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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 1:45 am
Time: 1:45 am
Results for police operations
3 results foundAuthor: Lum, Cynthia Title: Translating Police Research into Practice Summary: Eleven years ago, in one of the first Ideas in American Policing lectures, Lawrence Sherman advocated for evidence-based policing, that is, “. . . police practices should be based on scientific evidence about what works best” (1998, 2). Like other police researchers and innovative police practitioners at the time, Sherman believed that information generated from systematic or scientific research, as well as rigorous in-house crime analysis, should be regularly used by the police to make both strategic and tactical decisions. The idea of evidence-based policing seemed logical and advantageous. Why wouldn’t police tactics be based on what we know are effective strategies that reduce or prevent crime? A number of benefits could be reaped from such a rational approach. Strategies and tactics that are generated from information and based in scientific knowledge about effectiveness are more likely to reduce crime when they are employed. Similarly, if interventions have been shown to have harmful effects, police policies might explicitly discourage their deployment. Evidence-based policing also seems more justifiable in supporting police practices than other, much less scientific methods, such as best-guessing, emotional hunches, or anecdotal reflections on single cases. In turn, information-based decision making can provide legitimacy, transparency, and structure to police-citizen communications and interactions, all of which are important requirements for effective policing in modern democracies. Perhaps less obvious but equally important benefits could include advancing police information and management systems that improve efficiency. Evidence-based approaches rely on the consistent and speedy collection, management, analysis, recording, and turnaround of crime data. This reliance can force improvements in police information technology systems, which, in turn, have the potential of strengthening and making more tangible accountability systems that facilitate managerial practices, of which information is a central component. These include innovations such as Compstat, problem-oriented policing, and intelligence-led policing (see Ratcliffe 2008). Such a system seems more promising than what police leaders have previously relied upon to establish accountability—amorphous cultural norms of quasi-military hierarchy or adherence to a reactive standard operating procedures manual. Evidence-based policing could also have a broader impact on transforming cultural forces that strongly influence a reactive approach to police operations, which oftentimes paralyzes crime prevention efforts and change. Although its conceptualization and implementation seem scientific or academic, evidence-based policing could increase the motivation of patrol officers and supervisors in their daily activities. Reducing crime by using strategies more likely to be effective can reduce workload and make efforts more rational. Information-based approaches can also be problem oriented and require a team effort, giving further meaning, logic, and motivation to everyday routines. Evidence-based policing requires police to look outward for information as well, opening officers and command staff to different ideas and worldviews, and providing new challenges, interactions, and relationships that could make any workplace more interesting. Police culture has generally resisted change and external influence (O’Neill, Marks, and Singh 2008), and an evidence-based paradigm might aid in mollifying this resistance. Thus, at least in theory, evidence-based policing holds much promise. Indeed, by the time of Sherman’s Ideas lecture, a number of innovations that reflected its principles had already been implemented or were being considered (see generally, Weisburd and Braga 2006). Examples include the diffusion of crime analysis and computerized mapping in medium to larger police agencies (Weisburd and Lum 2005); the acceptance and use of some principles of Compstat by a number of agencies (Weisburd, Mastrofski, McNally, Greenspan, and Willis 2003; Willis, Mastrofski, and Weisburd 2003; Willis, Mastrofski, and Weisburd 2007); and at least an interest and sporadic efforts in conducting problem-oriented policing and hot-spot patrol. Additionally, by the time of Sherman’s lecture, Sherman, Weisburd, Mazerolle, and others had already evaluated hot-spot patrol using randomized controlled experiments (see Sherman and Rogan 1995a, 1995b; Sherman and Weisburd 1995; Weisburd and Green 1995), showing its clear advantage over existing methods of random, preventive, beat-based, reactive patrol (a conclusion recently reached by a 2004 National Research Council report). More than policing paradigms of the past, evidence-based policing and its associated tactics and tools have shown the promise of both intuitive appeal and scientific credibility. Details: Washington, DC: Police Foundation, 2009. 16p. Source: Ideas in American Policing, No. 11: Internet Resource: Accesed February 14, 2012 at http://www.policefoundation.org/pdf/Ideas_Lum.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://www.policefoundation.org/pdf/Ideas_Lum.pdf Shelf Number: 124142 Keywords: Crime AnalysisEvidence-Based PracticesPolice OperationsPolicing |
