Enhancing Police Service Delivery: Global Perspectives and Contemporary Policy Implications 3030612937, 9783030612931

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James F. Albrecht Garth den Heyer  Editors

Enhancing Police Service Delivery Global Perspectives and Contemporary Policy Implications

Enhancing Police Service Delivery

James F. Albrecht  •  Garth den Heyer Editors

Enhancing Police Service Delivery Global Perspectives and Contemporary Policy Implications

Editors James F. Albrecht Pace University New York, NY, USA

Garth den Heyer Walden University Minneapolis, MN, USA

ISBN 978-3-030-61293-1    ISBN 978-3-030-61452-2 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61452-2 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

This book is dedicated to my parents, James and Christa Albrecht, who had consistently pushed me to pursue my education and to strive to be the best that I could be; and to my two children, Jimmy and Kristiana, who continue to provide me with daily enjoyment and motivation through their unlimited sense of curiosity. James F. Albrecht This book is dedicated to my two grandsons, Liam and Joshua. Garth den Heyer This book is most importantly dedicated to police officers across the globe, who continue to make personal sacrifices to ensure that society remains safe and secure and particularly to those who have lost their lives while serving their communities. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” Matthew 5:9—King James Bible

Foreword

As challenging as times were for police across the globe when Jimmy Albrecht and Garth den Heyer first set out to produce this edited volume, little could they have known that things would get that much more difficult at the outset of 2020 when the novel coronavirus pandemic erupted. This has compelled police officials, and nearly everyone else on the planet, to quickly reconsider how to adapt to a new, unforeseen environment. The police had to reconsider how they could or could not deliver their standard services, while simultaneously assuming new duties that were directly responsive to the pandemic. In most democracies, policing has always been an enormously challenging enterprise. It has steadfastly resisted all efforts to narrow the scope of the police function to something seemingly manageable, or at least comprehensible, such as enforcing the criminal law, keeping the peace, or fighting crime. It is all these things, and much more. Indeed, no scholar to date has substantially improved upon Professor Egon Bittner’s insightful definition of the business of police as constituting “something that ought not to be happening and about which somebody ought to do something now!” This simple definition conveys both the breadth of possible behavior and conditions that the public might expect its police to attend to and the ambiguity of what exactly ought to be done, and by whom. Because so much of what is asked of police comprises requests by some people to compel other people to stop (or sometimes start) doing something, almost invariably, one person or the other is bound to be at least somewhat dissatisfied with the police actions. This breadth and ambiguity of policing are manifested on a multitude of social levels: by individuals when they “call the cops,” to citizen groups (e.g., homeowners associations, business groups and companies, political activist organizations) when they meet with police representatives, and to government officials (legislators, political executives, agency administrators, courts) when they task their police with new duties and functions, or proscribe or prescribe certain police methods. In the context of the coronavirus pandemic, for example, many governments have tasked their police with helping enforce public health orders and advisories, but doing so in ways that do not unduly upset or alienate citizens from their local and national

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government officials. This only adds to the long list of duties the public expects its police to carry out with some balance of firmness and delicacy. And so this volume is a welcome addition to the policing literature, covering, as it does, a wide range of contemporary, and often contentious, issues confronting modern police administrators and their political overseers. The volume is organized principally around world geography, presenting the various topics as they are experienced in Europe, North America, and elsewhere. But, taken as a whole, the volume’s chapters variously touch on five major and important themes. The first theme is the increasingly complex policing task in democratic societies. The second theme is the tension between the need for some police independence from undue political pressures and the need for police responsiveness and accountability to the political system within which they operate. The third theme is the plethora of policing philosophies and frameworks, mostly espoused by scholars, from which police administrators must choose in guiding their agencies. The fourth theme is the perpetual challenge to police administrators in leading and managing their personnel in ways that recruit and retain high caliber individuals, while simultaneously meeting the expectations of political authorities. Each chapter of the volume addresses at least one of these four themes, broadly speaking. The fifth theme runs throughout all the chapters and is therefore an overarching one: the value in cross-cultural learning for police leaders. Policing in free and open societies demands attention to all of these themes and others, and Albrecht and den Heyer help readers work out the particulars of each of them. However each police leader chooses to address the themes covered in this volume, this much can safely be said about them: 1. Policing is almost certainly going to continue becoming ever more complex, not simpler, so leaders must learn to confront and adapt to that complexity, and in turn help their employees do likewise. 2. Police independence from and accountability to political and community authority must be balanced, a balance that will never be perfect, but which must always be perfected. Good policing must be based on adherence to foundational principles of integrity and public interest, and one of those principles must be that the public have a say in how it is policed. 3. Police leaders must become more deeply knowledgeable about the various police organizational strategies that have been proposed and tested over the years so that the strategic choices they make for their organization will be coherent and on conceptually sound footing. To choose none of the modern organizational strategies is to choose the largely discredited traditional strategy. To choose all of the modern organizational strategies as a hybrid mix is to abdicate leadership responsibility and leave a police organization adrift. 4. The historical model of the police organization as a blended form of military and industrial enterprises, in which its employees need only follow explicit directives from managers to be successful, can be said to be now defunct. It is a model no longer fit for the purposes of complex modern policing, and managing it as such

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will fail to attract or retain the educated, experienced, self-motivated, and innovative police employees needed for modern policing. 5. And lastly, although it is true that policing is essentially a highly localized enterprise, calling, as it does, for the exercise of discretionary judgments that fit specific facts in particular contexts, all democratic police organizations must address similar core issues and concerns, and thus have much to teach one another, whether through success or failure. Police leaders who pay attention only to the experiences of police organizations from their own nation or state, of their own agency’s size, or that operate in a political system identical to their own deny themselves, their employees, and their constituents of valuable hard-learned lessons from the wider law enforcement profession. The editors and contributing authors of this volume do the police profession a great service in helping think through these and other foundational issues and themes, all in the ultimate interest of fairer and more effective democratic policing. Michael S. Scott Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

Preface

Contemporary police service delivery and the measurement of related performance are clearly complex phenomena. Traditionally police organizational and individual successes have been measured by examining statistics related to reported crime and arrest activity. It is obvious that policing operations in practice encompass other critical tasks and responsibilities not routinely measured and evaluated, including response to incidents involving medical assistance, domestic disputes, homelessness, mental illness, vehicle accidents, natural death, community meetings, local events, regional and professional sports, and neighborhood problem-solving endeavors. The most common contemporary strategies positively cited include hotspot policing, crime mapping, and COMPSTAT, but efficacy is often only measured through review of index crime and arrest statistics. Policing in the modern era is clearly more complex than it was two or three decades ago. The internet has been identified as a phenomenal global advancement, but criminals have been able to identify technological and security flaws and target human sensibilities that permit criminals to commit petty and serious crime from the safe distance of their own basement, often in other countries. And the threat of radicalism and terrorism, regardless of agenda, has created often unattainable challenges for local law enforcement, particularly since many threats originate from sites in distant nations, and clearly require inter-agency and transnational cooperation and information exchange, often beyond the normal scope of local law enforcement agencies and investigatory units in most countries. In 2020, the law enforcement profession and criminal justice system were also dramatically impacted by the coronavirus pandemic and concurrently by anti-police and anti-government demonstrations and riots. The responsibilities assigned to police departments thereafter underwent comprehensive review, and it is likely that many of the tasks not associated with law enforcement and street violence may be transitioned to other public service or private organizations. Law enforcement, particularly at the local level, must therefore face the challenges of globalism, at a time when extreme budgetary constraints are being implemented. The concept of smarter policing has been proposed as the remedy for dealing with personnel and financial restrictions, but the goal to get more with less xi

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is not always achievable, particularly given the additional contemporary challenges of cybercrime and the threat of terrorism. Federal initiatives to improve cooperation and collaboration at transnational levels must continue to be enhanced to ensure proper regional and local notification and effective and timely exchange of critical information and intelligence. Options for force multiplication include the use of part-time and volunteer resources and state-of-the-art technology, but these clearly require financial investment and political support. As such, smarter policing has proven to be an effective strategy, but not on the global stage, often due to budgetary concerns and resource restrictions. With continuing criticism of the police in both recognized democratic and developing nations, often alleging disparate enforcement and incarceration of under-­ represented groups based on ethnic, racial, or socioeconomic lines, the role of public involvement and input into the prioritization of agency responsibilities has received much attention. In most cases, it is the agency head or local political leadership that identifies policing priorities and streamlines policy and practice. However, the origins of modern policing are based on the tenets of Sir Robert Peel, and almost all of the principles that he identified have relied on public and community guidance and feedback into evaluation of police organizational performance. As such, one has to wonder if public input should be granted higher priority in identifying organizational goals and gauging agency performance. This option has recently become more appealing following the anti-police and anti-government demonstrations and riots in 2020. We are often reminded that individual leadership is paramount to ensure organizational success, but it is recognized that most police supervisors are not well versed in effective management strategy. Police managers are now expected not only to supervise but also to be role models with effective leadership skills. Law enforcement management must become potent change agents, capable of leading not only organizational personnel, but persuasively and convincingly collaborating with members of the public and private and public agencies to ensure that trust and confidence are evident and indisputable. A challenging situation such as the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 made it clear that the medical community would play a great role in outlining practical patrol and response options for police officials across the United States and globally. In summary, this book has taken the critical step of examining the contemporary and complex issue of police service delivery through the professional perspectives of both highly respected academic researchers and accomplished law enforcement practitioners. The book takes a multifaceted approach, not only from regional orientation (e.g., North America, Africa, Europe, Asia, the Caribbean, the Pacific Islands, etc.) but also as it relates to topical relevance (e.g., ethnicity, public administration, political ideology, social services, medical and mental health, etc.) to ensure that those vital issues that clearly impact every individual globally can be more thoroughly understood. Both the public and the police organizational perspectives will be analyzed. Throughout the book and within the final comments, tried and tested initiatives and practical recommendations to effectively enhance police service delivery and improve public trust and support for the police will be delineated.

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It is, therefore, the goal of this text to provide government, criminal justice, and policing administrators and policy makers with the informed and enlightening opportunity of thoroughly comprehending and analyzing the critical issues impacting the contemporary, complex challenges inherent in providing effectual public safety, security, and service at a time when faced with popular criticism, extreme budgetary constraints, and the relatively novel and overwhelming challenges of terrorism and cybercrime. The book is also intended to contribute valuable insight to criminal justice, public administration, political science and sociological researchers, academics, and students in an effort to unite study and practice to identify avenues to best serve community interests, ensure optimal organizational success, and enhance public confidence in rule-of-law mechanisms locally and abroad. New York, NY, USA

James F. Albrecht

Contents

Part I Examining Police Service: An Introduction and Overview   1 Examining Police Service Delivery: An Introduction and Overview ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������    3 Ken Peak Part II Examining Police Service Delivery in Europe   2 The Governance of the Police and Current Challenges to Police Service Delivery in England and Wales����������������������������������   17 Barry Loveday   3 Evaluating and Revising Police Stop and Search Practices in Scotland������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   31 Megan O’Neill and Elizabeth Aston   4 Situational Awareness During a Crisis in Norway: Seeing the Forest, But Not the Trees������������������������������������������������������   53 Magne V. Aarset, Rune Glomseth, and Per Christian Juvkam   5 Predictors of Patrol Officer Openness to New Ideas for Improving Police Service Delivery���������������������������������������������������������   67 Alper Durmus Camlibel, S. Hakan Can, and Helen M. Hendy Part III Examining Police Service Delivery in the United States and Canada   6 The Impact of Police Officer-Involved Shootings on Organizational Policy in the United States��������������������������������������������   85 Hasan T. Arslan and James F. Albrecht   7 Examining Police Interactions with the Mentally Ill in the United States��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   95 Hasan T. Arslan xv

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  8 Enhancing Police Services in the United States Through Public and Interagency Collaboration ��������������������������������������������������  109 Theresa Tobin   9 Sentinel Event Reviews in the United States and Canada: Enhancing Service Delivery to the Community������������������������������������  125 Rick Parent and Catherine Parent 10 Client-Centered Policing: A Focus on Positive Community Contacts Within Canada ������������������������������������������������������������������������  143 Neil Dubord, Catherine Parent, and Rick Parent 11 Do We Get the Police We Deserve? A Historical Review of Police Executive Selection in America’s Largest Cities������������������������  159 Brian Rizzo 12 The Role of Police in Police–Reentry Partnerships in the United States��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  187 Robert D. Hanser Part IV Examining Police Service Delivery: Global Perspectives 13 New Zealand Police’s Policing Excellence and Prevention First Strategy: A New Approach to Police Service Delivery����������������  207 Garth den Heyer 14 Public Mobilization and Organization for Crime Prevention in China: A Case Study of the Fengqiao Police Station in Zhejiang Province������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  237 Kuang Cuiye and Liu Junling 15 Historical and Current Dilemmas in South Africa that Challenge Proficient Police Service Delivery����������������������������������������  259 Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Annalise Kempen 16 Institutional Challenges Affecting the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force and Inhibiting Effective Police Service Delivery������������������������  281 Perry Stanislas 17 Exploring Factors Impacting the Role of Management and Leadership in Police Service Delivery in Taiwan: A Legal-­Institutional Perspective ����������������������������������������������������������  301 Leo S. F. Lin and Vivien Wei-Jung Chang 18 The Effectiveness of Self-Efficacy in the Reduction of Police Attitude to Corruption in Nigeria����������������������������������������������������������  315 Oyesoji Aremu

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Part V Examining Police Service Delivery: Theory, Research and Practice 19 Maximizing the Effective Use of Volunteer, Part-Time, and Hybrid Law Enforcement Personnel into Crime Prevention and Counter-Terrorism Initiatives ��������������������������������������������������������  331 James F. Albrecht 20 Is Managerialism Alive and Well in the Police Service?����������������������  341 Alan Beckley 21 Organizational Learning from Field Research in Policing: How Police Can Improve Policy and Practice by Implementing Randomized Controlled Trials����������������������������������������������������������������  359 Laura Bedford and Peter Neyroud 22 Management Culture in the Police: Toxic or Tonic?����������������������������  379 Alan Beckley 23 Evidence-Based Policing: The Impact of Organizational Context and Leadership on Programmatic Adoption��������������������������  405 Doug Abrahamson Part VI Examining Police Service Delivery: Final Thoughts 24 Afterword and Final Thoughts: Improving Police Service Delivery ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  431 James F. Albrecht Index������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  441

About the Editors

About the Editors James  F.  Albrecht  is a Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Homeland Security at Pace University in New  York. James Albrecht received a prestigious Fulbright Fellowship in 1998 and worked as a Professor at the National Police College of Finland and is considered an authority in Police Use of Force; Community/Zero Tolerance Policing initiatives; Police Response to Terrorism; Emergency Incident Planning and Management; Democratic Policing; Law Enforcement Leadership Practices; Corruption Control; Developing Police Volunteer Programs; and other international criminal justice and law enforcement issues. Professor Albrecht has lectured at police facilities and universities in China, Taiwan, Russia, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Canada, Dubai, Kosovo, Macedonia, Malta, Ukraine, Trinidad & Tobago, South Africa, the UK, and throughout the USA and serves as a consultant to the United Nations, the US Department of Homeland Security, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Sheriffs Association, and the National Institute of Justice on terrorism and policing matters. James Albrecht possesses two Bachelor’s Degrees in Biology and German Language and separate Master’s Degrees in Criminal Justice; Human Physiology; and History. Jimmy is completing his Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from the University of New Haven. James Albrecht is the recipient of a 2013 Embassy Policy Specialist Fellowship (USDOS/IREX) and was tasked with conducting research and making recommendations to improve law enforcement effectiveness and legitimacy in Ukraine. James F. Albrecht served in the European Union Rule of Law Mission (EULEX) in Kosovo (former Yugoslavia) as the Police Chief of the EULEX Police Executive Department, in charge of criminal investigations and tasked with coordinating international law enforcement cooperation and intelligence analysis from 2008 through 2010. Jim is also a 20-year veteran of the NYPD who retired as the Commanding Officer of NYPD Transit Bureau District 20, responsible for the supervision and deployment of over 300 police officers tasked with the prevention of crime and

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terrorism in the subway and rapid transit system in the borough of Queens, New York City. Captain Albrecht was a first responder and incident command staff member at the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the incident commander at the November 12, 2001, commercial airliner accident in Queens, NYC.  Captain Albrecht has extensive law enforcement experience in the NYPD, having served as an auxiliary police officer, patrol officer, community policing beat officer, Police Academy criminal law instructor, firearms investigator, sergeant patrol supervisor, press information officer, community policing unit commander, supervisory research analyst for the Police Commissioner, lieutenant platoon commander, special operations lieutenant, lieutenant detective commander of internal civil rights violation investigations, executive officer (deputy precinct commander), and duty captain (designated critical and emergency incident commander). Captain Albrecht served on Police Commissioner Bratton’s Reengineering Committees from 1994 through 1995 and from 2014 through 2015. James Albrecht is the author and editor of five books: Effective Crime Reduction Strategies: International Perspectives; Policing Major Events: Perspective from Across the World; Police Reserves and Volunteers: Enhancing Police Effectiveness and Public Trust; Police Brutality, Misconduct and Corruption: Criminological Explanations and Policy Implications; and Policing and Minority Communities: Current Issues and Global Perspectives. Professor Albrecht has many published works dealing with law enforcement, community policing, legal history, corruption control, crime reduction strategies, justice-related gender issues, criminology, and international terrorism/counter-terrorism. Garth  den Heyer  is a leading researcher in policing and counterterrorism and instructor with the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University. He is highly regarded internationally with senior fellowships and appointments in the United Kingdom and the United States. He graduated in economics from the University of London in 2002 and completed his doctorate at Charles Sturt University, Australia. He was a New Zealand police officer for more than 38 years, retiring at the rank of inspector. For more than 20 years he was responsible for the research, development, and application of national, organizational and border security, counterterrorism, emergency management, and search and rescue and disaster victim identification, policies, procedures, plans, and responses. He was responsible for the national co-ordination of protective operations, the delivery of national counterterrorism exercises, and operational and technical security measures. Dr. den Heyer is a qualified economist and econometrician and a mixed-methods researcher whose interests include police organizational reform and performance, police service delivery effectiveness, the police response to terrorism, and the militarization of policing. His work in these areas has included evaluations of policing reform and interventions and in understanding policing in developing and post-­ conflict nations. He has published more than 30 articles and written seven books on

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a variety of criminal justice and policing topics. He is a member of a number of police advisory committees and editorial boards and is a senior research fellow with the National Police Foundation (in Washington, D.C.) and an associate with the Scottish Institute for Policing Research. Dr. den Heyer has been with Arizona State University since the summer semester of 2015 and teaches courses in homeland security and international and domestic terrorism.

About the Authors

Magne V. Aarset  received his education in Mathematics, Mathematical Statistics, Music, and Psychology at the University of Oslo, Norway. He has a broad industrial experience from working among others in different branches of the European aerospace and the Norwegian insurance industry. He delivers lectures and conducts research at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the BI Norwegian Business School. He is now employed at NTNU and at Terp, a company producing e-books, electronic textbooks adapted to the reader. His main field of research is within psychometrics and machine learning. Doug  Abrahamson  effectively bridges the academic scholar-police practitioner divide by blending academic/scholarly rigor with 35 years of professional policing knowledge, training, and experience. Academically, Doug holds a Doctorate of Public Policy from Charles Stuart University (CSU), a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Royal Roads University (RRU), was a Senior Research Fellow with the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) in Washington D.C. (2006–2007), and was elected to and served on the RRU Board of Governors in 2001. Since the fall of 2016, Dr. Abrahamson has been an Assistant Professor at Rabdan Academy in the United Arab Emirates and teaches within the Policing & Security and Crime Scenes programs. Dr. Abrahamson is also an Adjunct Faculty member with the Australian Graduate School of Policing & Security (AGSPS-CSU) and is a registered Higher Degree by Research (HDR) Doctoral Supervisor at Charles Stuart University. Oyesoji Aremu  is a Professor of Counseling and Criminal Justice in the Department of Guidance and Counseling at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. His research interests cover police behaviors, police culture, and the dynamics of police and public relationships in polity. Professor Aremu is recognized as one of the foremost policing and criminal justice scholars in Nigeria and across Africa.

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About the Authors

Hasan T. Arslan  is an Associate Professor of Justice and Law Administration in the Ancell Business School at Western Connecticut State University. Hasan holds a law degree from Marmara University in Istanbul, Turkey. He received his Ph.D. from the College of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University of Huntsville, Texas, in 2008. Dr. Arslan worked 9 years at the Institute for the Study of Violent Groups (ISVG), where he contributed as a supervisor and analyst to the development of a database capable of tracking more than 2000 global and domestic extremist groups. Dr. Arslan’s teaching interests include criminology, terrorism, organized crime, and policing. His primary research interests are in the field of homeland security and police use of force. Before coming to WestConn, he taught at the University of New Haven, Western New England University, and Pace University. Hasan Arslan is currently involved in an ongoing comprehensive database project to define and consolidate information of police shooting incidents throughout the United States. The database is called SHOT, i.e., Statistics Help Officer Training. The primary objective of the project is to establish a repository of national data, which will enable law enforcement officials the ability to analyze this information and be better prepared to make the right judgment call during a hostile situation. Elizabeth  Aston  is the Director of the Scottish Institute for Policing Research (SIPR). She has an outstanding record of collaborative research on policing both in Scotland and within Europe, including involvement in major international projects on community policing and stop-and-search. Her research interests center on intersections between criminal justice and other policy areas such as health, e.g., policing and substance use. Dr. Aston’s expertise lies in  local policing and she has conducted research on the relationship between substance use and offending, community policing, stop and search, local policing in Scotland, and youth diversionary projects. She is also highly experienced in knowledge exchange and in building strong research-practitioner relationships. She is an Associate Professor in Criminology and was previously Head of Social Sciences at Edinburgh Napier. Alan Beckley  was a police officer in the United Kingdom (UK), serving for 30 years in Surrey Police and West Mercia Constabulary respectively. After retiring from the police service, Alan was operating as a management consultant, working in the public sector in the UK and with national police forces in the UK and Europe. He also taught as a Lecturer and Visiting Fellow at four UK Universities. He is a published author on many police-related subjects, has edited police journals, and has completed many assignments in the police service internationally. He is an expert resource in corporate governance and police ethics/human rights issues, risk and contingency planning in the police service, and comparative legal and policing studies. In 2010, he moved to Australia and was a Senior Lecturer at Charles Sturt University in the Australian Graduate School of Policing in Manly. From 2016, Alan was employed by Western Sydney University in positions in the Office of Widening Participation and he also taught several subjects. He was awarded a Ph.D. by Western Sydney University and the subject of his dissertation was: Examining human rights and ethical practice in Australian policing: A New South Wales Case Study.

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Laura  Bedford  is a Lecturer in Criminology in the School of Humanities and Social Science at Deakin University in Australia. Dr. Bedford has recently worked as an embedded criminologist at the Queensland Police Service (QPS), Australia, where she was the lead researcher on a 2-year randomized controlled field trial of a police technology. This work reflects Laura’s interest in evidence-based policing, randomized controlled field trials, and the challenge of translating rigorous criminological research into policy and practice in police organizations. Laura has worked for many years as a professional policy researcher in complex, multi-sectoral contexts in South Africa and Australia. Her work has involved extensive engagement and collaboration with communities, practitioners, activists, and criminal justice workers, including police. In alignment with her renewed focus on social and environmental justice, Laura’s current research centers on state-corporate environmental crime, environmental activism, and resistance. Christiaan  Bezuidenhout  holds the following degrees: BA (Criminology), BA Honors (Criminology), MA (Criminology), DPhil (Criminology), and MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Oxford. He is attached to the Department of Social Work and Criminology, University of Pretoria, where he teaches psychocriminology, criminal justice, and contemporary criminology at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He is the coordinator of the Criminology Honors degree program and has also supervised several postgraduate studies (MA and DPhil students). Psychocriminology, criminal justice (policing), and youth misbehavior are some of his research foci. He has completed a cross-cultural study with an American colleague, focusing on the legal and policing dilemmas of trafficking in humans, and he holds a research rating from the National Research Foundation in South Africa. During his academic career, Christiaan has published numerous scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals and has authored chapters in several books. He has also acted as editor-in-chief for various scholarly works. He has participated in national and international conferences and has been actively involved in various community engagement projects focusing on the management of crime and risk assessment. He has assisted the South African government in the development of different crime prevention initiatives. Christiaan has served often as an expert witness in court, and he was the president of the Criminological Society of Africa (CRIMSA) from 2015 to 2017. In addition to his academic position as a Full Professor, he is currently the Head of a Female Residence at the University of Pretoria. Alper  Durmus  Camlibel  is an assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of Wisconsin in Oshkosh. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science at Claremont Graduate University in California. Dr. Camlibel is also a former police superintendent and served in the Turkish National Police from 2001 to 2018. He participated in United Nations and European Union projects in the field of counter-­ narcotics and has presented at several national and international academic conferences. Dr. Camlibel teaches courses in policing, criminal justice, crime prevention, terrorism, and narcotic drugs. His research interests include police stress, inmate violence, drug abuse, terrorism, and ethnic conflict.

