Search results

The major purpose of this paper is the review of the administration and operation of four on‐scene victim assistance units within law enforcement agencies in one Canadian and three US cities. The primary purpose is to learn how these units operate and the extent to which there are accepted by the officers involved. An additional purpose is learn how many departments nationally had such units.

The basic methodology includes telephone interviews with key personnel in each unit, an on‐site examination of the Denver, Colorado unit, and a brief survey of large city police departments to learn the extent of on‐scene units in major US cities.

A review of the administration and operation of each unit reveals that each unit is well managed, integrated into the department's structure, and staffed with paid staff who are members of the department and volunteers. Key to the success of each unit is extensive training of victim specialists and a clear understanding between specialists and police that the officers at the scene are in charge. The findings clearly confirm that such units are well received by officers at all levels. The survey findings indicate that relatively few departments have on‐scene victim assistance units, although most do have some program to address victims' issues.

While there is an extensive literature on victim assistance generally, little has been written about the need for, and operation of, on‐scene victim assistance units that are part of police departments. This article contributes to knowledge in this area and suggests that such units can be a valuable asset to departments.

It is argued that the service-dominant (S-D) view of the value co-creation concept is mainly of a macro nature and is difficult to examine empirically. In this regard, marketing research using the micro-foundation theory proposes some conceptual models, through which relationships (involving value co-creation) at a micro/meso level may be studied. The purpose of this paper is to add to such exchanges regarding value co-creation and conceptualize the link of embeddedness of an actor (in a service-ecosystem) to their engagement in the value co-creation process.

The authors draw on the S-D logic and the value co-creation concept and make propositions with regard to two micro-foundational concepts: actor engagement and actor embeddedness.

The authors show that actor embeddedness can be considered as an antecedent of actor engagement, which leads to value co-creation at a macro level and perceived value in context at the micro level.

The authors fill some gaps in literature with regard to S-D logic and value co-creation by combining two micro-foundational concepts: actor engagement and actor embeddedness and propose how through these, some macro-level outcomes such as value co-creation and resource integration may be determined.