Search results
1 – 10 of over 4000
The study examined the effects of body-worn cameras (BWCs) on civilian complaints against police using a non-representative national sample of police organizations.
Abstract
Purpose
The study examined the effects of body-worn cameras (BWCs) on civilian complaints against police using a non-representative national sample of police organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical approach employed a staggered difference in differences design (DiD) that exploited the variation in the timing of adoption of BWCs by police agencies from 2007 to 2016. The study considered two scenarios: (1) a model without any explanatory variables; and (2) a model with explanatory variables. Furthermore, in each model the author two different comparison groups: (1) agencies that never adopted this technology and (2) agencies that adopted BWCs at a later time.
Findings
The model without explanatory variables suggest strong and statistically significant reductions in complaints. The simple average estimates show reductions in civilian complaints between 13% and 14%, depending on the model. This is the equivalent of an average reduction of about 30 civilian complaints per capita. The dynamic effects suggested that the length of exposure to BWCs matters in reducing civilian complaints, showing a significant reduction of 47% in civilian complaints. The models with explanatory variables also show slightly lower declines in civilian complaints.
Originality/value
The surge in the adoption of BWCs by police agencies sparked a parallel surge of studies examining their effectiveness on various outcomes. Most research to date has use experimental designs on a single police agency or a small group of agencies. Few studies have employed a large sample of agencies or periods longer than six to 12 months. Evidence on the effects of BWCs on a range of outcomes from larger multi-agency studies and longer periods of analysis will support the already robust specialized literature and inform policymakers about the effectiveness of this technology over time.
Details
Keywords
Lars Kolvereid and Olga Iermolenko
The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of courses offered to Ukrainian military personnel and their families to facilitate transfer to the civilian society, and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of courses offered to Ukrainian military personnel and their families to facilitate transfer to the civilian society, and to investigate the extent to which transfer to the civilian sector is associated with increased quality of life.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 1,077 former course participants by handing out a structured questionnaire at different locations in Ukraine.
Findings
Among the 40 courses arranged, 15 proved to be effective with regard to the odds of obtaining a civilian job, and 10 with regard to the odds of becoming a business owner. Business owners and civilian employees scored higher than military employees with regard to different indicators of quality of life. Individuals who are unemployed or not members of the workforce score lower on quality of life than any other group.
Originality/value
This study evaluates the courses offered in a large educational program where the Norwegian and Ukrainian government cooperate to facilitate transfer of military veterans in Ukraine to the civilian sector.
Details
Keywords
Upon discharge, US service members experience an instantaneous immersion back into civilian life. One of the most challenging aspects of that reimmersion is the reentry/entry into…
Abstract
Purpose
Upon discharge, US service members experience an instantaneous immersion back into civilian life. One of the most challenging aspects of that reimmersion is the reentry/entry into the civilian workforce. As such, it is necessary to study the returning veteran's employment experience when considering the veteran's civilian reintegration. The purpose of this study was to analyze and evaluate the returning veteran's civilian employment experience and to identify challenges faced by the veteran in the civilian onboarding experience.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is a qualitative analysis in which 27 military veterans were interviewed about their experience with civilian reemployment. The results of the interviews were compiled, analyzed and grouped by common theme. This study explains some of the major issues confronted by the newly separated veteran and discusses how those challenges may influence job satisfaction and job performance.
Findings
The analysis identified the following three main themes that posed challenges to the veteran to civilian employment transition: civilian employer’s military job knowledge deficit, veteran anxiety with civilian employer’s lack of clearly defined new-hire processes and civilian employer misunderstanding of veteran compensation, benefits and family involvement expectations.
Research limitations/implications
This study is beneficial to scholars in as much as it will help to more clearly identify literature gaps, provide direction on emerging research concepts, add to the existing literature on the veteran to civilian transitions and connect research areas that have not yet been adequately studied. Future research would be well served to follow a similar program of research but by employing different research methods in order to address the limitations outlined above and further support the findings of this research. Specifically, future research should sample across a wider set of individuals as study participants (time since discharge, age, military rank at time of separation, reserve status, etc.). By doing this, future researchers may be able to determine how perceptions change over time and with regard to military experience. A second area of future research may be to conduct related research based on civilian employment opportunities and qualifications. Specific areas of study to be considered should be focused primarily on the macro issues such as military leadership and translating military experiences and skill sets to civilian contexts. Unlike other findings in this research, these two areas cannot be affected at the organizational level, and as such require concept exploration and clarity.
Practical implications
This study provides guidance and direction for veterans and employers alike by outlining areas that may be challenging for new-hire military veterans and bringing to light areas where the civilian onboarding experience can improve to better accommodate veterans. Further, this study identifies areas that directly or indirectly contribute to high veteran turnover rates and ultimately high veteran unemployment rates.
Originality/value
This original quantitative study conducted by the author specifically identifies several areas in the veteran to civilian employment transition that pose challenges for the returning veteran. All data for this study were gathered and analyzed using first-hand face-to-face interviews and established data analysis methods by the researcher.
