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Posts in Criminology
Handbook on Policing in Central and Eastern Europe

Edited by Gorazd Meško, Charles B. Fields, Branko Lobnikar and Andrej Sotlar

Policing in Central and Eastern Europe has changed greatly since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Some Central and Eastern European countries are constituent members of the European Union, while others have been trying to harmonize with the EU and international requirements for a more democratic policing and developments in accordance with Western European and international policing standards, especially in regard to issues of legality and legitimacy. This timely volume examines developments in the last two decade to learn the nature of these changes within Central and Eastern Europe, and their impact on police culture, as well as on society as a whole.

For the twenty countries covered, this systematic work provides: short country-based information on police organization and social control, crime and disorder trends in the last 20 years with an on policing, police training and police educational systems, changes in policing in the last 20 years, police and the media, present trends in policing (public and private, multilateral, plural policing), policing urban and rural communities, recent research trends in research on policing – specificities of research on police and policing (researchers and the police, inclusion of police researchers in policy making and police practice) and future developments in policing.

Cham: Springer, 2013. 332p.

Handbook of Policing. Second Edition

By Tim Newburn

This new edition of the Handbook of Policing updates and expands the highly successful first edition, and now includes a completely new chapter on policing and forensics. It provides a comprehensive but highly readable overview of policing in the UK, and is an essential reference point combining the expertise of leading academic experts on policing and policing practitioners themselves.

Cullompton, Devon, UK: Willan Publishing, 1994. 904p.

The Killing Consensus: Police, Organized Crime, and The Regulation of Life and Death in Urban Brazil

By Graham Denyer Willis

Shows how in Sao Paulo, Brazil, killing and the arbitration of normal killing in the name of social order are actually conducted by two groups the police and organized crime both operating according to parallel logics of murder.

Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2015. 216p

Women's Police Stations: Gender, Violence, and Justice in Sao Paulo, Brazil

By Cecilia MacDowell Santos

Women's Police Stations examines the changing and complex relationship between women and the state, and the construction of gendered citizenship. These are police stations run exclusively by police women for women with the authority to investigate crimes against women, such as domestic violence, assault, and rape. S?o Paulo was the home of the first such police station, and there are now more than 300 women's police stations throughout Brazil. Cecilia MacDowell Santos examines the importance of this phenomenon in book form for the first time, looking at the dynamics of the relationship between women and the state as a consequence of a political regime as well as other factors, and exploring the notion of gendered citizenship.

New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. 246p.

Police and Society in Brazil

Edited by Vicente Riccio and Wesley G. Skogan

In Brazil, where crime is closely associated with social inequality and failure of the criminal justice system, the police are considered by most to be corrupt, inefficient, and violent, especially when occupying poor areas, and they lack the widespread legitimacy enjoyed by police forces in many nations in the northern hemisphere. This text covers hot-button issues like urban pacification squads, gangs, and drugs, as well as practical topics such as policy, dual civil and military models, and gender relations.

The latest volume in the renowned Advances in Police Theory and Practice Series, Police and Society in Brazil fills a gap in the English literature about policing in a nation that currently ranks sixth in number of homicides. It is a must-read for criminal justice practitioners, as well as students of international policing.

New York: Routledge, 2017. 206p.

Black Lives Matter's Effect on Police Lethal Use-of-Force

By Travis Campbell

A difference-in-differences design finds census places with Black Lives Matter protests experience a 15% to 20% decrease in police homicides over the ensuing five years, around 300 fewer deaths. The gap in lethal use-of-force between places with and without protests widens over these subsequent years and is most prominent when protests are large or frequent. This result holds for alternative specifications, estimators, police homicide datasets, and population screens; however, it does not hold if lethal use-of-force is normalized by violent crime or arrests. Protests also influence local police agencies, which may explain the reduction. Agencies with local protests become more likely to obtain body-cameras, expand community policing, receive a larger operating budget, and reduce the number of property crime-related arrests, but forgo some black officer employment and college education requirements.

