Digital Commons Network^™

Exigencies, Not Exceptions: How To Return Warrant Exceptions To Their Roots, Michael Gentithes

Akron Law Faculty Publications

When a police officer interacts with an individual, the encounter is subject to myriad exceptions to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement that lack a coherent justifying theory. For instance, officers can warrantlessly search if an automobile was involved in the interaction, an arrest occurred, or a protective sweep was necessary to prevent a third- party ambush. Officers and indi viduals struggle to understand the breadth and complexity of these exceptions. The resulting confusion breeds widespread distrust and raises the tension in millions of interactions across the country. There is an easier way. The Supreme Court has recently reaffirmed its support …

Lived Experiences Of College-Educated African American Males During Police Interactions In Central Kentucky, Lawerence Eric Charles

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Recent high-profile incidents involving police interaction with Black citizens have increased community outrage and racial divisions between police and African Americans. Despite previous research on relations between African Americans and police, little literature has focused on the lived experiences of college-educated African American males when interacting with police. In the study 12 participants were interviewed. The analytical approach was grounded theory, which identified seven themes that most of the men had in common. One shared lived experience expressed the need for collaborative and inclusive policies that prevent bias, police brutality, and wrongful arrest and detention of the African American community. …

Crim Pro Rewired: Why Current Police Practices Require Candor In The Classroom, Elizabeth N. Jones

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Exploring Dual Roles In Law Enforcement Officers Who Administer Naloxone, Regina Sullivan Wachenheim

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

With the introduction of law enforcement-administered naloxone, officers are assuming the dual role of law enforcer and caregiver with opioid users. This study used cognitive role theory and Thorne’s interpretive approach to explore the dual roles experienced by officers. The purpose of this study was to understand (1) how officers who administer naloxone describe their experience of the dual role, and (2) how the officers describe the role expectations of law enforcer and caregiver. Seven officers completed semi-structured, one-on-one, telephone interviews. The eight themes that emerged were related to the officers’ views of (1) saving and changing opioid users’ lives; …

How Police Investigators View Credibility Of Victims Of Sexual Assault Crimes, Lakesha Richele Boone

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Sexual assault is a sensitive topic, and research has become increasingly popular. Most literature focuses on stigma, attitudes, and perceptions that victims and law enforcement have about each other. Law enforcement officers are responsible for making charging decisions based on their investigations and ways by which they determine credibility and reliability of victims. It was unclear what criteria law enforcement officers use to ascertain relevant flaws in victim character and credibility. The purpose of this study was to explore how law enforcement officers evaluate credibility of sexual assault victims during investigations. The feminist legal, just world, and rape myth acceptance …

A Synthesis Of The Science And Law Relating To Eyewitness Misidentifications And Recommendations For How Police And Courts Can Reduce Wrongful Convictions Based On Them, Henry F. Fradella

Seattle University Law Review

The empirical literature on perception and memory consistently demonstrates the pitfalls of eyewitness identifications. Exoneration data lend external validity to these studies. With the goal of informing law enforcement officers, prosecutors, criminal defense attorneys, judges, and judicial law clerks about what they can do to reduce wrongful convictions based on misidentifications, this Article presents a synthesis of the scientific knowledge relevant to how perception and memory affect the (un)reliability of eyewitness identifications. The Article situates that body of knowledge within the context of leading case law. The Article then summarizes the most current recommendations for how law enforcement personnel should—and …

What Happened Within The Police Service When The Government Created The Offence Of “Corrupt Or Improper Practice” In Section 26 Of The Criminal Justice And Courts Act 2015?, Brendan Brookshaw

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences Theses

Title. What happened within the police service when the government created the offence of “Corrupt or Improper Practice” in section 26 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015? Author Brendan P. Brookshaw Purpose. This PhD thesis offers explanations for the way in which the offence of Corrupt or Improper Practice by police officers was implemented within the service and is analysed through a framework of the psychology, ethics, and management of implementation. Using autoethnographic data as policing parables, it explores stories of police misconduct and suggests theoretical underpinnings for the drivers of corruption and how the police may react …

Helping The Helpers: The Role Of Organizational Support And Peer Influence On Police Officer Receptivity To Employee Assistance Programs, Kenneth Quick

Publications and Research

Purpose – This study aims to investigate critical differences between police officer willingness to use and recommend an employee assistance program (EAP) to a peer, including the relationship between officer perceptions of macro-level organizational support and micro-level EAP support.

