Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2015 / Centre for Human Rights / LLM / Unrestricted

abstract: In the United States, the profession of Law Enforcement is facing a workforce crisis. There are fewer applicants applying for policing jobs than there was just a decade ago. To worsen the problem, many officers are leaving the profession in less than five years. The Arizona State University Police Department is no exception to this problem. Police employees leave the department for a variety of reasons but among them is a conflict with their supervisor in the area of organizational justice. There is a gap in the training of first-line supervisors in policing as a whole as it pertains to organizational justice and how to implement it within their workgroups. Organizational Justice Theory includes the constructs of distributive justice, procedural justice, informational justice, and interpersonal justice. This mixed-methods study tested the assumption that organizational justice training with first-line supervisors at Arizona State University Police Department would have an effect on their self-efficacy and implementation of organizational justice practices and therefore improve relationships with their subordinates. Results of the study showed a single eight-hour class on Organizational Justice had no effect on the self-efficacy or implementation of organizational practices by first-line supervisors within the timeframe of the study. Like the supervisors, there was also no statistically significant effect on the employees and their belief that their supervisors were practicing organizational justice within their workgroups. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2020

A qualitative research study was conducted to identify, describe, and understand the perceptions of administrators of public school districts in northeast Tennessee regarding school safety. Using a semi-structured interview process, the researcher identified emerging themes regarding the factors most associated with safe school districts, the factors most associated with unsafe school districts, the items identified as needed to improve safety, and the topics identified as future safety issues at the school and district level. Through such study, the researcher was able to develop an understanding regarding the overall safety of school districts in northeast Tennessee and the specific components that lead to the existence of safe school environments. Public school administrators in northeast Tennessee have positive perceptions regarding the overall safety of school districts, indicate a high level of awareness and a climate of safety preparedness, and believe that safety has improved due to the presence of increased funding. They perceive the factors most associated with safe school districts are the presence of law enforcement in the school environment, adequate preparation and safety-related professional development, and adequate financial resources for safety-related measures. Factors associated with unsafe environments include inconsistent adherence to safety-related processes and procedures, lack of appropriate physical security and access control, and the age, design, and current condition of physical facilities. Administrators cite the need for additional training, professional development, and resources for safety improvements, as well as identifying increasing mental health concerns and technology security as the most pressing needs facing school districts.

This paper focuses on that less researched area of the emergence of autonomous weapons systems. The point of this thesis is to research and map out this relatively under researched area, with the goal of answering research questions, and ending the thesis with an attempt at creating a hypothesis based on the conducted research. This is done by applying an inductive qualitative study, a normative framework, in terms of the doctrine of necessity, as well as analysing primary and some secondary sources by applying a normative, interdisciplinary approach with a hermeneutic analysis. One could most definitely argue that this research area is rather under researched, with a few exemptions, which is why this specific topic was worth choosing. The main findings of the conducted research were that there are many questions surrounding the topic of autonomous weapons systems usage. Although, perhaps the main question that needs to be answered before any other questions can have a substantial meaning, is the question of the level of autonomy that these weapons systems will possess.

Law enforcement officers can come into conflict with suspects when they need to act fast under time pressure. Improving such a decision¬-making skill is a challenge in a police academy. Academies can train future officers in correct psychomotor responses to attacks by a suspect. However, the ability to anticipate such attacks, and thereby make more appropriate defensive and control responses, is often assumed to come only with experience. The purpose of this study is to investigate the perceptual–cognitive sub-skill of attack recognition, which contributes to the anticipation that police officers should have in order to handle potentially violent situations appropriately, and thus take the situation under control without using extreme or lethal force. This study examines the feasibility of using the temporal video-occlusion method as a training tool to accelerate the law enforcement officer’s performance by de-coupling the perception–action link and concentrating on the perceptual–cognitive aspect of the full defensive and control performance. Once the video-occlusion task is calibrated and validated to differentiate expert from non-expert performers, then instructional designers and trainers can be confident is repurposing video-occlusion research method by employing instructional strategies such as deliberate practice and progressive difficulty to train law enforcement trainees and officers.

