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The purpose of this paper is to examine how the group decision-making process unfolds over time in a transorganizational system (TS) planning change.

A longitudinal qualitative case study was designed to enable researchers to identify different stages in the group decision-making process.

The findings from this case study indicated that the group decision-making process in a TS planning change could be conceptualized to include five distinct steps: working in solitude; starting a dialogue; finding a common goal; suggesting decision alternatives; and deciding among alternatives. The group proceeded through these steps sequentially over time.

The paper offers TS practitioners a framework to follow when making group decisions within TSs.

The study develops a conceptual framework that describes how the group decision-making process unfolds over time in a TS planning change. This framework can be tested in other contexts and advance theory in both the TS and group decision-making areas.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to explore investigative decision-making processes in the context of major crimes as experienced by the law enforcement agents.

Episodic interviews were conducted with six agents from medium-sized police forces in the UK. Following the framework of naturalistic inquiry, qualitative content analysis took place with the assistance of Atlas.ti software. To ensure the validity of findings, the within method triangulation was preferred, by additionally analysing the interview transcripts with Alceste.

Findings from this study revealed a variety of internal factors at play, shaping the decision-making course into an act of balancing various desired goals. Detectives appear to assess a situation based on their experiences confirming that the naturalistic decision-making model may assist in understanding investigative decision-making.

Due to the busy schedule of law enforcement agents the number of participants was limited and availability difficult; therefore, this study can be thought of as a pilot study that will inspire researchers to use the same method for in-depth understanding of investigative decision-making.

Results captured the ill-defined goals in the police environment and provided ways of decreasing their impact on investigative decision-making thus should help detectives to understand their decision-making limitations and strengths.

This project will enhance the psychological understanding of investigative decision-making.

This project assists in understanding the psychological aspect of investigative decision-making during police duty and provides the opportunity to law enforcement agents to re-evaluate situations in order to improve the investigative decision-making process; while adds to existing literature.

The purpose of this paper is to compare two conflicting theoretical frameworks that predict or explain police decision making. Klinger's ecological theory proposes that an increased level of serious crimes in an area decreases the likelihood an officer will deal with order‐maintenance issues, while Fagan and Davies suggest an increase in low‐level disorder will increase order maintenance behavior of police officers.

Using a vignette research design, the authors examines factors that may contribute to police officers’ decision to make a traffic stop in four jurisdictions with varying levels of serious crime. Ordered logistic regression with robust standard errors was used in the analysis.

Analysis of the findings demonstrates that officers who work in higher crime areas are less likely to stop a vehicle, as described in the vignettes. Additional predictors of police decision to stop include vehicles driven by teenaged drivers and drivers who were speeding in a vehicle.

The current research is limited to an adequate but fairly small sample size (n=204), and research design that examines hypothetical scenarios of police decision making. Further data collection across different agencies with more officers and more variation in crime levels is necessary to extend the current findings.

This paper adds to the literature in two primary ways. First, it compares two competing theoretical claims to examine a highly discretionary form of police behavior and second, it uniquely uses a vignette research design to tap into an area of police behavior that is difficult to study (e.g. the decision not to stop).

The purpose of this paper is to systematically and comprehensively review the literature on procedural justice in policing, in the context of both police-citizen encounters and organizational decision making.

The current study reflects a narrative meta-review of procedural justice within policing generated through a systematic and exhaustive search of several academic databases (e.g. Criminal Justice Abstracts, Criminology: A SAGE Full Text Collection, EBSCO Host, PsychInfo, etc.).

The current meta-review identified 46 studies that matched the selection criteria. In this body of research, 28 studies analyzed procedural justices within the context of police-citizen encounters and 18 studies examined procedural justice within the context of police organization decision making. In general, the body of research yields two main findings. First, citizens’ perceptions of procedural justice during interactions with the police positively affect their views of police legitimacy, satisfaction with police services, satisfaction with interaction disposition, trust in the police, and confidence in the police. Second, the perception of police personnel of procedural justice in organizational decision making positively influences their views of decision outcomes, trust in the administration, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, desire to stay with the agency, and overall views of the agency.

The practical implications derived from this meta-review are twofold. First, police personnel engaged in police-citizen encounters reap many benefits when they treat citizens with fairness and maintain an encounter process that is marked by objectivity and equity. Second, police supervisors and administrators reap benefits when their subordinates perceive that there is procedural justice within the organization.

The state-of-the-art meta-review on procedural justice in policing is the first of its kind. This study comprehensively reviews the literature on two important bodies of policing research. This study will be useful for researchers who wish to further explore procedural justice issues in policing, and for police managers/administrators who wish to strengthen citizens’ perceptions of the police and their employees’ perceptions of the organization.

