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Policing and Community Safety Partnerships (PCSPs) were established in Northern Ireland (NI) in April 2012 and aim to make communities safer. Making communities safer should be carried out through four different functions: community consultation, identification and prioritisation of local issues, performance monitoring and delivering crime reduction. Each of the 26 local government districts within Northern Ireland (NI) has its own PCSP, which holds internal and public meetings throughout each year based on prevalent local issues. PCSPs have used various techniques to try and engage with local people, to collaboratively create and develop local solutions to local problems. One of these techniques has involved the development of a new and unique tool which gathers data from a range of local agencies, such as local young offending, housing, education and health authorities, as well as crime data, and presents the information by taking advantage of their common denominator: geography. Due to PCSPs being a relatively recent community safety development in Northern Ireland at the time this study took place, there was a lack of literature available regarding the operation of those partnerships. Indeed, this was the first academic research undertaken to explore their operation and, to some degree, assess their performance based on feedback from their local communities as well as their own partnership members. Furthermore, the fusion of community safety and crime mapping has previously gone unexamined in Northern Ireland; most available research is almost entirely focused on how law enforcement agencies use crime mapping internally. The potential for communities to use crime mapping to help improve community safety processes has not yet been sufficiently explored, a gap in knowledge this research aims to fill. This study utilised a qualitative, case study approach to examine how five council areas in NI carry out community safety. The exploratory sequential design called for three phases to be carried out in order to fulfil research aims and objectives. Phase 1 involved making first contact with PCSP Managers throughout Northern Ireland which determined the areas chosen as case studies and all other pre-fieldwork, desk-based research. As a result, five out of twenty-six council areas and their respective PCSPs were used as case studies to explore and examine the potential use of crime mapping therein. Phase 2 of the research included carrying out interviews to obtain in-depth information from people who worked within the policing and community safety fields. This phase was used to draw out the formal views of organisations with regard to community safety initiatives. This process aimed to reveal 'what should be happening' and gave an idea of how local community members were supposed to experience community safety. This phase uncovered most of the new knowledge regarding the operation of PCSPs in Northern Ireland. The 'official' view of the role of PCSPs and the reasons why they used, occasionally used or did not use crime mapping were sought during this process. PSNI Area Commanders and PCSP Managers for each of the five areas were interviewed face-to-face, as well as other partnership members. During Phase 3, focus groups were carried out with residents living within each case study area. The schedule of the focus groups was developed using the findings from Phase 2. Phase 3 uncovered the feelings and attitudes of residents regarding their local PCSP, policing team and crime mapping tools currently in use in Northern Ireland. This phase allowed the researcher to contrast the delivery of initiatives community safety workers reported to perform during Phase 2 with how residents actually experienced those initiatives. While there is a national crime map available online (www.Police.UK)' not all PCSPs make use of it. A mapping tool, dubbed 'information hub', developed by the Newry and Mourne case (available at www.NMDMP.com) is used exclusively within that area and the extent of crime mapping usage in this area makes up the majority of usage in Northern Ireland. This research examined the use of this tool and potential use of similar tools in other council areas within Northern Ireland. This thesis contains a vast amount of new information relating to the operation of PCSPs, including a number of issues that may have prevented partnerships from fulfilling their potential, reported by not just residents, but members within those partnerships. This study found that for PCSPs, both internal (closed partnership meetings) and external (public meetings) processes could potentially benefit from using crime mapping tools such as the Police.UK map or an information hub, such as that developed for the Newry and Mourne council area. Internally, using mapping tools have the potential of streamlining processes involved in improving community safety carried out by PCSPs within Northern Ireland. Externally, residents reported, to the contrary of speculation by many PCSP members, they would prefer to see the Police.UK crime map incorporated into public PCSP meetings.