Design/methodology/approach – A survey of 213 police officers from a large, urban police department in the Northeast United States of America is used to evaluate the relationship between officer perceptions of the EAP and the officers’ willingness to use and recommend the EAP to peers. Generalized linear regression models are used to evaluate the moderating effect of perceived organizational support (POS) …

Evincing Offence: How Digital Forensics Turns Big Data Into Evidence For Policing Sexual Abuse, Brian Rappert, Dana Wilson-Kovacs, Hannah Wheat, Sabina Leonelli

Peninsula Medical School

The widespread availability and use of digital devices both enables criminal acts and helps to detect them. The production and circulation of indecent images of children has been one area of crime that has transformed in recent years because of developments in modern communication technologies. Through indepth ethnographic observations and qualitative interviews with four police forces in England, this article examines the resources and labor required to turn digital footprints into evidence for the possession of indecent images. In doing so, our aim is twofold. One, we detail the formal and informal processes whereby large sets of data become discrete …

Over-Policing And Under-Protecting In American Cities, Margaret Hession

Honors Program Theses and Projects

In recent years there have been numerous protests all over the United States focused on the over-policing of African Americans by law enforcement. Those involved are protesting against a term known as over-policing, the blatant brutality and senseless murders, that have taken place for decades but have been made ever more visible by our modern media channels. “Over-policing allows police to use excessive force and brutalize disenfranchised neighborhoods and target people of color indiscriminately. Ironically, as politicians take a “tough on crime” stance, violence has actually gone down, but police budgets and presence have increased. The American criminal justice system …

Policing For Peace: Training For A 21st Century Police Force, Kate M. Den Houter, Margaret E. Brooks

Personnel Assessment and Decisions

We review the present state of research on police training in the United States, highlighting gaps in the literature, and limitations of trainings in use by local policing agencies. We focus on training content relevant to the volatile situations that are at the center of controversy, we evaluate content areas that focus on successfully navigating real-time, unpredictable, and potentially dangerous interactions, and discuss training needs in these areas. We suggest that one common response to the issue of bias—implicit bias training—lacks evidence of efficacy. Accordingly, we recommend alternative training content to address bias and discrimination. Finally, we call attention to …

Introduction To The Special Issue On Policing: Examining The Role Of Testing And Assessment, Dennis Doverspike, Alexandra Petruzzelli, Marc Cubrich

Personnel Assessment and Decisions

Prepared in response to the weight and seriousness of social concerns with regard to the state and future of policing, this special issue was developed in order to feature research that examined a wide range of personnel and assessment decisions relating to policing. The focus was broad in scope, welcoming conceptual/theoretical papers, quantitative or qualitative reviews, empirical papers, and think pieces. To address the questions and areas identified in the initial call for papers, six articles are presented covering the themes of individual differences in personnel selection group composition and macro-level influences on policing, and practical recommendations and the future …

Ethical Ai In American Policing, Elizabeth E. Joh

Notre Dame Journal on Emerging Technologies

We know there are problems in the use of artificial intelligence in policing, but we don’t quite know what to do about them. One can also find many reports and white papers today offering principles for the responsible use of AI systems by the government, civil society organizations, and the private sector. Yet, largely missing from the current debate in the United States is a shared framework for thinking about the ethical and responsible use of AI that is specific to policing. There are many AI policy guidance documents now, but their value to the police is limited. Simply repeating …

