By James D. Sewell

Since 2000, law enforcement executives have become increasingly aware of the impact of occupational stress on the safety and wellness of their sworn and civilian employees. As a consequence, agencies have devoted increased attention to enhanced leadership practices, a greater emphasis on physical fitness, and the expansion of programs that support the psychological and emotional health of their personnel.

Included among the latter efforts have been a proliferation of employee assistance programs; increased use of in-house and contract psychologists, especially in assessing fitness for duty; expanded use of agency chaplains; and better paraprofessional support for their personnel through the development and use of peer support teams.

The idea of peer support dates back to the early 1970s with efforts within agencies—such as those in Boston, New York, and Chicago—to deal with alcoholism in their police ranks. Citing the successes of groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Police Officer Ed Donovan, who had been attending AA meetings to deal with his own abuse issues, formed the Boston Police Stress Program. Donovan and his colleagues were able to convince the Boston Police Commissioner to implement what we would now call a peer support program for police officers and their families, perhaps the first of its kind in the nation.

The peer support concept holds that police employees are more likely to discuss psychological and emotional issues with someone who understands their job and the types of stress they may undergo than with a psychological professional who brings expertise but no such understanding to the conversation. This approach at ensuring the emotional health of law enforcement personnel assumes that a basic level of training is necessary—and empathy is particularly critical—in allowing the paraprofessional to provide necessary support and to be able to listen, assess, and (as necessary and appropriate) refer a troubled colleague to proper and professional assistance. As Kamena and his co-authors have noted:

The mission of a peer support program is to provide emotional, social, and practical support to police personnel during times of personal or professional crisis. It may also offer peer-to-peer assistance in anticipating and addressing other potential challenges or difficulties. (Kamena et al. 2011, 80)

The literature discussing the use of peer support programs to effectively deal with the stress of police employees points to the strengths and weaknesses of such programs. In an early work on using peer supporters, Finn and Tomz (1998) identified benefits and weaknesses of peer supporters. Among the positives, they suggest that peer support personnel

• provide instant credibility and ability to empathize;

• assist fellow employees who are reluctant to talk with mental health professionals;

• recommend the program to other employees by attesting credibly to their confidentiality and concern;

• provide immediate assistance due to accessibility;

• detect incipient problems because of their daily contact with coworkers;

• are less expensive than professionals. Yet, they caution, peer support members

• cannot provide the professional care that licensed mental health practitioners can;

• may try to offer full-scale counseling that they are not equipped to provide;

• may be rejected by employees who want to talk only with a professional counselor;

• may be avoided by employees because of the fear that problems will not be kept confidential;

• require time, effort, and patience to screen, train, and supervise;

• may expose themselves and the department to legal liability.

Recognizing that peer support programs offer an effective complement to the provision of professional mental health services in contemporary law enforcement agencies, this paper will examine three areas:

1. The elements of an effective peer support program

2. Confidentiality in such a program

3. The activities of five existing peer support programs

Washington, DC: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. 2021. 88p.

By HM Inspector of Constabulary and HM Inspector of Fire & Rescue Services

This report focuses on the police response to antisocial behaviour. It also highlights examples of positive practice and joint working between the police and other organisations to address antisocial behaviour.

We drew on evidence from academic research, national guidance and findings from:

• our police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy (PEEL) programme;

• force management statements (self-assessments that chief constables and their London equivalents prepare and give to us each year);

• a request for promising practice to all forces by the College of Policing; and publicly available data.

HM Inspector of Constabulary and HM Inspector of Fire & Rescue Services 2024. 60p.