This longitudinal qualitative study explores how the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) responded to prescribed transformational change. Adopting a processual view, it examines the role and nature of organisational learning over 8 years as a chronological case study. Findings address Hendry's (1996) proposal that a balance of approaches to organisational learning is required for more effective change. Qualitative techniques, triangulated documentary analysis, semi-structured interviews and participant observation acquired a rich data set laden with first hand accounts from a diverse respondent sample, including frontline practitioners. A broad synthesis of organisational learning, 'Learning Organisation', organisational knowledge and Knowledge Management literatures presents a comprehensive range of social learning activities and management solutions for facilitating earning. Expanding previous concerns, inductive analysis revealed a range of respective issues and weaknesses often specific to the internal conditions of discontinuous change. An examination of a novel police project reifies Hendry's (1996) notion of a 'balance', which, as an 'organisational learning intervention, used mechanisms to facilitate officers' social learning processes in the coproduction of solutions to both the challenges emanating from constant change and gaps in management policy. Overall, this research establishes the relevance and significance of organisational learning in policing, especially as a means of sustaining legitimacy with the external environment. Three contributions are made to the organisational learning, police and change literatures: i) illuminates a unique case of transformational police change, particularly the challenges facing multiple tiers of the hierarchy; ii) provides an in-depth understanding of the role, nature and inhibitors of organisational learning in a police organisation undergoing transformation; and, iii) Hendry's (1996) proposal is reified in a model of Context, Knowledge Activism, Support and Methodology. This model uniquely posits a reconciliation of social learning processes with a deductive management style, which temporarily aligned social learning activities to the needs of he organisation.

This thesis examines how international human rights principles regarding the right to life, encapsulated in legislation, jurisprudence, and guidance have influenced the development of policy and practical decision-making, on when and how lethal force options should be deployed by police officers in three jurisdictions - Northern Ireland, London and the Republic of Ireland. Using Foucault, Weber and Nietzsche to provide the theoretical basis, the study examines nine cases in which police deployed firearms, to assess compliance with human rights standards in these jurisdictions. The use of live fire and Tasers by the Police Service of Northern Ireland, based on information from investigation reports published by the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, provides a unique piece of research which indicates that policies have been amended in line with recommendations. The thesis traces the genealogy of international human rights principles, national laws and the particular police service policies and procedures which were in existence at the time of certain critical events and evaluates their development in response to lessons learned from subsequent investigations and inquiries. It examines the role played by the oversight mechanisms in place to hold police to account and discusses influences on police officers which could affect how they used firearms in addition to human rights considerations

This thesis examines how the tactical decision making of (mainly) German Police Officers was influenced by several factors that are salient in training and operational environments. First, the effects of conventional ammunition (CA) versus non-lethal training ammunition (NLTA) in training settings on psychophysiological parameters and working memory were compared. It was found, that there is no difference in psychophysiological response to a demanding training exercise with regards to different ammunition used. This indicates that there are no differences between CA and NLTA with regards to representativeness of training. Second, a tactical scenario and a physical exercise were compared with regards of the effects on executive functioning. The findings yielded that executive functioning was equally enhanced due to a physical exercise compared to tactical scenario. This leads to the conclusion that cognitive adaptions are probably caused by physical demand. Third, the effects of previous experience in (simulated) violent confrontations on threat-related attentional biases and risk taking were investigated. The results showed, that previous experience as a police officer or a martial artist had no effect on threat-related attentional biases or risk taking. Fourth, the impact of ego depletion on police officers when provoked by a role player in a scenario were quantitatively assessed. The findings revealed that a state of ego depletion shortened the time when police officers displayed offensive aggression towards a provocative role player compared to non-depleted officers. Taken together the current work provided evidence, that: (a) tactical decision making of officers is influenced by physiological load and ego depletion, and (b) the use of CA and NLTA does not influence psychophysiological demand. In line with previous research on human defensive behaviour, the observed cognitive shifts under conditions of threat can be interpreted as an adaptive behaviour in order to cope with the demand at hand. However, the current results indicate that these cognitive shifts may be mediated by physiological arousal. Further research is needed to further clarify this relationship. With regards to threat-related attentional bias, the current work indicates that current paradigms probably are not capable of capturing functional threat- related attentional bias. Furthermore, it could be argued, that current training settings do not provide enough valid cues in order to learn functional threat- related attentional bias. Therefore, future work should employ more valid cues in the context of police use of force to further investigate the development of functional threat-related attentional bias. Concerning ego depletion and self-regulation, the current work for the first time demonstrates that depleted self-control resources transfer to observable physical aggression. Since there is evidence that self-control performance varies across contexts the obtained results are important for both the aggression and the police use of force domain. As such the results are in line with current theories of self-control. From a practical perspective the results shed light on the design of representative learning and testing environment in the police of force domain: The use of NLTA in the police use of force training should be broadened at the expense of CA, allowing for safer and more representative training settings. Furthermore, police training should emphasize enhancing physical fitness and self-control. However, further research aiming at developing self- control in the police use of force context is clearly needed.