Police Promotions And Assignments: Understanding Law Enforcement Officers’ Experiences With Particularism, John Leo Glasser Iii

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to have police officers describe how they experience, understand, and navigate within their agency as it relates to their decisions to assign and promote police personnel within the scope of particularism in New Jersey. The conceptual framework guiding this study was the debate between researchers, and industrial-organizational psychologists who have reached opposing viewpoints on whether particularism and similar practices are beneficial or detrimental in the organizational context. Three research questions guided this study: 1) How do police officers describe their experiences with their agency as it relates to their agencies' decisions to …

The Paradox Of Salvation: Police-Perpetrated Sexual Violence Against Sex Workers In The United States, Aydan Murphy-Stanley

Student Theses

This study explores how sex workers in the United States are sexually victimized and potentially traumatized by sexual violence perpetrated by police officers, as well as the paradoxical implications of this violence. A qualitative meta-synthesis was conducted to examine and integrate qualitative literature pertaining to this phenomenon. 10 databases were used to execute the systematic literature search. Only studies that utilized qualitative methodologies, are published in peer-reviewed academic journals, and examined police-sex worker interactions were included. Data from relevant studies was analyzed according to the meta-synthesis method. Police-perpetrated sexual violence against sex workers was identified as a form of sexual …

Police Killings As Felony Murder, Guyora Binder, Ekow Yankah

Journal Articles

The widely applauded conviction of officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd employedthe widely criticized felony murder rule. Should we use felony murder as a tool to check discriminatory and violent policing? The authors object that felony murder—although perhaps the only murder charge available for this killing under Minnesota law—understated Chauvin’s culpability and thereby inadequately denounced his crime. They show that further opportunities to prosecute police for felony murder are quite limited. Further, a substantial minority of states impose felony murder liability for any death proximately caused by a felony, even if the actual killer was a police …

Exploring African American Males' Experiences With Police In Southern California: A Phenomenological Study, Barbara R. Ray

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Black males are treated unfairly and killed more by law enforcement than any other group. The current study sought to explore how Black males in San Bernardino County, CA, describe their lived experiences with law enforcement as framed by the tents of critical race theory. To achieve this aim, a phenomenological research study was conducted, using semistructured interviews with Black males. Qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The key themes identified included (a) centrality of bias in experiences negatively shaped regard of police, (b) as tools, body-worn cameras do little to increase security or legitimacy, (c) limited interactions-limited law …

Police Brutality In The United States Of America And Nigeria; A Comparative Analysis, Oludayo Philips Famakin-Johnson

Dissertations (2016-Present)

The recent spate of incidents regarding excessive use of force by law enforcement in the United States against mostly unarmed African Americans has elicited protests across the country. The ensuing outrage about police brutality brought to national attention the discriminatory practices in the criminal justice system. It also demonstrated that human rights violations by law enforcement are not an exclusive experience of developing nations, which are expected to look up to countries like the United States as a model for standard policing. Extant research, however, indicates excessive use of force is a common phenomenon in every country, including the United …

Defining The Police Mission, Devin Neal

Criminology Student Work

Directives and duties of law enforcement have changed drastically over time. Today there is little agreement within society regarding what is needed and wanted from police. Even within the police ranks, it is unclear whether there is a single view of what “good” police work is (and if so, what that looks like). An officer may learn what “good” policing is from numerous channels including departmental missions, informal cultures, personal characteristics, and community contexts. Officers’ opinions may also derive from personal beliefs about policing, personality traits, and/or attitudes toward police work. The purpose of this study is to determine what …

Technology In The Security Sector: Mexico, Vanessa J. Gutierrez, Melina Ponte, Angiee Rosario, Arleen Castillo, Henry Saldarriaga, Hector Tejeda, Stephanie Reich, Rosemary Barberet

Publications and Research

The use of technology in policing seeks to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the daily duties police officers may encounter. However, there is mixed empirical data on the use of technology and if it is really contributing to the institutional goals of the security sector, or, if it is contributing to other factors. This report provides an exploratory approach to understanding what information technology is being used in Mexico at the state level, in order to compare where broader application of information technology could make impactful contributions to the security situation in the country.