Details
Keywords
There is a prevailing perception that police officers are antagonistic to any civilian review process. This perception also includes the assumption that all police officers are…
Abstract
There is a prevailing perception that police officers are antagonistic to any civilian review process. This perception also includes the assumption that all police officers are one in denouncing any civilian review. This research examines the degree to which these prevailing perceptions about police officers' views of civilian reviews reflect reality. This research contends that there is reason to question the overwhelming assumption in the literature that police officers are united in their views about civilian review. The research found that police officers have varying perceptions about civilian review. Furthermore, these differences in perceptions are correlated with the experience of being subjected to these reviews. The data indicate that experience with civilian review tend to draw positive perceptions from the police. On the other hand, police officers who have never been subjected to civilian review have less than positive perceptions of review boards. The research findings also indicate that civilian review boards need to overcome these initial negative perceptions especially among police officers who have never had a case adjudicated by a civilian review board.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to revisit classic theoretical arguments regarding the broad effects of civilian demeanor on policing and extend associated findings.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to revisit classic theoretical arguments regarding the broad effects of civilian demeanor on policing and extend associated findings.
Design/methodology/approach
The theoretical framework draws on insights from the literatures on police culture, the group engagement model and fairness heuristic theory. The authors argue that demeanor is best conceptualized as the degree of procedural justice exhibited by civilians toward police. Theoretically, procedurally just cooperation should influence officers’ adherence to police culture by affecting their social identification and assessments of civilians’ motives and moral deservingness. To test the hypotheses, the authors surveyed sworn officers from a large metropolitan police department in the southeastern USA in the Fall of 2016.
Findings
Results reveal that officers use their procedural justice judgments as heuristics to assess civilians’ trustworthiness, dangerousness, and moral deservingness, and these judgments influence their policing style. Officers who perceive greater procedurally just cooperation by civilians feel less threatened by the public, are more willing to use procedural justice themselves, and are less supportive of a “tough cop” policing style.
Originality/value
The authors propose that: civilian demeanor is best conceptualized as the extent to which civilians exhibit procedural fairness toward the police; and in order for meaningful police reform to occur, it is important to acknowledge the role of civilian demeanor in shaping officers’ attitudes, beliefs and behaviors.
Details
Keywords
Vidmantas Tūtlys, Jonathan Winterton and Odeta Liesionienė
This paper aims to investigate issues affecting the integration of retired military officers into civilian work using a competence model as an analytical framework.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate issues affecting the integration of retired military officers into civilian work using a competence model as an analytical framework.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper combines literature review with empirical study. The primary method of data collection was a series of in-depth, face-to-face interviews with 25 retired army officers in Lithuania.
Findings
Despite evidence that a career as an officer in the military develops valuable competencies that have obvious potential in the civilian labour market, the integration of retired army officers into the civilian labour market is fraught with difficulties. Apart from the obvious inappropriateness of specific competencies associated with armed combat for civilian occupations, even competencies acquired in military service that align closely with those required in civilian jobs do not necessarily translate because of different contexts and different value systems.
Research limitations/implications
The empirical basis is limited to army officers in Lithuania, and the authors urge caution in extrapolating to other military personnel and other countries. To the extent that the approach has generic value, there are clearly implications for demobilisation after major conflicts or return to civilian life of personnel involved in international peace-keeping.
Practical implications
This exploratory research suggests that a competence framework can identify limits and possibilities of aligning competencies acquired in military service with those required in civilian occupations, provided context and values are incorporated as part of the analysis. The approach piloted in this paper could be useful more widely for facilitating mobility between sectors and occupations arising from the adoption of disruptive technologies.
Originality/value
The paper demonstrates the value of a structured approach to comparing competencies in context and the mediating role of values in moving from military to civilian occupations.
Details
Keywords
Kate M. Den Houter and Deepshikha Chatterjee
The purpose of this paper is to assess if in viewing tense, potentially stigmatizing, police-civilian interactions, people bring their own gendered and racial biases, as they form…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess if in viewing tense, potentially stigmatizing, police-civilian interactions, people bring their own gendered and racial biases, as they form perceptions of officers' use of identity management (IM) strategies, as they relate to officers' competence, warmth and appropriateness of actions.
Design/methodology/approach
In two experimental studies, the authors investigate how the IM strategies used by female and racial minority officers impact officers' ratings of competence, warmth and appropriateness of actions. Utilizing a 2x2x4 design, the authors manipulate officer gender (race), civilian gender (race) and IM strategy used by the officer in a news article describing a police-civilian interaction.
Findings
Not all IM strategies established positive perceptions of officers. Gender and race effects were observed in how officers were seen when they were involved in a tense interaction with a civilian. Female officers were perceived as more appropriate in their actions than male officers. However, Black, female officers were rated as both less warm and appropriate in their actions than White, female officers.
Originality/value
Although policing is seen as a tainted profession, officers' use of IM strategies is understudied. By taking a novel lens of stigmatization and IM strategies as they relate to policing, the authors contribute to how officers may manage their identities as they cope with the stigmatized views of their occupation. Findings have implications for the diversification of law enforcement personnel, as well as building trust and legitimacy between officers and the communities they serve.
