Contents

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IJPSM 13 (2011) 275

An investigation into the crime scene characteristics that differentiate a car key burglary from a regular domestic burglary
Emma Allcock, John W. Bond and Lisa L. Smith

As a result of the mandatory introduction in 1998 of electronic immobilisers in all new vehicles, car crime has evolved so that criminals resort to stealing vehicle keys during domestic burglaries in order to steal the vehicle subsequently. This new offence is referred to as 'car key burglary'. Building upon previous research (Shaw, Smith, & Bond, 2010), car key burglary data provided by Northamptonshire Police from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2009 was analysed to identify the crime-scene characteristics that can differentiate a car key burglary from a regular domestic burglary. Significant differences were found between car key burglaries and regular domestic burglaries pertaining to the security of the property and the types of items stolen, with secure premises and items likely to be left in a vehicle overnight (such as satellite navigation systems, in-car DVD players and mobile telephones) being more indicative of car key burglary. The implications of these findings are considered and the limitations discussed in terms of the current methods of recording police data. Suggestions as to how police data recording might be amended to facilitate a better understanding of car key burglary are considered.

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IJPSM 13 (2011) 286

Eyewitness identification of multiple perpetrators
Zoe J. Hobson and Rachel Wilcock

Following a question raised by members of a police force in England and Wales regarding the accuracy with which an eyewitness makes an identification of multiple perpetrators, this study explores presenting the line-ups in a novel way to eyewitnesses. Currently, there is little previous research into the accuracy of eyewitness identifications when witnesses have viewed multiple perpetrators for one crime event. With reference to theories of source monitoring, the novel procedure examines whether presenting all video line-up parades one after another before making any identification decisions increases accuracy compared with current police procedures in the UK. Furthermore, this study investigated whether instructing witnesses, prior to viewing the line-up parades, to identify the role that each perpetrator played in the event increased identification performance. Results reveal that overall total accuracy was affected by presentation style and, when instructed to, witnesses were more accurate at identifying the role that each perpetrator played in the crime. Future research needs to explore these techniques in more depth both in a laboratory and operational setting.

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IJPSM 13 (2011) 297

Public order events in the headlines: the media construction of threat and dangerousness of public order events in Israel
Revital Sela-Shayovitz and Badi Hasisi

This paper examines the role of levels of threat on the newspaper coverage of public order policing. We distinguished between macro/national and micro/ local types of protest involving the Arab minority in Israel, and tried to illustrate how threat was constructed differently by the media. Following the protest paradigm and the threat hypothesis, we focused on the newspaper construction of the threat of two violent public order events in which police used live ammunition against members of the Israeli Arab minority: the October 2000 events (macro) and the Pki'in 2007 event (micro). Our analysis shows that the newspapers highly emphasised the perceived threat of the October 2000 events much more than in the Pki'in 2007 event. Furthermore, in the October 2000 events the coverage was mainly episodic and profiled the Israeli Arab protesters as 'an enemy within', while in the Pki'in 2007 event, reporting was more thematic and contextualised the protest within the social problems of the Druze minority in Israel society. The fact that the Israeli Arab minority is perceived by the State as a dissident minority ('the enemy within'), whilst the Druze Arabs are not, influenced the way public order events were covered by the media.

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IJPSM 13 (2011) 312

The British police service: professionalisation or 'McDonaldization'?
Richard Heslop

This article argues that there are two contrasting models for understanding developments in contemporary British policing. The first, which is an intended outcome of the reform and 'workforce modernisation' agenda, envisages increased professionalisation. The second, which is a perverse outcome of that same agenda, is the 'McDonaldization' of the British police. This article prefers the latter and argues that policing is increasingly becoming McDonaldized. According to the sociologist George Ritzer, McDonaldized institutions operate in accordance with four main principles: calculability, efficiency, predictability and control. Taken together, these four factors can be understood as the basic components of a rational system. However, the main problem with McDonaldized systems and a fifth characteristic of the process is the production of irrationalities (or what Ritzer terms the 'irrationality of rationality'). A primary purpose of this article is to highlight some of the irrationalities of McPolicing.

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IJPSM 13 (2011) 322

Professional responses to contemporary discourses and definitions of paedophilia
Kieran F. McCartan

This paper will discuss professionals' contemporary definitions and understandings of paedophilia, based upon empirical qualitative research with a range of professionals working within paedophilia, or in related fields (practitioners, academics and members of the media) (N = 28). The research used semi-structured interviews, interpreted through qualitative (thematic) content analysis. The findings reveal that in general the professionals seem to have similar, but differently nuanced understandings of paedophilia. The professionals believe that the current definition of paedophilia, as a result of a number of factors including disparate professional discourses, has become problematic as it does not reflect the complexity of the issue or the population in question. This disharmony in professional discourse and public discussion has led to the broader societal discourse surrounding paedophilia to become maladaptive and not fit for purpose. Therefore the professionals believe that the current discourse surrounding paedophilia, and its resulting definition, needs to be readdressed.

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IJPSM 13 (2011) 336

Racial profiling in decisions to search: a preliminary analysis using propensityscore matching
George E. Higgins, Wesley G. Jennings, Kareem L. Jordan and Shaun L. Gabbidon

The objective of the present study was to understand if racial and/or ethnic backgrounds are causal factors in a police officer's decision to search individuals during traffic stops. Using the Police- Public Contact Survey and propensity-score matching, the study results indicate that Blacks are significantly more likely to be searched than Whites. There were no differences, however, in searches between Hispanics and Whites. These findings suggest that race, but not ethnicity, appears to be a causal factor in a police officer's decision to search. The implications of this finding, along with directions for future research, are also discussed.

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IJPSM 13 (2011) 348

The role of the public prosecutor with treatment of suspects involving suspended prosecution disposition in accordance with the crime investigation policy of police in Japan
Takehiko Yamamura, Hiroshi Kinoshita and Shigeru Hishida

This study aims to assess the effectiveness of the prosecution system granted only to public prosecutors (PPs), in regard to prosecution proceedings in accordance with the crime investigation policy of police in Japan. Using data generated by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and the National Police Agency (NPA) in Japan during the last half century, the trends of numbers of suspects referred and the rate of disposition, prosecution, summary trial procedure, suspended prosecution (details of which are described in the text), were calculated by type of offence including non-traffic penal code offences (NTPC), negligence in the pursuit of social activities on the occasion of traffic accidents (NPSATA), special law offences (SLO) excluding violations of road traffic related laws (VRTRL) and VRTRL. The results of the study indicated that there are three major issues about prosecution policies and practices by the PPs, namely: crime investigation activities; monopolising discretionary decisions with prosecution and suspended prosecution; and disposition of traffic related crimes. Practical implications of the present results are discussed in the context of crime investigation policy by police.

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Links to other issues

Volume 4 (2002) :   1   2   3   4

Volume 5 (2003) :   1   2   3   4

Volume 6 (2004) :   1   2   3

Volume 7 (2005) :   1   2   3   4

Volume 8 (2006) :   1   2   3   4

Volume 9 (2007) :   1   2   3   4

Volume 10 (2008) :   1   2   3   4

Volume 11 (2009) :   1   2   3   4

Volume 12 (2010) :   1   2   3   4

Volume 13 (2011) :   1   2   3   4

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