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Police legitimacy has emerged as a core concept in the study of twenty-first century policing. The purpose of this paper is to contribute new knowledge by examining the dynamics surrounding policing legitimacy in a high demand environment in Northern Canada.

A case study approach was used to explore the historical and contemporary factors that contributed to the challenges surrounding the police-First Nations relations, how these challenges affected public confidence in, and trust of, the police, and how the communities, police, and government took action to address these issues.

The findings reveal that it is possible for the police, First Nations, and government in high demand environments to implement reforms and to create the foundation for police-community collaboration. The development of relationships based on trust and a continuing dialogue is important components in building police legitimacy.

The study was conducted in one northern jurisdiction. The findings may apply to other jurisdictions where the police are involved in policing indigenous peoples.

The case study provides insight into the processes required to fundamentally alter the police-First Nations relations, to improve police service delivery in high demand environments, and to ensure that reforms are sustained.

Police legitimacy has been examined primarily in urban environments where police services have considerable capacities and there re-extensive networks of support from various agencies and organizations. The dynamics of policing in northern communities are appreciably different and present challenges as well as opportunities for improving police legitimacy.

The purpose of this study is to present evidence for a new model of change management designed to create a continuous integrated alignment between ongoing external organizational change and the proven internal environmental factors related to employee emotional wellness and workplace engagement that in turn directly impact organizational performance relationships within society and the human condition.

This research uses a quantitative approach based on both primary and secondary data. The secondary data includes an analysis of the 2018 Public Service Employee Survey of Canada (N = 163,121) conducted by the Government of Canada while the primary data involves a 2018 employee survey conducted by the author of both civilian and sworn police officer employees with the British Columbia division of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (N = 2,129) as well as a 2019 survey by the author of Corrections Officers at the Kent Maximum Security Institution in Agassiz, British Columbia (N = 174).

The key findings presented in this paper provide new evidence that correlations between key organizational workplace factors and employee wellness and performance are directly linked to the ability to address rapidly evolving external environmental factors; that traditional change management approaches are often insufficient to create a positive nexus between the results of environmental scanning and internal workplace environments; and that a new holistic model described in this paper can serve as a powerful diagnostic tool for change managers to identify how internal organizational structures, systems and climates can harmonize with external climates including societal expectations, economic and technological change and public policy.

The research findings pertain to about 100,000 employees of the Canadian public service and their readiness to manage well-established external environmental factors based on their rating of key internal environmental factors rated to workplace wellness and employee emotional health. Further research on the topic of external/internal organizational change adaptability is required specific to private sector organizations.

The practical implications of the change management matrix diagnostic model have been proven in earlier beta testing with a group of organizational executives. The presentation of the data in the matrix format resulted in quick and clear identification of major areas of required change. Those changes resulted in improved service delivery, public safety and public trust. A second test was conducted by MBA students successfully applying the matrix model to identify key areas requiring change in various case studies.

Society at present has many new expectations of organizational behavior and citizenship as rapid changes in external environments occur including changes to technology, corporate governance, communications, economic conditions, social values, demographics and public policy. A failure by organizations to ensure that their internal environments of corporate culture, structure, systems and the workplace climate are in sync with external change presents major threats to employee and social well-being and organizational success.

A unique model of organizational change management is presented that allows for successfully adapting internal organizational environments to the challenges of meeting rapidly advancing integrated external environmental forces. The result becomes an integrated ecosystem of external and internal environmental forces that offer adaptability to complex and evolving challenges ranging from social, economic, technological and climate change.

Purpose: To critically explore the implications of the August 2020, decision by Carleton University’s Institute for Criminology and Criminal Justice (ICCJ) to end to its intern program with the Ottawa police, the RCMP, Correctional Services Canada and Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre starting in Fall 2021.

Findings: In contrast to the negative reaction of Kevin Haggerty to this decision, the authors offer a strong but qualified endorsement of the ICCJ’s move to put an end to its internship with coercive institutions. The ICCJ strategically mobilized discourses of anti-Blackness and inclusion in response to the murder of George Floyd and the individual and communitarian traumas of Black, First Nations and Metis and students colour in its program. The ICCJ did not, however, substantively engage with the ways that criminology, sociology and the university are complicit through the legitimation practices and processes of ideology, professionalization and research in the ‘violence work’ of the state. The critique, ethics and logical conclusion of abolitionism are obfuscated.

Methodology/Approach: The authors explicitly draw on the Black Radical Tradition, Neo-Marxism and radical neo-Weberianism to sketch research possibilities that resist the university as a space of violence work, both in criminology and in the professionalization of policing.

