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China's Use Of Nontraditional Strategic Landpower In Asia, Sheena Chestnut Greitens

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This article argues that the People’s Republic of China uses its police and internal security forces as a nontraditional means of projecting strategic Landpower in the Indo-Pacific and Central Asia. Instead of limiting analysis of China’s power projection to military forces, this article employs new data on Chinese police engagements abroad to fill a gap in our understanding of the operating environment in Asia. Policymakers will gain an understanding of how these activities enhance China’s presence, partnerships, and influence across the region to inform the development of recommendations for a more effective response.

Parameters Spring 2024, Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

From The Editor In Chief, Antulio J. Echevarria Ii

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Welcome to the Spring 2024 issue of Parameters. Readers will note a few differences in the formatting for this issue: we are now using endnotes instead of footnotes to facilitate switching from pdf to html via Adobe's Liquid App; also, readers will be able to click on each endnote number to view the full endnote and then switch back to the text to resume reading. Please drop us a note to let us know how you like the changes. More are coming!

Institutional Legacy As Trigger Of Armed Violence Against The Police: Manifestations And The Underlying Factors In African Countries, Usman A. Ojedokun, Muazu I. Mijinyawa

The Journal of Social Encounters

Armed violence targeting police personnel and police facilities has conspicuously emerged as one of the dominant challenges confronting many police agencies in Africa. Consequently, police officers in African countries are increasingly becoming vulnerable to violent deaths and attacks in the line of duty. In view of this prevailing situation, this paper critically interrogates the nexus between institutional legacy and armed attacks targeting the police in African countries. Tom Tyler’s theory of procedural justice was employed as the conceptual framework for the discourse (Tyler,1990; 2003). The paper argues that the negative labelling that is generally associated with policing and police image …

The Spatial Risk Of Assault On Police Officers In Toronto, Ontario, Stephanie C. Pongracz

MA Research Paper

Since September 12^th, 2022, nine police officers in Canada have been fatally assaulted in the line of duty. These officer deaths raise important questions concerning the nature of risks police face on duty, as well as the ways we can better understand those risks. Utilizing a Risk Terrain Modelling (RTM) approach, this study examined the risk of assault to police officers in Toronto, Ontario using Assault to Peace Officer data from January 1^st, 2022, to December 31^st, 2022. This study revealed that the risk of assault to police varies by the physical features present …

Causes Of Police Officer Career Apprehension Following George Floyd, Michael T. Rossler, Charles Scheer

Faculty Publications - Criminal Justice

Police workforce retention has become a persistent managerial concern. The public response to recent events of police misconduct have fueled the perception that police may be seeking other career paths following the murder of George Floyd in 2020. Despite growing evidence, current research has been unable to ascertain what conditions may prompt officers to voluntarily separate from police work following Floyd’s murder, or whether the impact varies across demographic groups. Drawing upon a survey of over 600 police officers across eight police departments in the United States, the current inquiry examines what percent of officers reported reconsidering their career following …

Segmenting The Thin Blue Line: An Ethnographic Content Analysis Of Myth And Ritual In Contemporary U.S. Police Film, Alexandra Szmutko

Doctoral Dissertations

The continued ills of mass incarceration, combined with the more recent rash of police-caused killings of people of color, make it clear that the U.S. criminal justice system is experiencing a period of profound crisis related to policing. This dissertation aims to interrogate the cultural ideologies supporting the existing policing enterprise in the U.S. To do this, the study first examines the foundational myths that shape prevailing cultural perceptions of the police and their social role. Ethnographic content analysis methodology is then utilized to identify both the presence and the subversion of these myths and their attendant rituals in a …

Unf@Cking People’S Problems: A Theory Of Policing, Laura Huey, Stephen Johnston

Sociology Publications

One of the problems that has plagued policing researchers over the past few decades – ourselves included -- is the interminable question of ‘what do police do?’ Some ideas, tasks, roles, institutions and other social creations are easy to define. Policing has not been one of those. In part, it’s because it’s not only a descriptive problem, it’s also a normative one. Once you start to address the question of what do police do, then you also have to wrestle with the much meatier issue of ‘what do we want police to do’? In this paper, we exercise our theory …

Alternative Approaches To Police Interventions When Responding To Mental Health Crises Incidents, Karen Rivera Apolinar

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Purpose: This study explored mental health workers perspectives on alternative approaches in responding to mental health crises.