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About the Authors

S. Hakan Can  is professor of criminology at Pennsylvania State University. Hakan Can began his career in law enforcement in 1984 in the Turkish National Police and has worked with Interpol, the Anti-smuggling Department, the Counter-narcotics Division, and the Fiscal Crimes Division. After he completed his Ph.D. in Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University in Texas, he joined the faculty at Pennsylvania State University in 2006. He has authored and coauthored six books (three of them for police service use), eight book chapters, and 53 journal articles. His current research focus is on law enforcement organizational issues from a global perspective and the efficiency of local police operations. Vivien Wei-Jung Chang  is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Foreign Affairs Police at the Central Police University (CPU) in Taiwan. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in the Graduate School of Police Policy at the CPU in 2003 and in 2012, respectively. Her research interests include police laws, foreign affairs policing, police administration, and female safety. Before accepting her current position, she was a 20-year veteran police officer. She is also a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy in 2016 and the recipient of the 2017 International Recognition Award and Scholarship of the International Association of Women Police. Kuang Cuiye  is a professor in the School of Public Security Administration at the People’s Public Security University of China in Beijing. He is also an executive member of the Talent Assessment Branch of Chinese Society for Human Resource Management. His research interests focus on the history of Chinese public security, police human resource management, volunteers in policing and auxiliary police, and comparative police administration. Dr. Kuang Cuiye has also taught a course on Chinese Public Security Administration in the Faculty of Law Enforcement at the National University of Public Service in Hungary in March 2017. Neil  Dubord  is the Chief of the Delta Police Department located in British Columbia in Canada. Dr. Dubord previously served as the Chief of the Metro Vancouver Transit Police and spent 25 years with the Edmonton Police Service, where he was the Deputy Chief in charge of the Community Policing Bureau. Rune  Glomseth  educated at the Norwegian Police Academy in 1983, holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration. Rune also holds certifications in Law and Political Science. He has a broad background from various positions in the police through 35 years, now assigned as Associate Professor in Organization and Management. He works with Leadership and Management Programs at the Norwegian Police University College. His research interests include management and organizational culture, changes in the police, and leadership skills in Top Management in the Police. Professor Glomseth has been responsible for leadership development programs at the Norwegian Police Security Service, the National Criminal Investigation Service, and in several police districts across Norway, besides academic management, for various leadership programs at the Norwegian Police University College.

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Robert Hanser  is the coordinator of the Criminal Justice Program at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. He is also the director of the Institute of Law Enforcement, established in 1991, which offers in-service training to police and related agencies throughout Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi. Dr. Hanser was a 5-year administrator at the North Delta Regional Training Academy, a regional academy responsible for providing cadet-level training to police and correctional officers throughout northeastern Louisiana. In addition to his work with law enforcement training, Hanser has been active in correctional work and reentry programming for over two decades. He is the director of offender programming for LaSalle Corrections, a private prison company in Louisiana and Texas. He also serves as the board president for Freedmen, Inc., a faith-based organization that provides reentry services for offenders in Louisiana. Lastly, Rob currently holds a gubernatorial appointment on the statewide Louisiana Reentry Council, which ensures that regional efforts are aligned with statewide initiatives. Helen  M.  Hendy  is Professor Emeritus in Psychology at Pennsylvania State University at the Schuylkill Campus. Her research projects have been funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Mental Health, and the Children’s Miracle Network, with research excellence awards received from the Society of Behavioral Medicine. Liu Junling  is an associate professor in the School of Law and Criminology at the People’s Public Security University of China in Beijing. Her research interests include the history of Chinese public security and comparative policing. Dr. Liu Junling was a visiting scholar in the Department of Law, Police Science, and Criminal Justice Administration at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City between September 2010 and August 2011. Per C. Juvkam  is a physician, educated at the Universities in Bergen and Oslo, Norway. Dr. Juvkam is a specialist in anesthesiology and emergency medicine. He has a broad experience as an EMS physician in the field, in supervising emergency medical dispatch and coordination, in participation in ambulance and air ambulance service in Central Norway, and is currently medical supervisor for the regional ambulance service. He has worked for many years to enhance development and quality in EMS, both on the national and the regional levels, and is coauthor of the national criteria-based manual for Emergency Medical Communication Centers and the national handbook for emergency medical communication. He is currently employed as a physician at Trondheim University Hospital. Annalise Kempen  obtained her BPol Science degree in 1993 from the University of Pretoria. She started working in the South African Police Service in 1994. She became the editor of SERVAMUS Policing Magazine in 2002; however the magazine was later privatized and converted to a community-based safety and security magazine. Annalise is also the assistant editor of the Just Africa Journal.

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About the Authors

Leo S. F. Lin  is a police colonel in the Taiwan Police Agency (NPA). Before this position, he served as the police attaché to the United States between 2014 and 2019. Lin graduated from the Taiwan Central Police University, majoring in crime prevention and corrections, and holds an M.A. in International Relations from the University of Indianapolis. He received a crisis management certificate from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and a major event security framework certificate from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). He is the recipient of the “40 under 40” Award from the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) in 2018. Barry  Loveday  has been Reader in Criminal Justice Administration at the University of Portsmouth since 2001. He has written extensively on police management and police governance. Barry has also been an adviser to the Local Government Association’s Community Safety Advisory Board and has worked for two London Think-Tanks, IPPR and Policy Exchange, assessing the effectiveness of local police service delivery and partnership arrangements with local governments. In 2005, Barry was invited by the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit to present an independent evaluation of plans to amalgamate police forces in England and Wales. Most recently, he has written on the police response to the changing profile of crime in England and Wales identified most recently in the report: Office of National Statistics Crime Survey 2016. Peter Neyroud  is Director of the Senior Leader master’s degree apprenticeship in Applied Criminology and Police Management and a Lecturer in evidence-based policing in the Jerry Lee Centre for Experimental Criminology at the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge. His Ph.D. focused on the implementation of field experiments in policing and his research focuses on experimentation, police diversion of offenders, crime harm, police ethics, and police leadership and management. He was a police officer for more than 30 years, serving in Hampshire, West Mercia, and Thames Valley (as Chief Constable). He set up and ran the National Policing Improvement Agency (as Chief Constable and Chief Executive). In the latter role he was responsible for national implementation of all the major programs in UK policing, including Neighborhood Policing, workforce reform, and new technology. In 2010, he was commissioned by the Home Secretary to carry out a fundamental “Review of Police Leadership and Training” which led to the establishment of the new National “College of Policing” in 2012 and radical reform of the qualifications and training of police officers, creating the new “Police Education Qualification Framework.” He is the Co-Chair of the Campbell Collaboration Crime and Justice Coordinating Group and leading an international program of systematic reviews on the prevention of terrorism and radicalization. He is the Director of the Mid-Career Training Program for senior Indian Police officers based in Hyderabad.

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Megan O’Neill  is a Reader at the University of Dundee and has an extensive background in policing research with a focus on issues of social interaction in policing, both within the organization and with the public and partners. Her work has included studies of football policing, Black Police Associations, community policing, partnership working, and Police Community Support Officers. She was part of the Unity Project, funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 program, to study community policing and its adaptation to the new challenges of policing neighborhoods across the European Union. She was appointed as an Associate Director (Police-Community Relations Network) of the Scottish Institute for Policing Research in August 2018. Catherine  Parent, MEd  is a registered nurse, clinician, researcher, writer, and educator regarding complex behavior issues and mental health. Cathy also collaborates with Richard Parent in policing projects. Together they research and coauthor major reports concerning police-involved shootings, police and mental health, ethics in law enforcement, and community policing practices. Richard Parent  is a retired Associate Professor in the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University and was a Delta police officer for 30 years. Dr. Parent’s current research interests include community policing, police ethics, police recruiting, and the police use of lethal force, including the phenomena of suicide by cop. Ken  Peak  is emeritus professor and former chairperson of the Department of Criminal Justice, University of Nevada, Reno. Following 4 years as a municipal police officer in Kansas, he subsequently held positions as a nine-county criminal justice planner for southeast Kansas; director of a four-state Technical Assistance Institute for the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (based at Washburn University in Topeka); director of university police at Pittsburg State University (Kansas); acting director of public safety, University of Nevada, Reno; and assistant professor of criminal justice at Wichita State University. He has authored or coauthored 36 textbooks (relating to introduction to criminal justice, general policing, community policing, criminal justice administration, police supervision and management, and women in law enforcement), two historical books (on Kansas temperance and bootlegging), and more than 60 journal articles and invited book chapters. He is past chairman of the Police Section of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences and president of the Western and Pacific Association of Criminal Justice Educators. He received two gubernatorial appointments to statewide criminal justice committees while residing in Kansas and received his Ph.D. from the University of Kansas.

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About the Authors

Brian  Rizzo  is a Professor of Criminal Justice at Westfield State University in Massachusetts and is a retired New York Police Department Sergeant and 9/11 first responder. His research interests include police reform, use of deadly force, police organizational culture, and administration. Dr. Rizzo belongs to numerous professional organizations including the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) and the American Society of Public Administration (ASPA). Michael S. Scott  is the director of the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing and a clinical professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University. He chairs the judging committee for the Herman Goldstein Award for Excellence in Problem-Oriented Policing. Scott was formerly a clinical professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School; chief of police in Lauderhill, Florida; special assistant to the chief of the St. Louis, Missouri, Metropolitan Police Department; director of administration of the Fort Pierce, Florida, Police Department; legal assistant to the police commissioner of the New York City Police Department; and a police officer in the Madison, Wisconsin, Police Department. He was a senior researcher at the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) in Washington, D.C. In 1996, he received PERF’s Gary P. Hayes Award for innovation and leadership in policing. Scott holds a law degree from Harvard Law School and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Perry  Stanislas  joined Rabdan Academy in the United Arab Emirates as an Assistant Professor of Policing and Security. His areas of expertise are leadership, organizational development, and performance. He is a member of the International Police Executive Symposium and an associate member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. Since obtaining his Ph.D. in 2006 from the London School of Economics and Political Science and leaving the Bedfordshire Police, Dr. Stanislas has carried out research and has worked as a consultant and advisor in numerous developing countries including Nigeria, Kenya, and throughout the English-speaking Caribbean and Central America. He is currently leading research and related activities in Gambia to improve leadership capacity. Theresa Tobin  is an adjunct assistant professor at Molloy College and has been a member of the New York City Police Department for 37 years, holding the rank of Assistant Chief. She has served in a multitude of roles within the NYPD including the Commanding Officer of the Personnel Bureau’s Staff Services Section, the Police Commissioner’s Office of Collaborative Policing, and the Chief of Department’s Behavioural Health Division. She has also served as the Executive Officer of the 1st, 10th, and 13th Precincts (NYPD police stations). Professor Tobin earned a Ph.D. and Master of Arts degree in Criminal Justice from the State University of New  York at Albany; a Master of Social Work from Fordham University; and a Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology/Social Work from Marist College. She has been a New York State Certified Social Worker since 1985. She is also a 1997 graduate of the FBI Academy at Quantico, Virginia; a 2006 graduate of the Police Management Institute at Columbia University’s Graduate School of

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Business; and completed the Harvard University John F.  Kennedy School of Government’s Senior Executives in State and Local Government Program. Doctor Tobin has served as the NYPD’s representative on the New  York City Mayor’s Commission on Women’s Issues and currently is the vice chair of the International Association of Chiefs of Police’s Private Sector Liaison Section. She is a past president of the American Academy for Professional Law Enforcement (AAPLE) and volunteers for POPPA, an organization which provides peer assistance and counseling for NYPD officers.

Part I

Examining Police Service: An Introduction and Overview

Chapter 1

Examining Police Service Delivery: An Introduction and Overview Ken Peak

Abstract  Police roles and functions have always been controversial. Perhaps that has never more been the case than the ensuing scrutiny of police service following the May 2020 death of an African-American, George Floyd, at the hands of the police in Minneapolis, Minnesota; this singular occurrence launched peaceful protests and even violent riots around the world. Who are the police? What should they do? How should they do it? These fundamental questions are not merely rhetorical; indeed, they have plagued the field since its inception. And certainly, these questions may be reduced to a simple consideration: how are the police to deliver services to the public—especially given the tremendous power and authority (including the application of deadly force) allotted to them around the world? This book attempts to bring focus to that single question. It will address the question by examining policing in several ways and venues, and four general approaches: in Europe; the United States and Canada; several broad global perspectives; and in terms of theory, research, and practice. This unique insight will be guided by more than two dozen experts in their respective field. This volume provides insights for both academics and practitioners; regarding the latter, as Michael S. Scott indicated in the Foreword, police leaders who only consider the experiences of police organizations of their own area, size, or political system will be deprived lessons learned in other entities within the law enforcement profession. Finally, it should be emphasized that we can only speak to what is and has been in terms of police service delivery; we cannot predict what police service will actually be in 10–20 years, or even in 5–10 years, given the current global upheaval and outrage concerning policing methods and practices, particularly as it relates to the use of force.

K. Peak (*) University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 J. F. Albrecht, G. den Heyer (eds.), Enhancing Police Service Delivery, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61452-2_1

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Keywords  Collaboration · Community officers · Community policing · Corruption · Police culture · Crime fighters · Evidence-based policing · Guardians · Learning organization · Managerialism · Mentally ill population · Problem-solvers · Robert Peel · Volunteerism

Persistent Questions Who are the police? Are they “guardians,” “soldiers,” or “crime fighters”? How should they be managed and organized? Is policing performed differently in other parts of the world? Over what will soon be two centuries of professional policing, ever since Robert Peel’s “bobbies” took to London’s streets in 1829,1 these and similar questions have been posed by all manner of scholars, students of criminal justice, private citizens, and even columnists/commentators endeavoring to understand the complex and unique roles of the police around the world. An example of the latter would be the whimsical depiction of the police as provided a half century ago by legendary radio broadcaster and columnist Paul Harvey—whose father, a Tulsa, Oklahoma, police officer was shot and killed when Harvey was 3. According to Harvey, a police officer: …must be such a diplomat that he can settle differences between individuals so that each will think he won…make an instant decision which would require months for a lawyer to make…be first to an accident and infallible with his diagnosis…be able to start breathing, stop bleeding, tie splints…know every gun, draw on the run, and hit where it doesn’t hurt…be able to whip two men twice his size and half his age…know where all the sin is and not partake…be able to describe the crime, the weapon and the criminal…stake out ten nights to tag one witness who saw it happen - but refused to remember…be a minister, a social worker, a diplomat, a tough guy and a gentleman. And, of course, he’d have to be genius. For he will have to feed a family on a policeman’s salary.2

Such portrayals of the police, though witty and engaging, really do not afford us much in the way of comprehending their specific, actual roles and functions, however, and obviously the enigmatic roles of police are far more complex than Harvey’s writing would indicate. Nor can policing be explained by merely saying officers “enforce the law” or “serve and protect.” One fact is certain, however, that the police have come a great distance from their fledgling days in England (i.e., the nineteenth century) and the United States (from about 1850 to 1950), when it was often believed that the only requirement to function as a police officer was “a size 46 coat and size 6 hat” (i.e., lots of brawn, very little brain). Today’s police recruit may expect to attend a basic training academy

1  See Ben Johnson, “Sir Robert Peel,” Historic UK, https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/ HistoryofEngland/Sir-Robert-Peel/. 2  Adapted from Paul Harvey, “What are Policemen Made Of,” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin (January 1968), p. 8.

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ranging anywhere from 4 to 6 months in order to obtain and demonstrate the kinds of knowledge, skills, and abilities required to do the job. Next we look at various facets of policing in an attempt to answer the questions posed above.

Crime Fighters or Problem-Solvers? Are police officers crime fighters or problem-solvers? Research will assist in peeling back the veil. An internet search of contemporary police functions would reveal a number of broad, desired characteristics of today’s police officer: “integrity,” “courage,” “humanity,” and “professionalism.” Who, then, are today’s police and how do they spend their time? First, it is arguably a given that one of the greatest obstacles to understanding the police role has been this historical image of police as crime fighters. Because of film and media portrayals, many people believe that policing can be aggregated into a simple equation: enforcing the laws and incessantly “chasing bad guys.” But, as anyone who has even an arm’s-length comprehension of policing knows, nothing could be farther from the truth. As Skolnick and Bayley observed, the kinds of crimes that terrify Americans the most—robbery, rape, burglary, and homicide—are rarely encountered by police on patrol: “Only ‘Dirty Harry’ has his lunch disturbed by a bank robbery in progress. Patrol officers individually make few important arrests. The ‘good collar’ is a rare event.”3 Fortunately, a number of studies over the past several decades have afforded greater insight concerning the roles and functions of the police. To begin, in 1950 William A.  Westley accomplished a seminal study into police subculture in the United States. Looking at the Gary, Indiana, Police Department, Westley found a high degree of secrecy and violence—as well as the fact that police develop traditions, skills, and attitudes that are unique to their occupation because of their duties and responsibilities.4 Later, in 1966, Jerome Skolnick made known what he termed the working personality of the police, saying that the police role contained two important variables: authority and danger.5 These two elements, authority and danger, are inextricably linked. First, police must often exercise authority over someone; that, in turn, foments the element of danger because the officer then confronts an unpredictable

3  Jerome H. Skolnick and David H. Bayley, The New Blue Line: Police Innovation in Six American Cities (New York: Free Press, 1986), p. 4. 4  William A. Westley, Violence and the Police (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1970). 5  Jerome Skolnick, “A Sketch of the Policeman’s Working Personality,” in eds. Jack Goldsmith and Sharon S.  Goldsmith, The Police Community, (Pacific Palisades, CA: Palisades Publishers, 1974), p. 106.

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outcome with that person (i.e., the threat of sudden attack). 6 But these two elements also serve to reinforce the image of police as crime fighters. Therefore, it is only natural, given this dissonance between their movie portrayals versus the reality, that the public has long clamored to know for certain who the police are and what services they actually provide. Fortunately, more studies would be done that afforded a deeper understanding of their role. Indeed, looking at policing in the United States, studies have shown that only about 20% of the police officer’s typical day—at most—is devoted to fighting crime per se7 (and, indeed, in many lesser populated jurisdictions in the United States and around the world that proportion will likely be far less). Another of the earliest studies of police work found about one-half of the calls received by police dealt with problem-solving rather than crime fighting. Similarly, a study of the calls received by the Syracuse, New York, Police Department found approximately 10% of the calls police received were related to law enforcement, 30% to order maintenance, 22% to information gathering, and 38% to service calls. Other studies of police calls for service in St. Louis and Detroit found that only 16% were related to law enforcement functions.8 In sum, examinations of official police records typically indicate that only a small percentage of what the police do on a daily basis directly involves crime fighting or law enforcement activities. Using a different approach, observational research (rather than reviewing police records), a number of researchers have arrived at similar conclusions. A study of police officers in Cincinnati, Ohio, for example, found officers spending about one-­ third of their time on patrol (uncommitted), about 20% of the time responding to noncrime calls, and only about 17% of the time responding to crime-related calls. About 13% of their time was devoted to administrative matters, such as court time or completing reports, and 9% of the time was considered to be personal time, such as eating or attending to personal matters. The remaining 7% of their time was devoted to dealing with the public in terms of providing assistance or information, problem-solving, and attending community meetings.9 In sum, the police are nothing like “human pinballs,” chasing from one radio call to the next (while constantly engaging in high-speed pursuits while dodging bullets and bombs, as in Hollywood’s depictions), but rather engage in more problem-­ solving and public service–oriented functions.

6  See Robert Reiner, The Politics of the Police (4th Edition)(New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), p. 119; also see Robert Reiner, “Revisiting the Classics: Three Seminal Founders of the Study of Policing: Michael Banton, Jerome Skolnick and Egon Bittner,” Policing and Society 25(3): 308-327. 7  See Albert Reiss, The Police and the Public (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1971), p. 96. 8  Victor E. Kappeler, “So You Want to be a Crime Fighter? Not So Fast,” Police Studies Online, Eastern Kentucky University, (n.d.), https://plsonline.eku.edu/insidelook/so-you-want-be-crimefighter-not-so-fast#_ga=2.140760626.161966997.1566777800-864040394. 1566777800. 9  Ibid.

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A Wide Range of Activities and Expectations As with any occupation or profession, there is a range of activities found when comparing one police agency to another, and certainly the delivery of an agency’s services will be vastly influenced by its location, laws, and culture. On one end of the continuum—where one might find relatively little activity—would be policing in Saudi Arabia. There, due in large measure to its harsh criminal code and its penalties, one would find comparatively little for the police to do in terms of crime prevention or investigation, calls for service to critical incidents, or traffic enforcement. According to Chris Hedges, the religious police—Mutawin—who wear short, coarse, white cotton robes and sandals, resemble “desert nomads who have stumbled unexpectedly into the [21st] century.” These police patrol in jeeps and stroll through the streets and malls looking for people who are improperly dressed or women who have a loose strand of hair falling across their face or who need to adjust their tarhas (head coverings).10 At the opposite end of the continuum might be China, where the police powers and functions are much broader than those of their counterparts in many other nations. According to Yue Ma, in addition to routine police duties of investigation and traffic control, the Chinese police also engage in fire prevention; controlling firearms, ammunition, knives, and explosive and radioactive materials; supervising the operation of certain types of professions and industries; guarding high-ranking government officials, dignitaries, buildings, and facilities; administering the household registration system as well as handling entry into or exit from the country; maintaining borders; supervising offenders on parole; supervising the security and protection of computer information; and guiding and supervising the security of government offices and social organizations. These officers are also given wide detention power, which can result in an individual’s loss of freedom for months or even years, and the use of physical torture to force confessions has been widely reported. The police may also send offenders to farms or camps for reeducation through labor for up to 3 years without court approval. In sum, in China, the key to the success is perceived to rest with the ability of the police to maintain tight control over the population. To those ends, every citizen must register his or her residence in a locality with the police, neighborhood committees are established in all neighborhoods, strangers in neighborhoods are promptly reported to the police, and officers keep a tight surveillance on every neighborhood.11 Although these policing roles might be quite intrusive to most Americans, the system does allow the police to monitor large city populations and criminals, especially gangs very closely. And even with this high level of police participation into normal daily activities, the

 Chris Hedges, “Everywhere in Saudi Arabia, Islam Is Watching,” The New York Times, January 6, 1993, p. A4(N), col. 3. 11  Yue Ma, “The Police Law 1995: Organization, Functions, Powers and Accountability of the Chinese Police,” Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategy and Management 20 (1997): 113–135. 10

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citizens of China generally express an extremely high level of confidence and appreciation for their local police officials. However, although very different in nature given its democratic system (where, as New Haven, Connecticut, Police Chief Dean Esserman put it, “The Constitution is our boss”),12 police officers in the United States may also have many and varied duties to an extent found in China. Bearing in mind that there are now some 18,000 police agencies in the United States, most of which are small in nature (about half of local police departments employ fewer than 10 sworn officers, and about half of sheriff’s departments have fewer than 24),13 below are some of the duties performed as they concern law enforcement, crime prevention, and performing welfare and other public service tasks (noting that the following list is certainly not exhaustive, but serves as a beginning point): • Assist fire personnel (traffic control, occasionally entering burning buildings and homes before the fire personnel arrive). • Assist animal control (removal of animals from houses, corralling loose animals on the streets and highways, and so on). • Perform all manner of “welfare tasks” and assisting people who are in distress: being on the lookout (BOLO); attempting to contact (ATC); attempting to locate (ATL); making death notifications; addressing “check the welfare of” requests; making periodic checks on residences while owners are away; dealing with and making referrals for the mentally ill, homeless, intoxicated, and those persons suffering withdrawals; acting as marriage counselor with domestic disputes; addressing suicidal individuals; reporting burned-out street lights, damaged street signs, and other hazards; watching for tornadoes and other acts of nature; assist with medical functions (e.g., assist ambulance personnel, make/assist with delivering blood from blood banks to hospitals, delivering babies, assisting at hospitals with violent patients and those coming out of comas, and so on). • Engage in crime prevention: giving lectures, doing on-site safety checks, engaging in routine patrol. • Provide crowd control as needed, acting as first responders for all manner of crime, accident, and traffic crash scenes. • Assist investigations: performing preliminary investigations and arrest/search/ seize as needed; collecting/preserving evidence as required; engaging in foot/ traffic pursuits; testifying in court; completing necessary report forms; collect/ secure/store all found and abandoned property. • Absorb all types of training, much of which is critical for their career (and today, to include such relatively new concepts as smart policing, evidence-based polic Quoted in Police Executive Research Forum, Constitutional Policing as a Cornerstone of Community Policing (Washington, D.C.: Police Executive Research Forum, 2015), p. 2, http://riczai-inc.com/Publications/copsf-p324-pub.pdf. 13  See Bureau of Justice Statistics, Local Police Departments, 2013: Personnel, Policies, and Practices (May 2015), p.  1, https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/lpd13ppp.pdf.; ibid., “The Number of Full-time Employees in Sheriffs’ Offices Increased Nearly 60 Percent from 1993 to 2013,” June 16, 2016, https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/press/sop9313pr.cfm. 12