By Mia Karisa Dawson, Asia Ivey and Shani Buggs

Community violence—defined as unsanctioned violence between unrelated individuals in public places—has devastating physical, psychological, and emotional consequences on individuals, families, and communities. Immense investments in policing and incarceration in the United States have neither prevented community violence nor systemically served those who have been impacted by it, instead often inflicting further harm. However, the logics that uphold policing and incarceration as suitable or preventative responses to community violence are deeply ingrained in societal discourse, limiting our ability to respond differently. In this perspective, we draw from interviews with leading voices in the field of outreach-based community violence intervention and prevention to consider alternative ways to address community violence. We begin by demonstrating that policing and incarceration are distinguished by practices of retribution, isolation, and counterinsurgency that are counterproductive to the prevention of community violence. Then, we identify alternative practices of outreach-based community violence intervention and prevention that include (1) fostering safety nets through relationships among individuals, families, and neighborhoods, (2) fighting poverty and increasing access to resources, and (3) building political capacity among organizations to transform the broader systems in which they are embedded. They also include accountability practices that are preventative and responsive to the needs of those who are harmed. We conclude that elevating the language, narratives, and values of outreach-based community violence intervention and prevention can transform our responses to violence, interrupt cycles of harm, and foster safer communities

Front Public Health 2023 Apr 17:11:1143516. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1143516. eCollection 2023.

Edited by Korel Goymen and Robin Lewis

Public policy is a contested sphere. From politics to civil society, bureaucracy to academia, many professions have staked a claim in it since the latter half of the 20th century. For most of our known history, government was the sole proprietor of public policy. Until the civil rights movements that rattled the world in the 1960s, very little outside influence played a role in government’s policies on the greater good of the public. The few nongovernmental organizations that had succeeded in affecting public policy in the first half of the 20th century were professional lobby groups, cartels, or unions. These organizations were mostly confined to the Western world and could be counted on one hand. In fact, since these institutions were formed to look after the interests of particular groups, their impact on public policymaking was dubious at best.

However, the tumultuous 60s brought the curtain down on the post-war stability of the 1950s, and with that the invisible barrier between the public and government cracked. With the breakout of the Vietnam War, the civil rights movements, the fight for gender equality and women’s suffrage, the OPEC crisis and global economic volatility, people all over the world mobilized and staked their claim on policymaking in various shapes and forms. Some used mass protests, some organized around public advocacy groups, and a few built professional public policy research institutes. Especially from the mid-60s to the mid-80s, advocacy groups funded and initiated by the public, monitoring agencies, and think tanks mushroomed in North America and Western Europe. This epoch also corresponded to the increased access granted to public advocates, civil rights representatives and attorneys, as well as outside policy experts by governments mostly in the aforementioned territories.

By the turn of the last millennium, public policy was no longer confined to the realm of civil society; it had evolved far beyond the perception of a ragtag, concerned citizens’ movement, which would assemble in world capitals whenever the interests of their constituencies were threatened or ignored. On the contrary, they had become much more institutionalized. Many had opened permanent representations in power capitals such as Washington, New York, London, Berlin, Brussels, and even in Ankara and Istanbul toward the end of the millennium. More importantly, they constructed their policy advocacy on sound academic research and legal bases and often confronted governments with irrefutable, fact-based, powerful alternative policy options.

With the advent of globalization around this time, two important occurrences changed public policymaking once and for all. First, governance as a concept has become more fragmented. The international and local levels of governance for the first time came to the limelight as actors to be reckoned with. On certain occasions, central governments were bypassed; local and international governmental actors were able to engage one another freely. Second, the concept of “public” left the national confines and assumed a more global definition that rallied concerned citizens of different states around common global causes. With the coming of the EU as a supranational entity and its power over national competences, the influence of the UN programs on regimes in non-Western part of the world, and the increasing number of multinational corporations, multilateral agreements as well as free trade zones turned policymaking into a more sophisticated endeavor. This development eventually tampered with the traditional definition of policymaking, as well as the fundamental principles, depth, and breadth of governance.

Therefore, there has been a general shift in the understanding of public policymaking in recent years. The changing tenets of public policy also renders academics, policy specialists, and decision-makers more flexibility in determining the actors, instruments, and influence of public policymaking. The current sophistication of this concept requires thinking about government beyond its primary characteristics as an administration to decide on and look after the best interests of the public. For most academicians, policymaking has evolved to a different level now, and interregional relations has an important impact on this change.

Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF)

By: Joseph L. Schofer, Saeed D. Barbat, Rachel A. Carpenter, Grady T. Carrick, JANICE DANIEL, PAUL P. JOVANIS, FRANZ LOEWENHERZ, JEEVANJOT SINGH, BETTY SMOOT-MADISON, ROBERT C. WUNDERLICH, C. Y. DAVID YANG, and JINGZHEN (GINGER) YANG

The United States faces a road safety crisis: the fatal crash rate per mile traveled has been climbing for the past decade, and crashes involving vulnerable road users—pedestrians, bicyclists, and others who share the roads with motor vehicles—have grown the fastest. Minority communities have been disproportionally impacted. These developments are alarming, and especially so when considering that road safety has been improving throughout many other high-income nations. To assess the effectiveness of road safety research and its implementation, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) asked the Transportation Research Board (TRB) to assemble an expert committee to study the process for transitioning evidence-based road safety research into practice and to recommend process improvements.

The study committee expanded its interpretation of the statement of task to include the entire road safety research and development process, consisting of research project selection and funding as well as the conduct of research, the development and dissemination of guidance for practitioners, and the incorporation of feedback from the field to inform future research. The committee explored in detail the science of research translation in other fields.

In recent years, concern for the safety of all road users has been growing within transportation and public health agencies. The direction of road management is changing to be more inclusive of matters such as environment, energy consumption, and safety, albeit slowly because of the challenge of adapting a well-developed institutional framework and associated professional practices. For example, there is a trend toward balancing the needs of motorists, other road users, and communities.

This report uncovers important gaps and shortcomings in this process and identifies opportunities to address them. These include making road safety a true priority for action by highway agencies consistent with the Safe System Approach and its multi-pronged pursuit of zero road fatalities; breaking down silos between parallel research and action programs to build an integrated road safety strategy; and pursuing these ends through the collaboration of the broad, multi-disciplinary community of experts in such fields as roadway and vehicle engineering, public health and medicine, human behavior studies, and law enforcement. This will require a coordinated, disciplined, interagency effort by multiple champions working together to promote a renewed transportation safety culture across highway agencies.

Previous studies have addressed the road safety concerns central to this report, in some cases making similar recommendations for action. Those recommendations, by and large, were not pursued even as the country’s long-term gains in road safety waned and since collapsed into the current crisis. The coordinated set of actions recommended in this report is intended to achieve more impactful outcomes that can be sustained over time, as recent trends in highway injuries and fatalities can no longer be dismissed as temporary setbacks when their human, social, and economic costs have become so high. This committee, and its predecessors conclude that, with the right changes in strategy, well targeted and evidence-based research can be translated into practice and actions to make meaningful advances in U.S. road safety.

The following recommendations are offered with these opportunities in mind. All are directed to the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT), urging the exercise of leadership in motivating, coordinating, and sponsoring—in effect, “rallying”—the involvement of the many parties integral to the road safety practice and research enterprises and to the implementation of research results in the field.

The National Academies Press 2024

By Mehmet Murat PAYAM

It is obvious that tourism is a critical revenue source for many countries and visitors are affected by the perception of safety and security at the destinations. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, tourism continues to be one of the world’s largest sectors. In addition to this, Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report considers safety and security to be a pillar of tourism competitiveness with ‘reliability of police services’ a central anchor. As any safety or security mishap can destroy a tourism destination’s reputation, the safety and security of tourists should be a matter of national security. In this context, it is believed that tourism police help create the destination image. For this purpose, the Tourist Police Unit should be set up in order to provide safety and security to tourists. Any investments in tourism oriented policing will be an investment in the economic future of the destination and the country. If a country wants to increase its competitiveness in the tourism industry, tourist police system must be introduced as soon as possible. The objective then is to become one of the top five most visited safe and secure destinations in the world. There should be consensus on the necessity to introduce a separate Tourism Police Unit at least in major cities such as Antalya, İstanbul and Konya. In short this paper provides an overview of tourism security and concentrates on the world of Tourism Oriented Policing and Protection services (TOPPs).

