While much research has shown that some linguistic features can indicate a person is lying, this line of research has led to conflicting results. Furthermore, very little research has been done to verify that these supposed linguistic features of deception are universal. In addition, few studies have researched the cross-cultural perceptions of deception, which knowledge could greatly improve the detection of deception across cultures. The current study addresses these gaps in the literature by analyzing and comparing truthful and deceptive discourse of eight native English-speaking Americans and eight non-native English-speaking Ghanaians. The discourse was elicited in one-on-one interviews where each interviewee spontaneously responded to questions about themselves. Later, interviewee responses were judged by 47 native English-speaking Americans and 35 non-native English-speaking Ghanaians. The results showed that Americans and Ghanaians lie differently—Americans' lies were more superfluous and redundant; had more pronoun inconsistencies, adjectives, adverbs, and modal verbs; and had fewer negative emotion words than their truths. Ghanaians' lies, on the other hand, also had more pronoun inconsistencies but had fewer negations than their truths. Furthermore, the groups' baseline speech differed in superfluousness, positive emotion words, word count, and response latency. Regarding detecting deception, Ghanaians were slightly more accurate and significantly more confident in detecting lies than Americans. Both groups were slightly more accurate and confident in judging the veracity of statements within their own cultures. Neither group, however, demonstrated truth- or lie-bias cross-culturally. These results have implications for law enforcement investigators and analysts who can learn the differences between Americans' and Ghanaians' truthful and deceptive speech so as to more accurately detect deception through language. In addition, cross-cultural deception perception research can improve cross-cultural communication and understanding.

This Dissertation-in-Practice introduces a law enforcement concept-to-practice model designed by combining tested methods of organizational analysis often utilized by those in the discipline of education. The model incorporates a two phase design with the first phase focusing on implementing and evaluating innovative changes within a medium size law enforcement agency for a micro-level analysis. A second phase examines the ability to replicate the concept program on a statewide, macro-level, by incorporating a re-design method utilizing organizational resource and structure frames. The concept applied to this model was the introduction of a therapy dog interaction during investigations involving crimes against children to reduce anxiety and increase communication. The first phase concluded that the introduction of therapy dogs during law enforcement investigations had a statistical significance in the reduction of anxiety and increased disclosure rates with child victims, without interfering with judicial policies and procedures. The second phase produced a series of flexible options allowing law enforcement agencies of all types to replicate therapy dog programs that are consistent, cost effective, and sustainable. The overall results indicate the use of this concept-to-practice model was successful in examining and introducing an innovative concept that provided a significant impact in the complex organizations of the justice system.

The present study utilized a mixed-methods strategy to examine the effectiveness, diffusion, and institutionalization of the Memphis Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) model. To evaluate the effectiveness of the training component of the CIT model, a panel research design was employed in which a sample of 179 law enforcement officers and 100 correctional officers in nine Florida counties were surveyed on the first day of training (pretest), the last day of training (posttest), and one month following their completion of CIT training (follow-up). These surveys measured the extent to which CIT training achieved several officer-level objectives, including increased knowledge of mental illness and the mental health referral process, improved self-efficacy when responding to mental health crises, and enhanced perceptions of verbal deescalation skills, mental health services in the community, and the mental health referral process. The results of these surveys revealed officers experienced a statistically significant increase on every measure of training effectiveness between the pretest and posttest data collection points. However, a significant decline was found among the 117 officers that responded to the follow-up survey on the measures associated with self-efficacy and perceptions of verbal de-escalation, which points to a measurable decay in the effectiveness of the training in the intermediate timeframe with regard to these two measures. To examine the extent to which the diffusion of the CIT model resembles a social movement in the field of criminal justice and to explore the impact of CIT institutionalization on the organizational structure of criminal justice agencies, an online survey was distributed to 33 representatives of law enforcement and correctional agencies known to participate in the CIT program in the nine Florida counties in which officers were surveyed. The results of this survey indicate interagency communication and external pressure i from mental health providers and advocates largely contribute to the decision of criminal justice agencies to adopt the CIT model. In addition, the findings of this survey suggest criminal justice agencies modify their organizational structure in a number of different ways to internalize and institutionalize the CIT model. By coupling a training program evaluation with an assessment of diffusion and institutionalization, this study makes a unique contribution to organizational and evidence-based literature.

<p dir="ltr">Open-source intelligence is utilized to identify individuals and compare changes in social media profiles and content. The proliferation of social media platforms and apps has facilitated the creation, distribution, and consumption of material related to human trafficking. Social media and internet service providers are not obligated to monitor users for trafficking-related activities or content. </p><p dir="ltr">However, an increase in minors joining social media leads to a rise in predatory activity. With the escalation of predatory behavior, research can focus on communication patterns, grooming, and victim profiles targeted by criminals. Technology has been developed to identify biometric points, aiding the identification of victims and criminals. Open-source intelligence is just one step toward gathering information about victims and criminals. It can be utilized throughout the investigative process to prevent human trafficking and related crimes.</p><p dir="ltr">This research employs open-source intelligence to provide investigators, law enforcement, and government agencies with preventative solutions for this global issue. The study focuses on extracting, collecting, and analyzing social media and OSINT, specifically social media intelligence (SOCMINT). Classification patterns were identified, and suspicious behavior indicative of human trafficking was detected using the JAPAN principle approach, reducing information overload. <br><br>Additionally, the research introduced a standardized investigation framework based on gathered data. This framework demonstrated the effectiveness of selected SOCMINT tools in enhancing human trafficking investigations. The study emphasizes the need for adaptive tools in SOCMINT, complemented by innovative approaches, to strengthen law enforcement efforts in deterring human trafficking. </p>