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ing, intelligence-led policing, and predictive policing) (management strategies such as community-based policing, problem-oriented policing as well as CompStat and the problem-solving process have now been around for decades and are well-known and trained for). • Perform all manner of errands: simply because they are available, they might be found locking and unlocking municipal parking lots, escorting people or monies as requested, delivering agendas to city/county council or commissioners, and so on. • Finally, remain physically and mentally fit for all the above—and still today, as Paul Harvey intimated above, they must find a way to feed their families on a government salary. Also found at this “busy” end of the continuum would be those agencies in the United States where the police role of order maintenance involves their being heavily involved with addressing problems such as drug overdoses, homelessness, and mental health and drug crises. In this connection, they require many resources and tools, strong police/public health partnerships, investments in treatment facilities, police training in crisis intervention, alternatives to arrest, and appropriate policies, training, and supervision.14 In sum, trying to develop a list of the kinds of services delivered by a “typical” police officer would be as unattainable as looking for any officer’s “typical day,” and can be quite lengthy and varied, depending on the agency’s jurisdiction, leadership, priorities, and culture (and, of course, its political and financial environs). Furthermore, these government functionaries are anything but mere crime fighters, and anyone seeking to enter into this profession solely on the basis of the image portrayed in the movie industry will be very misguided (and, possibly, sadly disappointed). This book adds to the literature concerning police service delivery around the world, as its authors provide wide-ranging and unique insights into the contemporary police role. As experts in their area of research interest, the authors provide a glimpse into the workings of police in terms of their management, culture, training, crime prevention, and providing for the general welfare. Below is an overview of each author’s contribution. But first it must be reiterated that we can only describe what is and what can be; the future will likely hold many changes for the police that are as yet unimaginable; indeed, a July 2020 Gallup poll found that 58% of all Americans believe that “major change” is needed in order for the police to be better.15

 See “Are we asking police to do too much? 7 experts debate the role cops should play in today’s society,” The Philadelphia Enquirer, February 28, 2019, https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/role-of-police-law-enforcement-expert-opinion-20190228.html 15  Steve Crabtree, “Most Americans Say Policing Needs ‘Major Changes’,” Gallup, September 22, 2020, https://news.gallup.com/poll/315962/americans-say-policing-needs-major-changes.aspx. 14

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Authors’ Contributions (In Order of Presentation) Barry Loveday takes us to England and Wales, where he examines the reformed structure of police governance and considers the impact of directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PPCs) on the determination of local policing priorities and community interests. Inherent in this approach is whether or not moving from a highly centralized policing structure to a fully decentralized one will impact police delivery of services—both in terms of noncriminal incidents to which the police must now respond as well as the dramatic rise in both fraud and cybercrime in those venues. Megan O’Neill and Liz Ashton evaluate community officers in England and Wales. Certainly assessing the goals and performance of community officers are keys to the success of any such strategy at three levels: the individual level (how officer spend their time and their accomplishment); the organizational (has the agency established problem-solving processes); and the social (are community advisory groups having opportunities to participate and provide input). Magne Aarset, Rune Glomseth, and Per Christian Juvkam take readers to a 2008 accident that occurred in the town of Ålesund in Norway, for which there could have been little preparation: a modern apartment building close to the city center partially collapsed after a landslide in the middle of the night, while there was also a gas leakage from a propane tank and the danger of a very large explosion. The authors look at several issues in connection with this event, focusing on the need for situational awareness during demanding operations as well as the typical heuristics that rescue personnel are exposed to in this situation to improve training and operational procedures for the future. Alper Durmus Camlibel, S. Hakan Can, and Helen M. Hendy fill a critical need in this book’s examination of police service delivery: the role of police stressors. A survey of more than 150 police officers will inform their findings, while a review of several studies concerning stressors is also applied. The underlying theme is that work stress and related stressors will significantly affect officers’ service delivery efforts. Included in their findings are a number of psychosocial influences, such as self-esteem, PTSD, job satisfaction, and social supports. Hasan Arslan and James F. Albrecht coauthor an insightful examination concerning the impact of officer-involved shootings on organizational policy reform in the United States; this contribution provides a very thought-provoking examination of this issue. Hasan Arslan continues, with a look at police interaction with the mentally ill. An estimated 20–40% of police calls for service in the United States involve a mentally ill person. 16 Indeed, America’s jails and prisons have been termed the “new asylums” because they house more mentally ill persons than any psychiatric  Kevin Johnson, “Memphis Program Offers Example for Police and Mentally Ill,” USA Today, October 2, 2013, http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/10/02/police-navy-yardmental-illness-alexis-shooting/2910763/.

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hospital in the country.17 It is critical to note that “mental illness” refers generally to diagnosable diseases of the brain recognized in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, such as schizophrenia, psychosis, bipolar disorder, and schizoaffective disorder, for example. This is a serious challenge for the police, who require training, resources, and facilities to cope with this population. Theresa Tobin then considers police services as they are delivered through public and interagency collaboration. Unfortunately, there remain a large proportion of the public and police around the globe who fail to grasp that a police–public interface is key—the sine qua non—for successful policing. Tobin examines why that is so, and how community policing represented a new direction that many police agencies and personnel began undertaking in order to focus on being more professional. Related to this topic is the need for a healthy community, to include cohesion, social capital, addressing fear of crime, and volunteerism. Rick Parent and Catherine Parent will next explore the complexities and issues surrounding policing incidents where death or serious injury results in Canada, particularly when police individuals who may be mentally ill, suicidal, or under the influence of a substance. It is suggested that police agencies require an approach formulated by way of sentinel review, when responding to incidents that have the potential for serious consequences and bad outcomes. Sentinel event reviews by police agencies can serve to enhance the police response through an analytical process that addresses the critical aspects of a major event resulting in death or serious harm. They argue that this review process can assist in the development of system changes as a preventive measure in reducing the risk of adverse circumstances while promoting enhanced service delivery by the police. Neil Dubord, Catherine Parent, and Rick Parent explore the evolution of policing in Canada and the central issues of police legitimacy, procedural justice, service delivery, and client-centered policing. A study is presented that focuses upon beliefs and techniques used by a select group of frontline police officers providing client-centered policing in their communities without complaint or criticism by the public. The sample population for this study involves selected officers from the Vancouver, Canada, area who make multiple contacts within their communities, are often involved in complex, highly charged circumstances, and yet, for the most part, do not receive complaints or criticism. The issue of praise verses complaints regarding the delivery of policing services is examined as well as customer satisfaction. Brian Rizzo, applying the theory set forth by police expert James Q. Wilson that there is a close linkage between local political culture and police style, looks at the selection type of police commissioners and police chiefs in America’s largest cities. Rizzo’s longitudinal study explores such selections in view of local political culture as well as historical policing period. Rizzo therefore considers whether selection of

 Sam P.K. Collins, “Introducing Mental Health Courts,” ThinkProgress, April 10, 2015, http:// thinkprogress.org/health/2015/04/10/3645289/mental-health-prison-report/.

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police commissioners appears to be influenced by external (e.g., municipal and police reform) or internal factors (e.g., personal relationships). More than 650,000 ex-offenders are released from prison into our communities every year, and studies show that approximately two-thirds will likely be rearrested within 3 years of release,18 unless a system of oversight and support can help to overcome the many challenges that await them. Most people probably do not envision the police as having a role in offender reentry, but Robert Hanser’s article looks at those efforts: establishing partnerships between police and community supervision officers, facilitating information sharing and interagency problem-­ solving, utilizing special enforcement and fugitive apprehension units, to name a few. Garth den Heyer, with extensive experience in examining the New Zealand police, considers how far-reaching change management programs can improve the police efficiency and effectiveness of their core services, particularly as it concerns crime prevention. He considers police delivery services in light of financial crisis on public sector funding and budgets, increases in demand for police services, and the need for police to modernize through the better use of technology. Kuang Cuiye and Liu Junling then take us to the Zhejiang Province of China, where they examine the Fengqiao police department in terms of its initiation of crime prevention. This is a greatly understudied area of public–police efforts in crime prevention, even though this area has been undergoing the “Fengqiao Experience” since 1963, focusing on public engagement to resolve conflicts for social harmony. The authors will show that this initiative has been successfully replicated in terms of public mobilization and organization for public safety and has modernized social governance in contemporary China. Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Annalise Kempen assert that policing in South Africa presents many challenges and dilemmas and that high levels of violent crime, distrust in the police, and political interference have dramatically hampered policing and effective service delivery. They look at historical influences on policing in South Africa that have had a significant impact on the nature of policing as well as the current lack of proficiency. Perry Stanislas explores how the rise in violent crime in the Eastern Caribbean island of Saint Lucia has exposed the historic and contemporary deficiencies of the police institution, which in turn helps to explain the poor quality of service delivery and the dissatisfaction of citizens in that venue. Discussed are a culture of poor institutional leadership and supervision, the widespread acceptance of work avoidance, absenteeism, and sexism which results in the policing needs of women being devalued. Conditions for a politically inspired campaign of extrajudicial killings are examined, and institutional theory is used to explain the dysfunctional aspects of the police character, thus weakening the agency’s crime fighting capabilities. Leo S. F. Lin and Vivien Wei-Jung Chang focus on the centralized police system in Taiwan, where there are established police laws and regulations and where

 U.S. Department of Justice, “Prisoners and Prisoner Re-entry,” https://www.justice.gov/archive/ fbci/progmenu_reentry.html.

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the police management style and agency procedures and protocols are standardized. Because the regional and local police leadership is appointed by administrators located at a central headquarters, most police chiefs are routinely not from the area and thus may not understand specific local issues and dynamics. Lin and Chang examine this model in terms of how it impacts the patrol officers in tailoring their responses to local problems and also identify the kinds of challenges this poses for the effectiveness of regional police service delivery. Oyesoji Aremu relates that Nigerian police, as in other venues, are primarily responsible for the nation’s security at a time when there is increasing insecurity. A particularly onerous burden in two of this country’s police commands, however, is that the police themselves are generally perceived by the public as corrupt. Where it is identified, such corruption is addressed using conventional punitive approaches. In a different approach, Aremu looks at mitigation of police corruption from the standpoint of psychological intervention—specifically, self-efficacy, or the confidence in one’s ability to succeed in specific situations or to accomplish a task. The use of a self-efficacy counseling strategy is examined as it attempts to measure police attitudes toward corruption. The findings are significant for police leaders and researchers who are attempting to address police corruption toward more effective service delivery in the agency. James F. Albrecht opens this section, focusing on a United States-based application that can be adapted in any venue. Albrecht, a passionate proponent of volunteerism in policing, discusses in this chapter how such personnel fit into and can be incorporated into the agency’s crime prevention and counter-terrorism initiatives. Alan Beckley’s research interests include how “managerialism” (here, meaning where an emphasis on outputs takes precedence over quality of service and can produce a toxic law enforcement culture) and how to identify ideal or preferred leadership and management styles. He thus contributes two related articles: first, how managerialism may reduce long-term law enforcement or crime prevention benefits, lead to lower public trust, and ultimately diminish police legitimacy; in the second, he discusses management culture in an Australian police force and how managers treat the men and women who work with them. Laura Bedford and Peter Neyroud have an interest in what has been termed a learning organization, which is where an agency looks for practices that work as it attempts to both prevent crimes and solve problems; here, knowledge—its creation, dissemination, and application—is essential to achieving genuine professionalism. They focus here on the implementation of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) toward better understanding “what works” in policing. Douglas Abramson will assist in understanding contemporary policing by examining evidence-based policing (EBP) as it is practiced in Canada. This approach seeks to determine what works to prevent crime and improve citizen trust and confidence in the police and focuses on how police can incorporate research into their daily practice. Abramson very adroitly explains this concept, makes practical recommendations for its implementation, and highlights the resources that are currently available to police leaders around the world. The comprehensive examination of police service delivery around the globe concludes with some final thoughts by coeditor James F. Albrecht.

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Conclusion It is obvious that this book will provide the reader, whether government official, police administrator, criminal justice policy maker, academic, researcher, student, or other interested party, with a detailed overview of critical factors and issues related to police service delivery and law enforcement professionalism and effectiveness. The broad mix of authors, which include globally acknowledged researchers and accomplished practitioners, will grant the reader with keen insight and propose policy recommendations that will surely aid in more comprehensive theoretical understanding and enhanced practice.

Part II

Examining Police Service Delivery in Europe

Chapter 2

The Governance of the Police and Current Challenges to Police Service Delivery in England and Wales Barry Loveday

Abstract  The chapter provides a critical assessment of the reformed structure of police governance in England and Wales. It considers the impact of directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PPCs) on the determination of local policing priorities and community interests. It identifies the significance of the move from highly centralized policing to a fully devolved system which the arrival of PCCs represents. It thereafter considers current challenges to police delivery of service arising from both the significant increase in noncriminal incidents to which the police must now respond and also the potential impact of the changing profile of crime with the dramatic rise in both fraud and cybercrime which together threaten to overshadow traditional acquisitive crime in many police force areas. Keywords  Policing · Governance · England · Wales · Police and Crime Commissions

Introduction The introduction of directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) which replaced the older indirectly elected police authorities by the Conservative Coalition government was not expected to go unchallenged. Early on the Labour Party in Opposition questioned the value of PCCs and gave their support to an ‘independent’ enquiry into policing which concluded that PCCs threatened the operational independence of the police and status of the chief constable (Loveday, 2013; Stevens

B. Loveday (*) Department of Criminal Justice Administration, Portsmouth University, Portsmouth, UK e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 J. F. Albrecht, G. den Heyer (eds.), Enhancing Police Service Delivery, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61452-2_2

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Report, 2014). The defence of the police by Labour appeared to represent a complete reversal of party political position regarding this service. Traditionally the Conservative party had, for instance, always sought to protect the police from the vagaries of political interference while also investing heavily in police services in general. If Labour adopted a more critical position regarding police this was to be entirely overshadowed by the incoming Conservative [Coalition] government. Led by David Cameron one of the first pieces of legislation passed by Parliament proved to be the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act (PRSRA) 2011 which was to fundamentally alter police governance arrangements. It also reinforced a commitment to local delivery of police services based on the existing 43 police force structure established by way of the 1964 Police Act. The aim of this paper is to highlight the significance of the change in police governance in England and Wales in terms of implementing a fully devolved local policing model and the change in power relationships between chief officers and civilian oversight established with the introduction of Police and Crime Commissioners. The paper provides an overview of and commentary on recent experiences of PCCs and their police chief officers drawing on both official documentation and analyses from police professionals and commentators on current policing arrangements. The paper thereafter goes on to assess current challenges to contemporary policing and considers the growing significance of non-crime incidents for police forces particularly that of mental health issues in the community on the policing role. It suggests that within a context of complex societal change the demands placed on policing are changing dramatically and may require the adoption of a major re-­ engineering process to match up both policing priorities and skills to changing demands now made on the police service.

A New Model of Police Governance Influenced by an earlier report from a leading London Think Tank Policy Exchange and its 2003 Report, entitled ‘Going Local-Who should run Britain’s police?’ which identified weaknesses in the governance structure and recommended a move to direct election, and the primary purpose of the 2011 legislation was to re-establish a local system of accountability for the police. It also sought to ensure that police services were made more responsive to local concerns and priorities. To encourage this, PCCs have been given very wide-ranging powers not the least of which is the power ‘of general competence’ which enables PCCs ‘to do anything that is lawful’ (Loveday, Lewis, Bailey & Watts, 2014). The primary purpose of the legislation was to encourage the creation of a ‘principal and agent’ relationship between PCCs and the chief constable. In doing so, it served to completely reverse earlier and well-established arrangements within which, ironically, the chief constable acted de facto as the principal and the police authority as the agent. Whether or not the Home Secretary [Theresa May] was fully cognizant of the powers given to the PCC it quickly became apparent that the newly elected PCCs

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were quite prepared to exercise their power of general competence and in so doing encourage chief officers to act as their ‘agents’. The change in power relationships between elected officers and chief police officers has in fact proved to be one of the most remarkable features of the 2011 Act. This was to be demonstrated early on in a challenging confrontation between PCC and Chief Officer [Carmel Napier] in Gwent in the course of which the PCC questioned the competence of the chief officer and effectively secured her departure from the force. Later in evidence given to the parliamentary Home Affairs Committee following her ‘retirement’, the former chief officer was to refer to the ‘unfettered powers of the PCC’ (Loveday et al., 2014). The power position of the PCC was to be deliberately reinforced by the introduction of direct election to that office. Thus, it was intended that election would provide a clear legitimacy to the role and work of the PCC and would therefore strengthen the new governance arrangements. Moreover, to underline the move away from centralisation to a devolved model, further fundamental changes were implemented. Made immediately responsible for the appointment [and dismissal] of chief officers PCCs are unimpeded by central advice emanating from the Police Inspectorate. The CHMIC, traditionally responsible for drawing up candidate short lists for all chief appointments by police authorities, now has a purely advisory role and where PCCs now determine who is selected as chief constable for the police force. In order to reinforce the movement away from central control, the Home Office has adopted a ‘hands off’ approach to local police governance. This has seen an end to the barrage of Home Office circulars and performance targets which characterised ‘local’ policing in the past. The freedom from central determination of policing priorities has offered PCCs (and chief officers) a relative freedom to exercise their own judgement in deciding crime and policing plans which they are statutorily required to undertake. This in itself represents a marked change to close (and stifling) central oversight exercised by successive Home Secretaries and which served to undermine any local initiative. As will be argued, there is now substantial evidence that PCCs are making full use of their powers and are exploring police service delivery in a way that was never likely to arise within the police authority world.

The Accountability Debate The relationship between elected officers and the chief of police has changed. However, in place of earlier concern about the autonomy of chief police officers, there is now a growing interest in the immediate accountability of PCCs. Ironically the very significance of the power position of the PCC is now generating a concern that once pertained to chief police officers. This is because PCCs can only be challenged by the public effectively every 4 years within the electoral cycle. Moreover, while the first election on a very low turnout (Loveday, 2013) was to result in a significant number of successful ‘independent’ PCCs, this was to change dramatically with the 2016 election. This saw their almost complete demise as their numbers reduced from 9 to just 3 while the rest were to be taken by members of

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established political parties (Conservative and Labour candidates accounting for a total of 35 PCCs). While the higher electoral turnout (26%) was encouraging, this could be largely explained by the fact that the PCC election in 2016 unlike 2012, coincided with local government elections that year. Outside of London where direct elections take place for the London Mayor, it is evident that popular commitment to both direct election and police and crime commissioners remains notional and where the new governance may hsave to date failed to achieve the embrace of the established political culture (Almond & Verba, 1965; Mawby & Smith, 2016). The power position of the PCC has also been reinforced by a relatively weak system of local accountability to local governments. The mechanism of local political accountability exercised between elections is ostensibly provided by the Police and Crime Panel (PCP) made up of local councillors drawn from local authorities within the police force area. Introduced as an after-thought following pressure from the Liberal Democrats, the then Policing Minister, Nick Herbert MP, was to make clear that he did not propose to establish a ‘neo-police authority’ and as a consequence of this PCPs were to be accorded only limited powers. This largely pertains to monitoring the police precept (the local police tax) and being able to call on the PCC (but not the chief officer) to explain policing priorities within the local police and crime plan for the force area. As recent research has clearly identified, the PCPs have had only a limited impact and, in reality, are unable to exercise effective accountability over the PCC (Bailey, 2015; Loveday et al., 2014). The high turnover of PCP members has only served to further reduce the effectiveness of this body, and as evidence to a recent House of Lords (HoL) Committee enquiry demonstrated, there is agreement that further reform may be needed to strengthen the position of the PCP in relation to Police and Crime Commissioners (House of Lords Committee on Standards in Public Life, Report, 2015; Loveday et al., 2014). It might be thought therefore that in searching to limit the autonomy of the chief constable, the Coalition government may have only replaced one problem with another. It is the case that early on some PCCs were to prove to be both outspoken and objectionable in their disposition to their respective chief constables (Loveday et al., 2014). It was also the case that the number of chief officer resignations and retirements showed a marked increase between 2012 and 2016. Events in Gwent involving the chief officer and PCC were to be replicated elsewhere as the earlier hegemony enjoyed by chief officers was to be the object of immediate challenge (Hickey, 2015). Nor was this threat to chief officers itself to be questioned by the Home Secretary who appeared to positively acquiesce to these interesting developments. Other problems arising from the limited accountability exercised by local PCPs relate to the lack of oversight of the Office of Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) where spending decisions appear to be opaque as does the relationship between PCC and chief officer which cannot be explored by the local Police Panel either. Yet these evident weaknesses have not been reflected in government policy concerning PCCs. Most recently, PCCs have been given the opportunity to take responsibility for the local fire service and at least one PCC has publicly committed to doing so (Hickey, 2016). There are also further proposals to widen the responsibilities of PCCs within

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the local criminal justice system. Here PCCs could assume responsibility for closer coordination between protective and other services. Moreover, any doubt about the future of PCCs was to be ended by the success of the Conservative party in the 2015 general election. It remains entirely committed to expanding the role of the PCC. Yet as the work of PCCs expands, it may become more important to establish a mechanism which brings that office holder to account between elections. As has been argued within its report, a sensible way forward identified by the Committee on Standards in Public Life would mean encouraging local police and crime panels to engage with the PCC. This might be achieved by providing them with powers to more effectively interrogate the work and decision-making of the PCC. The aim here should be a commitment to transparency on the part of the PCC and open debate concerning local policing and police priorities.