This thesis investigates the key leadership characteristics and their impact on leadership effectiveness. It develops a model of senior leadership characteristics for the UAE police. Evidence from previous extensive research undertaken in the area of leadership showed that there is a lack of sufficient investigation of leadership characteristics and their relation to leadership effectiveness in Arab nations, particularly in the UAE police organisations. This study employs a mixed-methods approach. The qualitative component of the research involved 25 semi-structured interviews in a study population consisting of Commanders-in-Chief, their deputies and Director Generals. The quantitative component involved the distribution of 600 questionnaires to the department managers and heads of division. Qualitative and quantitative data were gathered to uncover the current and future perceptions of leadership characteristics and their impact on leadership effectiveness. Finally, documents of the annual assessments of some individual leaders and general reports on the assessment of the leadership were reviewed to identify further evidence of the current predominant senior leadership characteristics in the UAE police. The findings of this study showed that the perceptions of leadership characteristics in the UAE police were related to personal qualities, traits and ability to influence others. The findings also emphasised that there was a strong association between leadership characteristics and leadership effectiveness. This suggests that specific key leadership characteristics have an effective and strong impact on improving leadership effectiveness in terms of having a positive impact on others and achieving the goals of police organisations. This study makes a valuable contribution to a number of areas. Firstly, it contributes a better understanding of the leadership characteristics to the current body of literature in this field. Secondly, it develops a model of senior leadership characteristics which helps in identifying relationships between leadership characteristics and leadership effectiveness, as it is the first of its kind to directly investigate the key leadership characteristics in the UAE police. Thirdly, this is one of the few studies which addressed leadership characteristics using a mixed methods approach; previous studies tended to adopt a single approach. Fourthly, the outcomes of this research directly influence police organisations and decision makers to raise senior leaders’ awareness of the importance of leadership characteristics and their impact on leadership effectiveness; identify, promote and develop leaders based on their characteristics; and generate training and educational programmes for senior leaders, to improve their knowledge and personal development as crucial and necessary.

Background: There is an excess of health morbidity among people incarcerated in Criminal Justice Systems (CJS) worldwide, encompassing physical disorders, communicable diseases, mental illness, suicide risk and disorders of intellectual development. As a result the issue of case identification has come into focus. Most CJS epidemiological and screening research has taken place in prisons, and predominantly in western countries. Much less investigative literature centres on police custody, which for many is the entry point into the CJS. Methods: 600 consecutive police custody detainees were clinically evaluated; their relevant health morbidity is described. The Metropolitan Police Service’s (MPS) existing health screen is administered by custody officers. It was evaluated by comparing researchers’ clinical findings with data captured on the health screen. Using these data, the screen was then redeveloped to improve areas of deficiency. The new screen was evaluated in the same way as the existing screen; further validation work took place away from the custody suite. A qualitative evaluation of barriers to effective screening and implementation was performed. This included interviews with custody staff, obtaining the views of detainees as well as observing the impact of the custody environment. Results: Police custody detainees presented with a wide range of health disorders. The existing screening tool used by the MPS missed substantial amounts of this morbidity. A pilot of the redeveloped screening tool demonstrated potential to improve the detection rate of detainees requiring medical attention whilst also reducing the numbers of detainees needlessly referred. A number of themes arose pertaining to barriers to effective screening and implementation; these related to issues concerning staff roles, the screening processes, the wider culture of the police, the custody environment and matters regarding professional development for officers and staff. Conclusion: It is possible to improve the case detection of detainees with significant health morbidity by police custody officers. However there is more to effective identification than the screening tool alone. The MPS are now in the process of implementing the new screen; further research in relation to its effectiveness and impact on detainees and health services is warranted.