Conference: I. Eurasia International Tourism Congress: Current Issues, Trends, and Indicators (EITOC-2015)

By Md. Ohidujjaman and ARM Mehrab Ali

Problem-oriented policing is considered to be a very effective strategy to prevent crimes, which prefers proactive strategies over-reactive responses. Understanding the importance of problem-oriented policing, Dhaka District Police has already taken some initiatives for preventing offenses in the first place. The paper has given a look at those initiatives taken by Dhaka district police and wanted to explore whether those initiatives can decrease crimes and minimize the tendency of criminal behaviors. Our result shows that the number of case filed under Dhaka District Police has a decreasing pattern during 2011-15, especially cases concerning violence against women and children have reduced significantly. It is clear that the problem-oriented proactive policing worked as one of the catalysts to reduce the number of cases filed. This result is consistent with the evidence from similar other studies and existing theory, which predicts that problem-oriented proactive policing will reduce cases and have a positive impact on the community level. However, further research with extensive primary data collection is necessary to measure the impact of the proactive policing practice of the Dhaka District Police.

IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS); Volume 22, Issue 9, Ver. 7 (September. 2017) PP 01-09

By RAJIV RANJAN

A comprehensive foray into criminology of investment fraud in Canada is an elusive evaluation given the efficacy of the disparate current system to combat it. Surely, no authoritative source provides a measure of the size of the problem or its scope. This warrants an all-rounded initiative within the securities industry, and between the industry, government regulators, and policy thinkers to develop a robust what can be termed as problem-oriented policing (POP) to address tactical, strategic and ideological aspects of security fraud to protect investor rights, structure efficient and effective compliance management of the dynamic of ‘unclean’ and illicit money catalyzed through commingling with licit capital market, advancing cause of crime and terrorism. POP identifies pattern within a typology of securities fraud through analysis; developing a response; implementing the response; and monitoring and evaluating the program.

Part I walks through the conceptual dimensions of fraud under Criminal Code and Securities Act fraud provisions, types and the extant structures to combat them, besides introducing notions and principles of POP as improvising the manner to combat this. Part-II discusses the scope of problem, the almost-symbiotic equation between organized crimes and securities fraud with malignant consequences for investor protection and money-laundering crimes. Part-III takes a resume of categories of enforcement cases chronicled in the 2014 Enforcement Report of Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) as a barometer as to what ails the securities market in Canada having monstrous impact economically, socially, and politically. Part-IV underscores criticality of enforcement to shape up a robust securities regulatory framework. In conclusion, I have flagged recommendations stating that POP is a must to have a coordinated approach to this problem of securities fraud with probably, an optimal national fraud enforcement agency workable through a dynamic data-base based on psychometric analysis of demographic, psychological and behavioral attributes of investors with lateral inputs from other programs like FINTRAC system, investors’ tools, deterrence, whistleblower program, multi-agency co-operation and international enforcement co-operation.

August 19, 2015, 28 pages

By John S. Hollywood, Dulani Woods, Samuel Peterson, Michael J. D. Vermeer, Brian A. Jackson

Deficiencies in the quality and interoperability of law enforcement data have been identified as major problems that hamper law enforcement decisionmaking and operations. Data governance and data management (DG/DM) can address these issues by improving the quality and shareability of data. On behalf of the National Institute of Justice, the Police Executive Research Forum and RAND convened a panel to identify the most-pressing needs to leverage DG/DM knowledge to enable major improvements in the quality, availability, and interoperability of law enforcement data.

The panelists identified five themes: improving law enforcement's DG/DM capabilities; improving protections on law enforcement data; improving community participation in data decisionmaking; developing novel data and processes to support broad, multiagency conceptions of community safety; and improving the value of traditional law enforcement data. The panelists rated the problems and potential solutions they described to identify a set of high-priority needs for improving the quality and integrity of community safety data for law enforcement agencies and all other agencies and groups involved in the community safety enterprise. These needs and supporting context are described in this report. The highest-priority theme emerging from the workshop was using DG/DM to improve community safety data protections in various ways, including developing guidelines, core processes, training, and guidance for agencies to work with vendors and improving community participation in data decisionmaking.