Current Challenges to Policing Not the least of the many challenges currently confronting police services continues to revolve around the funding of the police. Thus, the austerity strategy embarked upon by the Coalition government in 2010 was to extend to all public services including the police service. For the first time in decades the police, traditionally well protected by the Conservatives as the party of ‘law and order’, were made subject to the same cuts. This involved a 20% reduction in spending following the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR). For a service that remains heavily manpower-­based, this has meant that chief officers have had to significantly reduce some service areas in order to protect others. There has also been much debate as to how chief officers went about implementing cuts in spending. As a recent HMIC Report was to argue the cuts introduced by most police forces appeared to involve the protection of police capacity even if this was achieved by reducing capability (Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, 2015). Here the Inspectorate was to note that while police forces had a good understanding of capacity (police numbers, ranks, and costs), this did not appear to extend to capability (specialist expertise and skills). Thus, forces which sought to cut costs by immediately reducing Community Support Officers risked undermining both ‘visible policing’ and local intelligence collection (Loveday, 2019). The same report was to also raise doubts about the ability of forces to engage in forward planning not least because so many had closed down their Research and Development departments in the search to protect capacity (police establishment). Indeed, it appeared that the primary aim of chief officers became the retention of sworn officers even if this had significant consequences for other business areas. Nevertheless, the size of the cuts has led to an overall reduction of around 16,000 in the number sworn officers. This has been achieved primarily through natural wastage as police officers cannot be released by chief officers in England and Wales. Elsewhere police forces have been encouraged to move to outsourcing of back office functions in order to protect ‘front line’ policing. The government concluded that effective outsourcing can make savings which are roughly equivalent to the cuts

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it has imposed on the service (Loveday, 2015). Many forces now have fixed 10-year contracts with private companies for a range of duties which before were viewed as police responsibility. Thus, Lincolnshire police in its contract with G4S, worth in excess of £200 millions, has for example handed over responsibility for the Police Custody and Identification Unit; Force control room; Town Enquiry officers; Crime Management Bureau; Central Ticket Office and Collisions Unit; Criminal Justice Unit; Firearms Licensing and Resource Management Unit. G4S will in addition provide ‘business support’ to Lincolnshire Police Human Resources Services; HR Learning and Development Assets and Facilities Management (including fleet management); Finance and Procurement; and Support services. While it was argued that the contract (replicated in other force areas) bridged the financial gap created by the CSR and made the Lincolnshire force the ‘leanest police force in the UK’ and which was fully supported by the PCC, it also meant that for the foreseeable future, the force had relinquished control of a major element of support service infrastructure (Lincolnshire Police Authority, 2011). If therefore the police service has been subject to significant financial cuts by government, the private sector has made major gains across the board as outsourcing was to be heavily promoted by the Conservative led Coalition government. Financial cuts are not however the only problem confronting the police service. Following on from the independent Winsor Review into Police Officers’ and Staff remuneration and conditions, the government were to accept the majority of recommendations that have and will continue to impact on police officer pay rates and pensionable service (Home Office, 2011). The recommendations were to extend from ending all overtime pay and all special payments to also cutting the starting pay of new recruits. In effect, it represented a frontal attack on many of the gains achieved by the Police Federation—the police union—over the previous 30 years. The Review was however to conclude that police conditions of service were in effect ‘designed for a different era’. The challenge to the police was probably best evidenced within the recommendation that chief officers should be given the power of compulsory severance of sworn officers when this was deemed necessary. It would also enable them to change their workforce mix and structure while providing the workforce flexibility that was, it claimed, now needed. In the event this was one recommendation that the government turned down. Ironically this now makes it even more difficult for the police to begin to confront what is becoming a fast-changing crime profile for which the police are almost entirely unprepared. This has proved to be not the only source of confrontation by government of the police service. Prime Minister Theresa May in her previous role as Secretary of State for the Home Office had consistently demanded radical change at successive annual Police Federation conferences which traditionally have proved to be the reputational graveyard of many Home Secretaries. An independent review of the Police Federation was to conclude that the Federation had become an ‘organisation that lacked the accountability, transparency and integrity that its members—and the public—deserved’ (Weinfass, 2016). This was to be followed by plans for future

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police recruits to opt in to membership of the Federation by abolishing membership of the organisation as an automatic process (Weinfass, 2016). To further encourage transparency, future legislation will open up the Federation to Freedom of Information requests from the public (Weinfass, 2016). A further review of Federation finances was to confirm the need for regular audit and accountability as numerous and unusual payments to Federation officers came to light. It was to be discovered that the Federation was least able to manage its own finances which appeared to justify the original frontal attack by the Home Secretary (Loeb, 2016). This has undoubtedly seriously weakened the Federation’s future negotiating position for members while also undermining its overall ability to influence the implementation of any future changes to conditions of service for sworn officers.

Implementing Local Police and Crime Plans The strengthened local governance model introduced by the 2011 legislation can perhaps be best evaluated by way of the roll out by PCCs of their individual policing and crime plans which they are statutorily required to implement. It is evident that given the various backgrounds of successful PCC candidates, local provision can differ between jurisdictions. However, while for example the Labour parliamentary party was, early on, to openly oppose the new model of governance, this proved difficult to sustain as many Labour PCCs were to argue that the new system was, in fact, proving to be a great improvement on police authorities. They also made clear their intention to fully exercise the freedom of action provided by the PRSRA in terms of implementation of local policing policy. This was to be most clearly evidenced in a joint publication by Labour PCCs within which they identified a range of initiatives which they argued would serve to improve police force effectiveness (Fabian Policy Report, 2014). In highlighting the significant role accorded to PCCs in terms of strategic policy formulation, one PCC has outlined the process of developing local plans. As is argued: We are required to consult our communities to ascertain what they want from the police and crime plans. These give a strategic direction to our chief constables and we then join the public to scrutinise and evaluate how the plan is being delivered. Our control of the local policing budget ensures what the public want does happen and represents a significant shift of power towards the public (Fabian Policy Report, 2014).

The creation of local police and crime plans therefore can be seen as a new mechanism to encourage public participation. Rather like PCCs, the plans have, as yet, not fully engaged with the public. This may be a further reflection perhaps of a political and civic culture described accurately by early commentators as exhibiting a deferential quality and where participants ‘maintained a strong deference to independent authority’ (Almond & Verba, 1965, p. 315). As the evidence surrounding election turnout for PCCs to date suggests, aspects of this public deference would appear to continue to extend to the police.

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One further feature of the local police and crime plan has been highlighted by the PCC for Northumbria. As is argued: At the same time the police are, for the first time, being overseen intrusively at command level by an elected figure who can challenge any tendency in such a powerful organisation to prefer institutional self-interest over popular need (Fabian Policy Review 3, 2014).

It might be argued that ‘intrusive oversight’ remains perhaps the most useful element within the context of local plans where the PCC has within the power of ‘general competence’ an authority to effectively challenge the chief officer where divergences from agreed local priorities are identified. It is also evident that PCCs are prepared to exercise those powers. Thus, examples arising in Avon and Somerset and Northumbria have demonstrated the departure of the chief officer has been accomplished without central challenge and where the PCC for Sussex has supported a high turnover of chief constables as offering greater opportunities for other sworn officers to take up the role (Hickey, 2015). Recent examples of highly innovatory developments in policing at local level have also been provided by PCCs. In Northumbria where the PCC argues that PCCs can take decisions quickly ‘on their own’ and also benefit from ideas from the public the implementation of a ‘safeguarding programme’ for young women made vulnerable within the Night Time Economy has now become a compulsory part of the Security Industry Authority’s new entrant course for door staff. Additionally, in cases of domestic violence a police officer and a women’s aid worker will now respond to each call for service (Baird, 2016). In Nottinghamshire, the PCC commissioned a report to ‘collect personal experiences of policing within the BME community’ (Tipping, 2016). As he noted: The report made for uncomfortable reading and was the launch pad for improvements not only increasing transparency of the police use of stop and search (frisking) but also toughening procedures to ensure every use of these powers was fair, balanced and justified (Police Foundation blog, 10/10/2016).

One consequence of the PCC report and implementation of change in the use of stop and search has been that Nottinghamshire Police now has one of the lowest uses of stop and search powers in the country while also experiencing one of the highest arrest and positive outcome rates. As is argued: In 2015-2016 the total number of stop and search encounters fell by almost 40% compared to the previous 12 months while 379 arrests were made as a result of these powers which included 50 attests for possessing weapons (Tipping, 2016).

The same PCC has concluded that scrutiny has proved to be a key to improvement and where within the police force officers are performance managed to ensure all stops and searches are accurately and lawfully recorded (Tipping, 2016). Elsewhere, the PCC for Wiltshire has introduced a programme of modernisation within the police force by way the use of new technology with the roll out of laptops, mobile phones and tablets and where 1400 smart phones and 2100 laptops are available to staff. Alongside this police premises have been sold to allow the police to move into council offices in the major towns. Now they share space and work in a desksharing environment with other public protection departments and local services.

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The aim has been to create and reinforce a new organisational culture (Macpherson, 2016). Changes to culture and location have, it is argued, encouraged the use of mobile working. Perhaps as significant for the police force, these changes have been matched by a reduction in the length of internal communication. As is argued: Within Wiltshire Constabulary we have no deputy chief constable or chief superintendents or chief inspectors. The communication between top and bottom of the organisation with the use of modern technology does not require these posts (Macpherson, 2016).

The influence of PCCs on developing policing strategy has been identified. However, the use of evidence-based research undertaken by PCCs has had a national impact. An early example of this arose with the Staffordshire PCC who commissioned a review in 2013 to consider how much time officers spent responding to mental health issues in the community and followed meetings with front line staff to discuss issues that most affected them. The Review discovered that in the previous year police officers had responded to 15,000 incidents in Staffordshire involving people with mental health issues at an estimated cost of £600,000 and that at least 20% of their time was taken up with such cases (Staffordshire Office of Police Crime Commissioner, 2013). The Ethics, Transparency and Audit Panel established by the PCC was also requested to report on how a seriously ill man spent 64 h in police custody despite not committing a crime because suitable National Health Service (NHS) services were not available (Staffordshire Office of Police Crime Commissioner, 2013). The report found inter alia that given the nature of the individuals mental condition, ‘a whole police custody wing had to be cordoned off that 22 police officers were involved in the incident over a long weekend and that despite the best efforts of the police the man’s condition deteriorated while in custody’. It suggested that in the absence of health and social service support, police officers were left to deal with mental health complexities ‘on a scale which was outside of their expertise’ (Staffordshire Office of Police Crime Commissioner, 2016). The evidence from the Staffordshire PCC reports proved to be highly influential and has subsequently driven national policy in this area.

Contemporary Problems Engaging Police Service Delivery Mental health as a significant policing issue first officially identified in Staffordshire also serves to highlight the extent of non-crime policing in England and Wales. A further Freedom of Information request from a national paper (Quinn, Laville, & Duncan, 2016) led some 23 local forces to estimate that between 20% and 40% of police officer, time was currently spent responding to mental health incidents in the community. This increase in non-crime demand on police services now means that in many forces public safety/welfare calls for service can be expected to regularly outnumber those involving criminal incidents (Kenny, 2016, p. 83). Recently the College of Policing has estimated that non-crime–related incidents account for 83% if all

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command and control calls (College of Policing, 2015). What is of interest is that non-­crime calls can now be expected to only increase. As is argued: A sample of force incident data suggests that there is consistent evidence that demand generated by public safety and welfare (PSW) incidents is increasing. Six forces sent in returns relating to their incident data and all six had experienced a large increase in the number of reported PSW incidents. In five of these forces PSW now represents the largest category of incidents larger than crime and anti-social behaviour incidents (College of Policing, 2015, p. 9).

Additionally, data coming from a number of police forces has provided a current estimate of total demand placed on police services arising from mental health problems. Nationally it has been estimated that in 2012/2013, for example 390,000 incidents calling for police response were linked to mental health although this was probably an underestimate. As is noted, a more realistic estimate now suggests a figure of around four million incidents nationally requiring a police response (College of Policing, 2015, p. 10). As an emergency service it now increasingly, in the absence of health and social services, falls to the police to provide ‘a place of safety’ (under sections 135 and 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983) for those identified as experiencing mental health problems. In reality, the place of safety has become detention in a police cell under Section 136 Orders with an average of 10 h for each individual detained and which takes up 60,000 officer/staff hours per year (College of Policing, 2015, p. 10). The situation confronting police services has most recently been highlighted by a former London Commissioner of Police. He has argued that: Since I left office in 2008 the situation has deteriorated more dramatically than I could have imagined with the latest report suggesting that police across England and Wales are now using powers under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act, 50% more than they did a decade ago-nearly 30,000 times in 2014-15. These numbers are a symptom of a crisis in mental health care provision (Blair, 2016).

Noting that the closure of many psychiatric hospitals in the 1980s under the policy of ‘care in the community’ had put pressure on mental health provision; this commentator argues that the police and hospital Accident and Emergency units have become ‘the only 24-h public services for people in crisis’ (Blair, 2016). These observations relating to health care only reiterated the findings of an earlier think tank report of 2011. Here the Centre for Social Justice was to conclude that many mental health patients had been neglected for decades because the policy of closing down asylums had not been accompanied by an increase in local care (Groves, 2011). The controversial ‘care in the community’ approach to treating the mentally ill ‘had been a £100billion failure’ they concluded (Groves, 2011). It had also effectively resulted in the problem being pushed on to the police. Although police use of Section 136 has significantly increased so too has the use of Tasers by police officers. Originally conceived as a non-lethal armament to be used by accredited officers, it is evident that the use of the Taser has increased with police forces recording an average 136% increase in their use by police in 2015/2016

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(Sanders, 2011). It is also increasingly apparent that in many situations the Taser is being used against those experiencing mental health problems (Sanders, 2011). Most recently the death of Dalian Atkinson, a former nationally known black footballer, was the result of his being reportedly tasered three times by police, ‘but who was suffering from both a weak heart and mental health problems’ (Weaver, 2016). Concern here extended from the way the police deal with black people with mental health conditions to the fact that black people are now three more times likely to be tasered than white people. A statement from Black Lives Matter was to comment that: More than two-thirds of police Taser uses have been against people with mental health issues. This is likely to disproportionately affect black people who are 17 times more likely to be diagnosed with a psychotic illness (Weaver, 2016).

This concern might be warranted as the Police Federation has argued for providing Tasers to all police officers that request one and where a survey of officers had demonstrated that a majority would opt for these weapons being made available to them (White, 2016). Recently the MPS has decided to purchase 200 more Tasers to support its ‘uplift’ of armed officers (Hickey, 2016). It is unlikely in this situation that the exacting training standards and conditions of use imposed by, for example the New South Wales Police are ever likely to be emulated in England and Wales (New South Wales Police Force, 2016). Further evidence of improper use of Tasers has most recently arisen in relation to a coroner’s inquest in to the death of Jordon Begley who died in hospital after being tasered and then ‘restrained’ by police (Siddique, 2016). The original investigation conducted by the Independent Police Complaints Commission that exonerated the police was to be overturned by the high court which also determined that a re-­ investigation should be undertaken [Siddique, 2016]. Within the context of a growing problem of mental health within the community, the appropriate use by police of Tasers may well become a matter of increasing salience. Nor is there any consolation for the police from falling crime rates. Recent evidence from the 2016 Crime Surveys indicate that while acquisitive crime figures have fallen significantly over the last decade, this has been more than matched by the rise of fraud and cybercrime (ONS Crime Survey, May 2016). Rather than the crime rate falling, as claimed by the then Home Secretary in 2016, it is now recognised that the crime profile is rapidly changing. As was recently noted in relation to current estimates of fraud and cybercrime by the deputy director of ONS: To put the scale of the threat from these offences into context, estimates of the number of fraud and computer incidents are similar in magnitude to the combined total of all other offences measured by the crime survey (Ford, 2016).

Moreover, as the reality of the changing nature of crime and its extent is fully appreciated, this may have a significant impact on the future composition and structure of police services (Loveday, 2016). Belated recognition of the ‘new’ threat of fraud and cybercrime by police has been noted (Button, Blackbourn, & Tunley, 2014). However, this challenge is now matched by that of victims of child sexual abuse. Reports of abuse and systematic child grooming appear to have either overwhelmed the police service or been

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ignored by it. Reports of both current and historic abuse are now subject to investigation, although major errors by police in Operation Midland, an investigation into claims of sexual abuse made by a known fantasist, have been subject to independent investigation. This was to result in a highly critical report on police procedure (Dodd & Taylor, 2016; Henriques, 2016). A similar problem appears to have arisen with Operation Conifer in which Wiltshire Police investigated claims by a woman of ritual sexual abuse by a former Prime Minister, Edward Heath. Claiming that a paedophile ring which included heath was involved maiming and murdering children in orgiastic sacrifices ‘at the stake or on altars’, as with Operation Midland witness evidence was to be deemed credible by the police (Booth, 2016). Describing the evidence presented by the victim as ‘fantastical’, a police adviser, after evaluating the evidence, was to state that the police should immediately close down any cases based on the ‘pernicious fallacy’ of claims of ritual abuse particularly where witnesses have been ‘enabled by psychotherapists to recall their past’ (Booth, 2016). Neither of these high-profile cases is likely, it might be thought, to increase public confidence in current police investigation techniques. Furthermore, procedures surrounding child protection in London by the metropolitan police service (MPS) have also raised concern. Here limitations in the police response to child protection were to be identified by HMIC (Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, 2016). In its report on child protection within the MPS, HMIC found ‘systemic’ failings and identified errors in leadership, training, organisation and judgement that had contributed to the failure of the MPS to protect vulnerable children in the capital (Dodd 2016; HMIC, 2016). In reviewing 384 child protection cases, HMIC were to conclude that too many fell short of expected standards which meant that ‘victims were not protected, evidence was lost and offenders continued to pose a risk to children’ (Dodd, 2016). Police investigation and police cooperation with European partners are now also likely to be questioned as a consequence of Brexit and the 2016 referendum on UK membership of the European Union. This is likely to involve the departure of the UK from Europol cross-border arrest warrant arrangements that now pertain. In a period of growing threats of terrorism, people trafficking and organised crime, this development is the opposite of what policing jurisdictions would appear to need. One could conclude that the populist ideology could be viewed as being counter to the principled judgement of law enforcement professionals.

Conclusion The evidence suggests that the strategic decision to adopt a local service delivery model by way of directly elected PCCs has served to both increase responsiveness to local problems while also significantly strengthening civilian oversight and local democratic accountability of the police service. Earlier concerns about both the dangers of both political partisanship and the threat to police operational independence have in the event not been realised. Instead the evidence suggests that many

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PCCs have overseen local force initiatives in policing that have had successful results and national ramifications. The example drawn from Staffordshire’s response to the growing challenge for policing arising from mental health issues in the community provides evidence of this and is not a unique case. But irrespective of structural and governance reform, it is also evident that new challenges now confront the police service. This revolves primarily around the relentless increase in non-criminal incidents to which must respond along with the changing profile of crime. The problem of non-crime incidents for the police has been compounded by public sector cuts in health social service and local authority services which has inevitably led to the police service filling the vacuum. Policing as a social service is now no longer a ‘hidden’ role but self-evidently a central feature of contemporary policing. How the police service responds to this against a background of continuing financial austerity in the public sector remains the central and critical issue now and into the future.

References Almond, G., & Verba, S. (1965). The civic culture political attitudes and democracy in five nations. Boston: Little Brown. Bailey, R. (2015). Policing the Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs): An examination of the current statutory and political frameworks for holding PCCs to account—A case study of the surrey police and crime panel. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, 9(4), 305–313. Baird, V. (2016). Sexual assault and the night time economy-small ideas make a difference. Police Foundation blog October 21, 2016. Blair, I. (2016, October 25). The police can’t be left to solve Britain’s mental health crisis, officers duty to protect the community is being jeopardised by time spent on the most vulnerable. The Guardian. Booth, R. (2016, November 29). Police expert calls evidence against Heath ‘fantastical’. The Guardian. Button, M., Blackbourn, D., & Tunley, M. (2014). The not so thin blue line after all? Investigative resources dedicated to fighting fraud/economic crime in the UK. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, 9(2), 129–142. College of Policing. (2015). College of policing analysis: Estimating demand on the police service. London: College of Policing. Dodd, V. (2016, November 25). Met humiliated over its child protection failures. The Guardian. Dodd. V., & Taylor, M. (2016, November 8). Operation Midland police fell for false claims of VIP abuse report says. The Guardian. Fabian Policy Report. (2014). Letting in the light, lessons from labour’s police and crime commissioners. London: Fabian Society. Ford, R. (2016). Fraud doubles the number of crimes. The Times. Groves, J. (2011, November 31). Care in the community is ‘a £100bn failure’: Mentally ill patients have been neglected for decades, says IDS think-tank. Mail on Line. Henriques, R. (2016). Report to the Metropolitan Commissioner on Operation Midland. London: Metropolitan Police Service. Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary. (2015). PEEL police efficiency. London: Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary. Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary. (2016). National child protection inspection. London: Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary.

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Hickey, H. (2015). Chief facing investigation announces retirement. Police Oracle. Retrieved from http://www.policeoracle.com/news/police-staff/2015/apr/10/chief-facing-investigation. Hickey, H. (2016, November 11). Met buys more Tasers for firearms officers. Police Oracle. Home Office. (2011). Independent review of police officer and staff remuneration and conditions. London: Home Office. House of Lords. (2015). Tone at the top-leadership, ethics and accountability in policing. Report by the Committee on Standards in Public Life. London: House of Lords. Kenny, D. (2016). A force for good: Exploring the future of non-crime policing. Professional Doctorate Thesis, University of Portsmouth. Lincolnshire Police Authority. (2011). Outsourcing decision. Retrieved from https://www.lincs. police.uk/news-centre-Releases/21-12-2001PoliceAuthority. Loeb, J. (2016, July 25). Claims of ‘civil war’ over police fed finances. Police Oracle. Loveday, B. (2013). Back to the future by way of an Independent [police] Commission. The Stevens Report in effect pursues an established agenda. Democratic Audit blog. Loveday, B. (2015). Police management and workforce reform in a period of austerity. In P.  Wankhade & D.  Weir (Eds.), Police services, leadership and management perspectives. Basel, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. Loveday, B. (2016, January 19). The police service requires radical reform. Democratic Audit blog. Loveday, B. (2019). The Shape of Things to Come. The potential impact of fraud and cybercrime on the organizational profile of police services in England and Wales. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice. Loveday, B., Lewis, C., Bailey, R., & Watts, S. (2014). Evidence to the committee on standards in public life: Concerning public accountability structures of the police in England and Wales. Portsmouth, England: University of Portsmouth. Macpherson, A. (2016). How can PCCs better support innovative working within their communities? Police Foundation blog-21/10/2016. Mawby, R., and Smith, K. (2016). Civilian oversight of the police in England and Wales: The election of PCCs in 2012 and 2016. International Journal of Police Science and Management. New South Wales Police Major Events and Incidents Group. (2016). Use of conducted electrical weapons [Taser]. Sydney, Australia: New South Wales Police Force. Office for National Statistics Bulletin. (2016). Crime in England and Wales-year ending March 2016. London: Office for National Statistics. Quinn, B, Laville, S., & Duncan, P. (2016, January 27). Mental health crisis takes huge and increasing share of police time. The Guardian. Sanders, M. (2011). Huge rise in police taser firing. Retrieved from http://wwwchannel4.com/ news/huge. Siddique, H. (2016, November 25). Court quashes IPCC’s report into Taser death. The Guardian. Staffordshire Office of Police Crime Commissioner. (2013). Mental health review. Staffordshire. Staffordshire Office of Police Crime Commissioner. (2016). Report of the Ethics Transparency and Audit Panel. Staffordshire. Stevens Report. (2014). Policing for a better Britain. London: Report of the Independent Police Commission. Tipping, P. (2016). Stop and search—Getting it right. Police Foundation blog, 10 October 2016. Weaver, M. (2016, August 16). Dalian Atkinson death raises concerns about police Taser use. The Guardian. Weinfass, I. (2016). ‘Bad news for members’ as Fed fraud investigation goes on. Retrieved from http://www.policeoracle.com/news/police-staff/2016/mar/18-bad-news. White, M. (2016). Call to offer Tasers to all frontline police. Retrieved from http://news.sky.com/ story/call.

Chapter 3

Evaluating and Revising Police Stop and Search Practices in Scotland Megan O’Neill and Elizabeth Aston

Abstract  Compared to other areas in the United Kingdom, stop and search in Scotland was on a disproportionately large scale prior to 2015 and overwhelmingly targeted children and young people. Scottish police officers conducted more nonstatutory searches than statutory, putting into question the legitimacy of this tactic. In response to external pressures, a revised approach to stop and search was developed in the Fife Division of Police Scotland and was piloted from June 2014 to January 2015. An evaluation of this pilot program found that while some elements were an improvement on current practice, the use of non-statutory searches and disproportionate searches of children continued. Since that evaluation, practice in stop and search in Scotland has undergone dramatic change. This chapter will discuss the stop and search journey in Scotland and developments to this aspect of service delivery from within a procedural justice framework, which will be of benefit to practitioners and policymakers internationally. Keywords  Stop and search · Police Scotland · Procedural justice

Introduction Until relatively recently (Murray, 2014; Murray & Harkin, 2016), stop and search in Scotland had received little or no academic attention. This is in stark contrast to England and Wales where stop and search had been subject to much critical M. O’Neill () School of Social Sciences (Geography), University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland, UK e-mail: [email protected] E. Aston Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 J. F. Albrecht, G. den Heyer (eds.), Enhancing Police Service Delivery, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61452-2_3

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consideration (e.g. Bowling & Phillips, 2007; Miller, 2010; Quinton, 2012). In England and Wales, the focus has largely been on ‘race’ and the disproportionate use of stop and search on minority ethnic groups (Delsol & Shiner, 2006). A governmental report (Reid Howie Associates, 2001) did not find evidence that minority ethnic groups in Scotland were being targeted, although disproportionality could not be measured due to lack of data. However, concerns were raised about the searches of children and the negative outcomes of these (Reid Howie Associates, 2001). This report found that 23% of searches carried out were on 11–15-year olds, and the peak age for searches was 16–19 (40% of searches). In England and Wales, stop and search is regulated by the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 - s. 66 (1985), and its use must be recorded and based on ‘reasonable suspicion’.1 There should be an objective basis for suspicion based on information that is relevant to the likelihood of finding an article, i.e. reasonable suspicion cannot be based on a person’s race, age or appearance and the fact that someone is known to have a previous conviction cannot be used alone. In Scotland police use of stop and search has been both statutory (underpinned by legislation) and non-­statutory (‘consensual’ or ‘voluntary’). Specific statutory powers relate to, for example drugs, stolen property and weapons, whereas in contrast non-statutory searches are based on obtaining verbal consent. The vast majority of stop searches conducted were found to be non-statutory (Murray, 2014; Reid Howie Associates, 2001). The legitimacy of this approach is clearly questionable (Scott, 2015, Tyler, Jackson, & Mentovich, 2015), particularly in relation to children and their ability to give informed consent (Murphy, 2015).

