Purpose This article explores how homicide detectives make sense of and manipulate multiple physical, digital and informational artefacts when assembling case narratives. The authors introduce the concept of mosaicking to illuminate how different modes of information, deriving from different investigative methods, are used in concert at key moments of the investigative process – defining what type

Purpose The study aims to examine the effect of detective experience on the likelihood of clearing a homicide, while controlling for additional extralegal and case/investigative characteristics. Design/methodology/approach This study uses homicide and policing data collected from case files in a mid-sized US city. Detective experience is measured in multiple ways. Analytical models include extralegal

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review the extant published literature using traditional criminological theories in an effort to explain police misconduct. Design/methodology/approach This paper reflects a narrative meta-review of through a search of several academic databases (e.g. Criminal Justice Abstracts, Criminology: A SAGE Full Text Collection, EBSCO Host and PsychInfo). Twenty-nine

Purpose To characterize changes in work hours across a career in law enforcement. Design/methodology/approach N = 113 police officers enrolled in the BCOPS cohort were studied. The police officers started their careers in law enforcement between 1994 and 2001 at a mid-sized, unionized police department in northwestern New York and continued to work at this police department for at least 15 years. Day-by-day

Purpose The police in Trinidad experience extremely stressful job conditions (e.g., elevated rates of violent crime, the rapid spread of organized crime, financial constraints, and staff shortages) which could lead to health-related problems. The purpose of the current study is to examine the relationship between job stress and health-related problems and to determine whether burnout mediates this

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the association between components of metabolic syndrome with health-related fitness (HRF) and perceived stress in a sample of law enforcement officers. Design/methodology/approach Law enforcement officers (N = 28) from the Mountain West region of the US reported their HRF scores (1.5 mile run, push-up, and sit-ups), had their blood drawn (glucose, triglycerides

Purpose Clearance rates for nonfatal shootings, especially cases involving gang- and drug-related violence, are disturbingly low in many US cities. Using data from a previously completed project in Boston, we explore the prospects for improving gang/drug nonfatal shooting cases by investing the same investigative effort found in similar gang/drug gun murder cases. Design/methodology/approach Our analyses

Purpose Online production and transmission of child abuse material (CAM) is a complex and growing global problem. The exponential increase in the volume of CyberTips of CAM offending is placing information processing and decision-making strains on law enforcement. This paper presents the outcomes of a project that reviewed an existing risk assessment tool and then developed a new tool for CAM triaging

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe a theory-driven intervention called VOICES that was developed to improve police-community relations. The intervention was designed based on principles derived from social psychological theories of intergroup contact and communication. Design/methodology/approach The authors discuss the theoretical basis for the intervention, as well as its development

Purpose De-escalation training for police has received widespread attention as a method for reducing unnecessary and excessive use of force. There is virtually no research on de-escalation, and as a result, there is little understanding about what it is, what it includes and whether it is effective. The current study compares attitudes about the importance and use of de-escalation among officers who

Purpose The present study assesses the contextual racial effects on police decisions to arrest in traffic stops. Design/methodology/approach A hierarchical logistic regression model is conducted using data collected from the Houston Police Department and US census. Findings The authors’ multilevel analysis indicates that the racial effect on police decision to arrest is more likely to be contextual

Purpose Early classification systems of fire setting have suffered from several limitations, including the lack of empirical validation and the focus mainly on the offender motivation behind this type of crime. More recent research shows that looking at the crime scene behaviors may present a more fruitful approach for helping to solve fire setting offenses. The purpose of this study is to advance

Purpose The purpose of this study isto synthesize recent empirical research investigating memory of stressful critical incidents (both simulated and occurring in the field) among law enforcement officers. Design/methodology/approach The study used the approach of systematic state-of-the-art review. Findings In total, 20 studies of police and military officers show reduced detail and accuracy of high-

Purpose Against a background of increasing workload and external criticism, the purpose of this paper is to expose the indelible memories impressed on female police officers dedicated to investigating allegations of rape and sexual violence. Design/methodology/approach Participants (n = 15) were female police officers working in a specialist sexual offences investigation unit in a large English Metropolitan

Purpose Job stressor exposure is associated with mental health in police officers. Police stress research rarely draws a distinction between urban and rural policing, raising the possibility that stressors specific to the rural context remain unidentified and their implications unknown. This may hinder actions to protect the mental health of those involved in policing rural communities. Design/methodology/approach

Purpose This study will provide a preliminary, general overview of Canadian police officers' perception of stigma toward mental illness in their workplace culture and its impacts. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a mixed methods approach with two nationwide datasets: a self-report survey (N = 727) and 116 semi-structured interviews with police officers from 31 police services. Results are

