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1 – 10 of 156Sanja Kutnjak Ivković, Marijana Kotlaja, Yang Liu, Peter Neyroud, Irena Cajner Mraović, Krunoslav Borovec and Jon Maskály
We explore the relationship between urbanicity and police officers’ perceptions of changes in their reactive and proactive work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Abstract
Purpose
We explore the relationship between urbanicity and police officers’ perceptions of changes in their reactive and proactive work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the 2021 survey of 1,262 Croatian police offices (436 police officers from a large urban community, 471 police officers from small towns and 155 from rural communities), we examine the perceived changes in their reactive activities (e.g. responses to the calls for service, arrests for minor crimes) and proactive activities (e.g. community policing activities, directed patrols) during the peak month of the pandemic compared to before the pandemic.
Findings
The majority of police officers in the study, regardless of the size of the community where they lived, reported no changes before and during the pandemic in reactive and proactive activities. Police officers from urban communities and small towns were more likely to note an increase in domestic violence calls for service. Police officers from urban communities were also more likely than the respondents from small towns and rural communities to report an increase in the responses to the disturbances of public order. Finally, police officers from small communities were most likely to observe a change in the frequency of traffic stops during the pandemic.
Originality/value
This study is the first one to explore the differences in perceptions of COVID-19-related changes in reactive and proactive police activities in a centralized police system.
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Leah Cleghorn, Casandra Harry and Chantelle Cummings
In Trinidad and Tobago, there is significant reliance on the traditional and centralized police service to engage in crime response and suppression in urban and rural areas. In…
Abstract
Purpose
In Trinidad and Tobago, there is significant reliance on the traditional and centralized police service to engage in crime response and suppression in urban and rural areas. In this regard, policing scholarship has largely focused on the impact of policing within urban areas, producing a gap in knowledge on what policing rural spaces entails. Despite this, there is some understanding that policing rural spaces can engender diverse challenges and calls for variability in policing strategies. The current study examines the lived experiences of police officers stationed in rural communities in Trinidad and Tobago.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the descriptive phenomenological approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eleven police officers stationed in rural communities throughout the country.
Findings
Interviewees narrated the importance of community dynamics and community-specific needs in shaping their roles and functions when operating in and serving these communities. Three major themes were identified: (1) network activity in policing; (2) engagement in localistic and service-oriented approaches and (3) community-specific challenges.
Originality/value
The findings suggest that while there is an emphasis on traditional law enforcement responsibilities, in the rural context, police responsibilities and duties are constantly being redefined, reframed and broadened to meet the contextual community and geographic-specific diversities and demands.
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This paper aims to explore the tripart relationship between British police officers, Local Authority representatives and community members based on a Midlands neighbourhood case…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the tripart relationship between British police officers, Local Authority representatives and community members based on a Midlands neighbourhood case study. It focuses on experiences of the strengths and challenges with working towards a common purpose of community safety and resilience building.
Design/methodology/approach
Data was collected in 2019 prior to enforced COVID lockdown restrictions following Staffordshire University ethical approval. An inductive qualitative methods approach of semi-structured individual and group interviews was used with community members (N = 30) and professionals (N = 15), using a purposive and snowball sample. A steering group with academic, police and Local Authority representation co-designed the study and identified the first tier of participants.
Findings
Community members and professionals valued tripart working and perceived communication, visibility, longevity and trust as key to addressing localised community safety issues. Challenges were raised around communication modes and frequency, cultural barriers to accessing information and inadequate resources and responses to issues. Environmental crime was a high priority for community members, along with tackling drug-related crime and diverting youth disorder, which concurred with police concern. However, the anti-terrorism agenda was a pre-occupation for the Local Authority, and school concerns included modern slavery crime.
Originality/value
When state involvement and investment in neighbourhoods decline, community member activism enthusiasm for neighbourhood improvement reduces, contrasting with government expectations. Community members are committed partnership workers who require the state to visibly and demonstrably engage. Faith in state actors can be restored when professionals are consistently present, communicate and follow up on actions.