The study was carried out in Southern California, in collaboration with mental health workers who currently work or previously have worked in mental health crisis. It adopted a post-positivists paradigm and data was gathered through individual interviews with mental health workers who have direct experience with mental health crisis response in the community and with the police. The twenty participants in the study were men and women working in the mental health field, and of various backgrounds, licensures, and ages.

The study found …

Police And Their Relationship With The Public, Kevin Hebri

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This research essay aims to understand some of the social themes relevant to issues present between the public and the police institutions of the United States. Existing literature about this topic has noted the decentralized nature of law enforcement in the United States and the differences in policies and procedures used by different police departments and agencies. The existing literature has also cited the importance of police officer discretion and the situational factors that contribute to their decision-making. Occupational stress, and characteristics of a civilian involved in a police interaction, influence the decision-making process for police officers. This research is …

Individual Differences In Police Officers’ Decision Styles In Order Maintenance Policing, Damarrah Elisheba Jameson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Day-to-day police work tends to be in order maintenance policing. These encounters necessitate officer discretion in decision responses to manage them. These decision responses reflect an officer’s decision style which precedes the encounter and drives subsequent decision making to manage them. However, little is known about officer-level decision style. For example, whether an officer has a rational, intuitive, dependent, avoidant, or spontaneous decision style (Scott& Bruce, 1995). Police training in any format often lacks attention to decision styles. As such, an officer’s decision style is most likely associated with demographics (e.g., age, gender) and occupational self-efficacy – a reflection of …

Shared Responsibility: Conceptualising How A Public Health Approach May Enhance Police Response To Missing Persons, Katie Gambier-Ross, Joe Apps Dr, Sarah Wayland Dr

International Journal of Missing Persons

When a person is reported missing there are substantial costs for the individual, their family and society. This paper conceptualises the experience of missing persons episodes, through a public health approach. This then allows police, stakeholders and the community to engage in discussions about who is vulnerable to going missing by intervening in a way that addresses risk. Historically, a missing persons episode involves an absence, typically followed by police involvement in consultation with next of kin with establishing the whereabouts of the missing person being the primary focus. Yet, the risk factors of going missing relate more to the …

A New Era Of Policing: Uncovering Ways Officers Believe Community Relations Can Be Restored, Bradi Kai Kooyman

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The present study qualitatively investigated law enforcement officers’ opinions on creating more positive relationships with community members and how news media can play a role in deteriorating community attitudes and perceptions of law enforcement officers. A total of six participants were selected to participate in a forty-five-minute interview. Participants were asked questions regarding positive and negative factors in their relationship with their communities, local and national law enforcement portrayals in news media, reforms needed within law enforcement, beliefs toward community policing, and factors that lead to success in their relationships with citizens. This study discovered that building trust, implementing community …

The Relationship Between Trust In Local Police And Perceived Police Legitimacy Among Koreans In The United States, Zermeen Siddigi

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The following study will determine whether Korean Americans’ trust in police positively correlates with perceptions of police legitimacy. This project uses the data collected from surveys given to Korean Americans in the Atlanta, Georgia area. It takes into consideration 128 complete responses collected in September 2022 from Korean Americans, regardless of their immigration status. A regression analysis will be conducted to analyze the relationship between trust in police and perceived police legitimacy among Korean residents while controlling for the demographic factors such as age and gender of the participants. It also controls for other relevant factors including English proficiency, annual …

Training On Law Enforcement's Response To Interpersonal Violence, Genna Hilt

Undergraduate Distinction Papers

The current study examines how police officers in various settings perceive interpersonal violence response training as well as how they respond to vignettes detailing hypothetical scenarios of sexual assault, domestic violence, and stalking. A common criticism of experience with police following a traumatic occurrence of sexual or interpersonal violence is inappropriate attitude and conduct on behalf of law enforcement agents. Trauma and victim centered training may improve police responding within this field; however, the training received is variable (Campbell et al., 2019; Kinney et al., 2007). In this study, ten participants answered interview or survey items detailing the extent of …

The Los Angeles Police Department After The End Of The Consent Decree, Daniela Corona

CMC Senior Theses

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) entered into a consent decree with the Department of Justice in 2001. The LAPD was tasked with reforming a range of behaviors and practices including racial profiling, excessive use of force and corruption. Previous studies suggest that after the implementation of the consent decree the LAPD was able to reduce their uses of force and improve public perception of their department while still maintaining an effective level of policing activity and preventing increases in the crime rate. This paper seeks to revisit the LAPD after the end of the consent decree and assess if …