RAND - Sep. 11, 2024

By: Dustin A. Richardson, Jeremy D. Barnum, Meagan E. Cahill, Dulani Woods, Kevin D. Lucey, Michael J. D. Vermeer, Brian A. Jackson

Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs) are at a higher risk of being victimized, arrested, and charged with a crime (The Arc, undated-a). They are also more likely to serve longer prison sentences than individuals without IDDs (The Arc, undated-a). Despite their overrepresentation, individuals with IDDs who are involved in the criminal justice system are often overlooked or neglected, and the body of research on this topic is lacking (The Arc, undated-a; Wilkerson, Lopez-Wright, and Davis, 2022). As gatekeepers of the criminal justice system, police officers are often the first point of contact for individuals with IDDs, yet rarely are they trained on how to respond to this population effectively (Melendrez et al., undated; Watson, Phan, and Compton, 2022; Watson, Compton, and Pope, 2019). Consequently, justice system professionals may have limited experience with or insufficient knowledge about IDDs, which can lead to the “misidentification of disability, a heightened risk of false confessions, inaccurate assumptions about competency and credibility, inappropriate placement in institutions, and the unknowing waivers of rights” (The Arc, undated-a). In the absence of proper training, officers are forced to rely on traditional approaches that do not account for the unique needs of those with IDDs. Therefore, it is critical to identify ways in which the law enforcement response to persons with IDDs can be improved.

This report documents an effort to do just that as part of the Priority Criminal Justice Needs Initiative, a multiyear collaboration to develop expert-identified research and policy needs on issues affecting the criminal justice system. On behalf of the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), RAND and the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) convened a workshop to address the law enforcement response to persons with IDDs. The purpose of this workshop was to inform a research agenda for NIJ and other stakeholders to discover and implement novel law enforcement responses to individuals with IDDs. The meeting occurred on July 12 and 13, 2023, in Washington, D.C., at the NIJ offices within the Office of Justice Programs. PERF staff consulted the research literature and identified practitioners, academics, and individuals associated with advocacy organizations to serve as participants. PERF also received input from federal partners and law enforcement agencies (LEAs) attempting to improve their response to the IDD community, taking care to include perspectives from various geographic regions.

RAND - Sep 23, 2024

By Amy J. Halsted, Max L. Bromley and John K. Cochran

Numerous prior studies have explored the level of job satisfaction of police officers. Some research has also focused on officer perceptions of community policing as practiced in municipal police agencies. There has been little empirical research on either topic conducted in sheriffs' offices throughout the US. The present study examines the relative effects of work orientation on levels of job satisfaction among deputy sheriffs in an urban sheriff's office which practices community policing on an agency-wide basis. Our findings suggest service-oriented deputies are somewhat more satisfied with their jobs than their crime control-oriented counterparts.

PIJPSM 23,1 82

By: Joshua C. Hinkle, David Weisburd, Christine Famega, and Justin Ready

Background: Hot spots policing is one of the most influential police innovations, with a strong body of experimental research showing it to be effective in reducing crime and disorder. However, most studies have been conducted in major cities, and we thus know little about whether it is effective in smaller cities that account for a majority of police agencies. The lack of experimental studies in smaller cities is likely partly due to challenges of designing statistically powerful tests in such contexts.

Objectives: The current paper explores the challenges of statistical power and “noise” resulting from low base rates of crime in smaller cities and provides suggestions for future evaluations to overcome these limitations.

Research Design: Crime data from a randomized, experimental evaluation of broken windows policing in hot spots are used to illustrate the challenges that low base rates present for evaluating hot spots police innovations in smaller cities.

Results: Analyses show that low base rates make it difficult to detect treatment effects. Very large effect sizes would be required to reach sufficient power, and random fluctuations around low base rates make detecting treatment effects difficult irrespective of power by masking differences between treatment and control groups.

Conclusions: Low base rates present strong challenges to researchers attempting to evaluate hot spots policing in smaller cities. As such, base rates must be taken directly into account when designing experimental evaluations. The paper offers suggestions to researchers who attempt to expand the examination of hot spots policing and other microplace-based interventions to smaller jurisdictions.