Working paper, 2021. 65p.

Spillover Effects in Police Use of Police Use of Force

By Justin E. Holz, Roman G. Rivera, and Bocar A. Ba

We study the link between officer injuries-on-duty and the force used by their peers using a network of officers who, through a random lottery, began the police academy together. We find that peer injuries on-duty increase the probability of using force by 7%. The effect is concentrated in a narrow time window near the event and is not associated with significantly lower injury risk to the officer. Complaints of improper searches and failure to provide service also increase after peer injuries, suggesting that the increase in force might be driven by heightened risk aversion.

Philadelphia: Faculty Scholarship at Penn Law, 2019. 63p.

Existing and Ongoing Body Worn Camera Research: Knowledge Gaps and Opportunities A Research Agenda for the Laura and John Arnold Foundation (Phase I Report)

The U.S. Department of Justice has dedicated $20 million to fund the purchase of and technical assistance for BWCs. In 2013, the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics survey estimated that about a third of local law enforcement agencies had already adopted BWCs, and this percentage has likely greatly increased since then. At the same time, this rapid adoption of BWCs is occurring within a low information environment; researchers are only beginning to develop knowledge about the effects, both intentional and unintentional, of this technology.…what research questions and types of research should be pursued and why? How can we build a translatable knowledge base that is responsive and rigorous? An important first step in answering these questions is to identify not only existing knowledge but also current projects underway to see research gaps and opportunities. Equally important in building the evidence-base for BWCs is ensuring that research is responsive to the needs and concerns of police and citizens and that it also anticipates future uses and concerns of BWCs. Many types of research might be needed, including process and outcome evaluations, national surveys on prevalence and use, studies about the possible consequences of that implementation for both.

Fairfax, VA: George Mason University, Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy, 2015. 30p.

Realizing the Potential of Technology in Policing: A Multisite Study of the Social, Organizational, and Behavioral Aspects of Implementing Policing Technologies

By Christopher S. Koper, Cynthia Lum, James J. Willis, Dan J. Woods and Julie Hibdon

Using a multi-method approach in four large law enforcement agencies, both urban and suburban, this study examined many of the social, organizational, and behavioral aspects of implementing police technologies, so as to make recommendations for optimizing the use of technology in policing.

The study consisted of officer surveys, field observations, interviews, focus groups, and experimental and quasi-experimental evaluations. It assessed the uses and impacts of several information, analytical, surveillance, and forensic technologies, including information technology (IT), mobile computing, crime analysis, and license plate readers. The study determined how these technologies affected policing operations, management, agency structure, culture, efficiency, effectiveness, citizen interaction, and job satisfaction. Overall, the study found that technology’s effects on policing are complex and often contradictory.

The recommendations for police agencies include a broad base of participation in the planning and implementation process for a new technology, involving those who will be affected by the technology; providing pilot testing and refinement of early versions of a technology; ensuring appropriate training in the characteristics and uses of the technology; and having a systematic and continuous follow-up, in-service training, ongoing technical support, and adaptation to lessons learned.

Fairfax, VA: George Mason University, Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy 2016. 336p.

Evaluating the Impact of Officer Worn Body Cameras in the Phoenix Police Department

By Charles M. Katz, David E. Choate, Justin Ready and Lidia Nuno

Police Department $500,000 to purchase, deploy and evaluate police body worn cameras. The design and implementation of the project included the purchase of 56 BWC systems and deploying them in the Maryvale Precinct. The implementation of the BWC’s occurred in one of the two Maryvale Precinct squad areas (aka target area). All officers assigned to the target area were issued the equipment and were provided training in its use, maintenance, and related departmental policy. This evaluation was conducted to examine the effect of implementing police worn body cameras on complaints against the police and domestic violence case processing and outcomes.