The Spatial Concentration, Stability, And Specialization Of Mental Health Calls For Service: Evidence In Support Of Proactive, Place-Based Interventions, Jacek Koziarski

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

For many decades the police have been the de facto responders to persons with perceived mental illness (PwPMI). However, having the police in this role has come with negative repercussions for PwPMI, such as disproportionately experiencing criminalization and use of force. In recognizing these issues, the police—and more recently, the community—have developed responses that either seek to improve interactions between the police and PwPMI or remove the police from this role altogether. However, in either case, these efforts are reactive in nature, responding to crises that arguably could have been prevented had a timelier intervention taken place. Further, evidence on …

Promoting Women Police Officers: Does Exam Format Matter?, Jessica Huff, Natalie Todak

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Despite decades of calls to diversify policing, women continue to be underrepresented in the field, and this problem compounds when looking up the ranks. One explanation is that police organizations are “gendered” in that their structures, processes, and cultures support men’s career advancement over women’s. To investigate this possibility, we analyzed survey results from 685 women police officers to examine whether career advancement is influenced by the composition of an agency’s promotional process. Most agencies used a combination of testing components, with written exams being the most common, but also a heavy reliance on interviews, assessment centers, and career portfolios. …

The Achilles Heel Of Police Body-Worn Cameras: Understanding The Factors That Influence Variation In Body-Worn Camera Activation, Charles M. Katz, Jessica Huff

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

While body-worn cameras (BWCs) are increasingly becoming commonplace in police organizations, researchers and policymakers still know little about their implementation in the field and the factors related to their actual use. Using data collected from 146,601 incidents in Phoenix, Arizona, the present study examines the prevalence and correlates of BWC activation. In doing so, we examine the impact of incident-level factors, officer characteristics, neighborhood context, and changes in BWC activation policy on whether an officer who is assigned to wear a BWC activates their camera during a police-citizen contact. Cross-classified models are used to simultaneously assess the influence of factors …

Parental Incarceration As A Predictor Of Legal Cynicism, Mackenzie Joy Heim

Theses and Dissertations

Researchers have established that legal cynicism is linked to violence, deviant behavior, and crime. In response to the potentially dangerous implications of a legally cynical society, research in recent years has attempted to identify experiences and conditions that play a role in the development of legal attitudes. Given that youths' familial and social conditions appear to be influential predictors, this study tests the relationship between parental incarceration and legal cynicism. Data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study were used for this analysis. Results from three OLS regression models indicate that parental incarceration is not a significant predictor of …

Does Diversity Matter? Police Violence, Minority Representation, And Urban Policing, Maddy Mcvaugh

PPPA Paper Prize

This paper argues that, while increasing officer diversity may prove beneficial to some urban departments, for the majority, increased diversity within law enforcement does not substantially decrease the amount of violence towards racial minorities due to police culture and institutional practices. Specifically, I examine how structural policing methods target and excessively monitor Black and Hispanic communities, which leads to increased police encounters. Through police culture, these increased encounters then create further opportunities for acts of violence to be used against these minority communities. I begin by discussing several claims regarding the value of increased officer diversity. I then discuss why …

Furthering Women In Policing: How A Police Department's Duty Firearm Selection Process May Mitigate The Gender Disparity In Marksmanship, Jenna Prochnau

Honors Theses

Previous research has revealed that there are several benefits to increasing the representation of women in law enforcement, including less use of force, increased community trust, and better outcomes for domestic violence and sexual assault victims. While many police departments now recognize these benefits and are aiming to recruit more women, a problem persists because women are less likely to graduate from police academies than their male counterparts. A significant difference has been observed in the area of marksmanship, particularly, with more female recruits failing to meet firearm scoring standards. Currently, very little is known about how police departments select …

Reclaiming Safety: Participatory Research, Community Perspectives, And Possibilities For Transformation, Janet Moore

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

This paper offers the first known interdisciplinary, community-based participatory research study to focus directly on two questions that have drawn increased attention in the wake of global protests over racialized police violence: 1) What is the definition of safety? and 2) How can safety be made equally accessible to all? The study is part of a larger project that was co-designed by community members and academic researchers. The project aimed to strengthen local justice reform efforts by adding new data literacy skills to existing community-organizing capacity among Black residents of the Cincinnati, Ohio metropolitan area. Community-led roundtable discussions offered community …