A Changing Context, Concerns Raised The landscape of Scottish policing has recently been subject to significant change and reform. With the introduction of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012, the eight regional police forces were merged into a single force, Police Scotland, in April 2013. In January 2014, Kath Murray published findings from her doctoral research of stop and search records from 2005 to2010 (Murray, 2014). These data, collected from freedom of information requests, showed that: search rates in Scotland had increased markedly during the review period of her project, rates varied dramatically across legacy force areas and in 2010, the per capita stop and search rate in Scotland was almost four times higher than the rate in England and Wales. Alongside the development of a single police force in Scotland, the accountability mechanisms for policing also changed. In June 2014, the recently established Scottish Police Authority (SPA) produced a scrutiny review of stop and

1  The exceptions to this are the Terrorism Act 2000, s.47A and the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, s.60, both of which apply UK-wide (Lennon & Murray, 2016).

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search (SPA, 2014) which raised concerns regarding, for example recording practices for stop searches and a perceived pressure felt by officers to conduct a large volume of stop searches. Some of the other concerns raised in Scotland at this time (by the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Sub-Committee on Policing as well as in the media) included the use of stop and search on young people (non-statutory searches in particular), the increased use of stop and search over time, its varied use in different areas, the lack of publicly available data and a lack of accountability and public confidence. In the context of increasing media attention and political pressure (see Murray & Harkin, 2016 for more on this), Police Scotland developed a revised approach to stop and search which was piloted in the Fife Division from July 2014 to January 2015. After its launch, Police Scotland commissioned an independent evaluation of the pilot, which was awarded to the authors (discussed in more detail below). During our research (September 2014–March 2015), stop and search continued to attract political and media attention, for example concerns included non-statutory stop and search of children (Justice Sub-committee on Policing, 2014; SPA, 2015), the need for improved recording practices and IT systems and the removal of targets for positive searches (Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland, 2015).

Public Confidence and Stop and Search In policing terms, public trust and confidence are important to achieve and there were concerns that the ongoing public scrutiny of stop and search would have a detrimental impact on these. Although levels of public confidence in the police had increased slightly prior to this period (Scottish Government, 2014), improving public confidence continued to be an important priority. Personal experiences with the police, especially if they are negative ones, have a demonstrable impact on attitudes towards the police (Scottish Government, 2012; Skogan, 2006). Stop and search is an aspect of police service delivery which has been associated with reduced confidence in the police (Miller, Bland, & Quinton, 2000; Tyler et al., 2015). Reid and Howie Associates (2001) found anecdotal evidence that many young people felt harassed, do not trust the police and feel alienated from them. Murphy (2015) has argued from the context of Australia that perceptions of fair treatment in encounters with the police are more important for young people than for adults. More recently in Scotland, the SPA recognised a wider implication from discriminatory stop and search in that: Stop and search, if inappropriately applied, has the potential to cause a loss of confidence within the community which could undermine the principle of policing by consent and damage the ability of the police to work in partnership with the community to tackle crime. (SPA, 2014: 4)

This statement is related to the concept of ‘procedural justice’, which argues that the quality of an encounter with the police is as important to public satisfaction as

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is the outcome of that encounter (Tyler, 2004; Tyler, Fagan & Geller, 2014; Tyler et al., 2015). A Scottish Government (2012) review concluded that perceptions of procedural justice influence satisfaction, confidence and perceived legitimacy, which improve compliance and cooperation with agents of the justice system. Procedural justice is said to encompass the following elements of fairness: having your say, neutrality, being treated with respect, and feeling the police have the interests of the public at heart (Scottish Government, 2012). A growing body of UK and international literature applies theories of procedural justice to policing research (e.g. Bradford, 2012; MacQueen & Bradford, 2015; Mazerolle, Bennett, Antrobus & Eggin, 2012; Murphy, 2015; Tyler, 2004). Police Scotland’s Fife Pilot had three main aims, which were to make (1) improvements to the data used to inform the deployment of stop and search, (2) improvements in terms of police accountability and (3) improvements in public confidence in Police Scotland’s use of stop and search. An overarching goal of the pilot was to ensure that stop and search was directed at the: ‘Right People, Right Place, Right Time’. Through our interviews with the pilot management team (to be discussed below), it was clear that while the pilot was not explicitly designed to be a procedural justice intervention, the intention behind the three aims was to develop enhanced perceptions of police legitimacy through improvements to record keeping (aim 1), improvements to mechanisms for external scrutiny (aim 1 and 2) and improvements to encounters with members of the public (aim 3). Aim 3 has the most direct link to procedural justice, while the other two are linked to this literature in terms of perceptions of police legitimacy at a more strategic level of police service delivery. In this chapter, the methods used to conduct this evaluation of the Fife Pilot will be discussed before moving on to consider the findings of this research. Within this, the elements of police practice and policy which were an improvement on the existing procedures in stop and search will be highlighted. Some of the elements of the pilot which were less successful and the reasons for this assessment will be discussed. This will be followed by a discussion on some of the developments in stop and search in Scotland since the publication of a detailed report and the ongoing challenges for Police Scotland in its stop and search journey. Finally, these discussions will be contextualised within a procedural justice framework. Stop and search is an example of police service delivery which, if not performed appropriately and with sufficient justification, can have a detrimental effect on public confidence in the police and perceptions of police legitimacy more broadly.

Research Design The evaluation of the stop and search pilot in Fife was based on a mixed-methods approach, collecting primary qualitative data from observations and interviews, analysing a range of existing documentation and limited analysis of existing datasets.

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Quantitative Data and Analysis In-house analysts in Fife provided stop and search data, which was analysed in order to review the number of statutory and non-statutory searches, how these were distributed among the population and the number of positive and negative searches. In order to enable some comparison, stop and search data for the pilot period from a comparable area in Scotland, Forth Valley, were analysed. In addition, Fife data from the same period in the previous year were reviewed and compared. The limitations of this approach are acknowledged but for a number of reasons (e.g. availability, comparability and reliability of data) we were unable to undertake more meaningful analysis. We also examined the monthly and bi-weekly stop and search data analysis reports produced by the in-house analysts and the evidence on which these were based.

Qualitative Data and Analysis The qualitative data collection involved semi-structured interviews and observations with 42 police officers and police staff across three different locations in Fife. Participants were sent information about the evaluation methods, procedures for ensuring anonymity and the voluntary nature of participation in advance, and written informed consent was obtained before each interview. Interviews were conducted with 4 senior police officers (chief inspectors and above), 5 management officers (sergeants, inspectors and those with a management role in the pilot), 12 police constables (PCs) and 3 members of police staff. In addition, three local partners and ten members of the public who had been stopped and searched were interviewed. Extended visits and observations were carried out at the divisional headquarters and in two local police stations. Observations were of the processes introduced as part of the pilot, of meetings and of front-line officers on various teams (including community and response teams). During data collection, 11 instances of stop and search involving 19 people in 2 different case study sites were directly observed. In addition to the observations and interviews, number of documentary sources were collected and analysed. These include documentation about the quantitative analysis tools; the advice slips given to people who were stopped and searched and the aide memoire; the minutes of Safer Communities Committee meetings; various police agenda papers and presentations regarding the pilot; the Equality Impact Assessment; records from Twitter and Facebook posts; e-briefing presentations; reports on the results of the dip sampling calls; the bi-weekly and monthly stop and search reports; monthly analyses of anti-social behaviour, disorder and minor assaults; documentary and email accounts regarding engagement with schools; internal correspondence about the pilot and available updates about the pilot.

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The approach to qualitative data analysis was both deductive and inductive (Bazeley, 2007; Creswell, 2009). With regard to the former, from the outset the research design included a focus on the development and implementation of the pilot. A theory of change approach (Connell & Kubisch, 1998) was useful in focusing on the mechanisms by which the processes introduced as part of the pilot were expected to achieve the anticipated outcomes. To reflect this, the discussion of the findings to follow will be organised by the three aims of the Fife Pilot and our analysis of each of the mechanisms introduced to achieve each. The inductive approach to analysis involved a bottom-up strategy of meaning construction (Keller, 2011), in order to allow the data to reveal systems and processes that had not been anticipated by the deductive methods. Where appropriate in the analysis, examples from the qualitative data will be used to illustrate these processes. NVivo software was used in order to assist with the storage, retrieval and analysis of the data.

Limitations As Police Scotland did not invite bids for the evaluation project until after the pilot had launched, we were unable to establish baseline measures for current operational practice. In addition, the time frame allowed for the evaluation was short and resources were limited, which meant that we were unable to design a pre- and post-­ intervention study or collect qualitative data collection in a control area. After recruiting for a research assistant, we had only 4 months in which to collect data (November 2014 to February 2015). Police Scotland honoured our request to not modify any of the pilot’s methods during the course of the evaluation, but wider political and media events were unfolding across Scotland at the same time which may have had an impact on the morale and operational practice of the officers and staff we were researching. Despite these limitations, the evaluation has led to important insights about improvements to service delivery which will further procedural justice in police practice.

Evaluation Findings As mentioned above, the Fife Pilot had three main aims: (1) to improve the data on which stop and search is based, (2) to improve accountability and (3) to improve public confidence. The processes used for each of these aims in the pilot will be discussed in turn as part of the theory of change analysis (the deductive approach), followed by an assessment of which ones achieved the stated aims and which ones did not. We will also reflect on the extent to which the overarching goal of ‘Right People, Right Place, Right Time’ was achieved. Where appropriate, examples from the qualitative data collection will also be used to illustrate the processes of meaning construction from those involved in the pilot (the inductive analysis).

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Aim 1: Improving the Data on Which Stop and Search is Based The first aim involved an attempt to improve the evidence base on which stop and search deployment decisions were made. Police staff in Fife produced regular reports on stop and search activity (statistics about the total nominal values of alcohol, drugs, firearms, fireworks, property and weapons searches) within the division over a defined period, for the purpose of informing future use of stop and search. For the pilot, this was changed from only a monthly report to a bi-weekly as well as a monthly report. These reports contextualised stop and search activity in relation to wider trends in disorder, minor assault and anti-social behaviour using specific analytical tools. The purpose of the new document was to be a management ‘health check’ to keep the use of stop and search in line with current rates of crime, antisocial behaviour and disorder. The previous iteration of the report used data from 4 weeks prior to the report, considering stop and search activity as well as violent crime and anti-social behaviour information in local hotspot areas. In May 2014, the stop and search reports were redeveloped to consider data from 6 weeks prior and to project forward by 6 weeks using an analysis of crime trends from the same period in the previous year. The reports then include a ‘recommendation’ about what level of stop and search activity would be appropriate for the upcoming period. We conducted a documentary analysis of the stop and search reports which had been produced since May 2014. Overall, the reports did provide managers with a longer term view of stop and search activity. However, there were weaknesses that needed to be considered. First, while considering data from a previous period is good practice, year-on-year comparisons do not allow for annual variations in figures. A 5-year period would be more appropriate to provide a more accurate picture of crime trends over time. In addition, both types of stop and search reports (bi-­ weekly and monthly) include a section where there is a brief reflection on the proportionality of the stop searches conducted in the area over the stated time frame. This is worded as the ‘% of charges/incidents is proportionate/disproportionate to % of stop and searches’, which is based on a simple comparison of volume of each activity. There is no explanation about the level or extent of that ‘(dis)proportionality’, no comparison of the demographics of the individuals charged with a crime with those who are stopped, nor a suggestion of what would make the level more proportionate. In particular, the reports do not state in detail how ‘(dis)proportionality’ is measured through a simple consideration of the volume of each activity. The recommendations in the reports were either to continue the current levels of stop and search or to increase them. There was never a recommendation to reduce stop and search nor did these suggestions seem to reflect variations in seasonal trends. Consideration was given to stand-alone events which may skew results, but this was done in a separate report. This means that the value of the stop and search report as a stand-alone product is somewhat limited, perhaps even misleading, if the contextual information needed to fully understand its findings are produced separately or verbally (as was sometimes the case) and if ‘proportionality’ is based purely on a direct comparison of volumes.

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An important aspect of these reports to note was that they were only intended for use by supervisors, not operational officers. The reason for this was that there was a level of analytical knowledge required to understand the content of the reports. In addition, the purpose of the reports was to inform managers as to where and when they should direct their resources to undertake searches. The reports could not offer guidance on who should be stopped and searched. This information, as before the introduction of the pilot, was to be gained from the daily briefings built from intelligence reports as well as officers’ own experiential knowledge. Thus, while the data analysis reports for stop and search could offer some insights on the ‘Right Place, Right Time’ element of the Fife Pilot overarching goal, they could not contribute to the ‘Right People’ aspect which remained largely down to officers’ discretion. Linked to the pilot’s aim of improving data recording is the monitoring of rates of stop and search and the extent to which an item is recovered from searches (also known as ‘positive’ searches). At the time of the pilot, a performance measurement was in place for police managers to achieve a 20% positive rate for stop searches in their areas. An analysis of the rates for stop and search during the first 3 months of the pilot shows that the total number of stop searches conducted in Fife Division was 42.1% higher than the volume during the same quarterly period of the previous year (July to September 2013). In addition, the rate of positive searches had decreased (from 24% to 18.8%). Meanwhile over the same period in the comparator area (Forth Valley), there had been a 19.7% decrease in the volume of stop searches and the ‘positive rate’ only reduced by 0.3% (Table 3.1). In terms of the ratio of non-statutory to statutory searches, non-statutory searches remained the dominant method of searching in Fife during the pilot (two-thirds of all stop searches were non-statutory) (Table 3.2). Young people were more likely to be searched in this way than older age groups, as had been the case previously. Although the age group most likely to be stopped and searched during the pilot period is 16 to 25-year olds (39% of all stop searches), stop searches of young people under the age of 16 were not insignificant (10.5% of all stop searches). This means that half of all stop searches in Fife during the pilot period were of people aged 25 and under (Table 3.3). These data suggest that the Fife pilot did not change the existing practice of favouring non-statutory searches and that the age group most likely to be stopped continued to be young people. While it was not a goal of the Fife Pilot to change Table 3.1  Comparison of stop and search data for Fife and Forth Valley divisions of Police Scotland Fife July–Sept Total stop searches Searches per 10K population Legislative searches Consensual searches Positive number Positive rate %

2013 2382 64.9 685 1697 572 24

2014 3380 92.12 1023 2357 634 18.8

Forth Valley July–Sept Total stop searches Searches per 10K population Legislative searches Consensual searches Positive number Positive rate %

2013 2165 72.2 689 1476 525 24.2

2014 1739 58 726 1013 417 23.9

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Table 3.2  Legislative and voluntary searches by age in Fife during the pilot (July 2014 to March 2015)

Age 11 and under 12–15 16–25 26–35 36–45 46–55 56 and above (Blank) Grand total

Legislative % of Number of % of all legislative searches searches searches 0 0.00% 0.00%

Voluntary % of Number Total % of % of all voluntary Total of searches searches searches searches searches 2 0.03% 0.04% 2 0.03%

119 746 704 467 167 51

1.75% 10.99% 10.37% 6.88% 2.46% 0.75%

5.27% 33.02% 31.16% 20.67% 7.39% 2.26%

598 1909 1067 611 256 81

8.81% 28.12% 15.72% 9.00% 3.77% 1.19%

717 2655 1771 1078 423 132

10.56% 39.11% 26.09% 15.88% 6.23% 1.94%

5 2259

0.07% 0.22% 33.27% 100.00%

6 4530

0.09% 0.13% 11 66.73% 100.00% 6789

0.16% 100.00%

13.20% 42.14% 23.55% 13.49% 5.65% 1.79%

Table 3.3  Stop and search in Fife during the pilot (July 2014 to March 2015) by gender and age FEMALE Number of searches 11 and under 12–15 198 16–25 415 26–35 341 36–45 161 46–55 80 56 and 23 above (blank) 2 Grand 1220 total

% of searches 0.00% 2.92% 6.11% 5.02% 2.37% 1.18% 0.34%

MALE Number of searches 2 519 2240 1430 917 343 109

% of searches 0.03% 7.64% 32.99% 21.06% 13.51% 5.05% 1.61%

Total number of searches 2 717 2655 1771 1078 423 132

Total % of searches 0.03% 10.56% 39.11% 26.09% 15.88% 6.23% 1.94%

0.03% 17.97%

9 5569

0.13% 82.03%

11 6789

0.16% 100.00%

these elements of stop and search practice, it was these aspects for which Police Scotland was most under scrutiny. In addition, the stop and search records were not publicly available at the time. The first aim of the Fife Pilot was to ‘improve the data on which stop and search is based’. The primary techniques employed to achieve this aim were the stop and search reports and detailed recording of stop searches. This aim has been met to an extent. The stop and search analysis reports are more detailed than had been the case previously and contained a comparison of the data from the previous year. However, these reports could not compensate for annual fluctuations in the figures and were vague on how the proportionality of stop and search was assessed, an assessment which was intended to guide managers in their deployment decisions. In addition, while officers

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in Fife were now recording stop searches routinely, the practice was still targeted at young people and now at a rate higher than had been the case previously.

Aim 2: Improving Accountability The second aim of the pilot was to improve accountability in stop and search. The goal here was to enhance the processes by which Police Scotland’s stop and search activity is scrutinised and assessed for quality in practice. In order to achieve this, Police Scotland introduced a number of initiatives. The first was compliance recording checks, where a random sample of stop and search records were reviewed by supervisors for compliance with standard recording guidelines. The second was a careful monitoring of crime trends in order to align stop search activity with those trends. This is discussed above in relation to the data analysis reports and so will not be repeated here. A third approach was a dip sampling of public satisfaction where a selection of people who had been stopped and searched in the previous month were contacted by phone and asked a series of questions about their experience. The fourth initiative was to analyse any complaints which were received about stop searches and to learn from these. The final method involved the Divisional Commander reporting on stop search activity to the quarterly meetings of the Safer Communities Committee (SCC), which is part of Fife Council and includes several of the local councillors for Fife. It was used as the independent ‘scrutiny board’ for the pilot as its remit includes the power to hold the Fife Division accountable for their actions. Our analysis of the first method, the compliance recording checks, was achieved through interviews and documentary analysis of correspondence about the procedure. Due to data protection restrictions, we were not allowed to access the stop and search entries or the compliance audits. The analysis suggests that the checks were not used in a punitive way, but as a method of improving officers’ knowledge of appropriate stop and search procedure. A senior police officer argued that the checks are effective. He stated that ‘(C)ompliance recording checks that have been done with notebooks and/or the people, the officers, have acted absolutely appropriately and recorded it properly’. The third method of accountability2 was the dip sampling phone calls to people who had been stopped and searched. Direct observations of the calls formed a part of our data collection, as did a documentary analysis of the questionnaire which was used. To conduct the questionnaire, a police officer would phone members of the public who had provided officers with their telephone number at the time they were searched. These calls were made during daytime hours and used a structured questionnaire format. However, the number of people who provided an accurate phone number at the time of their search (providing a phone number is voluntary) and

 The second method was monitoring of crime trends, which was discussed under Aim 1 above.

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actually answered their phone when the officer rang was a very small proportion of the total possible cohort. Of those who did answer, many of them did not wish to speak to the officer or said that they did not recall being searched. On the occasions when the officer was able to complete the questionnaire, the format of the questions did not allow for qualitative detail of experiences or follow-up questions from the officer. The response rate for the completed questionnaires ranged from 4.5% to 6.9% of the total cohort of people stopped in any 1 month. Overall, the responses to the questionnaire were positive in that participants reported the police treated them with respect and that they were satisfied with the way the search was conducted. We conducted ten interviews with members of the public who had been stopped and searched to explore these issues in more detail. Some felt that the experience was rather unpleasant and did not make them feel comfortable, especially as it usually takes place in public, such as on a street. When asked: ‘What were your general feelings about the stop and search experience you had?’ one person stated: ‘At first, like it’s embarrassing like, you know, cause of people going past and they can see. But it felt alright’. The other one argued: It was alright, I suppose. A bit embarrassing, like, but other than that, I’ve not got a problem with it (…) [I was] embarrassed. That’s about it (…) Just cause it was happening in front of everybody for them to see.

In relation to non-statutory searches, one person stated: [Interviewee} ‘I mean, they [the police] must be just trying to see what the everyday man’s got walking about with in their pockets or stuff like that or maybe they’ll catch somebody that’s got a warrant, you know, unpaid fines, things like that (…) cause sometimes they probably do get lucky and stop somebody and they’ve got like some drugs in their pocket or something’. [Interviewer]: ‘Is in your view stop and search an appropriate tactic to achieve these goals?’ [Interviewee]: ‘Not really, no (…), it was just pot luck and they probably come up empty handed more often than not’.

These findings from our qualitative data collection differ from the results of the police-originated telephone questionnaires. Feelings of embarrassment and being ‘randomly’ targeted have implications for perceptions of procedural justice (Bradford, 2012; Skogan, 2006; Tyler et al., 2015). This will be developed more in the conclusion. The fourth accountability initiative was to analyse and learn from complaints about stop and search. During the course of the pilot, there were no complaints received in Fife related to stop and search. For the officers involved in running the pilot, this was taken to be a sign that stop and search practice was going well in Fife. However, an alternative view would be that a lack of complaints is a sign of a communication gap with the public, rather than a sign of success. The final method of accountability in Fife involved the Divisional Commander reporting to the Safer Communities Committee, which is comprised of local councillors. We were not able to attend any of these meetings during our evaluation (it was unclear to us if any had taken place during that time frame or if the Divisional Commander attended those that did), but we were able to review documentation about them. It would appear

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that the SCC was consulted in the design of the pilot and did receive a few quarterly reports about stop and search activity in the area. However, stop and search was just one item of the overall agenda, so it is difficult to know how detailed the ‘scrutiny’ of the practice was, or how well positioned the members of the SCC would be to know if it was being conducted appropriately. This method of accountability is unlikely to reach the general public as only community representatives were present. The second aim of the Fife Pilot was to improve police accountability. To this end, five processes were introduced which included compliance checks of police officers’ entries into the database, monitoring of crime trends, a dip sample of public satisfaction with stop and search procedure, analysis of complaints and reporting to the Safer Communities Committee (SCC). As with aim 1, aim 2 was partially achieved. The compliance checks revealed that officers were following the recoding protocols, and the SCC was consulted at various points during the change process for stop and search. However, the crime trend analysis was problematic, as we discussed under aim 1. The dip sampling technique, while returning positive findings, had many methodological short comings. Our own assessment of the public’s experiences of stop and search did not reveal the same level of satisfaction. It could be the case that those individuals who completed the questionnaire felt compelled to react positively to the questions as they were being interviewed by a police officer in possession of their personal details. There were no complaints against the police during the pilot, but this could mean that the public does not have faith in the complaints process to achieve change. We had limited data to assess the detail of the consultations with the SCC, but this forum is not one which would have an impact on confidence in policing among the public at large.

Aim 3: Improving Confidence The final aim for the Fife Pilot was to improve public confidence in policing. To this end, the pilot introduced various changes to police practice which were intended to improve encounters between members of the public and the police. These included revised training on stop and search which all officers (up to and including the rank of Inspector) were required to undertake, the introduction of the aide memoir for officers about procedure and the legal grounds for searches, a mandatory statement to be read before a non-statutory search, an advice slip to be handed to all people who were stopped and searched, sending letters to the parents of children who were searched and consultations with several community groups and lay advisory groups about how stop and search should be conducted. These will be discussed in turn. The revised stop and search training was intended to improve police practice and thereby public confidence through improved encounters with police officers. We discussed this training in our interviews with officers who had taken it as well as senior officers who had been involved in designing it. We also analysed relevant documentation about the training. The training relied primarily on e-learning methods, and also included face-to-face briefings from managers with officers in their

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subdivisions. The data collected from our interviews suggests that senior officers had more awareness of the training, with there being a mixed impact on police constables, some of whom could not recall the training at all. For example The Equality Impact Assessment for stop and search in Fife, written by a management officer, includes a statement that: The delivery of stop and search can only be effective with trained and knowledgeable personnel. The pilot will re-train staff in the use of stop and search and Police Scotland expectations and will involve personal briefings for all Constables, Sergeants and Inspectors (this is be done by an officer at least of the rank of Chief Inspector), e-briefings and updates/ reinforcement during annual Officer Safety refresher training (OST). Training sits across all three of the themes and its successful delivery is fundamental to delivery of the pilot’s outcomes (p. 3).