Our analysis of the camera meta-data indicated that only 13.2 to 42.2 percent of incidents were recorded by and BWV camera. Domestic violence incidents were the most likely to be recorded (47.5%), followed by violent offenses (38.7), back-up (37%), status offenses (32.9%), and subject/vehicle stops (30.9%). ..Regardless, the officer worn body cameras were found to be beneficial to the officers and the court in a number of ways. … BWC did not appear, however, to have an impact on suspect behavior as measured through resisting arrest charges.Additionally, we examined the impact of body worn cameras on domestic violence case processing. Analysis of the data indicated that following the implementation of body cameras, cases were significantly more likely to be initiated, result in charges filed, and result in a guilty plea or guilt verdict.

Phoenix, AZ: Center for Violence Prevention & Community Safety, Arizona State University. 2014. 45p.

Guiding Principles On Use of Force

By Police Executive Research Forum

This report, the 30th in PERF’s Critical Issues in Policing series, represents the culmination of 18 months of research, field work, and national discussions on police use of force, especially in situations involving persons with mental illness and cases where subjects do not have firearms. The Critical Issues series has always focused on the most consequential emerging issues facing police agencies. In 2016, no issue is of greater consequence to the policing profession, or to the communities we serve, than the issue of police use of force. Beginning in the summer of 2014 and continuing over the past year and a half, our nation has seen a series of controversial cases, many of them captured on videos taken by the police, bystanders, or nearby security cameras. These events have sparked protests across the country and soul-searching among police executives. They have also threatened community-police relationships in many areas and have undermined trust. This report is grounded in four national conferences; a survey of police agencies on their training of officers on force issues; field research in police agencies in the United Kingdom and here at home; and interviews of police trainers and other personnel at all ranks, as well as experts in mental health

Washington, DC: Police Executive Research Forum, 2016. 136p.

The Fort Worth Police Department Expert Review Report

By The Expert Review Panel

The concerns identified in this report, though not unique, are serious and will require significant attention by the Department’s leadership and the City. There is important learning from the reforms being undertaken by other agencies for Fort Worth as it continues its efforts to operate according to its stated values and policies. The Department has many characteristics of a modern, professional police department. The leadership of the Department revised its policies and procedures in an effort to conform to nationally recognized best practices. In place are the basic structures, accountability committees, and review processes that one would expect in a department of its size. It has built a new academy and converted its training curriculum away from a military style boot camp to a scenario and classroom-based academic setting. Investments in technology have given managers the tools necessary to effectively and efficiently hold officers accountable to policy and law, as well as to identify and address gaps in policy, training, supervision, or widespread practices. Both the Department’s and the City’s leadership have taken steps to create legitimacy in all of Fort Worth’s communities. …. However, the actual experience of some members of the community, especially people of color and those in low-income neighborhoods, is very different. Daily encounters are far too often characterized by a “command and control” approach to policing that leads to avoidable uses of force and creates tension with residents who encounter police officers. The failure to use effective de-escalation techniques continues to be a significant issue that has increased mistrust. Accountability for aggressive police tactics is frequently anemic or ineffective and can place form over substance, missing both individual and systemic problems. Compounding the issue, the Panel heard reports from supervisors in the Department that middle managers were discouraged from raising issues unless there had been a complaint or a public outcry.

Fort Worth, TX: Expert Review Panel, 2022. 97p.

Policing around the Nation: Education, Philosophy, and Practice

By Christie Gardiner

This report describes the findings of a recent survey of a nationally-representative sample of local law enforcement agencies on the role of higher education in policing. The survey was completed by 958 agencies (116 which employ 250 or more officers and 842 which employ fewer than 250 officers) from every state in the nation. This is the largest and most comprehensive non-governmental study ever conducted on the role of higher education in policing on a national level. It is also the first study in forty years to provide substantial information about higher education policy and practice in small departments.

Washington, DC: Police Foundation, 2017. 76p.

Robust Policing and Defiant Identities: A Social Identity Study of the Greater Manchester Riots 2011.