Originality/Value: The debate between the ICCJ and Kevin Haggerty is an important opportunity to critically analyze the limits of critical criminology and lacunae of a debate about abolitionism, anti-criminology and university-state nexus as a site for the production of ideological and hardware violence work. Grounded in the Black Radical Tradition, neo-Marxism and radical neo-Weberianism, the authors sketch a framework for a research agenda toward the abolition of criminology.

This paper aims to explore some of the problems that arise in the execution of a joint force operation (JFO) involving various law enforcement agencies. Particular emphasis is placed on examining factors that impede inter‐agency cooperation and coordination in the context of a JFO targeting serious and major crimes.

This paper is informed by primary research that assessed the level of satisfaction of enforcement agencies involved in a Canadian‐based multi‐agency task force mandated to combat organized crime. Research for this study entailed a questionnaire survey of, and semi‐structured interviews with, operational and supervisory personnel assigned to the JFO, as well senior management within agencies participating in the JFO.

The research uncovered significant differences in the level of satisfaction with the execution of the JFO concept between members from the lead (federal) enforcement agency and those of other participating (municipal and provincial) agencies. The majority of survey participants overwhelmingly believe that the integrated, multi‐agency approach is an essential ingredient in the effectiveness of this JFO. However, among respondents from participating agencies there was a high rate of dissatisfaction with intelligence dissemination and sharing by the JFO, communication between the JFO and member agencies, and the contribution the JFO makes to the priorities and outputs of participating agencies in their own jurisdictions.

These problems strike at the very heart of a multi‐agency approach to major crimes enforcement and can be generalized to other jurisdictions and countries. Indeed, impediments to the timely sharing of criminal intelligence continue to constitute one of the most significant obstacles to inter‐agency cooperation and coordination, and, by extension, the optimal enforcement of organized crime and terrorism. The problems addressed in this study should be of concern to any manager of a multi‐agency task force, and similar research is recommended to unearth problems that may undermine inter‐agency cooperation and plague the effectiveness of a JFO.

Despite the increased prevalence and importance of multi‐agency operations in combating major and serious crimes, little research has been conducted into the issues and problems that obstruct inter‐agency cooperation within this context. This paper represents one attempt to fill this void.

The purpose of this paper is to review the Braidwood Commission's two reports on the use of TASER conducted energy weapons in Canada and the death of Robert Dziekanski to determine whether the Commission's conclusions and subsequent recommendations constitute sound evidence‐based public policy.

This study analyzes Commissioner Braidwood's eight findings from the first report regarding the medical implications of the use of TASER devices by comparing those findings to the body of scientific, medical, and technical literature on the physiological effects of TASER technology. Additionally, this study reviews the potential ramifications of the Commissioner's recommendations regarding the use of TASER devices in both reports.

Evidence from the existing literature does not support the Commission's findings regarding the medical risks of the use of TASER technology. Recommendations to restrict the use of TASER devices are unlikely to reduce arrest‐related deaths, but they are likely to result in increased injuries to officers and suspects. Other recommendations, including training standards, testing requirements, reporting requirements, medical assistance, and research and review, are consistent with other reviews on the use of TASER technology and are necessary and appropriate to restore public confidence in police use‐of‐force.

The Braidwood Commission recommendations have had an immediate impact on the policies of several police agencies in Canada, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, but this study is the first critically to review whether those recommendations constitute formulation of sound evidence‐based public policy.

Expert assessment of organized crime (OC) group capabilities is often the basis for national threat assessments; it is rare, however, for variations in collective expert opinions of OC success factors to be systematically evaluated. The purpose of this paper is to examine the differences in how 150 criminal intelligence experts from a variety of national and organizational backgrounds sort and organize perceived attributes for OC group success.

The paper uses the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Sleipnir framework as a foundation for a Q-sort survey regarding the characteristics of OC group success. The survey was delivered to over 150 criminal intelligence specialists at a national conference in 2011. Descriptive statistics, seemingly unrelated regression, and biplots reveal different aspects of survey responses.

Results show that perceptions of the ingredients for OC group success both vary by nationality and by analysts’ level within the hierarchy of the law enforcement structure (local, state, national). These differences are marked; particular characteristics are viewed as differentially important for the perceived success of OC groups. Furthermore, the results suggest that there are shared and structured differences in perceptions of OC group success characteristics.