Remarks, Andrea L. Dennis

Scholarly Works

Over the course of one week, the Michigan Journal of Law Reform presented its annual Symposium, this year titled Reimagining Police Surveillance: Protecting Activism and Ending Technologies of Oppression. During this week, the Journal explored complicated questions surrounding the expansion of police surveillance technologies, including how police and federal agencies utilize their extensive resources to identify and surveil public protest, the ways in which technology employed by police is often flawed and disparately impacts people of color, and potential reforms of police surveillance technology. Before delving into these complicated questions, I presented remarks on the history of police surveillance in …

The Racial And Partisan Underpinnings Of Attitudes Toward Police In A Time Of Protest, Andrew Thompson

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Racial and ethnic differences in policing attitudes have generally been examined through the group position or other conflict perspectives. This perspective contains a limitation, especially when considering recent trends in racial and policing attitudes. Racial attitudes have been liberalizing for over a decade among White political liberals and moderates, while Republicans’ racial attitudes have been relatively stagnant. These divergent trends may have accelerated since the murder of George Floyd. While racial attitudes (including attitudes about the police) have been polarizing along political lines, the group position model suggests that racial attitudes and policy preferences among dominant group members, regardless of …

Enhancing Police Accountability And Legitimacy, Daniel L. Stageman

Publications and Research

As the institution responsible for exercising the state monopoly on violence within U.S. borders, the legitimacy of policing depends on its accountability through the democratic process. Ideally, police in a democracy are authorized by the voting public to use force in a manner that is limited, justifiable, and clearly in service of the aims of public safety and law enforcement - in other words to prevent the social harms associated with criminal behavior. A combination of factors including structural inequality, historical associations with white supremacy, and hyperlocal oversight structures present significant challenges to police legitimacy, especially in highly policed communities …

Envisioning A Grassroots Framework For Community-Based Mental Health Crisis Intervention, Xandra C. Gradine

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The mental health and well-being of both individuals and communities are going to be best served by community-based services and care completely unreliant on traditional top-down models that often include inaccessible services and/or coercive methods. This is especially prevalent in the case of mental health crisis intervention; where most state-based interventions involve coercive agents who often are not given any specific training on mental health crisis response. As mental health crisis and suicide rates continue to rise in the U.S., and even the most well-respected model of crisis intervention has done little to resolve the issues of prisons serving as …

The Continued Prohibition Of Cannabis & Racism At Canada’S Borders, Dara Vosoughi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Canada is one of the few jurisdictions in the world where cannabis for personal and recreational purposes is legal. Prior to October 17th 2018, the possession of any quantity of cannabis was a criminal offence, making individuals vulnerable to onerous criminal sanctions. The legislative act that resulted in the decriminalization and regulation of cannabis was framed as a means of advancing public health goals and reducing inequalities. Those once engaged in low level cannabis activities were no longer subject to criminal sanctions within Canada. However, the criminal status and practices upholding the prohibition of cannabis continues at Canada’s borders and …

Schools On The Frontlines Of Governance: How The Convergence Of Criminal Justice And Education Shapes Adolescent Perceptions And Behavior, Jennifer O'Neill

Dissertations

Theories of legal socialization posit that individuals’ interactions with both nonlegal (e.g., teachers) and legal (e.g., police officers) authorities impact our broader orientation towards governance our compliance with rules and laws. Examining the process of legal socialization in adolescents is critical for understanding individuals’ relationships with major institutions of social control, and further, predicting delinquency. Extant literature tends to consider legal socialization in the school and in interactions with the police as distinct processes related to offending, neglecting the potential influence of school contextual factors; and yet, because the incorporation of carceral features (e.g., exclusionary discipline, restrictive security, and enhanced …

Police Officers’ Best Friend?: An Exploratory Analysis Of The Effect Of Service Dogs On Perceived Organizational Support In Policing, Kenneth M. Quick, Eric L. Piza

Publications and Research

This study explored the effectiveness of a novel technique for police departments to support their officers and promote wellness: the use of service dogs. We evaluated officer perceptions in two mid-sized, municipal police departments that have wellness programs with a service dog that is permanently assigned to a full-time police officer handler: Groton and Naugatuck, Connecticut. We assessed 6 factors believed to influence police officer wellness including: operational and organizational stress using the Police Stress Questionnaire (McCreary & Thompson, 2006); topical stressors including those related to the COVID-19 pandemic, police use of force and community relations, and police reform efforts; …