Purpose Police officers are exposed to a wide variety of stressors – frequently interacting with people at their worst moments and sometimes absorbing the trauma that victims experience themselves. Investigating sexual assaults reported by adults presents significant challenges given the often high levels of distress experienced by victims paired with the likelihood that no arrest will be made and

Purpose The study aims to contribute an insider's view of how members of law enforcement and their families cope with life-threatening situations. Design/methodology/approach The study at hand is guided by a descriptive phenomenological perspective, which is utilized to describe and analyze the experiences of five police officers living under high levels of threat from criminals. Findings The analysis

Purpose The purpose of this state-of-the-art review is to explore the empirical literature on federal intervention of police under 42 USC Section 14141. Design/methodology/approach A five-stage scoping review of the empirical literature related to 14141 was conducted through searches of scholarly databases and gray literature. Findings This scoping review revealed 21 empirical studies of 14141 published

Purpose This article offers a tri-national comparison between Malaysia, England and Wales and the United States of America Design/methodology/approach It is based on reviewing, collating, comparing and contrasting previous research findings and official reports on the topic with a view to identify recurrent commonalities in the three countries studied. Findings Three key common themes are identified

Purpose The purpose of this study is to analyze the growth of unit costs per output in the Finnish police force (2002–2015). Is it higher than the growth of prices in the Finnish economy in general; i.e. higher than the inflation rate? Cost disease theory suggests this to be the case. It says that all labor-intensive, slow-progressive industries suffer from relatively rapidly growing real unit costs

Purpose Police organizations work better when officers feel satisfied with their jobs. High job satisfaction has been linked to positive outcomes for both officers and police organizations. Perceived fairness of transfers should be positively associated with job satisfaction. There has been little research in this area, and none of the limited past studies have studied this association among Pakistani

Purpose The range of tactical force options available to police is increasing, while public debate about police use of force is never far from the headlines. This paper aims to examine what factors shape how people accept police use of force. Design/methodology/approach The authors use two online experiments to test whether different force options affected judgments about the acceptability of police

Purpose This paper compares the impact of leadership behaviours on the discretionary power, and well-being, and affective commitment of police officers from Italy and the United Kingdom (UK). In contrast to Italy, UK is an example of a core-New Public Management (NPM) country that has implemented reforms, in turn, changing the management and administration of public organizations. Consequently, it

Purpose Financial crime continues to represent a crime type that costs billions of dollars per year. It is likely more widespread than any other criminal offence. Despite this, it remains an area that is often ignored, or at best neglected by police. Police agencies typically fail to invest resources and training in upskilling police in financial crime investigation. The current study evaluates an

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine if a police academy using adult learning techniques instills higher levels of perceived competence in recruits than an academy using traditional pedagogical methods. Design/methodology/approach The study took advantage of a timeframe when two academy models using different approaches to learning were employed in Massachusetts. Recruits (N = 97) were

Purpose Using conservation of resources (COR) theory the study investigates the interrelationships between optimism, bidirectional work-family conflict, enrichment, and psychological health. Design/methodology/approach The data were gathered from 356 Indian police officers using a survey questionnaire and purposive sampling technique. Findings The results inform that optimism mitigates family to work

Purpose The study compares the impact of two different pedagogical approaches in police training by assessing the knife defense performance of German police recruits against different types of knife attacks. Linear or nonlinear – which pedagogical approach leads to more efficient knife defense performance? Design/methodology/approach A total of 20 German state police recruits (w = 5, m = 15) were assigned

Purpose The current study examines the effect of changing a specific use-of-force policy coupled with de-escalation training implementation on patterns of police use of force. Design/methodology/approach An interrupted time-series analysis was used to examine changes in police use-of-force incident records gathered from a large, southwestern US metropolitan police department from 2013 to 2017 based

Purpose To add to the existing body of knowledge on the relationship between stress and job performance in policing, we monitored police officers' physiology using Hexoskin shirts while they responded to simulated scenarios. Design/methodology/approach We employed mixed repeated measures (baseline, intervention, post-intervention), between groups (treatment vs control group) design. Using this approach

Purpose The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate the relationship between simulation training and police officers' ability to think creatively in crises. Design/methodology/approach This quantitative study used instructional design principles including aspects of Cognitive Load Theory to explore the cognitive load and creative thinking of police officers training with a MILO Range use-of-force

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore how Swedish police officers describe occupational knowledge. By learning more about how officers describe occupational knowledge, the study gives more insight about the types of information that they may be more likely to adopt in their occupational tasks. Design/methodology/approach In this study, the author conducted 27 semi-structured interviews with

Purpose A narrative review of existing research literature was conducted to identify practices that are likely to improve the quality of de-escalation and use-of-force training for police officers. Design/methodology/approach Previous reviews of de-escalation and use-of-force training literature were examined to identify promising training practices, and more targeted literature searches of various