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Thalia Anthony, Juanita Sherwood, Harry Blagg and Kieran Tranter
Kenyth Alves de Freitas, Barbara Bechler Flynn, Ely Laureano Paiva and Amrou Awaysheh
This paper investigates how companies become resilient to supply chain (SC) piracy through using transactional and relational governance mechanisms to develop strategies effective…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigates how companies become resilient to supply chain (SC) piracy through using transactional and relational governance mechanisms to develop strategies effective in environments characterized by weak regulative institutions and mistrust.
Design/methodology/approach
This study developed case studies of nine large manufacturers with operations in Brazil.
Findings
The companies employed transactional and relational governance mechanisms to learn from past incidents, anticipate, and respond to the threat of SC piracy, becoming more resilient over time. Transactional governance mechanisms reduced risk triggers through technology, while relational governance mechanisms enhanced trust between SC and non-SC members, allowing the members to build social capital.
Practical implications
The authors provide practical guidance for managers and policymakers in developing risk management strategies based on technology and collaboration to reduce SC piracy in environments characterized by mistrust.
Social implications
SC piracy is a serious problem for global operations and SCs in many low-cost manufacturing locations. Besides the cost and service level consequences, the authors also highlight worker safety consequences, including the potential for kidnapping, psychological trauma, injuries, and death.
Originality/value
This study focuses on the little-researched topic of SC piracy. The authors examine the negative effects of a weak institutional environment, while most prior research focuses on the positive effects of a strong institutional environment. The authors position transactional and relational governance mechanisms as essential elements of SC risk resilience.
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Felix Preshanth Santhiapillai and R.M. Chandima Ratnayake
This paper aims to propose a methodology to support public managers' adaptation of the Hoshin Kanri (HK) strategy deployment approach in the context of lean thinking (LT)…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to propose a methodology to support public managers' adaptation of the Hoshin Kanri (HK) strategy deployment approach in the context of lean thinking (LT), considering strategic alignment and consensus reaching when prioritizing a vital few of the organization's continuous improvement (CI) projects.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology incorporates the A3 problem-solving report into the HK approach to identify and outline CI projects. The priority and deployment of the projects are weighted by a composite score for impact and innovation using the Delphi method. The proposed methodology was applied in one Norwegian police district as part of action research.
Findings
The obtained results indicate that the proposed methodology provides an intuitive and systematic approach to weigh the importance and ensure alignment of CI projects with the organization's strategy and goals. Consequently, this minimizes the possibility of strategy deployment priorities being weighted by decision bias and siloed decision-making.
Originality/value
The literature on strategy deployment in the context of LT in police services is significantly limited and this study aids in fixing this gap. The adapted HK approach can support the implementation of LT as an integral part of a comprehensive strategic management system, thereby enabling knowledge sharing and exploration of the extendibility of implemented best practices and improvement ideas to problems arising across the organization.
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William Pelfrey and Steven Keener
This research study evaluates an innovative community-oriented policing program, designed to enhance officer accountability, thereby informing the scholarly community and agency…
Abstract
Purpose
This research study evaluates an innovative community-oriented policing program, designed to enhance officer accountability, thereby informing the scholarly community and agency decision-makers.
Design/methodology/approach
A multi-method approach was employed, leveraging pre- and post-implementation data collection phases. Data were collected via surveys of officers and focus groups with officers, as well as interviews with agency decision-makers.
Findings
While officers were originally resistant to the STOP Card program, postimplementation perceptions, evinced through both survey and focus group data, were supportive. Agency administrators were consistently supportive of the initiative.
Originality/value
This is a novel program, implemented by a university police agency set in an urban area. The utility of this and similar efforts may influence agency initiatives.
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Thalia Anthony, Juanita Sherwood, Harry Blagg and Kieran Tranter