Supply reduction efforts by drug law enforcement departments are a significant factor in improving the effectiveness of drug control policies. As with other public organizations, the performance of drug law enforcement departments is one of the most important concerns for policy makers. Therefore, improving the performance of these departments is crucial in order for governments to constrict illegal drug markets and prevent illegal drug distribution. The literature suggests that social capital may have significant implications for policy makers and practitioners in terms of enhancing organizational performance.Social capital has recently been examined at the organizational level. It may contribute to organizational effectiveness by increasing motivation, solving coordination problems, facilitating information flow between individuals and organizations, and developing knowledge within organizations. Because of the nature of the work, drug law enforcement departments or agencies require information sharing, cooperation, and motivation, all possible derivatives of social capital.Using a measurement model of organizational social capital, this study examines relationships among three dimensions of organizational social capital. The influence of social capital on the perceived performance of drug law enforcement departments is investigated using structural equation modeling. Possible correlations among these dimensions or domains of organizational social capital are also empirically tested.Using survey data from 12 city law enforcement departments in Turkey, this study examines three social capital dimensions: (1) the structural dimension, concerning the extent to which officers within a department informally interact with each other; (2) the relational dimension, referring to the normative qualities of relationships among officers, such as trust and reciprocity; and (3) the cognitive dimension, reflected by shared language, shared interpretation, and shared vision.Four research hypotheses were tested and supported by the statistical results. The study's findings indicate that the relational and cognitive social capital variables have a direct and positive relationship with the perceived performance of drug law enforcement departments. Relational and cognitive social capital, as latent constructs, were shown to have a strong relationship with organizational performance. Structural social capital, however, does not have a direct relationship with but may indirectly influence performance. This result indicates that structural social capital may influence organizational performance only indirectly, through its joint influence with two other social capital domains. On the other hand, strong and positive intercorrelations were found among the three dimensions. The results suggest that social capital is essential for drug law enforcement departments because police officers who know, understand, and trust each other are more likely to work together efficiently and effectively towards achieving organizational performance.According to the findings, informal structures shaped by informal relations among officers within the departments may also be an important factor for organizational performance. Investing in the development of social interactions and networks and building trust within organizations is important in order for administrators to improve organizational performance. The results of this conceptually grounded and empirical study suggest that drug law enforcement departments or agencies should pay close attention to promoting social capital among officers in order to fight effectively against drug trafficking.

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Purpose This study amied to explore how police officers perceived the crime prevention efforts taken against gun violence in Sweden. Of particularly interest was to examine how certain efforts were perceived by the police officers, to be more or less effective when it comes to prevent gun violence from occurring among criminal networks. In this study, I explored which perceived effect certain efforts included under the working methods of community policing and problem-oriented policing had, as well as other efforts undertaken by law enforcement. Method Police officers who either worked in Gothenburg or Malmö city were targeted by the study. In sum, I received responses from 99 participants, in an on-line based questionnaire. The participants were selected through convenience sampling. Descriptive statistics are offered, and bivariate analyses were employed to identify officers’ perception differences of policing efficacy in vulnerable areas compared to non-vulnerable areas, and efficacy of law enforcement. Results The analyzes in the study, showed that the police officers overall perceived that the method of community policing to be crime preventive. This was especially the case for the vulnerable areas and in relation to the effort of an increased local police presence. As for the other method, problem-oriented policing, the officers particularly perceived that the effort of secret data eavesdropping to have the strongest crime prevention effect in both areas. The effort was also perceived to have more of an effect then both efforts included under community policing. As for hot spot policing, the other effort included under problem-oriented policing, the effort was overall perceived to have less of an effect among the officers. This was the cases for both areas. As for the importance to particularly prevent criminal networks possessions and sales of illegal drugs and weapons, community policing and problem-oriented policing were not perceived to be effective enough. As for the effect of the efforts undertaken by the law enforcement, a tougher approach against crime was among the police officers perceived to have the most effect. Conclusion The results of the study show that there is a continued increased need for evaluations of crime prevention efforts. The study also showed that there is an increased need that we as researchers, needs to further collaborate with the police force in order to further develop the craft of policing. / <p>2022-09-16</p>