As smartphone technology continues to evolve, it begs the question as to whether or not smartphones could be used by crime scene investigators. Crime scene documentation is a time-consuming task when using a standard tape measure compared to advanced techniques (such as 3D scanners). However, these advanced techniques are expensive and take time to set up. Measurement applications could potentially serve as an affordable and sufficient alternative. Therefore, it’s important to understand how accurate these applications are as well as how well they work for measuring crime scenes and forensic evidence. Eleven measurement applications were downloaded (onto an Apple iPhone XR) and evaluated and then narrowed down to four applications to be used in this study. Several parameters were assessed in all eleven applications. Factors such as tools available, effective maximum distance, ease of use, and accuracy were tested. The applications that best met all criteria were used for this study. First, the applications were used to measure several known dimensions such as a ruler, then they were used to measure room dimensions, outdoor scenes, footwear impressions, and bloodstains. Accuracy was assessed by comparing the results from the applications to the measurements made from a standard tape measure or ruler. Standard deviation of all measurements was calculated and compared against one another. Feasibility was evaluated by recording the amount of time that it took to conduct the measurements and comparing the times to one another. Adaptability to various environments was also factored in when evaluating feasibility. Overall, the applications Tape Measure and MagicPlan were found to be the most accurate and feasible applications to use for crime scene measurements. Moasure was found to be the least efficient and precise application in this study. Measure, Moasure, MagicPlan, and Tape Measure serve as an affordable, fast, and easy presumptive tool for crime scene documentation. In the future, these applications could be used to document crime scenes, and could assist particular agencies with insufficient monetary resources. While the applications selected (Measure, Moasure, MagicPlan, and Tape Measure) proved to be accurate, additional tests should be conducted before being implemented exclusively by investigators. With continual progression in modern technology, substantial improvements are anticipated that encompass these smartphone applications, which will increase reliability as it relates to forensics.

Police suicide has been a largely under-researched topic with a small number of quantitative studies- that limit the exploration of potential causals models in the literature. This restricts current scholarly explanations behind officer suicide, furtheradding barriers to adequate prevention and detection. This study was focused on possible explanations behind police suicide, using Zhang's strain theory of suicide and Joiner's interpersonal-psychological theory of suicide to explain the variables used in the model. Using a moderation model, the research question asked to what extent an officer's education level affects the relationship between levels of police officer misconduct and risk for suicide. This study used archival data collected in a national study on law enforcement officers, partially funded by the National Institute of Justice and published in 1997(N=412). Logistic regression was used to analyze significance of the model, ultimately being unable to detect significance between the variables, neither individually on an officer's risk for suicide (officer misconduct= p>.05; officer education= p>.05) nor combined as an interaction to an officer's risk for suicide (p>.05). Recommendations for future research include utilizing a research design that better controls officer risk for suicide by equally weighing suicidal and nonsuicidal groups of officers. This will allow for a researcher to more validly compare the influence of the variables by viewing the effect on both groups (suicidal vs. non-suicidal). Implications for social change include contributing to the under-researched literature base of police suicide, increasing awareness of police suicide through scholarly publication and presentations, and advocating for better educated officers.

Law enforcement is a high-risk profession associated with myriad sources of stress. Stressors from the law enforcement agency, family, law enforcement subculture, special assignments, and critical incidents encountered on the job result in a wide range of negative psychological and physical sequelae for large numbers of law enforcement officers (LEOs). LEOs have increased rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and substance abuse compared to the general population. While nearly all officers are exposed to critical incidents, not all develop posttraumatic stress symptomatology. Research addressing resilience to law enforcement stress remains nascent; however, a growing body of research, borrowing from positive psychology, resilience research, and spirituality, has begun to identify several protective factors. Identifying negative stress reactions is a critical step in prevention, intervention, and recovery for LEOs. Several assessment measures have been proposed over the years to address this issue. One such measure, the Law Enforcement Officer Stress Survey (LEOSS) has shown promise in early detection of law enforcement stress, and has demonstrated strong psychometric properties with regard to validity and internal consistency. The purpose of the current study was to further evaluate psychometric properties of the LEOSS vis-a-vis construct validity. This study utilized archival data from a non-clinical sample of LEOs, who completed the LEOSS, among other measures of law enforcement stress and resilience, in order to identify predictors of both negative stress reactions and positive coping. To assess construct validity, principal components factor analysis was employed. Results indicated strong loadings with other measures of law enforcement and general stress measures, as well as differential loadings for the LEOSS and resilience measures. A correlation matrix was constructed to address specific aspects of convergent and discriminant validity. Findings indicated moderate correlations between the LEOSS and measures of law enforcement stress, as well as a lack of significant correlations with measures assessing resilience and social desirability. Finally, multiple regression analyses were used to reveal predictors of law enforcement stress and resilience. Results from the LEOSS were relatively consistent with other stress measures. Clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed.

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