In contrast, one of the officers we interviewed said the following in relation to the online training: But I think there was some kind of package that we went into and had to click our way through and I think it was a PowerPoint presentation and we basically clicked our way through and answered questions and at the end of it, [and it] sent an email to say that we had played that training PowerPoint. I think it was actually that, rather than sitting in a room being spoken to (…) I think the presentation itself or the online sort of training thing was – you kinda had to fit it in your work day, so it was kinda rushed, probably not a lot – not everything has kinda sunk in, you don’t take all of it in.

Several officers we interviewed likewise discussed being overwhelmed with emails and online training packages and so struggled to give it all their complete attention. This would suggest that despite the intention to develop a robust training package for all officers up to the rank of Inspector, the effect was not as comprehensive as was hoped. A second change in the pilot from existing practice was the introduction of an aide memoir which provided a guide for police officers on stop and search procedure and a reminder of the legal grounds on which a stop and search could be conducted. This card also included the third change to existing practice: the mandatory statement that officers needed to read aloud to anyone who was being searched on a non-statutory basis. This statement was to ensure that members of the public stopped in this way knew that they had the right to refuse to be searched. In our interviews with police officers in Fife, we found that the aide memoir with its various reminders about procedure and legislation was a welcome development for them. One PC stated that: It’s hard to remember everything and if you’ve got that bit of paper that says, have you done this, this and this? And you can say, oh well, I’ve done that and that but I’ve maybe missed that, then at least it’s just jogged your memory. So I don’t have a problem with aide memoirs at all. I think they’re pretty useful.

In our observations with officers conducting stop searches, we found that while not all officers were reading the statement about non-statutory searches verbatim, they were asking members of the public for permission to search them. The fourth change introduced as part of the Fife pilot was the practice of issuing an advice slip when people are stopped and searched. This provided the name of the

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officer who carried out the stop and search, the date and time of the search and also contained general information about the grounds on which someone may be stopped and searched. Our assessment of the email correspondence between senior police officers, local partners, Police Scotland Children and Young Persons Reference Group (CYPRG) and the police officers who organised the consultations revealed issues regarding the clarity of information included in the leaflet. There was a consensus among the external stakeholders that the language used to explain the meaning of the stop and search incident is not young-person friendly and gives an individual an impression of being (unlawfully and unfairly) targeted. A local partner pointed out: With the information that is given on the back of the form, there is too much focus on legislative searches. There should be more information given on the consensual searches as this is where the new initiative lies.

Similarly, in the email to the pilot managers a member of the Police Scotland Children and Young Persons Reference Group argued that the content of the leaflets was too detailed and that it includes specific vocabulary such that young people may have to read it a few times to understand. This was referred to as ‘off putting and intimidating’ for someone under 16. The fifth process introduced as part of the pilot was sending letters to parents or guardians of children under the age of 16 who had been stopped and searched. These letters contain general information about why the police conduct stop searches as well as specific information about the nature of the search, the date of the incident, what the young person was searched for and whether the outcome of the search was positive or negative (i.e. if any items were found). Documentary sources, interviews and observations were employed to analyse this method. Stakeholders and some senior officers felt that the letters were overly formal and did not provide enough detail regarding the circumstances surrounding the child’s stop and search. For example in relation to consensual searches, one senior police officer argued: For me the letter doesn’t explain what a consensual search is in layman’s terms… i.e. Martin [pseudonym] was found by police officers in an area in which there have been issues with under-age drinking and disturbance and the local community have raised these issues with us. In view of this my officers spoke with Martin, and although not suspecting him of any offence requested his permission to search him for alcohol/drugs/whatever and he agreed. Or similar may be better wording.

The letters contained general information which highlighted the importance of stop and search for Police Scotland for crime prevention. The Police Scotland Children and Young Person’s Reference Group raised concerns in relation to parents’ potential perceptions of their children should they be searched and other unintended repercussions of letters for children. The final process developed to improve confidence in policing was extensive consultation with various community groups, the Local Lay Advisory Group and children and young people in order to seek feedback on the design of the new processes introduced as part of the pilot. We analysed these consultations through interviews with the officers involved and through documentary analysis of correspondence between the groups and other relevant materials. The local Lay Advisory Group (LAG) is a group of individuals who provide the police with advice on various

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matters and it existed prior the commencement of the pilot. In the eyes of the police officers, the group is particularly important to: …ensure the pilot does not unintentionally alienate or exclude any protected groups within the community, the local lay advisory group has and will continue to oversee the pilot’s developments and progress including scrutiny of associated documentation.

Although this may have been beneficial in terms of transparency, our findings suggest that engagement with young people was also being used to build confidence in stop and search as a tactic, i.e. through emphasising the merits of stop and search during the consultation process itself. For example in a memo from a management officer to the police officers who carry out the engagement meetings, it is indicated that the purpose of the exercise was to ‘educate’ children and young people about stop and search. The officers who conducted the school visits kept notes of these events. In one, from a high school consultation, it is noted that: The very few who held negative views, did so on the grounds that they were of the opinion that the Police were “harassing innocent people.” Following a discussion, most of these people then changed their views and understood the reasons why the Police could use the stop and search powers.

The emphasis here is not to learn from the young people about how the police should conduct searches but more for the officers to convince the young people that stop and search is a worthwhile tactic for the police to use. However, we were somewhat limited in the extent to which we could review these meetings and consultations as they were held prior to the start of our evaluation. The third aim of the Fife Pilot was to improve confidence in policing among members of the public. In order to achieve this, the pilot introduced various processes which were intended to improve police practice when in a stop and search encounter. If these encounters are done well, they can have a positive effect on perceptions of procedural justice, especially among young people (Murphy, 2015; Tyler et al., 2014). Our assessment of the available secondary data on these processes and from the primary data we collected shows that some of these methods were well received whereas others were not. The advice slips and the letters to parents were perceived as especially problematic for children in terms of their confidence in policing. The revised stop and search training which was developed for police officers to enhance their practice did not seem to have made an impression on those who had taken it. Based on the information available to us, we would argue that aim 3 was not met through the methods of the Fife Pilot. However, as was mentioned earlier in the chapter, stop and search events on a national scale were continuing to develop during the course of our evaluation, and these will be explored next.

Changes in Stop and Search Practice The findings from the Fife Pilot evaluation were presented to Police Scotland in our final report in June 2015 (O’Neill, Aston, & Krause, 2015). While we were in the latter stages of preparing this document, however, comprehensive changes to the governance and policy of stop and search in Police Scotland were already being

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planned. This was in response to ongoing scrutiny and review of the practice by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland (HMICS) and the Scottish Police Authority (SPA). In addition, the Scottish Government had commissioned an Independent Advisory Group (IAG) to review stop and search practice, which was led by John Scott QC and reported in August 2015. The recommendations from our evaluation and from these other agencies (in addition to Police Scotland’s own internal review) were compiled into the first Stop and Search Improvement Plan in June 2015 (Police Scotland, 2015a) which mapped all the recommendations from all five reports against each other and charted a timeline for when these would be resolved. This has continued in the two follow-up improvement plans, published in October 2015 (Police Scotland, 2015b) and October 2016 (Police Scotland, 2016b). The most significant of the changes to result from the period of challenge and scrutiny to stop and search in Scotland (2014–2015) and the resulting improvement programme is the overall fall in the number of searches across Scotland and the changing ratio of statutory to non-statutory searches. Soon after the launch of Police Scotland, the monthly rate of stop and search peaked at 69,883  in August 2013. About 70% of these searches were non-statutory (Murray, 2015a). The rate of stop and search in Scotland has since fallen to an average of 3500 per month between January 2016 and January 2017. The percentage of searches being based on non-­ statutory grounds had fallen to 4.8% in April–June 2016 (Police Scotland, 2016a). This represents a historic shift in police practice in Scotland. Young people continue to be searched frequently, but the rate is now about 45% of the total number of searches (5112 people searched were aged under 25  in April–June 2016, Police Scotland, 2016a), and the number of searches is significantly reduced. Linked to this are extensive improvements to the centrally held stop and search database. In early 2015, the database became the subject of political and media scrutiny as it emerged that not only was the database flawed in terms of inconsistencies in historical recording practices, but that there were significant software errors in the current iteration which had resulted in the corruption of some of the entries (BBC News, 2015). In response to the subsequent recommendations from several of the scrutiny reports, the stop and search database received a complete redevelopment.3 The current format is one that prevents users from entering inaccurate records through such techniques as the use of drop-down lists for relevant legislative grounds and querying entries that indicate the search of children under the age of 12. The database also includes a GPS locator for the exact location of a stop search to pinpoint more accurately where the event took place. Finally, in stark contrast to historical practice, the database is now publicly available and is published on quarterly basis on the Police Scotland website. The performance target for managers of 20% ‘positive’ searches has also now been dropped. By far the most publicised outcome of the various scrutiny reports was the recommendation from the Independent Advisory Group (a recommendation which had also been proposed in our evaluation of the Fife Pilot) that Police Scotland end the practice of consensual searches completely (Scott, 2015). It also recommended the  For further information see HMICS (2015) and HMICS (2017).

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development of a code of practice for stop and search in Scotland. The Scottish Government accepted these recommendations, as did Police Scotland, and has since enacted legislation to support them. However, the Scott Report made clear that such a change in established practice would take a degree of time to implement. When Police Scotland first came under scrutiny in 2014 for the disproportionate consensual searches of children, especially searches of young children under the age of 12, it attempted to end the practice with immediate effect. This attempt failed (Ellison, 2015). The Scott Report took learning from this and recommended a detailed programme of training for officers to adopt this new method of working, which for some would overturn decades of accepted practice. Police Scotland developed a new programme of training for stop and search, and all officers from the ranks of constable to inspector have now received it. This was with a view to being ready for the new code of practice, which was launched in May 2017. The authors were involved in assessing this training as it was being developed.

Conclusion The Fife Pilot aimed to improve: (1) the evidence base on which stop and search deployment decisions were made, (2) police accountability and (3) public confidence. These aims were ambitious and it was perhaps unrealistic to expect the modest service delivery processes introduced to achieve these impacts. By using a theory of change approach, we have evaluated the processes and procedures developed to meet these aims through an assessment of available secondary data as well as through our own primary data collection. The evidence suggests that aims 1 and 2 were partially met while aim 3 was not. Aim 3 has the most direct link to improving perceptions of procedural justice, while the other two can be connected at a more strategic level and could therefore influence procedural justice in a less direct way. We will explore the implications of these findings from within a procedural justice framework below, which will have implications for improvements to service delivery beyond Scotland (Bradford, 2012; MacQueen & Bradford, 2015; Mazerolle et al., 2012; Tyler et al., 2015). With regard to the first aim of the pilot, we would suggest that further research is required with regard to the evidence base on which stop and search deployment decisions are made. Continuing to target areas with higher levels of recorded crime and disorder for stop and search activity could be regarded as appropriate from the perspective of hotspots policing, in that police work is directed to those areas which produce the most crime and disorder. However, as the hotspots literature has indicated, it is not always clear what impact particular types of policing activity have on these areas and it could be the case that presence alone is enough, in certain doses and at certain times of the day (Ariel, Weinborn, & Sherman, 2016). Literature is starting to emerge that repeated stops of the same individuals, even if conducted well, can have a negative impact on procedural justice in those communities (Bowling & Phillips, 2007; Murphy 2015; Tyler et  al., 2015) and therefore care needs to be taken when deploying officers to these areas in terms of what they are

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expected to do while they are there. Murray (2015a, 2015b) has argued that repeated stop searches from the police are frustrating, embarrassing and leave a sense of injustice among members of the public, even if each individual encounter is done well. Tyler et al. (2014) have argued that among young men, repeated stops by the police influence their views of police fairness and lawfulness and that this had an association with lower perceptions of police legitimacy. Further, consideration could be given as to whether it would be advisable to look at data on levels of ‘positive’ (where an item is recovered) searches in order to better focus stop and search activity. However, the removal of non-statutory searches and the introduction of a Code of Practice are likely to result in stop and search being used more appropriately, although ‘reasonable suspicion’ is by no means unproblematic (Bowling & Phillips, 2007). The data in the analytic reports appeared to address the ‘Right Place’ and ‘Right Time’ elements, but with regard to the ‘Right People’ the use of stop and search continued to be based on intelligence reports and experiential knowledge. The Fife pilot did not focus on who was being searched and its use (particularly of non-statutory search) continued to be concentrated on young people; therefore, it did not address one of the aspects for which Police Scotland was under scrutiny. This relates to the ‘neutrality’ element of fairness within the procedural justice literature. Information on disproportionality of stop and search, i.e. its use by age, gender, ethnicity and socio-economic status, relative to the makeup of the population (not ‘proportionality’ in relation to levels of crime and disorder) is something that needs to be analysed in order improve accountability and public confidence (Murphy, 2015; Tyler et al., 2014). With regard to the second aim, improving accountability, some of the Fife Pilot methods could be linked to the ‘voice’ element of procedural justice, although we were not assessing the extent to which people felt their side of the story had been heard within an encounter. The issuing of advice slips with information about who to contact and the dip sampling phone calls to people who had been stopped and searched could be seen as methods by which people could ‘have their say’ but the latter were problematic methodologically, particularly in that they were conducted by police officers and during daytime hours. In addition, relying on members of the public to use the police complaints system is not a robust measure of public satisfaction or a robust accountability method. We would argue that a more appropriate method of improving accountability would be to improve communication and proactively seek feedback, ideally through independently administered questionnaires. Although improvements to local authority scrutiny board arrangements are part of the ongoing stop and search improvement plan, the move to publish all stop and search data on a regular basis will go some way to improving accountability. Some of the changes introduced with the aim of improving public confidence (aim 3) were seen as positive and these can be directly linked to various elements of procedural justice. The introduction of ‘aide memoirs’ and the inclusion of a mandatory statement, explaining the right to refuse a consensual search, to be read aloud by officers may have gone some way to making improvements in relation to being ‘treated with respect’ in an encounter with the police (Tyler et al., 2015). Furthermore, the practice of issuing an advice slip with general information on the grounds of the

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search may be seen to be connected to ‘neutrality’ and to furthering the understanding of the process and how decisions are made (Tyler et al., 2014). However, the advice slips used in the pilot did not provide enough information about the ground for searches and we found that people who had been stopped and searched felt it was embarrassing and were dissatisfied because they felt they had been searched ‘randomly’. This is in keeping with the findings of Tyler et al. (2015) that a sense of being under police suspicion damages the relationship between the police and the community. Therefore, the solution must be in fundamentally changing practice, rather than minor changes to existing methods, to improve the quality of the encounter, and it is expected that abolishing the use of non-statutory stop and search will make a more significant improvement to public confidence. A number of aspects of the pilot, e.g. letters to parents, engagement with young people, external organisations and social media, were being used to emphasise the importance of stop and search in ‘keeping people safe’. This could be linked to procedural justice in the sense that the aim is to demonstrate trustworthy motives, i.e. that the police have the public interest at heart. However, rather than viewing stop and search as an important crime reduction tactic (evidence to support this is weak, see Quinton, Tiratelli, & Bradford, 2017), other activities which will build trust and confidence should be prioritised, with stop and search being acknowledged as a restrictive police power which should be used as a last resort. This could include regular and well-resourced proactive community engagement programmes, with a focus on co-productive problem-solving in local areas. These more robust modifications to service delivery will improve the experience of members of the public when encountering the police and thereby improve perceptions of procedural justice in policing more widely. As stop and search is a tactic used in many policing jurisdictions, these findings have significance beyond Scotland and UK policing. Acknowledgements  The authors would like to acknowledge the contribution of Dr. Agata Krause to the research reported here. Dr. Krause conducted the data collection and significantly contributed to the data analysis, which formed the foundation of our research findings, although she declined our offer to co-author this publication. Funding source: This research was funded by a joint grant from Police Scotland and the Scottish Institute for Policing Research in September 2014.

References Ariel, B., Weinborn, C., & Sherman, L. (2016). Soft policing at hot spots—Do police community support officers work? A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 12, 277–317. Bazeley, P. (2007). Qualitative data analysis with NVivo. Los Angeles/London: Sage. BBC News. (2015, February 19). Police lost 20,000 stop-search records after wrong button pressed. BBC News Scotland. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-31525040. Bowling, B., & Phillips, C. (2007). Disproportionate and discriminatory: Reviewing the evidence on police stop and search. The Modern Law Review, 70(6), 936–961.

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Bradford, B. (2012). Policing and social identity: Procedural justice, inclusion and cooperation between police and public. Policing and Society, 24(1), 1–22. Connell, J., & Kubisch, A. (1998). Applying a theory of change approach to the evaluation of comprehensive community initiatives: Progress, prospects and problems. In K.  Fulbright-­ Anderson, A. C. Kubisch, & J. P. Connell (Eds.), New approaches to evaluating community initiatives, Vol. 2, Theory, measurement and analysis. Washington, DC: Aspen Institute. Creswell, J. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (3rd ed.). Los Angeles: SAGE. Delsol, R., & Shiner, M. (2006). Regulating stop and search: a challenge for police and community relations in England and Wales. Critical Criminology, 14, 241–263. Ellison, M. (2015, February 4). Police search hundreds of children despite commitment. BBC News Scotland. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-31022269. Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary Scotland. (2015). Audit and assurance review of stop and search—Phase 1. Retrieved from http://www.hmics.org/publications/ hmics-audit-and-assurance-review-stop-and-search-phase-1. Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary Scotland. (2017). Audit and assurance review of stop and search—Phase 2. Retrieved from http://www.hmics.org/sites/default/files/publications/ HMICS%20Audit%20and%20Assurance%20Review%20of%20Stop%20and%20Search%20 Phase%202.pdf. Justice Sub-committee on Policing. (2014, June 19). Official report, session 4. Retrieved from http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28862.aspx?r=9281&mode=pdf. Keller, R. (2011). The sociology of knowledge approach to discourse. Human Studies, 34, 43–65. Lennon, G., & Murray, K. (2016). Under-regulated and unaccountable? Explaining variation in stop and search rates in Scotland, England and Wales. Policing and Society, 28(2), 157–174. https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2016.1163359 MacQueen, S., & Bradford, B. (2015). Enhancing public trust and police legitimacy during road traffic encounters: Results from a randomised controlled trial in Scotland. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 11(3), 419–443. Mazerolle, L., Bennett, S., Antrobus, E., & Eggin, E. (2012). Procedural justice, routine encounters and citizen perceptions of police: Main findings from the Queensland Community Engagement Trial (QCET). Journal of Experimental Criminology, 8(4), 343–367. Miller, J. (2010). Stop and search in England: A reformed tactic or business as usual? British Journal of Criminology, 50(5), 954–974. Miller, J., Bland, N., & Quinton, P. (2000). The impact of stops and searches on crime and the community (Police Research Series Paper 127). London: Home Office. Murphy, K. (2015). Does procedural justice matter to youth? Comparing adults’ and youths’ willingness to collaborate with police. Policing and Society, 25(1), 53–76. Murray, K. (2014). Stop and search in Scotland: An evaluation of police practice (SCCJR Report 01/2014). Retrieved from http://www.sccjr.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Stop_and_ Search_in_Scotland1.pdf. Murray, K. (2015a). Stop and search in Scotland: A post reform overview scrutiny and accountability (SCCJR Research Report 6/2015). Glasgow: SCCJR. Murray, K. (2015b, October). Landscape review of stop and Search. Paper submitted to the Police Scotland Research and Evaluation Operational Review Group. Murray, K., & Harkin, D. (2016). Policing in cool and hot climates: Legitimacy, power and the rise and fall of mass stop and search in Scotland. British Journal of Criminology, 57(4), 885–905. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azw007 O’Neill, M., Aston, L., & Krause, A. (2015). The Fife Division (Police Scotland) stop and search pilot evaluation: Findings and recommendations. Retrieved from http://www.sipr.ac.uk/downloads/Stop_and_Search_Pilot_Evaluation_Report.pdf. Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 - s. 66. (1985). Codes of Practice. London: HMSO. Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act. 2012. Retrieved from http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ asp/2012/8/contents/enacted.

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Police Scotland. (2015a). Stop and search improvement plan 2015/16. Version 1.1. Police Scotland. Retrieved from http://www.scotland.police.uk/assets/pdf/138327/306184/ stop-and-search-impovement-plan-2015-16. Police Scotland. (2015b). Stop and search improvement plan 2015/16 (Interim Consensual Phase II). Version 0.2. Police Scotland. Retrieved from http://www.scotland.police.uk/assets/ pdf/138327/306184/stop-and-search-improvement-plan-2015-16-interim-consensual-phaseiioctober-2015. Police Scotland. (2016a). National stop and search database: Quarterly report April–June 2016/17. Police Scotland. Retrieved from http://www.scotland.police.uk/assets/pdf/13832 7/306184/327483/358338. Police Scotland. (2016b). Stop and search improvement plan 2016/17 (Code Phase III). Version 2.0. Police Scotland. Retrieved from http://www.scotland.police.uk/assets/ pdf/138327/306184/327483/stop-search-improvement-plan-code-phase-iii. Quinton, P. (2012). The formation of suspicions: police stop and search practices in England and Wales. In L. Weber & B. Bowling (Eds.), Stop and search: Police power in global context. Oxon, UK: Routledge. Quinton, P., Tiratelli, M. & Bradford, B. (2017). Does more stop and search mean less crime? Analysis of Metropolitan Police Service panel data 2004-2014. College of Policing. Retrieved from http://whatworks.college.police.uk/Research/Documents/SS_and_crime_report.pdf. Reid Howie Associates. (2001). Police stop and search among white and minority ethnic young people in Scotland. Edinburgh, Scotland: Scottish Executive. Scott, J. (2015, August). The report of the advisory group on stop and search. Edinburgh, Scotland: Advisory Group on Stop and Search Secretariat. Scottish Government. (2012). Public and justice system: Attitudes, drivers and behaviour: A literature review. Edinburgh, Scotland: Scottish Government. Scottish Government. (2014). Scottish crime and justice survey 2012/13 main findings. Retrieved from http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/0044/00447271.pdf. Scottish Police Authority. (2014). Scrutiny review—Police Scotland’s stop and search policy and practice. Retrieved from http://www.spa.police.uk/assets/126884/230479/ scrutinytaskgroupreport. Scottish Police Authority. (2015, February 15). Stop and Search Special Board Meeting. Retrieved from http://new.livestream.com/accounts/5307060/events/3799986. Skogan, W. (2006). Asymmetry in the impact of encounters with the police. Policing and Society, 16, 99–126. Tyler, T. R. (2004). Enhancing police legitimacy. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 593(1), 84–99. Tyler, T. R., Fagan, J., & Geller, A. (2014). Street stops and police legitimacy: Teachable moments in young urban men’s legal socialization. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, 11(4), 751–785. Tyler, T. R., Jackson, J., & Mentovich, A. (2015). The consequences of being an object of suspicion: Potential pitfalls of proactive police contact. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, 12(4), 602–636.

Chapter 4

Situational Awareness During a Crisis in Norway: Seeing the Forest, But Not the Trees Magne V. Aarset, Rune Glomseth, and Per Christian Juvkam

Abstract  In 2008, an accident occurred in the small town of Ålesund in Norway which few, maybe surprisingly, had imagined could happen. Therefore, there was no specific plan for such a situation. A modern apartment building close to the city centre had partially collapsed after a landslide in the middle of the night. Twenty people stayed in the block and a comprehensive rescue operation was carried out in the proximity of a building where global and local stability were unclear. Furthermore, there was a gas leakage from a propane tank and the danger of a very large explosion (BLEVE, Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapour Explosion). Several quarters of the city would have been devastated if the propane tank in the apartment block had exploded. There are many issues to address in connection with this event. This chapter will focus on the establishment and maintenance of situational awareness during demanding operations. The objective is to describe, understand and explain parts of the rescue personnel’s perception during the first phase after the accident, based on theory from cognitive psychology. Our goal is to describe typical heuristics the rescue personnel were exposed to in this situation to improve training and operational procedures for the future.