The survey has identified distinct differences between the characteristics for OC group's success perceived by analysts in the USA, Canada, and beyond. Furthermore, the organizational level of the analyst (local, state, national) shapes the perceptions of success factors. It is possible variations identified merely reflect differentials in training and experience, i.e. different organizational perceptions of the same problem. That aside, the patterning of results seem likely to be based to some degree on external factors linked to OC group operations, and not just on individual characteristics of the surveyed intelligence professionals.

The current research raises a number of questions regarding the confidence that should be placed in OC group assessments. The research has highlighted areas of professional dissonance that were not apparent from the RCMP Sleipnir research alone. Causes of the dissonance in assessments, and connections of these variations to both intelligence analysts’ experience, training, and organizational ethos; and to OC group capabilities, seem deserving of additional attention.

Expert intelligence analyst interpretation of OC group capability is central to most national risk and threat assessments, yet the assessment processes themselves are rarely examined. This is a unique survey of over 150 intelligence personnel that highlights significant differences in perceptions of OC groups, differences that raise questions about how the authors evaluate the OC threat.

This chapter explores the evolution of the media framings of a corporate corruption scandal over time. Our analysis focuses on the evolution of media frames used by the English and French Press in the coverage of the corruption scandal involving SNC-Lavalin, a Quebec-based multinational engineering firm. We reveal how media coverage shifted from balanced and nuanced coverage of a complex phenomenon that facilitated debates on the appropriate consequences of corruption to a selective (re)construction of events to serve partisan agendas when the company’s legal plight was politicized. Our study contributes to the literature on media framings of corporate corruption by highlighting how the politicization of a corporate corruption scandal led to a dual climate of opinion across the English and French Press.

Purpose – To assess the potential significance of the gravesites of Canadian residential schools to criminology.

Methodology/Approach – The current state of criminological theory with respect to crimes against humanity committed by the state is assessed, particularly with reference to any insights it may offer on the gravesites.

Findings – Denunciation of crimes against humanity is the one facet of successful prosecutions that would have value for residential school survivors. The current state of criminological theory for crimes by the state against humanity is inadequate for analyzing how and why those crimes are committed by democratic countries. The capacity of prosecutions by themselves to address the underlying social problems that fuel human rights abuses is limited. There is a need to explore how multi-faceted resolutions can both provide accountability for crimes against humanity and pursue long-standing solutions against further human rights abuses.

Originality/Value – Gaps in criminology with respect to analyzing crimes against humanity committed by the state that are in need of further exploration and study are identified. There is a need to develop methodologies for analyzing crimes against humanity committed by democracies. Further study would have significance not only for Indigenous peoples, but also more broadly for racial minorities who are victimized in democracies. Denunciation of crimes against humanity is the only realistic benefit of prosecution. There is therefore a need to explore multi-faceted and enduring resolutions that are not limited to punishment.

Neo‐liberal policies have had a profound effect on the organization of policing in Canada by rationalizing provincial and federal initiatives that off‐load policing costs to municipal and regional councils. This paper aims to comparatively analyze the effect of these initiatives on service delivery for regional versus non‐regional police services.

Four measures were used to assess efficiency: per capita cost, cost per criminal code offence, number of officers per 100,000 population, and number of support staff per 100,000 population. Three measures were used to assess effectiveness: violent crime clearance rate, property crime clearance rate, and total criminal code clearance rate.

Analysis of the data reveals that, despite claims surrounding regionalization, regional police services are not demonstrably any more effective or efficient than non‐regional services.

Utilizes official crime data and police expenditure statistics. A national survey of police service delivery and citizen satisfaction is needed. Practical implications – These results can inform municipal and town council decisions about regional (or provincial contract) versus local police service provision. Originality/value – The first comprehensive comparative Canadian study on the efficiency and effectiveness of police regionalization. The article empirically challenges the purported relative effectiveness and efficiency of larger regional police services versus smaller non‐regional services in Canada.

The aim of this study was to determine the bona fide occupational requirements of general duty police work, and use this information to re‐validate a physical abilities test used in the police recruit selection process. A systematic random sample (n = 267) of general duty police officers completed two questionnaires: one concerning “average” duties, and one concerning the most physically demanding critical incident occurring in the 12 months prior. Of those completing the surveys, observational data were collected on every second officer, resulting in observational data collected for 121 officers, involving the recording of all physical activities and movement patterns observed throughout a ten hour shift. Data collected suggest there is a core of bona fide occupational requirements for general duty police work – walking, climbing stairs, manipulating objects, twisting/turning, pulling/pushing, running, bending, squatting and kneeling, and lifting and carrying. Many of these are involved in physical control of suspects, and can be tested using a well designed physical abilities test that simulates getting to the problem, controlling the problem, and removing the problem.