Contents

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PJ 81 (2008) 181

The decision taken by Ian Blair to resign from his position as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police has raised some big questions about future police governance and accountability. A number of proposals in the July 2008 Green Paper, From the Neighbourhood to the National: Policing our Communities Together, reflect government’s response to a perceived ‘accountability gap’ characterising both police forces and local Crime Reduction Partnerships. Among the proposals, local police authorities are expected to be strengthened by way of direct election of ‘Crime and Policing representatives’, who will also chair Crime Reduction/Community Safety partnerships in England and Wales. This will sharpen accountability to local electorates. The Green Paper makes clear that for the police service all existing performance targets will be ended and will be replaced with just one central target which seeks to measure the degreeto which local police forces have improved public confidence in their service.

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PJ 81 (2008) 184

Patrol officer call for service workloads: an urban small town comparison
Trisha N. Rhodes Richard R. Johnson

Although small town agencies make up the majority of police departments in the USA, there is a surprising lack of information regarding how the workloads of small town and urban police officers differ. The widely held assumption that urban officers deal with higher workloads than small town officers has never been empirically tested. The present study involved a direct comparison of the average number of calls for service handled per patrol car per shift in three city and three small town municipal law enforcement agencies during a two-week period in 2006. The findings indicated that there was considerable variation across all six communities; however, the average number of calls handled by the urban officers was still significantly larger than the average number of calls handled by the small town officers

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PJ 81 (2008) 196

Cyber Stings: Policing sex offence on the internet
Alisdair A. Gillespie

The use of proactive police tactics on the Internet has increased in recent years but little has been written about the propriety of such operations. This article considers the type of operations that occur and considers the propriety of such action, including examining the evidential rules relating to entrapment. It also examines how the media uses similar tactics in order to obtain news stories and yet questions can be raised as to whether this interferes with the workings of the criminal justice system.

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PJ 81 (2008) 209

Crime shouldn't pay
Ian Chiverton Ian Waters

This article focuses on the development and implementation of ‘proceeds of crime’ in policing and crime control, and places this against a backdrop of recent policing strategies and philosophies. It is argued that the latter may have reached their ceiling in terms of efficacy, and that much greater attention should now be turned towards targeting criminal asset recovery; this, it is hoped, will serve to reduce the ‘pull’ of much criminal activity (that is, financial and material gain). The article considers the impact of the Proceeds of Crime Act (2002), and work of the Metropolitan Police Service in tackling criminal assets. Whilst generally there are clear signs of progress, there is still much to be done in terms of interweaving a ‘proceeds of crime’ approach into mainstream policing.

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PJ 81 (2008) 223

Narcoterrorism and Australia: is a new theoretical lens required?
Queensland Police Service

This article seeks to examine the cooperative networks between terrorists and organised criminals and lay a basis for an argument that the use of the threat assessment model, based upon a philosophy of realism, may no longer serve Australia’s interests. The narcoterrorist networks that produce, transport and distribute illicit narcotics illustrates a ‘crossover’ between criminality and defence threat, and, potentially, an operational disconnect in a federated country, such as Australia. Local police may not be able to support defence measures to the fullest extent. A liberal philosophical threat assessment model, supported by a target-centric operational orientation, may enable defence and policing to act in unison to protect local and offshore communities that are vulnerable. A widening of the ‘philosophical lens’ may integrate operations and intelligence to allow maximum pressure to be brought upon key points.

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PJ 81 (2008) 235

Knowledge management and police resources: insights from research
Helen Martin, Colin Rogers

Police services are constantly evolving in the need to manage demands upon their resources and fulfil obligations to consumers within a rapidly changing social and political landscape. The division of police labour, supported by dedicated IT and management structures, has been seen as one solution to this problem. This article considers the introduction of such a system, the Tasking Demand and Management Unit (TDMU), within a particular police force and considers its effects upon police officers and unsworn staff operating the system, including how it has influenced the perceptions of individuals operating at the front line of service delivery. It further considers the effects it has had in areas supporting the delivery of an effective, economic and efficient service, and informs policy makers and practitioners alike.

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PJ 81 (2008) 248

Interviewing children in Belgium: an evaluation
Geert Vervaeke, Marc van de Plas, Hans de Wiest, Marijke Bastiaens, Miet Vanderhallen, Jessica Dommicent

In Belgium, police officers are obliged to attend advanced training in interviewing children. Research suggests training is not sufficient to acquire and maintain skills, but follow-up is also required. The present study aims to examine the influence of the type of follow-up (individual follow-up, collective follow-up and no follow-up) on the overall quality of procedure in interviewing children.* Results show that police officers receiving individual follow-up perform significantly better in comparison with those who have received collective follow-up or no follow-up at all.

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Links to other issues

Volume 74 (2001) :   1   2   3   4

Volume 75 (2002) :   1   2   3   4

Volume 76 (2003) :   1   2   3   4

Volume 77 (2004) :   1   2   3   4

Volume 78 (2005) :   1   2   3   4

Volume 79 (2006) :   1   2   3   4

Volume 80 (2007) :   1   2   3   4

Volume 81 (2008) :   1   2   3

Volume 82 (2009) :   1   4

Volume 83 (2010) :   1   2

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