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Article
Publication date: 23 August 2011

Melchor C. de Guzman and Korni Swaroop Kumar

The purpose of this paper is to examine and propose an extension of Lundman's theory. Lundman presented a theoretical framework that predicted the evolution of policing from an…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine and propose an extension of Lundman's theory. Lundman presented a theoretical framework that predicted the evolution of policing from an informal to a formal type. Essentially, he stated that the types of policing in society were determined by the patterns of solidarity, élite interests, and crimes rates/images of disorder. This research argued that the theory could be extended not only to predict the type of policing but also the quality and quantity of policing. Particularly, this research explored the relationships of the élite interest and the rates/images of criminality to policing practices by examining evidence from the research literature about India.

Design/methodology/approach

Research studies about Indian police practices were extracted from the major western criminology, criminal justice, and policing journals. Using content analyses, two propositions were analyzed. The first proposition was that the evidence from the literature would suggest that threats of the disadvantaged and marginalized groups against the dominant élite groups would influence the quality of policing. The second proposition was that the evidence from the literature would show that rates and images of criminality would influence the quantity of policing.

Findings

Very little quantitative literature exists to examine the propositions using meta‐analysis. The existing policing literature from India that was examined indicated support for the propositions.

Research limitations/implications

As the literature was mostly anecdotal and normative, a more dynamic view of the relationships among the variables should be explored using the positivist approach.

Originality/value

Police characters are influenced by the social order. Systemic reforms often fail because of the obstacles presented by the social and political influences. Therefore, a larger social reform should be undertaken.

Details

Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, vol. 34 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-951X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 January 2019

Molly Miranda McCarthy, Louise E. Porter, Michael Townsley and Geoffrey P. Alpert

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether community-oriented policing (COP) influences rates of police use of force across communities, and whether the impact of COP varies…

3372

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether community-oriented policing (COP) influences rates of police use of force across communities, and whether the impact of COP varies according to the level of violent crime in communities.

Design/methodology/approach

A range of data sources including police use of force reports, online surveys of Officers-in-Charge and recorded crime data was used to examine the association between formal and informal community consultation and the frequency of police use of force, across 64 socially challenged communities in Australia.

Findings

Poisson multilevel modelling indicated no overall association between informal or formal community engagement and rates of police use of force. However, significant interaction terms for both informal and formal community consultation with violent crime rates indicated that higher levels of informal and formal community consultation were associated with lower rates of police use of force in communities with higher levels of violent crime. This relationship was not evident in low violent crime areas.

Research limitations/implications

Communities were purposively sampled to have a high propensity for police use of force, on the basis that they had high rates of violent crime, or high levels of socio-economic disadvantage, or both. This research should be replicated with a representative sample of communities.

Practical implications

The findings extend the potential benefits of COP to reducing the use of coercive policing tactics in high violent crime communities.

Originality/value

This study finds that COP can reduce the frequency of violent encounters between police and community members in high violent crime communities.

Details

Policing: An International Journal, vol. 42 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-951X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 December 1997

James Frank, Steven G. Brandl and R. Cory Watkins

States that proponents of community policing contend that implementation of this strategy should substantially change the nature of police work. Unfortunately, there remains only…

999

Abstract

States that proponents of community policing contend that implementation of this strategy should substantially change the nature of police work. Unfortunately, there remains only limited knowledge about what community policing officers actually do, and in fact, many researchers suggest that community policing is merely a new name for traditional forms of policing. Using observational data collected in a medium sized municipal police department, examines the work of community officers and compares it to the work of traditional “beat” officers. Discusses the activities of community officers in light of existing literature which has examined the workload of police officers.

Details

Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, vol. 20 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-951X

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Philosophy, Politics, and Austrian Economics
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83867-405-2

Article
Publication date: 1 January 1991

Stuart S. Nagel

Scarce resources can be allocated to budget categories byprocessing a set of goals to be achieved, alternative budget categoriesand relations between each budget category and each…

Abstract

Scarce resources can be allocated to budget categories by processing a set of goals to be achieved, alternative budget categories and relations between each budget category and each goal expressed in whatever terms with which the user is comfortable. A concrete example is given involving the allocating of a $500,000 budget to the police and the courts in the light of the goals of crime reduction and fair procedure in separating the innocent from the guilty. The police do better than the courts on crime reduction, but the courts do better than the police on fair procedure. Fair procedure, it is suggested, is considered more important than crime reduction. With that tentative assumption one can determine what proportion of the budget should be allocated to the police and what proportion to the courts. Initial allocations may be changed in the light of whatever constraints exist concerning minimum amounts that need to be allocated to the police or the courts. The initial allocations can also be subjected to a sensitivity analysis, to see how responsive they are to changes in the inputs concerning the relative importance of the goals and the nature of the relationships between each budget category and each goal.