This project is an in-depth investigation on the impact of lighting, marking and paint schemes on the operational aspects of police vehicles. This investigation consisted of two phases that ultimately consisted of four experiments. An array of lighting and marking schemes were implemented on police vehicles in a variety of jurisdictions for evaluation. The study then investigated the change in the visibility of police officers, the public reaction to these schemes, and the operational impacts of these systems. The first phase of the project was a naturalistic observation study where the goal was to better understand how traffic behaved around traffic stops. Test vehicles were positioned in simulated traffic stops and patrol locations to determine how traffic behavior was affected by various configurations of police lighting and markings. Camera and radar systems were used to measure the changes in driver speed and when drivers responded to the move over law. Based on the results of the naturalistic studies, the impact of the lighting system on officer visibility was investigated in a controlled human factors test where the ability of a driver to see a police officer outside of their vehicle was measured in the presence of the lighting systems. The purpose of this interjected effort was to verify that the experimental schemes would not increase risk to law enforcement despite data from the first phase indicating the vehicles were more visible. A second part to that study evaluated conventional methods of bolstering an officer's visibility outside of their vehicle at night. The second phase took the findings of the first phase and implemented changes to several police vehicles from local and state agencies to be in operation for at least 18 months. This was to assess the rate of near-misses and crash rate to relate the vehicle changes to law enforcement safety. Additionally, rates of citations were assessed, and surveys offered an opportunity for law enforcement to provide their own feedback on the implementations. The lighting systems evaluated included a completely blue lighting system, an enhanced all blue lighting system with twice the light output, a red and blue system, and a single flashing blue beacon. In terms of markings, retroreflective markings along the side of the vehicle, a retroreflective contour line, chevrons on the rear of the vehicle and unmarked vehicles were evaluated. Finally, a variety of vehicle colors were used to investigate the impact of the base vehicle paint color. The results indicate that both the red and blue lighting system and the high output blue lighting system increase the distance at which drivers moved over significantly. In general, at least 95% of traffic attempted to merge away from an actively lighted police vehicle, when possible. In terms of the speed change, drivers began reducing their speed by approximately 600 m from the police vehicle. Similarly, the addition of retroreflectivity to the rear of the vehicle showed an additional benefit for causing drivers to move over sooner. However, these benefits came at a cost to the officer's visibility. When outside of their vehicle, the high output blue system significantly reduced officer detectability while the red and blue configuration only impacted detection distance by 3 meters. The investigation did find that these impacts could be overcome with retroreflective vests worn by the officers. In the second phase, a preference revealed by officers favored the red-blue configuration. They stated that this configuration provided greater comfort for them and less glare to approaching drivers. The study also revealed that the alternative configurations did not impact the operational activities of police authority. / Doctor of Philosophy / This project evaluated how lighting, marking and paint schemes on police vehicles affected their visibility and how traffic responded to them. An observational study positioned police vehicles with alternative lighting and markings in simulated traffic stops and patrol locations to evaluate traffic behavior. Camera and radar systems were used to measure the changes in driver speed and when drivers responded to the Move Over law. A second study evaluated how the lighting systems on a police car affect the visibility of an officer at night in a traffic stop scenario. A followup experiment looked into methods for bolstering the visibility of officers at night through conventional implementations such as body worn LED lighting, the use of a retroreflective vest, or by using lighting on the police vehicle's light bar to increase illumination of the police officer. A third study took the findings of the previous experiments and outfitted 64 Virginia State Police vehicles for 18 months. Another 64 Virginia State Police vehicles participated in a control condition where no changes were made to their vehicles. Data collected included the rate of near-misses or crashes and the rates of written citations. Surveys were administered to each participating officer regarding their perception of safety and comfort and allowed their open feedback and suggestions. The lighting systems evaluated included a completely blue lighting system, an enhanced all blue lighting system with twice the light output, a red and blue system, and a single flashing blue beacon. In terms of markings, retroreflective markings along the side of the vehicle, a retroreflective contour line, chevrons on the rear of the vehicle, and unmarked vehicles were evaluated. Finally, a variety of vehicle colors were used to investigate the impact of the base vehicle paint color. The results indicate that both the red and blue lighting system and the high output blue lighting system increase the distance at which drivers moved over significantly. In general, at least 95% of traffic attempted to merge away from an actively lighted police vehicle, when possible. In terms of the speed change, drivers began reducing their speed by approximately 600 m from the police vehicle. Similarly, the addition of retroreflectivity to the rear of the vehicle showed an additional benefit for causing drivers to move over sooner. However, these benefits came at a cost to the officer's visibility. When outside of their vehicle, the high output blue system significantly reduced officer detectability while the red and blue configuration only impacted detection distance by 3 meters. The investigation did find that these impacts could be overcome with retroreflective vests worn by the officers. In the second phase, a preference revealed by officers favored the red-blue configuration. They stated that this configuration provided greater comfort for them and less glare to approaching drivers. The study also revealed that the alternative configurations did not impact the rate of citations.

Empathy within law enforcement has not been examined in the art therapy literature. This qualitative study provides insight into how empathy is perceived and experienced by retired law enforcement officers in San Diego, CA. Fourteen participants responded to a brief questionnaire, created an art piece and a written response about how empathy is experienced within law enforcement. The results illuminated common themes within the art and written responses including interactions, witnessing of a traumatic situation, intersection of roles within law enforcement, understanding of feelings, and communication. Future research in this area is recommended to also include current officers as well as retired law enforcement officers in order to attain a broader scope of data.