini juga untuk mengetahui pengaruh dan faktor dominan dari pendekatan maqashid syariah (menjaga agama, jiwa, akal, harta, dan keturunan) terhadap keputusan (nilai) investasi. Survey kuantitatif dipilih sebagai pendekatan penelitian, yaitu dengan analisis data uji statistik berupa regresi linear berganda dengan purposive sampling. Pengambilan data dilakukan dengan penyebaran kuesioner kepada para peserta pelatihan Bareksa Fund Academy, sebanyak 200 peserta. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa keputusan investor Muslim dalam berinvestasi di reksadana syariah dipengaruhi oleh pendekatan prinsip maqashid syariah. Sedangkan, hasil F hitung signifikan sebesar 49,141 artinya, secara keseluruhan terdapat pengaruh pada faktorfaktor pendekatan maqashid syariah terhadap keputusan (nilai) investasi. Ini berarti juga terdapat pengaruh pada variabel menjaga agama, jiwa, akal, dan harta secara signifikan terhadap keputusan investasi tersebut. Namun demikian, variabel menjaga keturunan tidak berpengaruh karena probabilitas 0,961>0,05. Kata kunci: Investasi, Reksadana Syariah, Maqashid Syariah