By Dr Colin Rogers

The Problem-Oriented Policing (or Partnership) approach is one that is used to underpin the current neighbourhood policing team approach in England and Wales. It relies upon a scientific approach which identifies problems and provides ethical and appropriate responses using the concepts of the Problem Analysis Triangle (PAT) and the SARA model. However, this approach has been in vogue since the mid and late 1990s and this article compares data from a current police service with that published in 1998. Comparison is made between this information to provide an indication of just how far the police have progressed in their use, application, and understanding of the Problem-Oriented Partnership approach.

Police Journal, PJ 83 4 (295), 1 December 2010

By: Auzeen Shariati and Rob T. Guerette

Traditional criminology has focused on the criminal nature of offenders as a means for reducing crime. In contrast, situational crime prevention (SCP) is a process of multiple stages, and seeks to understand where, when, and how crime incidents occur. Similar to epidemiology, SCP has sought to alter environments which host crime behavior in order to make them less suitable for offending. Based on an analysis of the incidence and distribution of a given crime problem, the SCP approach then identifies risk factors, formulates and implements appropriate solutions, and evaluates the results. In this way, the individual “propensity” of offenders, like individual diagnoses, becomes less important, at least as a means of prevention. This chapter discusses in more detail the situational crime prevention approach. Following a brief description of its historical development, the theoretical foundations are presented. An overview of the process and types of prevention techniques are then outlined followed by a discussion on the existing evidence of effectiveness.

December 2017 DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-44124-5_22

By: John E. Eck and Tamara D. Madensen

Problem-oriented Policing is a theory of policing, but does not contain a theory of problems. Situational crime prevention is a theory of problems, but does not contain a theory of an implementing institution. The paper shows why without Situational Crime Prevention, problem-oriented policing would have difficulty working. An analogy is drawn to lichens and it is asserted that any useful theory of policing must be like a lichen.

January 2012, DOI: 10.4324/9780203154403

By: Tahir Maqsood, Sajjad A. Madani, Bahadar Nawab, Shakir Ullah, Ingrid Nyborg

Community-oriented policing (COP) as a model has found widespread acceptance throughout the world both in developed and developing countries. Similarly, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have been embraced by many developed countries to augment COP initiatives. However, very little is known about the application of ICTs in COP in developing countries, particularly South Asia. In this article, we review the current ICT-based COP initiatives by focusing on some of the selected projects from developed countries and South Asia. The paper has used COP in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province of Pakistan as a case. While meaningful insights can be derived through learning from the experiences of developed countries, we highlight some major issues and challenges that are likely to be faced while implementing ICT based COP in South Asia. Moreover, we provide an overview of some exciting opportunities that arise as a result of embracing ICTs to enhance COP efforts for building trusting community-police relations and hence improving human security in the region.

Journal of Human Security | 2019 | Volume 15 | Issue 2 | Pages 21–40

By: Mark Ungar and Enrique Desmond Arias

In every part of Latin America, unprecedented levels of violence have even led to questions about the underlying quality of democratic rule. In response to this crisis, governments have enacted an array of policies, ranging from repressive mano dura crackdowns and adoption of new technology to the reform of criminal justice systems. But one of the most popular approaches to reform efforts has been community-oriented policing (COP), a strategy popularised in the USA in the 1990s, which is based on close collaboration between the police and the neighbourhood residents. COP focuses on the causes of crime
rather than simply responsding to it by empowering citizens, building police
community partnerships, improving social services and using better crime statistics. Street patrols, policy councils and youth services are some of the many COP programmes being adopted in Latin America and other regions. As other authors emphasise, this reform also entails restructuring of police forces to make them more flexible and responsive. Skogan and Hartnett (1997), for example, stress decentralisation of authority and foot patrols to facilitate citizen-police communications and public participation in setting police priorities and developing tactics.

The results of these efforts, however, have been very uneven. Some programmes have shown considerable success while others have faced many difficulties and either been defunded or left to expire of their own accord. Why do some projects succeed where others fail? More importantly, what can Latin American policy-makers learn from past experiences in the region in order to develop more effective and successful policies for the future?