The aim of this study is to identify the dimensions used by police officers in Scotland to discriminate and categorise operational situations.

This article was based on two studies: study 1 was a card‐sorting task: 23 officers categorised a set of 19 typical police operational situations, analysed using multi‐dimensional scaling; study 2 was a judgement task: 112 police officers rated 20 situations (19 from study1) in terms of amount of time to make a decision, risk to self, risk to others, familiarity and stress. Frequency data and correlations were calculated.

Study 1 results showed that the two main dimensions used to discriminate between situations were “familiarity” and “risk to the officer”. Study 2 found that most situations required a decision in less than three minutes. Rank and experience were related to familiarity but not to the other judgements. The situations requiring the fastest decisions were also judged to be of higher risk and more unfamiliar. Risks to self and to others were highly correlated, and higher risk situations were judged as more stressful.

This preliminary study shows that knowledge elicitation techniques can be used to improve our understanding of police officers' knowledge and cognitive skills for operational policing.

Good situational judgements form the basis of effective operational decision‐making. Understanding how officers “read” situations and how this develops with expertise can provide valuable information for police training and critical incident management.

Police officers' cognitive skills have rarely been studied in relation to routine operational policing. This study is a first attempt to examine situational judgement skills.

This chapter explores the competing perspectives (i.e., the “community advocates” and the “community skeptics”) on the recent move toward community in an attempt to conceptualize what this “move” means for social control. An examination of the inclusiveness of community initiatives with a focus on community policing is used to demonstrate that the move toward community contains elements of both empowerment and responsibilization. In particular, the move toward community is paradoxical in that empowerment and responsibilization occurs simultaneously and to varying degrees within inclusive community initiatives. It is argued that a socially inclusive approach to community-police partnerships works to enhance society's web of social control. However, at the same time, community members hold the potential to work together to shape this web of social control.

Based on the theoretical viewpoints of criminal geography and environmental criminology, this research uses spatial multi-criteria decision-making methods. In the process of spatial decision-making and optimization of police resources, researchers fully consider the dynamic application of Geographic Information System (GIS) and the effects of spatial prevention and control.

Researchers use an integrated method combining Policing Geographic Information System (PGIS) and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA). On the one hand, police GIS has an excellent visual data analysis platform and integrated decision support system in data management, spatial analysis, data exploration and regression analysis. On the other hand, through the design of the indicator system, the quantification of indicators, the determination of weights, comprehensive evaluation and sensitivity analysis, MCDA can select the best plan from a large number of alternatives. When joining MCDA, the spatial dimension will bring the research results closer to the real world.

The study finds that the crime of burglary is affected to a certain extent by the distribution of police forces, the location of police units. Another important finding of this research is the correlation between more precise preventive measures and the crime of burglary.

From a practical point of view, this research would help advance the role of police units and law enforcement agencies in preventing burglary crimes and provide experience for the allocation of regional police resources.

The purpose of this paper is to apply focal concerns theory as a theoretical explanation for police officer decision making during a traffic stop that results in a consent search. The study uses coefficients testing to better examine the issue of racial profiling through the use of a race-specific model.

The data for this study come from traffic stops conducted by the Louisville Police Department between January 1 and December 31, 2002.

The results show that the three components of focal concerns theory can explain police officer decision making for consent searches. Yet, the components of focal concerns theory play a greater role in stops of Caucasian male drivers.

The data for this study are cross-sectional and self-reported from police officers.

This paper shows the utility of applying focal concerns theory as a theoretical explanation for police officer decision making on consent searches and how the effects of focal concerns vary depending on driver race.

The findings based on focal concerns theory can provide an opportunity for police officers or departments to explain what factors impact the decision making during consent searches.

This is the first study (to the researchers’ knowledge) that examines the racial effects of focal concerns on traffic stop consent searchers using coefficients testing.

The call to defund the police emerges globally from the voices of those who stand up to police brutality. Reallocating funds so that non-criminalising entities can meet community needs is crucial, but it does not address the problem in the system of policing. Further, the call for accountability cannot just emerge after a police-related death but must extend to the process of police work, beginning with police academy training. The author can identify and solve the most pressing issues by examining officer training as it is foundational to departmental work culture, organisational structure, and daily decision-making. Based on participant observation of academy lectures, scenario training, and informal conversations at two police academies in the Midwestern part of the United States, the author uncovers daily processes in which new recruits are socialised into their role as officers. Data reveal officers are taught a racialised decision-making logic that prioritises arrest, and perpetuates harm against its citizens. Training also devalues formal education, undermining knowledge that can expand officer thinking and critical self-reflection. Adhering to the goals of activist criminology, this chapter illuminates deeply rooted patterns of oppression and suggests reform aligned with critical social justice and anti-racist principles.