Purpose There has been an increasing emphasis on developing officers who can effectively make decisions in dynamic and stressful environments to manage volatile situations. The aim of this paper is to guide those seeking to optimize the limited resources dedicated to police training. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on research related to stress exposure training, principles of adult learning, the

Purpose This paper explores the applicability of environmental theories to understanding patterns of police misconduct. In turn, it aims to offer a method for identifying prevention techniques that can be practically applied by policing agencies. Design/methodology/approach The study empirically examined 84 substantiated matters of police misconduct in Queensland, Australia. The matters were content-analysed

Purpose The primary objective of the current study is to examine the impact that the size of a police department and workload on a department have on response time. Secondarily, the authors look at the effect that incident-level factors such as the severity of a call for service (CFS) and community-level factors such as ethnic diversity have on police response time. Design/methodology/approach The

Purpose The purpose of this research is to initiate the development of a police-specific measure of work–family conflict (WFC) to assess spouse and/or partner perceptions of the impact of WFC on them, their family and/or their personal lives by tapping existing dimensions of WFC and proposing three dimensions that may be specific to the policing profession. This developmental and exploratory work will

Purpose The purpose of this study is (1) to confirm the relationship between the two dimensions of social desirability (pretending and denying), self-reported stress and health reports in police officers and (2) to assess whether dysfunctions in basal cortisol profiles are related to social desirability. Design/methodology/approach Social desirability is known to influence how individuals respond to

Purpose The purpose of the study is to determine the prevalence of stress and to identify the occupational stressors among Lebanese police officers. Design/methodology/approach Operational Police Stress Questionnaire (PSQ-op) was addressed to 100 randomly selected male Lebanese Police officers. Twenty items from the PSQ-op were run through the principal component analysis to determine the most significant

Purpose Most research on trauma, resilience and well-being among police officers focusses on those still on active duty. Comparatively speaking, and despite an aging workforce and established negative health outcomes, similar inquiries involving police retirees are not as common. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of on- and off-the-job trauma and resilience on satisfaction with life

Purpose The purpose of this research is to explore the structure and impact of police officers' social support network on health and well-being. Social integration promotes opportunities for regular positive experiences and a set of stable, socially rewarded roles within one's work and life domains. Identifying the structure and impact areas of police officers' social support network provide guidance

Purpose This study investigates the relationship between police officer's willingness to use Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and their perceptions about stress and help-seeking in policing, considering the effect of gender and ethnicity in this association. Design/methodology/approach A survey of 431 Illinois police officers is used to measure officer's perceptions about help-seeking and organizational

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess if in viewing tense, potentially stigmatizing, police-civilian interactions, people bring their own gendered and racial biases, as they form perceptions of officers' use of identity management (IM) strategies, as they relate to officers' competence, warmth and appropriateness of actions. Design/methodology/approach In two experimental studies, the authors

Purpose Oleoresin capsicum (OC) spray has proven to be a relatively effective tool to subdue resistant or aggressive subjects without causing major and permanent injuries. Several products are available to law enforcement organizations and sprays with higher concentrations are sold as more effective, despite the lack of empirical evidence. This article aims to test the proposition that more concentrated

Purpose While the past few decades have witnessed a substantial number of studies on public attitudes toward the police, a relatively thin line of inquiry has focused exclusively on low income urban Black-Americans, and especially street-identified Black populations. The purpose of this paper, however, is to examine trust in police amongst street-identified Black men and women. Design/methodology/approach

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to update the assessment of national data on law enforcement worker suicide based on the National Occupational Mortality Surveillance database (NOMS, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Design/methodology/approach Death certificate data for 4,441,814 decedents, age 18–90 who died in one of the 26 reporting states were the source of NOMS data. Utilizing

Purpose The aim of the study is to determine the perception of general public on the Serbian police behaviors in combating COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the perception of the citizens how successful the police units were in fulfilling their tasks. Design/methodology/approach Due to the state of emergency declared due to COVID-19 pandemic, in particular the restriction of movement and the need for social

Purpose Police officer perceptions of their own legitimacy can be important in shaping aspects of their performance and other organizational outcomes. The current study uses person-environment fit theory to assess the effects of value congruence with top managers, immediate supervisors and coworkers on officers' perceptions of self-legitimacy. Design/methodology/approach The study used a cross-sectional

Purpose Many authors describe police culture as a relevant determinant of officers' health, policing behavior and reaction to change. Investigation of such relationships requires an appropriate instrument for measuring police culture. Design/methodology/approach This paper proposes a questionnaire containing 20 values that are characteristic of police culture (e.g. masculinity, loyalty, solidarity)

Purpose Police invest significant time, energy and resources to equip officers with the skills required to conduct effective investigative interviews. However, transferring those skills acquired or developed in a training environment for application in the police workplace is a journey fraught with impediments and diversions. Invariably, the quality and amount of skills transferred and applied on the