Author: Monroy, Matthias Title: Using false documents against "Euro-anarchists": the exchange of Anglo-German undercover police highlights controversial police operations Summary: Examination of several recently exposed cases suggests that the main targets of police public order operations are anti‐globalisation networks, the climate change movement and animal rights activists. The internationalisation of protest has brought with it an increasing number of controversial undercover cross‐border police operations. In spite of questions about the legality of the methods used in these operations, the EU is working towards simplifying the cross‐border exchange of undercover officers, with the relevant steps initiated under the German EU presidency in 2007. In October 2010 [1], “Mark Stone,” a political activist with far‐reaching international contacts, was revealed to be British police officer Mark Kennedy [2] prompting widespread debate on the cross‐border exchange of undercover police officers. Activists had noted Kennedy’s suspicious behaviour during a court case and then came across his real passport at his home. Since 2003, the 41‐year‐old had worked for the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU) [3], which had been part of the National Extremism Tactical Coordination Unit (NETCU) since 2003. The NPOIU was formed at the end of the 1990s to surveil anarchist and globalisation groups as well as animal rights activists. NPOIU and NETCU report to the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), but recent media coverage [4] has led to the restructuring of undercover police operations in the UK with the Home Secretary withdrawing NPOIU’s mandate to lead. This decision follows on from the disclosure that some undercover officers had used sexual relationships in order to gain trust or extract information. Details: London: Statewatch, 2011. 16p. Source: Statewatch Analysis: Internet Resource: Accessed March 13, 2012 at http://www.statewatch.org/analyses/no-146-undercover-exchange-protests.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Europe URL: http://www.statewatch.org/analyses/no-146-undercover-exchange-protests.pdf Shelf Number: 124474 Keywords: Intelligence GatheringInternational CooperationInternational Law EnforcementInternational PolicingPolice OperationsPolicingPolicing Networks |
Author: Great Britain. Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary Title: A review of national police units which provide intelligence on criminality associated with protest Summary: In 2010, revelations about the activities of Mark Kennedy, a police officer working undercover for the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU), led to the collapse of the trial of six people accused of planning to shut down a large power station in Ratcliffe-on-Soar, Nottinghamshire. Later that month, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) announced a review of the systems used by the NPOIU to authorise and control the development of intelligence. This report outlines our findings and recommendations. The NPOIU was created in 1999 as part of the Police Service's response to campaigns and public protest that generate violence and disruption. Located within the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), it was funded by the Home Office to reduce criminality and disorder from domestic extremism and to support forces managing strategic public order issues. The unit gathered and coordinated intelligence that enabled the police to protect the public by preventing crime and disruption. HMIC has reviewed: the supervision of undercover officers deployed by the NPOIU; the activities and supervision of Mark Kennedy specifically; the issues of management and supervision that arise from the case of Mark Kennedy, and how these might be strengthened; the ACPO definition of "domestic extremism"; the history, remit and governance of the NPOIU; and links between the NPOIU and the MPS Special Demonstration Squad (SDS). This report considers undercover police tactics when used to develop intelligence, rather than to obtain material specifically for a criminal prosecution. Conclusions and recommendations are made with regard to the level of intrusion into people's lives; the use of these tactics to tackle domestic extremism as well as to inform public order policing; and the extent to which the risks inherent to undercover deployments are justified and controlled. Details: London: HMIC, 2012. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 13, 2012 at http://www.hmic.gov.uk/media/review-of-national-police-units-which-provide-intelligence-on-criminality-associated-with-protest-20120202.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.hmic.gov.uk/media/review-of-national-police-units-which-provide-intelligence-on-criminality-associated-with-protest-20120202.pdf Shelf Number: 124501 Keywords: Domestic Terrorism (U.K.)Intelligence GatheringPolice OperationsPolicing (U.K.)ProtestsPublic Order Management (U.K.)Violent Extremism (U.K.) |