By Dermot S. Barr

This thesis explores the intergroup dynamics during the development of rioting at two sites in Greater Manchester in 2011, Pendleton, in Salford, and Manchester city centre. The primary theoretical contribution of this thesis is to the Elaborated Social Identity Model of the development of conflict (ESIM, Drury & Reicher 2000). Through detailed analysis of how the intergroup dynamics informed the development of the two riots, and participants’ subjective experiences, the thesis confirms and extends the ESIM understandings of the social psychological processes involved in escalating intergroup conflict.

Manchester, UK: University of Manchester, 2018. 420p

Reducing Violence Without Police: A Review of Research Evidence

By Charles Branas, Shani Buggs, Jeffrey A. Butts, Anna Harvey, Erin M. Kerrison, Tracey Meares, Andrew V. Papachristos, John Pfaff, Alex R. Piquero, Joseph Richardson Jr., Caterina Gouvis Roman, and Daniel Webster

This report summarizes the collective judgment of an experienced group of researchers who were free to consider all evidence, unconstrained by the conventional priority given to randomized controlled trials (RCT). The most rigorous studies in the field of community violence are RCTs, but many focus on individual behaviors only, failing to account for the full social context giving rise to those behaviors, including social and economic inequities, institutionalized discrimination, and the racial and class biases of the justice system itself. To synthesize evidence in an inclusive manner, one must be aware of social context and prioritize solutions that help to address structural impediments while still providing immediate interventions to reduce violence. Unless research evidence is considered in this context, potentially effective strategies may be overlooked simply because they target community-level change rather than individual change, and for that reason are difficult to evaluate and the research literature to back them up is inevitably less rigorous and less prominent.

New York: John Jay College Research Advisory Group on Preventing and Reducing Community Violence, 2020. 42p.

Multiagency Programs with Police as a Partner for Reducing Radicalisation to Violence

By Lorraine Mazerolle,Adrian Cherney,Elizabeth Eggins,Lorelei Hine and Angela Higginson

Multiagency responses to reduce radicalisation often involve colla-borations between police, government, nongovernment, business and/or community organisations. The complexities of radicalisation suggest it is impossible for any single agency to address the problem alone. Police‐involved multiagency partner-ships may disrupt pathways from radicalisation to violence by addressing multiple risk factors in a coordinated manner.Objectives:1. Synthesise evidence on the effectiveness of police‐involved multiagency interventions on radicalisation or multiagency collaboration. Qualitatively synthesise information abouthowthe intervention works (me-chanisms), interventioncontext(moderators), implementation factors and eco-nomic considerations.Search Methods:Terrorism‐related terms were used to search the Global PolicingDatabase, terrorism/counterterrorism websites and repositories, and relevantjournals for published and unpublished evaluations conducted 2002–2018. Thesearch was conducted November 2019. Expert consultation, reference harvestingand forward citation searching was conducted November 2020.Selection Criteria:Eligible studies needed to report an intervention where policepartnered with at least one other agency and explicitly aimed to address terrorism,violent extremism or radicalisation. Objective 1 eligible outcomes included violentextremism, radicalisation and/or terrorism, and multiagency collaboration. Only impact evaluations using experimental or robust quasi‐experimental designs were eligible. Objective 2 placed no limits on outcomes. Studies needed to report anempirical assessment of an eligible intervention and provide data on mechanisms,moderators, implementation or economic considerations.Data Collection and Analysis:The search identified 7384 records. Systematic screening-identified 181 studies, of which five were eligible for Objective 1 and 26 for Objective 2.

Oslo, Norway: Campbell Collaborative, 2021. 88p.