M. V. Aarset (*) Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Alesund, Norway e-mail: [email protected] R. Glomseth Norwegian Police University College, Olso, Norway P. C. Juvkam Trondheim University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 J. F. Albrecht, G. den Heyer (eds.), Enhancing Police Service Delivery, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61452-2_4

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Keywords  Situational awareness · Risk perception · Heuristics · Rescue personnel

Introduction We live in turbulent times. The world is perceived as increasingly insecure, dangerous and characterized by unruly problems (Lægreid, 2019). Critical incidents occur all over the world, and they will probably continue to do so. These types of incidents may both be of complex and dynamic nature (Alison & Crego, 2011). The challenges police, fire departments and ambulance services face in such critical incidents are what Rittel and Webber (1973) call ‘wicked problems’. Societal security and crisis management are critical for any society. Furthermore, crisis management is a core government responsibility that often is difficult to fulfil. This responsibility challenges not only the capacity to act but also the legitimacy and trust (Lægreid, 2019). Rescue personnel like police officers, fire brigades and ambulance personnel will face different types of critical events all the time. Critical incidents that typically will be complex, stressful and urgent and where the different agencies with different objectives, mandate and background must cooperate. It is important to understand how perception and decision-making during such demanding integrated operations take place in order to train the personnel to be aware of typical biases and heuristics. The issue we want to focus on in this chapter is related to how the rescue personnel perceived the situation, what reflections they made and how they acted (more or less consciously) in connection with a rescue operation in Ålesund, Norway in March 2008. We want to focus on attention and perception as part of establishing and maintaining situational awareness in order to describe, understand and learn from this incident. • What did the rescue personnel upfront expect to experience in this situation? What were their prior beliefs? • How did the rescue personnel perceive the situation? • What reflections did they make? • How did they act in this rescue operation in an insecure area? • What can be learned from this accident, and how to improve training and exercises in police, fire departments and ambulance service to ensure operational preparedness?

The Accident On Wednesday 26 March 2008 at 03:37 the emergency services for the police (tel. 112) and the medical emergency (tel. 113) received emergency calls from residents with address Fjelltunveien 31, near the city centre of Ålesund, Norway. The callers,

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from the two top floors of the six storeys apartment block, reported that the building was partially collapsed and that it was not possible for them to evacuate. They could not provide information about the situation lower down in the building. The police immediately sent a patrol to the place and alerted the fire department via the (tel.) 110-centre. The Medical Emergency Centre quickly initiated a disaster alert, which meant that eight ambulance units and hospital resources were notified. The accident was caused by a landslide that occurred at 03:35. One or more stone blocks, around 1400 m3 totaling approximately 10,000 tons (several times the building’s own weight), loosened from the mountain side at the back of the building and hit the building with full force in 1–2 s. The building was moved off its foundation, 5–7 m forward into the street, while the first and partly the second floor collapsed. Suddenly, there were many loose parts inside and outside the building, including lots of glass on the street in front of the building, and there was a lot of dust in the air. The temperature was minus 8 °C and there was ice and snow on the ground. It was reported that it was strikingly quiet on the premises. The police’s first unit arrived at 03:42. Almost simultaneously, the first ambulance arrived and then the first unit from the fire department. Fire and ambulance personnel had a brief consultation before personnel from the fire department, as well as a member from the ambulance services, entered the building looking for injured or trapped persons and to get an overview of the situation. At the same time, a barrier was established close to the building that marked the boundary between the ‘insecure’ and the ‘secure’ zone. The fire department had several personnel inside the block. Some from the ambulance service were also in periods within the barrier, and one employee stayed in the building continuously during the first phase of the initial rescue work. It was registered that 21 people lived in the house, and it became clear that 20 stayed in the house at the time of the accident. At 04:46, 71 min after the accident occurred, 15 people had been evacuated, none with major injuries. One of these was initially stuck under some inventory in the apartment and was helped by personnel from the fire department supported by ambulance personnel. All of these inhabitants were able to walk, but several needed assistance from ladders or lifts to get out because the anatomy of the house was changed. Initially, five persons were missing, but there was still hope that these could be found. There was no easy access to those areas where it was likely that these victims could be, though. It was gradually acknowledged that the anatomy of the building was radically altered, especially for the first and second floors. At the time when the rescue personnel came to the site, it was not known that a 6000 L propane tank was buried right in front of the building that the building had a distribution system for the gas and that the building had now moved so that the propane tank with connections was below the forefront of the building. The propane tank had recently been filled up and contained about 2500 kg of propane. (In case of an explotion, this would be enough to destroy more than a whole residential quarter.) It is unclear who knew about the propane tank and when it became known. The

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official accident report (Befring et al., 2008) gives the impression that the fire chief was familiar with this and quickly acknowledged gas smell when he arrived. Measurements indicated that the gas was not a threat with respect to suffocation. After the occurrence of gas was acknowledged, though, it was decided to extend the limits of the insecure zone by 15–20 m. Somewhat later, the secure zone was set hundreds of metres away from the building and nearly 500 people in the neighbourhood were evacuated from their homes for several days. The rescue operation was terminated 2 April, and the five people missing were considered to be lost at this time. The next stage of the rescue was aimed at finding and getting the five dead out of the building. This work was carefully planned with a strong focus on safety for the rescue crew and on safeguarding the dignity of those deceased. Among other things, the building was filled with nitrogen to prevent the risk of explosion due to possible high concentrations of propane in pockets in the building. The work was extremely complicated, especially with respect to the stability of the building. On April 18, the last of the five deceased was taken out of the building (Table 4.1).

Table 4.1  The first phase of the accident. (Times are slightly adjusted in relation to the official accident report (Befring et al., 2008) based on personal experience and reports) Time Occurrence 03:35 The landslide occurs. Fjelltunveien 31 partly collapses and gets a ‘random foundation’ 5–7 m into the road Fjelltunveien. 03:37 Message from residents to 112 and 113. 03:40 Message from 112 to 110. 03:42 The first police unit arrives and reports that the situation is ‘real’. 03:46 Several fire units (9 crews) and the fire chief arrived. It is stated that the fire chief quickly noted propane smell. 03:53 First ambulance and another fire unit arrive. 03:55 Firefighters and one ambulance worker is searching for victims in the building. Other personnel staying/moving in the immediate vicinity of the building. 04:05 Smoke development from the lower floor is reported. 04:12 Lift for use for evacuation is requested. Evacuation of residents with address Fjelltunveien 31 starts. 04:40 Evacuation of neighbouring buildings due to fear of overheating of the propane tank and that the tank could crack and trigger a Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapour Explosion (BLEVE). Evacuation of Fjelltunveien 29 starts. 04:42 Measurements indicate ‘non-hazardous’ concentration of propane. 04:46 15 residents are evacuated from the building. 04:54 A fire is reported on the lower floor and extinguishing is started. (It will burn for several days.) 05:54 6 people are still missing. After an assessment of the stability of the building, searches in the building’s second floor were attempted, but shortly after stopped because of inaccessibility.

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Theory Constraints The issue we want to focus on in this chapter is related to how the rescue personnel perceived the situation, what reflections they made and how they acted (more or less consciously) in connection with this rescue operation in an insecure area. In addition to using personal knowledge of the incident and use of the official accident report (Befring et al., 2008), interviews have been conducted with four rescue personnel who participated in the operation (Juvkam, 2010). There are many cognitive processes that are relevant in such situations, e.g. motivation, attention, perception, recognition, memory, decision-making and learning. We want to focus on attention and perception here, as part of establishing and maintaining situational awareness, but we do acknowledge the complexity of the many aspects that are influencing human behaviour in such situations.

Attention and Perception Perception may be defined as the process of imposing order on our senses (Larsen & Buss, 2010). It is an active process that organizes sensory impressions and gives meaning, or ‘How to make sense of our senses’ (Pike & Edgar, 2005). Perception has been a key subject within the field of cognitive psychology for many years, and several models have been proposed to explain the underlying processes. In so-called bottom-up processing, it is assumed that we take the individual sensory impressions and combines them to an overall perception. In so-called topdown processing, it is assumed that we interpret (part of) the available information in the light of existing knowledge, concepts, ideas and expectations. The objective of perception has also been discussed. Is the objective action (e.g. to jump aside if an object comes towards us) or recognition (e.g. to recognize the object that comes against us because we might want to try to catch it)? One understanding is that perception for action and perception for recognition are different processes that may involve different neural mechanisms. However, Norman (2002) describes that these two ‘paths’ in our brains can operate independently, but that there still is a certain synergy and that they somehow are interrelated to each other. Within the Gestalt movement (with important contributors as Koffka, Kohler and Werthiemer), perception was in the first half of the latest century described as a top-­ down process, describing the brain’s tendency to find the totality and context of all the individual sensory impressions. They formulated the principles of similarity (where elements similar to each other are perceived as belonging together), proximity (where elements that are close to each other are perceived as belonging together), closure (where holes and openings in a figure are usually filled out to form a more comprehensive figure) and about continuation (joining forms and elements closely

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separated from others to create a whole) (Pike & Edgar, 2005). The Gestalt movement was characterized by the phrase ‘The entirety is greater than the sum of the individual constituents’. Gibson (1947) later developed a so-called ecological perception model. He meant, among other things, that the information that was available to the eye (‘ambient optic array’) was so rich that no cognitive processing was necessary. In addition to the primary structures, he further defined higher order forms (‘invariants’) that could provide unambiguous information about what was observed. These higher order forms should be ‘picked up’ from the visual insights so that they gave unique information about position, orientation and form (Pike & Edgar, 2005). This was a bottom-up process, and the goal of perception was considered to be action. Marr (1982) also saw perception as a bottom-up process. He saw perception as consisting of several steps which resulted in an increasingly sophisticated description. However, contrary to Gibson, Marr believed that the final step in this process was recognition. Gregory (1980), who belonged to the constructivist movement, suggested that perception occurs by generating a number of hypotheses of what an object might be. He further suggested that sense impressions did not contain complete information, so that a description of an object could only be constructed using stored information. The whole was not only more than the sum of the individual constituents; it could also be different from this sum. What we see will therefore depend on what we already know and be influenced by our expectations. Perception will therefore also be selective and must involve top-down processing. Our use of stored information may therefore cause us to generate hypotheses that are inaccurate and perhaps incorrect and may lead us, e.g. to be fooled by visual illusions. A physiological model describes two different systems of visual perception. They are partly different, but they also communicate and are based on visual signals from the retina via primary visual cortex in the occipital lobe. One system (‘the dorsal stream’) is fast and the objective of perception is action (‘Where is it?’). This system only has access to short-term storage of information and is mainly used to process signal-related motion. (Essentially, this is the system Gibson described.) The second system (‘the ventral stream’) is somewhat slower and is aimed at perception for recognition (‘What is it?’). This is primarily used in more detailed relationships while being knowledge-based and utilizes stored representations to recognize objects. We are more aware of the functions performed by this ventral system (Pike & Edgar, 2005). (Essentially, this is the system Marr and the constructivists have described.) This shows a basic feature of neurophysiology. A division into fast afferent ‘pathways’ with few synapses and small spread of signals, and other slower polysynaptic ‘pathways’ with a wide spread of signals and usually to more basic structures in the brain (e.g. limbic structures). Recent research shows that there is no clear distinction between these systems (or paths) and that perception simply does not have to be for action or for recognition only, but that it may be for both (Norman,

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2002). We will use these proposed models when we later seek to explain the attention and perception of the rescue personnel during this crisis.

Heuristics Human beings often use heuristics to reduce complicated issues such as estimating probabilities or predicting outcomes to simpler discretionary thinking. Heuristics are cognitive ‘shortcuts’—rules of thumb that we employ to reduce complex problems, observations, interactions, decisions and so on into simple, efficient rules that work well in most circumstances (Alison & Crego, 2011). Generally speaking, such rules of thumb are useful, but sometimes they can lead to serious and systematic errors (Tversky & Kahneman, 1982). We distinguish between heuristics during attention and perception and heuristics during decision-making. (There are different practices to whether authors identify this distinction in the literature.) Here, we will only discuss heuristics related to attention and perception. Some of the most common are mentioned below. • Our perception is influenced by what we expect to sense (selective perception). Already established mental models in our long-term memory help us to more easily see what we are looking for, but now we risk ignoring the unexpected. We typically do one of the following (Plous, 1993); –– Dominance: We believe we saw what we expected to see, not observing the unexpected. –– Compromise: We believe we saw something in between what we expected to see and what we actually saw. –– Breakdown: We do not know what we have seen. –– Detection: Even if we realize something is wrong, we do not identify the error. (‘Something’s wrong, but I do not know what’.) • We often focus on information that confirms our prior beliefs and ignores information that points in a different direction from what we originally expected (Aarset, 2016). • We often utilize available information wrong, or not at all (Aarset, 2016). • In situations where we will assign multiple attributes to an object or person, our perception will often be dominated by our relationship with a few attributes, and then our estimates of the other attributes are affected by this halo effects (Thorndike, 1920). • We evaluate attributes related to an object or person depending on how easy or difficult they are to evaluate and the value we specify depend on whether we consider this object or person isolated or compared to something else (Hsee 1998). • In many situations, people are most affected by the first primary effect of a relationship than those that follow. However, in other situations, the latest presentation (‘recency effect’) will have the greatest impact (Myers, 2002).

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Analysis Introduction After the rescue operation in Fjelltunveien, it may be tempting to say that since the rescue operation went well (and it did), the people involved must have made the right decisions. And if decisions are correct, they should form the basis for further planning and updating of procedures for similar situations occurring in the future. However, succeeding once, maybe against all odds, does not mean that the same practice should be followed the next time. Therefore, we want to focus on the risks the ambulance personnel took in connection with the rescue operation and how consciously they took these risks. Especially, we will focus on why none of the personnel questioned the overall understanding that the building was stable during the first hours after the landslide. Cause when you ‘push’ a building 6–7 m off its foundations, it is not obvious that it is stable.

Attention, Perception and Heuristics Even though the rescue personnel came to a situation that was unexpected to them, they are experts in this kind of work. What appeared in our interviews was that they seemed to use a top-down process with respect to perception. First, their perception was little detailed oriented and they focused on getting an overall understanding of the situation. Furthermore, according to the Gestalt theory, it could be expected that they would see the hit building as part of a larger unit, the house row. As the hit building was moved straightforward into the street without being turned (almost) at all, the building was somehow seen in conjunction with the neighbouring houses, where architecture and location were precisely planned so that this should look harmonious from an architectural point of view. And as the four upper floors looked kind of ‘unhurt’, this made it difficult to immediately observe that the first floor was as good as completely collapsed which again should have indicated that the building not at all was stable. Luckily though, three days after the landslide the police finally could confirm that the building, miraculously, actually was stable. From the interviews, it also seems as if the rescue personnel followed a perception process as described by Gregory (1980). They chose possible hypotheses more or less consciously (the building is stable, there are no explosives in the building), but they had no stored information in their long-term memory based on past experiences or reflections that made them able to question these somewhat optimistic hypotheses. Furthermore, it seems that only small resources were used on the type of perception Gibson (1947) describes in his ecological perception model. The information available to the eye in this situation was not so rich that no cognitive processing was necessary. (Probably it was too rich on impressions.) But as additional processing

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was a necessity, this processing was exposed to several of the heuristics mentioned above. Based on established theory, it is natural to expect that with the large amount of strong impression they received, the brain selected some and ‘concealed’ some of the other sensory impressions (cognitive capacity). For example one of the interviewees mentioned that it was disproportionately quiet at the accident site. This must be seen in relation to the volume expected during such an accident. (It would probably be natural to expect a higher level of sound based on what they saw.) This may be due to the brain’s ability to focus on some sensory impressions and excluding some. Such selective perception may also be one reason why several of the rescue personnel did not recognize the propane smell immediately. They were not prepared for a leaked propane tank to be part of the situation, nor did they search for information that could confirm or reject this. Nobody thought initially that the house could contain pockets of highly explosive gas. Also, the primacy effect may have affected the personnel not to realize the risk the building posed. The first thing they saw when they arrived was a house that was apparently stable, it was not on fire and there was no gas smell. This perception became dominating and was not easily changed by later sensory impressions. People also tend to seek information confirming their prior beliefs instead of looking for information that would reveal the likelihood that the building could have been unstable. The halo effect will also reinforce their perception that since there is no movement and it is quiet, one will easily be led to believe that the stability of the house is good. In other words, there are many mental effects that might have affected the rescue personnel to get optimistic evaluations of the house’s local and global stability. As shown both in pictures and as interviewees we have interviewed confirmed, the rescue personnel took very high personal risks during this phase. They entered the building and carried out tasks that could have destabilized the house before other people were evacuated; they evacuated residents from the neighbouring house just in front of the building before anyone knew if it was stable. The building itself might have been global unstable and tipped over, but minor changes in the building could also have caused glass and other objects to fall down on as well the rescue personnel as evacuees. Furthermore, one of the ambulance personnel did not use protection such as helmets, gloves and safety shoes.

A Brief Summary of Some Key Learning Points Some interesting and useful learning points emerged from this incident in Ålesund, Norway in 2008. These learning points may be used in developing training and exercises in police, fire departments and ambulance services and between these organizations to ensure operational preparedness?

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 risis Will Strike All Kinds of Organizations: Capacity C to Manage Them Must Be Developed All kinds of organizations will meet and have to manage crises of different sorts. Crises will happen and must be managed locally. Organizations must therefore build sufficient capacity to handle and manage them. Rescue organizations, managers of these organizations and the rescue personnel will always have to manage them to ensure societal security and effective crisis management. The capacity to manage them is critical. This capacity or operational preparedness must be dealt with within police organizations, fire departments and in ambulance service organizations and between these organizations since they will have to cooperate to manage crises. Operational preparedness has to be considered both in an individual, an organizational and a cross-organizational perspective.

Collaboration Within and Between Organizations Organizations matter for effective crisis management (Lægreid, 2019), as it did in the accident occurred in the small town of Ålesund. Police, ambulance service and fire departments have a statutory duty to work together. Managing or designing for exceedance falls under this requirement. It is easier to design for exceedance when those in leadership roles support the approach. Therefore, personnel in leadership roles within the police, the ambulance service and in the fire department are critical for developing and ensure operational preparedness within their crew by training and procedures. They are responsible for among other things plans, training, evaluation and learning. A comparative study of crises management in some Western countries (Norway, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands and UK) after 9/11 found that there seems to be a broad agreement regarding problems which arise when facing transboundary crises. These include strong sectorization, siloization, coordination problems, fragmentations, lack of leadership and ambiguous responsibility and accountability relations coordination (Lægreid, 2019). Therefore, we emphasize the importance of an organizational and leadership perspective to ensure and strengthen operational preparedness.

 trong Leadership and a Culture for Learning S and Knowledge Sharing Strong leadership in rescue organizations as police, fire departments and ambulance services is important before, during and after crises. Here we would like to emphasize the importance of leadership in shaping arenas and culture for learning and knowledge sharing in and between these three organizations. Coping with uncertainty is critical for both police and other rescue personnel.

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In the police, and probably also in the other rescue organizations, there are operational cultures (Fleming, 2015). Persons in leadership roles and their personnel must focus on uncertainty management theory, uncertainty reduction theory and decision-making literature within their organizations and between them. The subjective nature of uncertainty and how uncertainty affects attention and perception for both individuals and teams, and therefore not least decision-­making in stressful crises situations, are important to emphasize in training and evaluations after crises responses. Knowledge of this theory and the available literature should be considered as an important operational competence. As some of these crises anyhow are rare, the personnel in police, fire departments and ambulance personnel should also learn from situations, crises and cases that happen outside their local area and even outside their own country. This will possibly contribute to more information, wider and richer experiences and a very good potential for learning. This mean that rescue personnel can increase their capacity for reflection-in-action. We also believe that over time this will probably mean that these organizations develop readiness and a strong culture for learning and knowledge shearing. We will also suggest that learning experiences are being shared among the rescue organizations and that these organizations develop regularly contacts with academic institutions that work with, e.g. decision-making and decision-avoidance (Eyre, Alison, Crego & MacLean in Alison & Crego, 2008), stress managing and crisis management.

Coping Strategies, Procedures, Training and Exercise Lipshitz and Strauss (1997) in van den Heuvel, Alison, and Power (2014) concluded after examining retrospective real-world data that there were three basic types of uncertainty: inadequate understanding, incompetent information and undifferentiated alternatives. It was suggested that in order to overcome such uncertainty, decision-­makers followed a process known as the RQP heuristic; reduce uncertainty through information search, quantify uncertainty that cannot be reduced and plug the result into a formula to select preferred alternative. The RQP process had some weaknesses, though. Therefore, the RAWS heuristic was developed. This model or process proposed five heuristic coping strategies utilized chronologically by decision-makers in order to cope with uncertainty (Lipshitz & Strauss, 1997). We recommend this five coping strategies: reduction of uncertainty through information search (see above), assumption-based reasoning to fill in missing information, weighting pros and cons in order to derive subjective expected utility of options, forestalling to prepare for worst-case scenarios and suppressing uncertainty in order to ignore doubts and/or conflicting information. The personnel from police, fire and ambulance services are experts in their field. Their decision-making should therefore be understood as expert decision-making.

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Reflection-in-action (Schøn, 1983) based on previous experience will be a coping strategy that is familiar for these professional personnel and the operational cultures of their organizations. In highly dynamic decision-making situations, decision-­ makers as in the police, fire department and in ambulance service need to constantly reflect on, revise and update their mental models or assessments of a situation in response to the adaptive and rapidly changing environment (Eraut, 2000). These and other coping strategies should be made into procedures and trained over and over again. Exercises are in a way a coping strategy. It is also a widely used educational and training method for police officers and other rescue personnel. Perry (2004) distinguishes between tabletop, functional and full-scale exercises. There are also other exercises which may have different arrangements. In this context, we think that exercises could focus on information gathering, decision-making, communication and crises management. In this exercises, attention, perception and heuristics should be a part and even be in focus.

Conclusion It appears that an optimistic risk understanding was one of the reasons for decisions that led to unnecessary risk exposure both to the personnel and evacuees during the rescue operation in Ålesund. The rescue personnel did not realize that the situation was as dangerous as it actually was. One of those involved also mentioned in the interview that when she returned to the accident scene later (after a trip to the hospital), everything looked very different. An important lesson from this accident is therefore that the rescue personnel did a great job so that all persons who were not already dead were evacuated without further harm. Many were, frankly speaking, heroes. However, in this work, the same rescue personnel exposed both themselves and several of those who were evacuated to large and partly unnecessary risks. The assessments of risk that was made was subsequently proved to be very optimistic. One can actually say that the rescue personnel were lucky, without being aware of how lucky they were during the operation. In the further work on establishing procedures for such events, it may therefore be important to emphasize that the personnel acting in crisis situations is taught about typical human errors in attention and perception, as well as issues related to the use of intuitive and analytical decision-making models (Aarset & Glomseth, 2019). Because much of the perception and decision-making expelled were exactly as could be expected. This is how human beings behave, if not extremely conscious regarding how our intuition may trick us.

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References Aarset, M. V. (2016). Risk, issues and crisis management. Haugesund, Norway: Terp. e-book. Aarset, M.  V., & Glomseth, R. (2019). Police_leadership_during_challenging_times. In J. F. Albrecht, G. den Heyer, & P. Stanislas (Eds.), Policing and minority groups (pp. 29–53). New York: Springer. Alison, L. and Crego, J. (2008). Policing Critical Incidents: Leadership and Critical Incident Management. Devon: Willan Publishing. Alison, L., & Crego, J. (2011). Policing critical incidents. Leadership and critical incident management. New York: Routledge. Befring, O., Heggstad, M., Larsen, G. P., Andersen, F. M., Blikra, L. H., Waleur, E., et al. (2008). Skredulykka i Ålesund. Rapport frå utvalet som har gjennomgått skredulykka i Ålesund 26. mars 2008. Oslo, Norway: Kommunal- og Regionaldepartementet og Justis- og politidepartementet. (In Norwegian.). Eraut, M. (2000). The intuitive practitioner: A critical overview. In T.  Atkinson & G.  Claxton (Eds.), The intuitive practitioner. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press. Fleming, J. (2015). Police leadership. Rising to the top. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. Gibson, J.  J. (1947). Motion picture testing and research (AAF Aviation Psychology Research Report No. 7). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. Gregory, R. L. (1980). Perceptions as hypotheses. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 290, 81–97. Hsee, C. K. (1998). Less is better: When low-value options are valued more highly than high-value options. Journal of Behaviour Decision Making, 11, 107–121. Juvkam, P. C. (2010). Interview Notes of Ambulance Personnel (in Norwegian). Oslo, Norway. Lægreid, P. (2019). The future of governance for societal security and crisis management (Gapp Policy Brief Series, Issue 12, 2019). The American University in Cairo, School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. Larsen, R. J., & Buss, D. M. (2010). Personality psychology. Domains of knowledge about human nature (4th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Lipshitz, R., & Strauss, O. (1997). Coping with uncertainty: A naturalistic decision-making analysis. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 69(2), 149–163. Marr, D. (1982). Vision: A computational investigation into the human representation and processing of visual information. New York: W.H. Freeman & Company. Myers, D. G. (2002). Intuition: Its powers and perils. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Norman, J. (2002). Two visual systems and two theories of perception: An attempt to reconcile the constructivist and ecological approaches. Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 25(1), 73–96. Perry, R. W. (2004). Disaster exercise outcomes for professional emergency personnel and citizen volunteers. Journal of Contingencies and Crises Management, 12(2), 64–75. Pike, P., & Edgar, G. (2005). Perception. In I. N. Braisby & A. Gellatly (Eds.), Cognitive psychology (pp. 71–112). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press/The Open University. Plous, S. (1993). The psychology of judgment and decision making. New York: McGraw-Hill. Rittel, H., & Webber, M. (1973). Dilemmas in a general theory of planning. Policy Sciences, 4(2), 155–169. Schøn, D.  A. (1983). The reflective practitioner. How professionals think in action. London: Temple Smith. Thorndike, E. L. (1920). A constant error in psychological ratings. Journal of Applied Psychology, 4, 25–29. Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1982). Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. In D.  Kahneman, P.  Slovic, & A.  Tversky (Eds.), Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases (pp. 3–20). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Van den Heuvel, C., Alison, L., & Power, N. (2014). Coping with uncertainty: Police strategies for resilient decision-making and action implementation. Cognition, Technology and Work, 16, 25–45.

