A Close Examination of the 2016 Dallas and Baton Rouge Police Killers: Identifying Potential Risk Factors and Influences for Copycat Violence

Two of the worst targeted attacks on American police officers in recent history occurred within eleven days of each other. Although it seems clear their proximity was not merely attributable to chance, the connection between these incidents, and the implications for understanding copycat violence, have never been fully explored. This study analyzes the perpetrators of these attacks from a “thresholds of violence” perspective, which suggests the first actor in a sequence is more likely to be disturbed and violence prone, while subsequent actors are typically less disturbed but more socially influenced. Results suggest the thresholds model has both merits and limits. The first attacker did have more psychological problems and violence in his past, and the second did seem more influenced by violent role models. However, there were also many similarities between them, and both attacked due to a combination of internal and external factors. If this study's findings are generalizable, higher risks of becoming a copycat offender may exist for individuals who have (1) personal similarities with previous attackers, (2) a history of psychological problems, (3) a history of interest in violent actors, and (4) recent escalation in their online behavior. Recommendations are offered for future research, offender profiling, and violence prevention.

A Qualitative Study: An Examination of Police Officers’ Lived Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic

In the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the globe prompting stay-at-home orders for all but the most essential workers in society. Policing was one of the professions that is essential for community safety, regardless of the circumstances. Officers were on the front-line of the COVID-19 public health crisis and their preparedness was crucial for officer and community health. During the onset of the pandemic little was known about how officers perceived the virus and how police agencies prepared officers to work in a highly contagious environment. This study used semistructured interviews of police officers in two states in the United States that had elevated cases of the virus. The authors explored the lived experiences of police officers to explore officers’ perceptions, concerns, implications the pandemic had on patrol activity, and agency preparedness during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results revealed structural and cultural forces that resulted in officers and their agency leadership not taking the pandemic seriously, ill-preparation and ill-equipping, and disincentives in reporting exposure. Moreover, officers’ fears were largely not based on their own well-being, but on the risk of spreading the disease to their family members.

Using a Rural Index to Assess Crime Risk and Crime Prevention Behavior Across the Urban–Rural Continuum: A Japanese Case Study

The study proposes a new method of crime analysis combining data from multiple secondary data sources (census, open crime data, and social survey) to assess the risk of victimization and crime prevention behavior in resource-limited settings. Principal component analysis was performed on municipal-level census data ( n = 1,883) to generate a rural index that represents the ecological characteristics of each municipality across the urban–rural continuum. Multilevel logistic analyses were then applied to crime incident data ( n = 207,771) to assess the municipal-level effects on victims’ use of locks in motor vehicle and bicycle thefts. A linear pattern of victimization was found for bicycle theft (the risk was about one-thirtieth in the most rural municipalities than that in the most urban municipalities), while the pattern found was nonlinear for motor vehicle thefts. The analysis also revealed that victims in rural areas were less likely to have locked their vehicles before they were stolen than those living in urban areas. Using the rural index developed in this study, police forces can have a better understanding of crime problems in their jurisdiction across the urban–rural continuum. The study discusses the implications of the results for crime prevention and problem-solving policymaking in the urban–rural continuum.

Crimes Against Animal Production: Exploring the use of Media Archives

Swedish media have revealed an increase in crimes against animal production (CAAP) in the last decade. We investigate the nature of such crimes (especially against mink, pig, and rabbit farms), with a focus on those crimes whose suspects are animal rights groups by utilizing data from media archives from 2009 to 2019. Newspaper articles show that while vandalism and trespassing are often committed against mink farms, property crimes occur more often against pig and rabbit farms. Because there are indications that crime suspects are not a homogeneous group and express different motivations to commit CAAP, a multipronged approach is needed to prevent CAAP. The use of newspaper articles from media archives has proven to be successful for obtaining a general perspective of CAAP, but it is limited for capturing crime incidence or for investigating CAAP spatiotemporal nature when using geographical information systems. The automated usage of digital media archives should be further explored and critically assessed in future research in criminology.

The Use of Twitter by Police Officers in Urban and Rural Contexts in Sweden

The aim of this article is to investigate the nature of information sharing via Twitter by police officers. We examine the content of Tweets in urban and rural contexts using a sample of 20 police-related Twitter accounts, comparing official and personal accounts active in Southern Sweden. Exploratory data analysis and in-depth content analysis of a sample of Tweets compose the underlying methodology. We find a distinct pattern of consistency in the content of the information shared via the official police accounts compared to the personal accounts, regardless of if they are from urban or rural areas. However, some urban–rural differences were observed between official and personal accounts regarding public engagement, operationalized as likes and Retweets. The study calls for a discussion of new models of police engagement using social media by a society that is increasingly shaped by the internet.

Motives of Knife-Carrying among the Youth in Azerbaijan: In-Depth Interviews Among 27 Experts and 5 Knife-Carriers

Drawing on in-depth interviews with psychologists, criminologists, and sociologists ( n = 27), as well as five adolescents (aged between 15 and 17 years) with a history of knife-carrying in Azerbaijan, this study attempts to explore the motives for knife-carrying among the male youth. Using a phenomenological approach, the interviews found a set of mixed and interrelated factors as the key motivators of carrying a knife among male youth. The answers provided by members of both samples generally overlap, but each provides some unique insights as well. Experts argue that young men tend to suffer from poor socialization and fail academically, which forces them to seek companionship, status, and identity elsewhere. In such circumstances, adolescents become likely to fall under the influence of their peers, as well as the criminal world whose figures are widely popular in the country. Since knife-carrying provides a sense of power and self-esteem, as well as constitutes a core attribute of notorious criminal figures, it becomes attractive to the youth. Male interviewees with a history of knife-carrying, all with irregular class attendance and part of “circles” (deviant peer groups), were attracted to sharp objects (a) by their ability to project power to others around them, such as so-called “predators” and (b) rule of the circles. The desire to exercise informal control over an area (school or neighborhood) and emulate thieves-in-law was particularly critical in shaping adolescents’ decision to carry knives and five-knuckle. The findings not only largely confirm the results reported by the Western studies, but also advance our understanding of youth's inclination towards knife-carrying in a nonwestern society.