No description available.

This thesis has two fundamental aims. Firstly, it contributes to the on-going production of a cultural sociology of policing, and secondly it helps to develop a more complete understanding of the challenges of policing culturally diverse, ethnically mixed and plural polities. It does so by examining how the police as an institution, and issues around policing, security and safety more generally, contribute to the competing identity constructions of young British Asian men in Staffordshire. By adopting and adapting Floya Anthias' (2001, 2002) concept of 'translocational positionalitv' this study sets out a framework for understanding processes of identity construction that enable us to better interpret the meaning and symbolic capital of young British Asian mens' real and imagined exchanges with the police. At the same time it takes us to towards more tuned and appropriate vocabularies of identity and social groupings than those currently employed within policing (and indeed wider public service) provision. By understanding individual and collective negotiations of belonging at the intersections of wider, national and global understandings of culture, community and ethnicity, it is possible to recognise their impact upon the experience and nature of the local as the young people in question forge their sense of being Asian/being Muslim in Staffordshire. By placing the situated constructions of individual and group self-definition within their fractured sets of social relations the study furthers understanding of the experiences of integration and marginalisation that generate the tangible challenges for multicultural politics and social justice to surmount. Within the dynamic and complex negotiations of identity, interactions - real or imagined - with the police have to be located. On one level, relationships with, and dispositions towards, the police serve to craft and re-work ethnically coded claims of belonging and political participation. On another, coming to terms with the processes that manufacture individual and collective definition exposes the complexity of the on-going generation of diverse publics evolving within the ethnically diverse, culturally plural and racially mixed Britain that the organisation is charged with serving.

This research examines the change in resource deployment through the introduction of the Demand Management and Tasking Unit (DMTU) within Gwent police. It analyses the work carried out by the DMTU in its attempt to rationalise the delivery of policing services to the public. With increasing pressure being placed on already finite policing resources, it has become increasingly difficult for Gwent police to attend each call by deploying a physical resource such as police officers or police community support officers (PCSOs). In light of this need to change, Gwent police have developed the DMTU to investigate a specific and limited number of crimes by telephone, in the anticipation that they can reduce pressure on 'front line' police staff. The study assesses the impact of this change on policing services, police officers and the public. This is achieved through a variety of research methods employed throughout the course of this study, spanning a three year period. Methods included interviewing and spending time within the DMTU at Gwent police headquarters, along with utilising questionnaires to gauge perceptions and opinions of the unit's introduction and implementation. Ethical considerations, strengths and weaknesses and operational difficulties whilst researching an organisation such as the police are also discussed. Results indicate that there seems a healthy and directed focus on customers within the DMTU, with contact procedures and processes designed in a way that is convenient and offers the maximum flexibility to victims of crime. Positively, the creation of the DMTU has also improved resource allocation and the implications of this is noteworthy for Gwent police, as financially alone, there are significant savings to be considered without the need to compromise the quality of service provided to customers. Disappointingly, however, it must be noted that there is little evidence of a partnership approach being adopted routinely within the DMTU. Considering that the DMTU is in contact with over 20% of all crime victims across Gwent, the impact of training and intelligence sharing shortcomings may be significant and should be of a major concern to those overseeing the future of police/customer relations. Consideration of the future landscape of contact management for policing across Britain also considered.