Chapter 5

Predictors of Patrol Officer Openness to New Ideas for Improving Police Service Delivery Alper Durmus Camlibel, S. Hakan Can, and Helen M. Hendy

Abstract  Police departments throughout the world have experienced increases in community–police conflict, with associated problems of patrol officers leaving the profession. Finding innovative solutions to these external and internal threats will require openness to new ideas, especially from patrol officers who are on the front line of these challenges. The present study examined predictors for which patrol officers reported the greatest “openness to new ideas” for their police profession. Predictors considered included officer demographics (age, years of service, education), self-perceptions (health concerns, symptoms of post-­traumatic stress disorder, PTSD), and workplace perceptions (supervisor fairness, peer camaraderie, occupational pride). Hundred and fifty patrol officers completed anonymous surveys from police departments in Istanbul, Turkey (98.0% male; 41.3% with college education; mean age = 26.65 years; mean experience = 4.25 years). Multiple regression analysis revealed that openness to new ideas was significantly associated with the officer having a college education, few PTSD symptoms, and strong perceptions of peer camaraderie and occupational pride. Present results suggest that police departments seeking innovative solutions to their external and internal challenges might look to patrol officers with these characteristics. Additionally, departments could develop conditions that enhance these officer characteristics associated with innovative thinking by offering tuition grants, PTSD counseling services, officer bonding activities, and public celebrations of officers doing exceptional work. Keywords  Police innovation · Police PTSD · Officer openness to new ideas

A. D. Camlibel University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, WI, USA S. H. Can (*) · H. M. Hendy Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 J. F. Albrecht, G. den Heyer (eds.), Enhancing Police Service Delivery, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61452-2_5

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Review of Literature and Background Empirical studies on openness to new ideas are very limited (Devos, Buelens, & Bouckenooghe, 2007). Past research identified several predictors that affect police officers’ openness to new ideas and resistance to change. The majority of this research has focused on the effect of the organizational climate and the system. Researchers stated that because of the paramilitaristic organizational structure, police subculture, and dangerous nature of police work, police officers are reluctant to accept new ideas and more tend to preserve the status quo in their agencies by rejecting alternative solutions to the long-lasting problems (Cullen, Myer, & Latessa, 2009; Fleming & Wingrove, 2017; Lingamneni, 1979; Sandler & Mintz, 1974; Southerland, 1992; Sparrow, 1988; Sykes, 1992; Zhao, 1996). It is also a difficult task to measure patrol officers’ openness to new ideas for police service delivery. There are limited studies in the literature that have attempted to measure openness to new ideas in policing (Lum, Telep, Koper, & Grieco, 2012; Lumsden, 2016; Telep, 2017; Telep & Lum, 2014). Presently, the most employed methodologies to identify the driving forces for openness to change and new ideas are to survey subordinate police officers’ perception of new experiences and interviews with police leaders (Challacombe, Ackerman, & Stones, 2019; Kalyal, 2018; Lumsden, 2016; Telep & Lum, 2014). The past research has identified several factors that affect the openness to change for the delivery of police services in police departments around the world. The most cited predictors on this issue can be listed as follows: officer participation in the change process (Harvey, 2002; Miller, More, & Braswell, 2017), the communication process in the police departments (Southerland, 1992), lack of police supervisor support (Alkus & Padesky, 1983; Violanti & Aron, 1993), trust in police management (Southerland, 1992), cynicism towards change (Fleming & Wingrove, 2017), officers’ level of education (Blaskovits et  al., 2018; Roberg, 1978; Telep, 2017), rank (Savery, Soutar, & Weaver, 1991), and race (Jenkins, 2016) associated with the police officer’s openness to change. Blaskovits et  al. (2018)’s research revealed that the American police officers are less open to change, embracing new approaches in policing compared with Canadian officers. On the other hand, it is widely accepted that danger and stress inherently associated with police work (Alkus & Padesky, 1983; Anshel, 2000; Brown & Campbell, 1994; Can & Hendy, 2014; Skolnick, 2010). Recently, police departments throughout the world have experienced increases in community–police conflict (Can, Hendy, & Camlibel, 2018; Jermier, Gaines, & McIntosh, 1989), with patrol officers leaving the profession in record numbers (Burke & Deszca, 1986; Malloy & Mays, 1984). In a nationwide survey, Morin, Parker, Stepler, and Mercer (2017)’s study found that 93% of police officers in the United States more concerned about their safety after the Ferguson Uprising and other high-profile critical incidents. For example, according to the news media, Dallas Police Department, approximately 1000 officers quitted their job between 2014 and 2017 as one of the major results of the Ferguson effect (Russell, 2017). Wanberg and Banas (2000) found that employees with lower levels of openness to change had more intentions to quit their work. Hur’s (2013) study found that police officers’ turnover had adverse effects on police service

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delivery. Thus, patrol officer shortages can affect many aspects of effective police service delivery. Finding innovative solutions to these external and internal threats will require openness to new ideas, especially from patrol officers who are on the front line of these challenges. Additionally, patrol officers’ attitudes towards change can impact effectiveness and efficiency in service delivery and turnover intentions. There are mixed results in the literature on the level of officer’s education and openness to new ideas. Rydberg and Terrill (2010) stated that “although there is some evidence suggesting college-educated officers behave differently than non-­ college-­educated officers, findings regarding the direction of education’s impact on police behavior have been largely inconsistent.” The literature supports this quote. For example, Guller (1972) examined the associations between police officers’ education and their openness to new ideas. He stated that education enhances police officers’ self-esteem and makes them more tolerant of new approaches in their workplace (Carter, Sapp, & Stephens, 1988; Guller, 1972). One study concluded that educated police executives are more open to new ideas and are more successful in finding innovative solutions to complex issues (Damanpour & Schneider, 2006). Lewis, Rosenberg, and Sigler (1999) found that police supervisors are more supportive of new ideas, such as community policing than patrol officers. Lewis et al.’s (1999) finding was quite surprising since the community policing is a decentralized approach enables patrol officers to participate in the decision-making process actively. The community policing, as an effective method of service delivery, encourages delegation of significant decision-making supervisors’ authority to their line officers. Also, their study revealed a moderate positive association between level of police education and receptivity to a new policing strategy. Winfree, Bartku, and Seibel (1996) found that education negatively related to support for new ideas, such as community policing activities. Unpredictably, more educated officers are less supportive of a new policing initiative and inclined to preserve a traditional model of policing. Furthermore, Mastrofski and Rosenbaum (2011) did not find any difference between officers with higher education and with less education about their openness to new ideas. A review of literature in the relationship between officer demographics (age, years of service) and openness to change also found inconsistent results. Lurigio and Skogan (1994) and later Skogan and Hartnett (1999) found positive associations between patrol officers’ age, length of service, and openness to new ideas. Mastrofski and Rosenbaum (2011) did not find a significant relationship between officer demographics (age and years of service) and openness to new ideas. On the other hand, past research reported a significant negative association between officer’s age and years of service and acceptance of a new policing idea (Huber, Sutcliffe, Miller, & Glick, 1993; Lewis et al., 1999; Novak, Alarid, & Lucas, 2003). Individuals with high levels of self-esteem are capable of adapting to new ideas and perform effectively at the time of change (Ashford, 1988; Folkman, Lazarus, Gruen, & DeLongis, 1986; Judge, Thoresen, Pucik, & Welbourne, 1999; Wanberg & Banas, 2000). Additionally, past research discovered a positive correlation between high self-esteem and job satisfaction (Adler, 1980) and a negative correlation between perception of self-esteem and stress levels (Ashford, 1988).

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Numerous researches have presented that job stressors are correlated with psychological, physiological, and adverse job-related outcomes such as PTSD, health concerns, self-esteem, or increased intentions to quit (House & Rizzo, 1972; Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek, & Rosenthal, 1964; Rizzo, House, & Lirtzman, 1970; Wanberg & Banas, 2000). External and internal stressors or threats are primary determinants of patrol officers’ job performance, service delivery, and contribute to turnover (Brown & Campbell, 1990; Murphy, 1995; Schabracq & Cooper, 2000). The police stress literature identified several external and internal stressors related to patrol officers’ openness to new ideas for police service delivery. According to Stratton (1978), stressors external to the law enforcement organization included the public’s lack of support and public violence towards law enforcement; internal stressors could be identified as aggressive policies and procedures, lack of training. In addition to Stratton (1978)‘s categorizations, the ineffective judicial system and court leniency (Ayres & Flanagan, 1990; Violanti & Aron, 1994), negative press coverage, and public criticism (Ayres & Flanagan, 1990; Stevens, 2005) could be determined other potential external stressors. Occupational pride has been underestimated in the openness to new ideas literature. Kraemer and Gouthier (2014) described occupational pride as a work environment that encourages new ideas of their employees by increasing organizational commitment. Brown, Reich, and Stern (1993) claimed that employees are more willing to implement new ideas to improve their organizations when they have high occupational security. Occupational pride has also been acknowledged as an essential factor for creativity, commitment, turnover intentions in service delivery (Gouthier & Rhein, 2011). Chawla and Kelloway (2004) found a positive relationship between occupational pride and openness to new ideas. Participation in the decision-making process might provide a sense of job security (occupational pride) and trust in management, which can lead to higher openness to new ideas. It was widely believed that patrol officers’ job satisfaction is strongly associated with a sense of occupational pride (Carlan, 2007; Gunter & Furnham, 1996; Hageman, 1979; Krimmel & Tartaro, 1999; Lester, 1983; Meagher & Yentes, 1986; Raganella & White, 2004). Numerous studies suggested that employees’ job satisfaction and occupational pride are significant determinants for employee’s acceptance of new ideas (Cordery, Sevastos, Mueller, & Parker, 1993; Guest, 1987; Iverson, 1996; Lau & Woodman, 1995; Yousef, 2000). Additionally, past research implied that occupational pride is associated with organizational commitment, which is associated with the employee’s openness to new ideas (Morris, Lydka, & O’Creevy, 1993). However, Lau and Woodman (1995) argued that a highly committed patrol officer might not receptive to new ideas if an officer does not foresee any benefits for him/herself or the police department. Other research suggested that a socially supportive work environment, supervisory support, and the sense of peer camaraderie are strong predictors of positive attitudes towards change and job satisfaction for patrol officers (Can, Holt, & Hendy, 2016; La Rocco & Jones, 1978; Vakola & Nikolaou, 2005). Another study found that employees reported high ratings of peer camaraderie tend to open to new ideas that have had an impact on an employee’s service delivery motivation (Shaw, Fields, Thacker, & Fisher, 1993).

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Wanberg and Banas (2000) claimed that employees with more social support from peers are better able to deal with health problems and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Researchers also predicted that individuals with higher levels of openness to new ideas had fewer health concerns after experiencing laboratory stressors (Williams, Rau, Cribbet, & Gunn, 2009). Others found that slower disease progression in HIV + male populations who are higher in openness to new ideas (Ironson, O’Cleirigh, Schneiderman, Weiss, & Costa, 2008). Finally, past research also documented a positive correlation between employees’ sympathy towards their organizations and the greater openness to new ideas (Becker, 1992; Becker, Billings, Eveleth, & Gilbert, 1996; Cordery et al., 1993). The organizational justice literature showed that when employees perceive that their supervisors treat them fairly, they support new ideas (Rodell & Colquitt, 2009; Folger & Skarlicki, 1999; Rousseau & Tijoriwala, 1999; Martin, 1999; Cobb, Wooten, & Folger, 1995). In other words, the perceived injustice from supervisors leads the resistance to new ideas and a desire for retribution by the employees (Folger, 1993; Kanter & Mirvis, 1989; Sheppard, Lewicki, & Minton, 1992;). The current study focuses on three predictors assumed to affect officers’ openness to new ideas for police service delivery in the Istanbul Police Department of the Turkish National Police. It contributes to existing literature by examining the effect of officer demographics (age, years of service, education), officer self-perceptions (health concerns, post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD] symptoms, self-esteem), and officer workplace perceptions (supervisor fairness, peer camaraderie, occupational pride) on the patrol officer’s level of openness to change.

Methodology Participants and Procedures Study participants included 150 patrol officers from police departments in Istanbul, Turkey, who completed an anonymous survey. Of 176 (70.4%) randomly elected officers who returned the surveys out of 250 officers, 150 (85.2%) completed all study variables (98.0% male; 41.3% with college education; mean age = 26.65 years; mean experience = 4.25 years). The present study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Penn State University and by the Istanbul City Police from Turkey. Officers were selected randomly from the list at Istanbul Police Department’s Personnel Division. Anonymous paper surveys were distributed to patrol officers from the selected police departments, along with sealable envelopes to keep the officers’ responses confidential. The survey requested officer demographic information (gender, age, education, and years of experience), officer self-perceptions (health concerns, PTSD symptoms), officer workplace perceptions (supervisor fairness, peer camaraderie, occupational pride), and officer “openness to new ideas” in the context of their police profession. Officers who received the surveys then dropped the completed surveys in sealed envelopes to the police archive

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department’s inter-office mail system. All surveys arrived at the personnel division were delivered to one of the authors of this manuscript.

Measurement of “Openness to New Ideas” Openness to new ideas was measured with 4 items from the Openness subscale within the 44-item Big Five Inventory (John & Srivastava, 1999). Officers were asked to use a five-point rating (1 = never, 2 = rarely, 3 = sometimes, 4 = often, 5 = always) to report how often each description applied to them (in the context of their police work). Items included “is original, comes up with new ideas,” “is curious about many different things,” “has an active imagination,” and “is inventive.” The score for openness to new ideas was calculated as the mean rating across the four items, with higher scores indicating more openness to new ideas. Cronbach’s alpha was also calculated to assess the internal reliability of the present study’s measurement of openness to new items (α = 0.760).

Measurement of Self-Perceptions Health concerns were measured with the 16-item unnamed scale developed by Chen, Scheier, and Kandel (1996) with items describing problems in a number of body systems—chest pains, headaches, breathlessness, dizziness, numbness, nausea, sore muscles, weakness, constipation, and ulcers. Officers used a five-point rating (as above) to report how often they experienced each health concern during the past year. The score for health concerns was calculated as the mean rating across the 16 items, with higher scores indicating more health concerns (α = 0.891). PTSD symptoms were measured with the 17-item post-traumatic diagnostic scale (Foa, Cashman, Jaycox, & Perry, 1997). Officers used a five-point rating (as above) to report how often they experienced each symptom during the past year. Items included “intrusive images,” “nightmares,” “feeling emotionally numb,” “overly alert,” “easily startled,” “irritability,” and “memory loss.” The score for PTSD symptoms was calculated as the mean rating across the 17 items, with higher scores indicating more health PTSD symptoms (α = 0.942).

Measurement of Workplace Perceptions Supervisor fairness was measured with the six-item Supervisor Fairness subscale of the Patrol Officer Job Satisfaction Scale (POJSS; Can et al., 2016). Officers used a five-point rating (as above) to report how often they agreed with each description of

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their workplace during the past year. Items included “my supervisor is fair in giving everyone a chance to get ahead,” “my supervisor is good at getting people to work together,” and “people who get promotions here usually deserve them.” The score for supervisor fairness was calculated as the mean rating across the six items, with higher scores indicating more perceptions of supervisor fairness (α = 0.875). Peer camaraderie was measured with the five-item Peer Camaraderie subscale of the POJSS (Can et  al., 2016), with officers again using the five-point rating (as above) to report how often they agreed with each workplace description during the past year. Items included “I have the chance to make friends at work,” “the people I work with care about my personal life and well-being,” and “the people I work with function as a supportive team.” The score for peer camaraderie was calculated as the mean rating across the five items, with higher scores indicating more perceptions of peer camaraderie (α = 0.829). Occupational pride was measured with the three-item Occupational Pride subscale of the POJSS (Can et al., 2016), with officers again using the five-point rating (as above) to report how often they agreed with each workplace description during the past year. Items included “a major satisfaction in my life comes from my job,” “if I had to do it over, I would take this same job,” and “I am proud to be in this department.” The score for occupational pride was calculated as the mean rating across the three items, with higher scores indicating more perceptions of occupational pride (α = 0.784).

Data Analysis One preliminary data analysis in the present study was to determine descriptive statistics for all study variables (other than the dichotomous variable of having a 4-year college degree or higher education). SPSS 24 software was used to calculate means, standard deviations, and ranges for the Turkish officers’ demographics (age, years of experience), self-perceptions (health concerns, PTSD symptoms), workplace perceptions (supervisor fairness, peer camaraderie, occupational pride), and the outcome measure of openness to new ideas. (See Table  5.1 in Appendix.) Another preliminary data analysis was to calculate bivariate Pearson correlations coefficients for each pair of these eight study variables. (See Table 5.2 in Appendix.) The primary goal for data analysis in the present study was to identify which predictor variables were significantly associated with greater openness to new ideas as reported by the 150 Turkish officers. SPSS 24 software was used to conduct multiple regression analysis that considered seven possible predictors including officer demographics of age, years of experience, and college education (effect coded as 0 = no, 1 = yes), officer self-perceptions (health concerns, PTSD symptoms), and officer workplace perceptions (supervisor fairness, peer camaraderie, occupational pride). (See Table 5.3 in Appendix.)

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Results The multiple regression analysis revealed that the Turkish patrol officers, who had college education, few PTSD symptoms, and high levels of peer camaraderie and occupational pride, reported greater openness to new ideas. (See Table 5.3.) The set of eight predictor variables (including officer demographics, self-perceptions, and work-perceptions) explained 29.5% of the variance in officer openness to new ideas in the context of their police work (R2 = 0.295).

Discussion The purpose of the present research was to explore factors affecting which patrol officers reported the greatest “openness to new ideas” for changes in the context of their police profession. The results of this study align with previous literature. Results demonstrated that patrol officers with college education, low level of PTSD symptoms, and high levels of peer camaraderie and occupational pride were reported greater openness to new ideas (Canter et al., 1988; Chawla & Kelloway, 2004; Guller, 1972; Jenkins, 2016; Roberg, 1978; Telep & Lum, 2014). These results can be interpreted from the organizational change perspective and the transactional process change model of stress and coping (Lazarus, 1999; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). A major change in a police organization can be a significant life event for patrol officers. Because during the transition period, some of the patrol officers know nothing about the change, and the impact of a major organizational transition on patrol officers can be very stressful. In other words, ambiguity about how a change would affect their routine law enforcement functions and service delivery generates stressors (Allen, Jimmieson, Bordia, & Irmer, 2007). Moreover, the patrol officers may perceive this transactional process as a threat to their goals. Therefore, patrol officers with high levels of peer camaraderie, occupational pride, self-esteem, and a low level of PTSD symptoms will be able to cope with stressors associated with the change and tend to be more open to new ideas during the transition period. The past research also supported our argument. Lee-Baggley, Preece, and DeLongis (2005) found that individuals who are highly open to new ideas, tend to develop adaptive coping mechanism under stress. Thus, these patrol officers probably perceive the new ideas towards organizational change as improvements in their personal development skills and opportunities to contribute to the betterment of their organization rather than as threats. Furthermore, a Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) project conducted by Ayres and Flanagan (1990) identified major internal police stressors as lack of administration support, autocratic quasi paramilitaristic structure, lack of patrol officers’ input into policy and decision-making, post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD], exposure to critical incidents, and impact of higher education on police stress. Finding innovative solutions to these external and internal threats will require openness to new ideas,

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especially from patrol officers who are on the front line of these challenges. In order to ameliorate internal and external stressors and improve the relationships with the community, the police departments have implemented new ideas and philosophies for the delivery of services, such as community-oriented policing, patrol officers’ participation in decision-making through problem-oriented policing—the SARA model, intelligence-led policing, Smart policing, and hot spots policing. These new approaches also improve relationships with coworkers and peer camaraderie (Lurigio & Rosenbaum, 1994). Adams, Rohe, and Arcury (2002) surveyed patrol officers from six midsize to small police departments in North Carolina, and their research revealed that community patrol police officers are more open to new ideas and ­receptive to alternative policing strategies than traditional police officers. Similarly, Dicker (1998) administered a survey to the patrol police officers in the Kalamazoo Police Department, Michigan. He found that traditional patrol officers were less ­supportive of community-oriented policing philosophy. Dicker’s study found a moderate negative association between resistance to new ideas, level of organizational trust, and level of occupational pride in being a part of the police department. Furthermore, Dicker’s study suggested a significant negative association between resistance to the new idea of community policing and the level of trust in supervisors (Dicker, 1998). Additionally, parallel to past research, the present study did not find a significant association between the Turkish patrol officers’ age, years of experience, and openness to change (Mastrofski & Rosenbaum, 2011; Telep, 2017). This result aligns with previous research, which suggests that the patrol officers as practitioners tend to receive information about the new ideas from their peers and organizations. Therefore, occupational pride and peers’ influence on the receptivity of new ideas can be more important than the patrol officers’ age, years of experience, and their supervisors’ fairness (Lum et al., 2012). Present results suggest that police departments seeking innovative solutions to their external and internal challenges might look to patrol officers with college educations, limited PTSD symptoms from their police experiences, and strong perceptions of officer camaraderie and occupational pride in being a police officer. Additionally, departments could work to develop conditions that may enhance these officer characteristics associated with innovative thinking. Some examples would be offering officers tuition grants to complete their college education, PTSD counseling services, officer bonding activities (such as paintball/laser tag tournaments, touristic day trips, birthday celebrations, sporting events), and public celebrations of officers doing exceptional work to build pride in their profession. Including patrol officers in the decision-making process might also decrease patrol officers’ cynicism towards new ideas and turnover intentions. A participatory management style might increase patrol officers’ perceptions of peer camaraderie, and occupational pride also decreases stress during the change process. Finally, patrol officers who have high job security in other words, occupational pride, will display greater openness to new ideas. Therefore, participatory platforms, such as online discussion

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forums, should be created for patrol officers who can express their new ideas about organizational procedures without fear of internal investigation or retribution from their supervisors.

Study Limitations and Directions for Future Research The present study included a relatively small sample of 150 Turkish patrol officers from the large metropolitan area of Istanbul. Future research with larger sample sizes could include other officer demographics (such as marital status, family size, family income, alcohol use, exercise frequency, home neighborhood conditions), other self-perceptions (such as self-esteem, ambition, religiosity, impulsivity, ­hostility, acceptance of community diversity, political beliefs), and other workplace perceptions (such as dangerousness, excitement, professional burnout). Additionally, future research could be conducted with patrol officers in other regional areas (such as small towns, rural areas) and other nations to determine whether the present study’s patterns of officer characteristics associated with innovative thinking are replicated in these locations.

Appendix

Table 5.1  Descriptive statistics of study variables for 150 Turkish Patrol Officers (with 41.3% of officers having a college education) VARIABLE DEMOGRAPHICS: Years of age Years of experience SELF-PERCEPTIONS (mean 5-pt rating): Health concerns PTSD symptoms WORKPLACE PERCEPTIONS (mean 5-pt rating): Supervisor fairness Peer camaraderie Occupational pride OPENNESS TO NEW IDEAS (mean 5-pt rating):

Mean

(SD)

Range

26.65 4.25

(5.66) (5.93)

21–53 1–30

1.54 1.64

(0.52) (0.76)

1.00–3.75 1.00–4.00

2.89 3.53 3.17 3.53

(1.00) (0.87) (1.17) (0.47)

1.00–5.00 1.00–5.00 1.00–5.00 1.80–4.40

*

p