With a focus on six …

Facebook For Law Enforcement, Stephen Carlisle

Certified Public Manager® Applied Research

This article introduces what some law enforcement agencies have done to mitigate trust issues by utilizing social media as a form of community policing. There is a silent majority out there that support law enforcement. As a pioneer of using Facebook as a platform for community policing, taking criticism from my law enforcement peers was unavoidable. However, these same peers would turn to Facebook shortly after for personal and professional use. The key is to reach out and to educate the public to help gain trust in law enforcement, and using modern social media platforms to reach the masses only …

No Justice, No Peace: The Need For A State Version Of § 1983 In Response To The Movement For Black Lives, Madison N. Heckel

DePaul Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

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 …

Mutual Liberation: The Use And Abuse Of Non–Human Animals By The Carceral State And The Shared Roots Of Oppression, Michael Swistara

University of Miami Race & Social Justice Law Review

The carceral state has used non–human animals as tools to oppress Black, Indigenous, and People of the Global Majority (BIPGM) for centuries. From bloodhounds violently trained by settlers to aid in their genocidal colonial project through the slave dogs that enforced a racial caste system to the modern deployment of police dogs, non–consenting non–human animals have been coopted into the role of agents of oppression. Yet, the same non– human animals are themselves routinely brutalized and oppressed by the carceral state. Police kill several thousands of family’s companion dogs every year in the United States. Law enforcement agencies train animals …

How Life During A Pandemic May Have Contributed To Homicide In Houston, Texas, Ciarra Hastings Blow

Journal of Family Strengths

This study offers an examination of a sample of 150 homicides in Houston, Texas in 2020 as described by local news sources. The purpose was to understand dynamics that may explain what appears to be an increase in domestic disputes that led to increases in homicides. This mixed method study utilized content analysis that included quantifying the patterns of concepts in the news reports to isolate racial, gender and location factors. Data are displayed in tables and figures to illustrate patterns and regression analyses indicate predictive relations. The study is important given the recent homicide increases during the COVID-19 pandemic, …

Unidentified Police Officials, Teressa Ravenell

Faculty Publications

.United States police officers arrest more than ten million people each year. All of these arrests involve some level of force, and many of them involve multiple officers. Victims of excessive force may bring a § 1983 civil rights claim against all of the officers who were present, but too often plaintiffs with meritorious cases lose because they cannot prove causation. It is not enough to show that “the police” violated the constitution; rather, to prevail against a defendant a § 1983 plaintiff must show how that specific defendant “subjected or caused the plaintiff to be subjected” to the deprivation …

Public Safety Response For Persons With Serious Mental Illness: A Systematic Review Of Literature, Ashley Bailey

LSU Master's Theses

There are 13.1 million adults living with serious mental illness (SMI) in the United States. It is estimated that 356,000 people with SMI are incarcerated in the United States. Many advocates believe that police reform/alternatives to traditional policing could assist in lowering incarceration rates among persons with SMI, and improve outcomes for both the officer and the person with SMI during police contact.

Determinants Of Police Department Change: An Institutional Theory Approach, Colby Dolly

Dissertations

This research examines the change in police practices after the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014. Immediately after his death and throughout the following years, police departments in St. Louis County faced immense pressure to change. The pressure originated from numerous fronts, including the media, local community groups, and politicians. This research evaluates the change in policing using institutional theory with data from surveys and interviews of police chiefs. The findings indicate changes in policies after 2014. The most significant change occurred in departments strongly influenced by the mimetic dimension of institutional theory. The research adds to …

College Of Education News, Georgia Southern University

College of Education: News & Publications (2003-2023)

• Improving Fitness in Georgia Police
• COE Faculty Staff Recognized for Years of Service