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This paper addresses the clearance of aggravated assaults (AAs). Specifically, the authors consider variations in these clearances over time for large agencies and test which crime, investigation and agency factors are associated with the likelihood of clearance by arrest or exceptional means. In doing this work, they seek to extend the understanding of how police can improve their investigations and ability to solve serious offenses.

Using case, investigative and organizational data collected from seven large police departments selected on the basis of their trajectory of index crime clearances, and measures of case characteristics, investigative effort and organizational best practices, this paper uses descriptive and inferential statistics to analyze AA investigations and case clearance.

Key findings include the following: trajectories of AA clearance vary across large agencies and covary with a measure of organizational best practices, and the relationship between investigative effort and case clearance can depend on organizational practices. The authors find that measures of investigative effort are either not related to case clearance or there is a negative association.

Now that police researchers have a better understanding of AAs and their investigations, they need to test how this knowledge can be used to improve the quality of police investigations. Tests, preferably multi-agency randomized control trials, of new investigative strategies and organizational practices are needed.

This research is original in that it uses a multi-agency sample and crime, investigation and organizational measures to understand AA clearance.

In the last decade, Australia has seen a series of high‐profile criminal cases come under court and public scrutiny due to improper interviewing practices, prompting a need to review and revise training in interviewing skills. This pattern echoes that seen in the UK in the 1970s and 1980s. What followed in the UK was a plethora of research examining different aspects of police interviewing. To date, there has been limited research in Australia on interviewing suspects. The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into a large sample of current Australian police officers' attitudes and practices regarding investigative interviewing.

This study involved a survey of current police officers from the Queensland Police Service (n=2,769), collecting data on attitudes with current training and supervision, importance of investigative interviewing and operational skills and competence.

These are discussed in relation to the need for further systematic research into police interviews, improved training and the need for law enforcement organisations and agencies in Australia to implement organisational investigative interviewing strategies.

The paper shows that further systematic research is required to examine “operational” investigative interviewing practices (as opposed to perceptions) in Australia. Consideration also needs to be given to the development of investigative interviewing training frameworks that focus on the experience, skills and previous training of each officer. Moreover, interviewing needs to be recognised as a skill requiring regular maintenance, monitoring and evaluation.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the growing body of research literature on case clearance levels. Through a social artifact framework, the authors seek to understand the role that documentation of key solvability factors in investigative reports plays in shaping case clearance outcomes.

For this study, 166 non-fatal shooting investigative case files were obtained from a local mid-sized urban police department and coded to assess whether investigators identified key solvability characteristics for non-fatal shooting incidents. Using a logistic regression, the authors assessed the extent that investigative characteristics mentioned in case files were associated with the odds that the case was cleared by arrest.

The findings from this study indicate that investigative case files as a data source are exceedingly unreliable. Investigators do not consistently document investigative practices and intelligence. And those that are consistently documented are a part of institutionalized practices that are unique to their corresponding police department.

This study is original in that it uses a social artifact framework to sharpen the focus on the role that the effective documentation of critical evidence plays in leading to arrests in gun violence cases.

The present study aims to examine the scope and contribution of behavioural investigative advice (BIA) reports from the National Crime Agency (NCA).

The 77 BIA reports reviewed were written between 2016 and 2021. They were evaluated using Toulmin’s (1958) strategy for structuring pertinent arguments, current compliance with professional standards, the grounds and backing provided for the claims made and the potential utility of the recommendations provided.

Consistent with previous research, most of the reports involved murder and sexual offences. The BIA reports met professional standards with extremely high frequency. The 77 reports contained a total of 1,308 claims of which 99% were based on stated grounds. A warrant and/or backing was provided for 73% of the claims. Most of the claims in the BIA reports involved a behavioural evaluation of the crime scene and offender characteristics. The potential utility of the reports was judged to be 95% for informative behavioural crime scene analysis and 40% for potential new lines of enquiry.

The reports should serve as a model for the work of behavioural investigative advisers internationally.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to systematically evaluate BIA reports commissioned by the NCA; it adds to previous similar studies by evaluating the largest number of BIA reports ever reviewed, and uniquely provides judgement of overall utility.

This paper aims to investigate the prevalence of corruption in Ghana to understand how and why it has turned public procurement into a mere money-making scheme instead of a means to provide needed public goods and services.