This edition of Policing and Society takes a step towards answering these questions by bringing together security officials, practitioners and scholars to offer detailed analyses of community reform efforts at the local, regional and national levels throughout Latin America. The articles cover programmes in Colombia, Chile, Venezuela, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Mexico and Brazil. By detailing the challenges facing reform and how to overcome them, these cases provide an important compendium about community policing in Latin America that will help practitioners and policy-makers build effective durable programmes. This introduction highlights critical issues that the individual articles develop further. Those challenges, as contributors discuss, fall along two main dimensions: support for community policing by key actors, from Presidents to neighbourhood residents, and a continuity of that support through the entire process of community policing creation, from initial proposals to programme evaluation.

Policing & Society, Vol. 22, No. 1, March 2012, 1
13

By: David Weisburd, Stephen D. Mastrofski, Ann Marie McNally, Rosann Greenspan, James J. Willis

This paper provides the first national description of CompStat programs, considered in the framework of strategic problem solving. Relying on a survey of American police departments conducted by the Police Foundation, we examine the diffusion of CompStat programs and the nature of CompStat models throughout the Untied States. We also assess the penetration of models of strategic problem solving more generally into American policing. Our findings document a process of “diffusion of innovation” of CompStat-like programs in larger police agencies that follows a rapid pace. At the same time, our data suggest that many elements of strategic problem solving had begun to be implemented more widely across American police agencies before the emergence of CompStat as a programmatic entity, and that such elements have neem adopted broadly even by departments that have not formally adopted a CompStat program.

CompStat holds out the promise of allowing police agenices to adopt innovative technologies and problem-solving techniques while empowering traditional polcie organizational structures. However, our analysis suggests that at this stage, what most characterizes CompStat department and distinguishes them from othrs is the development of the control element of this reform. This leads us to question whether the rapid rise of CompStat in American police agencies can be interpreted more as an effort to maintain and reinforce the “bureaucratic” or “paramilitary” model of police organization (that has been under attack by scholars for most of the last two decades) than as an attempt to truly reform models of American policing.

Volume 2, Number 3, 2003, PP 421-456

Interviewed by the Garda Síochána Professor Ursula Kilkelly and Dr Louise Forde Centre for Children’s Rights and Family Law School of Law University College Cork

Children, defined as those under 18 years (s.3 of the Children Act 2001), have particular legal rights in light of their age, needs, and circumstances. The particular characteristics of children who come into conflict with the law require that special protections are in place to ensure their rights are protected and the integrity of the justice process is preserved. For children, whose age and stage of development makes them inherently vulnerable, being questioned by the police can be an intimidating and at times terrifying experience. They can also face particular challenges in exercising their rights. For these reasons, Irish and international law – including the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child – sets out the legal protections to which children are entitled in such situations. To date, however, no Irish research has explored how children enjoy these rights in practice.

This study carried out by the School of Law at University College Cork, funded by the Policing Authority, explores the experiences of children questioned by members of the Garda Síochána (the police). The experiences of children, members of the Garda Síochána, lawyers representing children, and parents and other adults who support children were documented and set against the benchmarks of national and international law and contextualised within the international research and literature. As the first of its kind in Ireland, this study offers an important and original insight into children’s experiences of their rights during Garda Síochána questioning and, in consultation with key stakeholders, it offers recommendations for how these rights might be better protected.

Aims and Methodology

The aim of the research was to understand children’s experiences of their rights in Irish and international law during Garda Síochána questioning. In order to achieve this, semi-structured interviews were carried out with four distinct groups:

1. children with experience of being interviewed by members of the Garda Síochána;

2. members of the Garda Síochána with experience of interviewing children;

3. lawyers with experience of representing children in criminal matters; and

4. parents/guardians or other adults present during Garda Síochána interviews.

The methodology comprised desk-based and qualitative research. The desk-based research involved an analysis of the relevant research and national and international law on police questioning of children. This analysis established the benchmarks against which the empirical research findings were measured. Following this, work was undertaken to identify and review the relevant international literature on police questioning of children, which helped to situate the Irish experience in the international context.