Technology-based and Digital Interventions for Intimate Partner Violence: A systematic review and meta-analysis

By Chuka Emezue, Jo-Ana D. Chase,Tipparat Udmuangpia and Tina L. Bloom

A growing body of research shows the promise and efficacy of technology-based or digital interventions in improving the health and well-being of survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV). In addition, mental health comorbidities such as anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and depression occur three to five times more frequently in survivors of IPV than non-survivors, making these comorbidities prominent targets of technology-based interventions. Still, research on the long-term effectiveness of these interventions in reducing IPV victimization and adverse mental health effects is emergent. The significant increase in the number of trials studying technology-based therapies on IPV-related outcomes has allowed us to quantify the effectiveness of such interventions for mental health and victimization outcomes in survivors. This meta-analysis and systematic review provide critical insight from several randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the overall short and long-term impact of technology-based interventions on the health and well-being of female IPV survivors.

Oslo, Norway: Campbell Collaborative, 2022. 69p.

Problem-oriented Policing for Reducing Crime and Disorder: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis

By Joshua C. Hinkle, David Weisburd, Cody W. Telep and Kevin Petersen

POP is a proactive policing strategy developed by Herman Goldstein, who argued that the standard reactive model of policing was ineffective as it was overly focused on the means of policing (number of arrests, average response time, etc.) rather than the end goal of reducing crime and enhancing community safety. He suggested that police could be more effective if they were more proactive and researched root causes of crime, and developed tailor-made responses. This review assesses the effectiveness of POP interventions – defined as those programs which generally followed the tenets of the SARA model (scanning, analysis, response, assessment) developed by Spelman and Eck – in reducing crime and disorder and fear of crime, and improving citizen perceptions of police.

This update of a Campbell systematic review assesses the effectiveness of problem-oriented policing in reducing crime and disorder. It summarises the evidence from 34 studies: 28 from the USA, five from the UK and one from Canada.

Oslo, Norway: Campbell Collaboration, 2020. 86p.

Policemen of the Tsar: Local Police in an Age of Upheaval

By Robert J. Abbott

Founded by Peter the Great in 1718, Russia’s police were key instruments of tsarist power. In the reign of Alexander II (1855-1881), local police forces took on new importance. The liberation of 23 million serfs from landlord control, growing fear of crime, and the terrorist violence of the closing years challenged law enforcement with new tasks that made worse what was already a staggering burden. This book describes the regime’s decades-long struggle to reform and strengthen the police. The author reviews the local police’s role and performance in the mid-nineteenth century and the implications of the largely unsuccessful effort to transform them. From a longer-term perspective, the study considers how the police’s systemic weaknesses undermined tsarist rule, impeded a range of liberalizing reforms, perpetuated reliance on the military to maintain law and order, and gave rise to vigilante justice. While its primary focus is on European Russia, the analysis also covers much of the imperial periphery, discussing the police systems in the Baltic Provinces, Congress Poland, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Siberia.

Budapest–Vienna–New York: Central European University Press, 2022. 235p.

Body-Worn Cameras in Policing: Benefits and Costs

By Morgan C. Williams Jr., Nathan Weil, Elizabeth A. Rasich, Jens Ludwig, Hye Chang, and Sophia Egrari

Body-worn cameras (BWCs) are an increasingly common tool for police oversight, accountability, and transparency, yet there remains uncertainty about their impacts on policing outcomes. This paper reviews what we know about the benefits of BWCs and how those benefits compare to the costs of this new technology. We make two contributions relative to existing research. First, we update prior meta-analyses of studies of the impacts of BWCs on policing outcomes to incorporate the most recent, and largest, studies carried out to date in this literature. This additional information provides additional support for the idea that cameras may affect a number of policing outcomes that are important from a social welfare perspective, particularly police use of force. Second, we carry out a benefit-cost analysis of BWCs, as financial barriers are often cited as a key impediment to adoption by police departments. Our baseline estimate for the benefit-cost ratio of BWCs is 4.95. Perhaps as much as one-quarter of the estimated benefits accrue to government budgets directly, which suggests the possibility that this technology could, from the narrow perspective of government budgets, even pay for itself.

Chicago: Becker Friedman Institute, University of Chicago, 2021. 32p.