Details

International Journal of Public Sector Management, vol. 4 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3558

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 August 2008

Mitchell B. Chamlin and Beth A. Sanders

The purpose of this article is to examine the causal relationship between crime rate measures (per 100,000 population) and police force size (full‐time employees per 100,000…

806

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to examine the causal relationship between crime rate measures (per 100,000 population) and police force size (full‐time employees per 100,000) within Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The data are annual, covering the years 1930 to 2004.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors specify and estimate ARIMA and error correction models to examine the bivariate association between police force strength and total, property, and personal crime rates for a large, mid‐western city.

Findings

Consistent with past research, the bivariate ARIMA analyses yield no evidence of a short‐term association between police force size and crime. However, the parameter estimates from error correction models indicate that changes in the level of crime have a longer‐term impact on police force strength.

Research limitations/implications

This study focuses on a single municipality. Hence, before one can generalize to cities as a whole, the findings need to be replicated in other jurisdictions. Nonetheless, the findings do suggest that municipalities are more responsive to changes in the level of crime than prior ARIMA analyses seemed to indicate.

Practical implications

The findings point to the conclusion that, when studying causal processes that operate over time, one must be careful not to remove long run information from the data in the attempt to control for the spurious effects of autocorrelation.

Originality/value

This paper represents the first attempt to apply error correction models to the examination of the longitudinal relationship between crime and police force size.

Details

Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, vol. 31 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-951X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 November 2010

Hoon Lee, Hyunseok Jang, Ilhong Yun, Hyeyoung Lim and David W. Tushaus

The purpose of this paper is to examine police use of force using individual, contextual, and police training factors, expanding prior research by including multiple police

6604

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine police use of force using individual, contextual, and police training factors, expanding prior research by including multiple police agencies in the sample, thus producing research findings that can be more easily generalized.

Design/methodology/approach

The data for the current study were derived from several primary sources: the Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR). Census, Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), and 1997 Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS).

Findings

Among individual level variables, age and arrestee's resistance were significant explanatory factors. Violent crime rate and unemployment rate were significant factors as the neighborhood contextual variables. Finally, in‐service training was a significant organizational‐level explanatory factor for levels of police use of force.

Originality/value

The paper bridges the gap in research between contextual factors and police use of force. It also deepens our understandings of the association between organizational factors and use of force by incorporating police training into the analytical model.

Details

Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, vol. 33 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-951X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 23 August 2013

Sefer Yilmaz

This paper aims to suggest that a police organization should prefer change management approaches and methods that would not only lead the organization towards an effective…

1960

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to suggest that a police organization should prefer change management approaches and methods that would not only lead the organization towards an effective position in preventing crime and fighting terrorism but also enable it to be in harmony with the organizational environment that answers both the expectations of the organization's employees and of the public.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a discussion paper.

Findings

The goal will be achieved through developing a new approach, namely the “Tailoring model”, setting out from the similarities between the change manager and a tailor, who designs and prepares a garment taking into consideration both the physical characteristics and personal preferences of the client with the environmental conditions where the suit will be worn.

Originality/value

The paper not only adds significant perspectives for police organization managers in conducting reform initiatives to adapt community policing successfully but also contributes to the literature by developing a model for adapting change management approaches on a specific field of police organizations.

Details

Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 26 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0953-4814

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 June 2003

Kenneth J. Novak, Brad W. Smith and James Frank

Shaping and monitoring the behavior of street‐level officers has continued to be a difficult task for police managers, and this task may prove to be more difficult as modern…

1116

Abstract

Shaping and monitoring the behavior of street‐level officers has continued to be a difficult task for police managers, and this task may prove to be more difficult as modern departments increasingly rely on proactive law enforcement for the delivery of police services. A popular method to shape police behavior is holding officers, departments and municipalities civilly liable for street‐level behavior. While it may be assumed fear of civil litigation influences the manner in which the police interact with the public, there is little empirical evidence for this claim; in fact, the frequent use of civil liability claims is poised to have an unanticipated side effect on contemporary policing. Officers may engage in fewer proactive law enforcement activities as a way to insulate them from litigation. This study examines whether experience with and attitudes toward civil liability influence the behavior of police officers, with particular attention on officer propensity to make arrests, use force, conduct searches and initiate encounters with suspects. Multivariate results indicate attitudes toward civil liability are weak and inconsistent predictors of behavior.

Details

Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, vol. 26 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-951X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 December 1998

Robert J. Kane

The present analysis examines police incident‐based activity in a public housing setting. Calls for service to the Philadelphia Housing Authority Police Department are described…

Abstract

The present analysis examines police incident‐based activity in a public housing setting. Calls for service to the Philadelphia Housing Authority Police Department are described by call types in order to identify requests for police services by residents of the Philadelphia Housing Authority. Findings from the current research are compared and contrasted to what has been discovered about incident‐based activity in municipal police departments. The analysis reveals that public housing police respond in about the same proportion as municipal police to calls for service related to public order and (in some cases) reactive law enforcement, but that differential service demands exist, which are identified and placed in the public housing context. Additionally, it is found that incident‐driven activity levels in public housing are much lower than criminological research on crime in public housing might suggest. Implications for future research are discussed.

Details

Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, vol. 21 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-951X

Keywords

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