The qualitative research undertaken as part of this study involved a series of short, individual, semistructured interviews with four groups of participants; children, members of the Garda Síochána, lawyers and parents. Twenty children, aged between 14-18 years, took part. In co-operation with the Garda Research Unit, nine members of the Garda Síochána participated; four lawyers (all solicitors), and three parents and adults acting in a supportive role for children were also interviewed. In total, 36 interviews were conducted.

Summary of Key Learning

The study presents a snapshot of children’s experiences of their rights during Garda Síochána questioning, from the perspective of children, members of the Garda Síochána, lawyers and parents/carers. It contains detailed findings regarding children’s experiences of their rights when questioned by members of the Garda Síochána. There is strong alignment between the issues raised by this study and those evident in the international literature.

Notwithstanding the small scale of the research, it is clear from this study that the process of interviewing children in police custody is complex. Key concerns are: access to information and legal advice, children’s treatment during questioning, the nature of the environment, children’s capacity and understanding and the role of parents and others who support children during the process. This study highlights some good practice and also highlights areas where practice could be improved.

The following key points of learning emerge from this study: 

• Children are particularly vulnerable when questioned by members of the Garda Síochána, and as a result, they have a right to be treated in an age-appropriate way, using language and communication that is adapted and child-friendly; 

• Some children had negative experiences of being detained in Garda custody prior to or during interviews. The absence of suitable facilities in Garda Síochána stations was a concern, highlighting that priority needs to be given to improving facilities; 

• While information is sometimes provided in a child-friendly way, further consideration should be given to how explanations are provided to children; tools and resources should be developed to aid communication and understanding; 

• Children’s exercise of their right to legal advice and assistance is a concern in light of their ability to waive their right to a lawyer; 

• Although parents play an important role in supporting children during questioning, legal and practical issues arise where the parent or guardian is not available to attend the Garda Síochána station. Further statutory guidance would help to bring clarity to this issue;

• Children need additional support to enable them to understand the information they are given and the questions asked of them before, during and after Garda interview. Special measures should be taken in the case of children with additional vulnerabilities or learning difficulties; 

• The experience of the child being interviewed can vary depending on the approach of the individual member of the Garda Síochána. Measures should be adopted to promote consistent good practice. Allegations of ill-treatment by members of the Garda Síochána, including both physical and verbal abuse, are a matter of serious concern which require urgent attention; and 

• All professionals who work with children – both members of the Garda Síochána and lawyers who advise children – require additional specialist training.

Two overarching conclusions are worthy of further research and analysis. The first relates to consistency. In particular, it is evident from all research participants that each child’s experience of their rights depends on multiple factors, including the approach of individual members of the Garda Síochána and the child’s personal circumstances. The second overarching conclusion is that on a range of issues relevant to the child’s experience of the police interview, there is a divergence between the child’s experience of the interview process and that of the adult participant. This highlights the importance of taking account of the views of children both in research and in the reform of policy and practice.

This study highlighted examples of good practice amongst members of the Garda Síochána including their specialist expertise and experience. At the same time, the research suggests that improvements are needed to ensure that the rights of the child are fully protected during police questioning. Addressing these concerns requires the clear articulation of these standards in law and policy, while at the same time ensuring that members of the Garda Síochána are equipped with the tools, resources and training they need to ensure those standards are consistently met.

Cork, Ireland: Centre for Children’s Rights and Family Law School of Law University College Cork, 2020. 67p

By Louise Forde and Ursula Kilkelly

Under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, children in conflict with the law are entitled to dignity and respect for their rights within a youth justice system adapted to their age and circumstances. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child recognises the necessity of ensuring that children’s rights are protected during the criminal process, emphasising the importance of legal advice, information and support to enable their participation in the process. Police questioning can be a particularly difficult experience for children, given their vulnerability and immaturity and yet it can have very serious consequences for children. This article examines the rights of the child during police questioning, from the perspective of children themselves. Presenting the findings of a study of children’s experiences of their rights when being questioned by the police (An Garda Síochána) in Ireland, the article highlights the need to adapt police questioning processes to the needs and circumstances of the child, while emphasising the powerful case for greater involvement of children in research about criminal justice and policing so that their experiences of their rights can be better understood.

Criminology & Criminal Justice Volume 24, Issue 3, July 2024, Pages 648-669