The study focuses on Ghana as a case study and mobilizes the monetization of politics lenses. Data are collected via interviews with key officials across the procurement sector (including the government, donors and civil society), documents, documentaries and news articles.

The findings suggest that the increasing costs of elections and political financing coupled with the costs of vote-buying, which has become informally institutionalized, intensify corruption practices and, consequently, turns public procurement into a mere source of cash for political ends. Political appointments and legalized loopholes facilitate this by helping to nullify the safeguard accounting and other control institutions are designed to provide. Likewise, enduring poverty and rising inequality “force” citizens into a vote-buying culture which distorts democratic premises that may drive out unscrupulous politicians; thus, perpetuating capture schemes. Civil society's efforts to remedy these have had little success, and corruption and inequality remain rife.

The main practical implication of the study lies in the need for a gradual demonetization of elections, and the consideration of the fundamental function of public procurement as a policy instrument embedded in economic, social, cultural and environmental plans. Additionally, given the connectedness of the various corruption issues raised, a comprehensive system-based approach in dealing with them would be more effective than a piecemeal approach targeting each issue/problem in isolation.

While extant literature has examined the issue of endemic corruption in developing countries using state capture, few have attempted to explain why it remains enduring, particularly in public procurement. This study, therefore, contributes to the literature on corruption and state capture theoretically and empirically by drawing on monetization of politics from political science to explain why corruption and state capture endure in certain contexts (with Ghana as an illustrative example) which reduce public procurement to a cash-milking scheme.

This article provides an overview of the latest empirical research regarding police decision-making in Belgium from 2000 to 2021 in terms of methodology and general findings (e.g. types and year of publication, topics studied). Recommendations are given concerning police research and the development of a research agenda.

Fourteen separate and limited scoping reviews regarding police decision-making topics were carried out by students in criminology and law. All scoping reviews followed the same procedure.

Seventy-nine unique publications are included in the analyses. These show that police violence is most frequently studied, whereas violence against the police was only included in one publication. Empirical research on bodycams and (social) media was not found. Most of the studies followed a quantitative research design, mainly by means of secondary data analysis.

The scoping reviews are limited in scope and were carried out by different students, potentially leading to variable interpretations and selections. Additionally, the conclusions are partly the result of the developed review protocols (e.g. keywords, databases).

This article combines 14 different scoping reviews, following the same procedure, on subtopics regarding police decision-making and thus enabling comparison of the literature found in a consistent way.

Addresses a long‐standing debate as to whether or not college‐educated police officers perform their jobs better than others. Of the 250 officers asked to complete a self‐assessment form, officers with a bachelor’s degree rated themselves higher in a number of performance indicators than did those without a degree. Points out that the results may indicate that educated officers perform better, or it may indicate differences in perceptions about their duties. Whichever is the case, education confers the advantage of better written and oral communication skills. Recommends the use of self‐administered questionnaires to provide data for policy making.

Private companies go public for a variety of reasons. Whatever the motive, shareholders and directors should have a clear understanding of the implications and responsibilities arising from this change of status. The author examines every aspect of public company status and presents an analysis of the feasibility of a stock market flotation by his company. This article provides valuable insight for companies considering a stock market flotation.

This paper aims to discuss the essential features, merits and drawbacks of the recently enacted Indian Real Estate Act, 2016, an economic reform measure pertaining to the real estate sector (RES). This paper analyses the impact of the Act and Union Budget 2016 on the inflow of foreign d irect investment (FDI) in India, and examines its ramifications on the world economy.

The study is based on secondary data sources, including consumer forum reports, investigative reports from national agencies, court decisions, government websites, real estate companies and industry associations. A sample survey on the implications of the Act has been conducted using Facebook and and through personal interaction with various stakeholders.

The Indian RES was unregulated prior to the passage of the Act, which has several provisions aimed at protecting the interest of consumers by tightening fraudulent practices of promoters/developers. Stakeholders are hopeful, but there is some apprehension. The government’s budgetary and fiscal support for infrastructure development has had an impact on the FDI inflow.

The Act is new, so there is not enough data to judge its real impact on the economy. However, it has started showing evidence of impact through a recent judgment by the Supreme Court of India punishing a promoter.

Regulating the Indian RES is a challenging task, but the new regulations are likely to provide confidence to foreign investors who may see India as a safety net for investment. This paper is timely and may help move things in this direction.