Details
Keywords
Natalie Kroovand Hipple and Edmund F. McGarrell
The purpose of this paper is to compare family group conferences (FGCs) facilitated by police officers with those facilitated by a civilian along several dimensions including…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to compare family group conferences (FGCs) facilitated by police officers with those facilitated by a civilian along several dimensions including process, reparation agreements, recidivism, and time until failure.
Design/methodology/approach
Using observational data and juvenile histories of offending from the Indianapolis Restorative Justice Project, the authors attempted to answer four research questions: Are family group conferences facilitated by police officers procedurally different from family group conferences facilitated by civilians?; Are reparation agreements resulting from police‐officer‐facilitated conferences different from reparation agreements resulting from civilian‐facilitated conferences?; Did youths who participated in police‐facilitated conferences recidivate at different rates compared with youths who participated in civilian‐facilitated conferences?; Did youths who participated in police‐facilitated conferences have a longer time to failure than youths who participated in civilian‐facilitated conferences?
Findings
Generally, there appeared to be no major differences between conferences facilitated by civilians as opposed to police officers. Observations indicated that police officers seemed to lecture offenders more during the FGC and made more suggestions as to what should be in the reparation agreement. Youths who attended police‐officer‐facilitated conferences “survived” somewhat longer before re‐offending than youths who attended civilian‐facilitated conferences, although these differences were not statistically significant.
Research limitations/implications
While subjects in the Indianapolis experiment were randomly assigned to family group conferences or a “control group” diversion program, subjects were not randomly assigned to conferences according to facilitator type. This limits the generalizability of the findings.
Practical implications
The study suggests tjat both police officers and civilians are capable of facilitating FGCs, consistent with restorative justice principles. For police departments interested in responding proactively to early juvenile offending and in strengthening ties with the community, FGCs provide an opportunity through police officer training and involvement as conference facilitators. In contrast, in communities where the police may be disinclined to commit officers to the role of facilitator, the findings suggest that civilian facilitators can also effectively coordinate FGCs.
Originality/value
The study adds to the restorative justice literature by further examining conference processes and outcomes. Additionally, it offers the first empirical examination of some of the concerns that have been raised about police‐ as opposed to civilian‐facilitated conferences. The finding that there were few differences between police‐ and civilian‐run conferences suggests that the police are at least as capable as civilians in facilitating FGCs. This suggests that FGCs could be implemented as part of a community policing initiative utilizing police officers as facilitators. Similarly, FGCs could be implemented as part of a community justice initiative utilizing civilians as facilitators. The key to successful outcomes is likely to be driven by fidelity to theoretical principles as opposed to the formal role of the facilitator.
Details
Keywords
Ian T. Adams and Sharon H. Mastracci
This study introduces emotional labor into an analysis of multiple dimensions of burnout in sworn and civilian employees across three law enforcement agencies.
Abstract
Purpose
This study introduces emotional labor into an analysis of multiple dimensions of burnout in sworn and civilian employees across three law enforcement agencies.
Design/methodology/approach
Using data from a survey of law enforcement employees in a metropolitan police department, a full-service sheriff's department, and a state corrections agency located in the western United States (n = 1,921), we test the explanatory power of an emotional labor-based model of burnout.
Findings
Results partially confirm the lone prior study to examine civilian and sworn personnel. Sworn and civilian employees experience variant levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, though the underlying emotional labor correlates are significantly related to burnout for both groups. Further, we extend prior results by capturing multiple facets of burnout as well as contributing an emotional labor explanation for burnout, while controlling for individual demographic characteristics and agency type.
Research limitations/implications
Law enforcement agencies rely upon non-sworn employees to support their missions. The experience of non-sworn law enforcement personnel is under-researched in both the emotional labor and law enforcement organizational literature. Burnout is a phenomenon that has high costs for both employees and organizations, particularly in the law enforcement context. Investigating the emotional labor experience of employees is critical for practitioners who are tasked with effectively managing both groups.
Originality/value
One previous study has investigated the emotional labor of civilians in law enforcement and used community-level predictions for burnout. This study builds on those findings by capturing two facets of burnout rather than the lone gauge of burnout used in the previous study. Furthermore, we use an emotional labor model to investigate emotional exhaustion and depersonalization reported by sworn and civilian personnel.
Details
Keywords
Gavin Dick and Beverly Metcalfe
It is estimated that civilian employees comprise 30 per cent of the police workforce in England and Wales, yet their working experiences have largely been ignored in the…
Abstract
It is estimated that civilian employees comprise 30 per cent of the police workforce in England and Wales, yet their working experiences have largely been ignored in the management literature. This article aims to help fill this void by analysing the antecedents of organisational commitment of 369 civilian support employees and how they compare with those of 1,242 police officers working in a large English police force. The study reveals that how individuals feel they are managed and supported has a strong bearing on organisation commitment, and that this is true for two very different groups of employees – police officers and civilian support staff. The implications for HRM development are discussed. The article concludes by suggesting that the findings could be extrapolated to a wide range of other public sector organisations, since they provide insights into managerial practices that have an impact on commitment regardless of job type.
Details