Information sharing among law enforcement entities became a national priority after the 9/11 attack (Carter, 2005). Various information systems utilized by law enforcement agencies may be promising; however, there is little extant empirical research to validate the system's effectiveness related to increasing investigative success (Bureau of Justice Assistance, 2010). One information system that has tied together numerous Florida law enforcement agencies is the FINDER system. FINDER, the Florida Integrated Network for Data Exchange and Retrieval system, provides agency investigators a wide range of information not previously available (Reynolds, Griset, and Scott, 2006; Scott, 2006). This study's foundation was primarily based upon the conceptual frameworks of diffusion of innovations and knowledge management. Survey based information from investigators using FINDER and those using a non-FINDER information system was obtained and analyzed to determine if the information impacted investigative success. Questionnaires were sent to those law enforcement investigators that participate in the FINDER system, as well as those who use a non-FINDER system. Through descriptive and regression analysis, it was found that FINDER participants reported there was a positive contribution to investigative success. The research also found that certain information obtained from FINDER assisted in arrests and an investigator's ability to solve cases. This study provides a foundation for further information system research related to case solvability and investigative success.

This dissertation explores the criminalization of hypodermic syringes as drug paraphernalia specifically in relation to the extent to which criminalization may impact individual’s connection with harm reduction services, implementation of harm reduction strategies, and healthcare. I utilize a critical criminological perspective to identify and explore the ways in which criminalization works to perpetuate and reinforce the marginalized status of and control and constrain the lives of people who inject drugs. I conducted secondary data analysis of interviews with twenty-five people who inject drugs in rural southern Illinois to explore the extent to which criminalization impacts accessibility and engagement with needed harm reduction and health services and identify the mechanisms through which this impact is enacted. Participants were asked to describe their knowledge of state laws and polices related to drug paraphernalia and calling emergency services in the event of witnessing an overdose. Lastly, this dissertation examined how people who inject drugs cope with their experiences with law enforcement. Findings illustrate that criminalization constricts accessibility and engagement with harm reduction and healthcare services among rural people who inject drugs through frequent violent encounters with law enforcement in which participants are routinely degraded, harassed, and abused. These encounters, coupled with pervasive community stigma, lock participants into a hyper-stigmatized master status further interrupting access and engagement with harm reduction and health services and diminishing networks of social support. Additionally, participants reported a lack of confidence in their understanding of state laws and policies related to paraphernalia and calling emergency services during overdose events; and, those who were most knowledgeable indicated that due to previous abusive encounters, they lacked trust in local law enforcement to uphold these protections. The local harm reduction agency served as a site of hope for participants as they leveraged services to restore a sense of control over their lives and drug use. Engagement with such services make it possible for participants to implement numerous harm reduction strategies in their daily lives and provided them with social support that was otherwise unavailable. Drug use associated stigma and violent encounters with police create significant barriers to accessing harm reduction services for rural people who inject drugs. As such, reducing drug use associated stigma is necessary to ensure that people who inject drugs can safely access needed harm reduction, health care, and treatment services.

Research suggests that using data driven solutions in policing strategies improves the quality of service provided by the police department. Unfortunately, many police departments, including the Denton Police Department, do not use their spatial data to inform beat zone placement. Analysis of the current beat zone configuration found that there are disparities in the workload, as measured by number of calls for service, between beat zones. Further, there was also a statistically significant difference between the median response times across all the five beat zones in Denton. This means that the median response time varies depending on where the call for service originates. Using readily available data, these police departments can apply methods such as UPAS to improve the quality of service provided by the department. UPAS is a deterministic algorithm that produces a given number of contiguous spatial partitions of approximately equal population size; in this case, calls for service are substituted for population. Although this algorithm was originally developed to create solutions for bio-terrorism response planning, it has been applied to the problem of creating beat zones of roughly equal workload in this research. I have shown that this algorithm results in a beat zone configuration that significantly reduces the difference in workload between the busiest and least busy beat zone (~94% reduction). Assuming an equal distribution of resources across beat zones, having approximately similar workloads should lead to fewer disparities in quality of service.

This study examined the perceptions of law enforcements officers employed by rural and small law enforcement agencies on the effectiveness of the use of distance education technology as a delivery system for training programs. Four research questions were designed to assess officers’ perceptions. This study used both quantitative and qualitative analysis of data to assess these questions. Quantitative data were collected through the use of a pretest and post-test, and a survey. Qualitative data were collected through observations of subjects’ interaction with the treatment, interviews with participants, reviews of survey comments, and analyses of budget documents. The results of this study suggested that officers found the use of distance education technology as a means for delivering training courses to be effective. Agencies should ensure that their technology is compatible with the modality in which the course is presented and that their officers are trained in the use of this technology. Course material should include core information and supplemental material similar to that found in traditional face-toace courses. Online courses should contain the same structure as found in traditional face-toace courses. The environment in which the learning occurs should be comfortable, distractionree, and suitable for engaging in online learning.

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The purpose of the study was to provide an assessment of campus police departments throughout the 15 public community and junior colleges in Mississippi. This research could provide Mississippi community and junior college administrators the opportunity to observe and appraise the overall safety of their respective campuses in comparison to safety practices of the other campus police departments in the state. This study will lay the foundation for further research of campus police departments and can assist administrators and boards of trustees of Mississippi’s public community and junior colleges with annual and long-range planning efforts. This study included campus police/security departments in all of Mississippi’s public community and junior colleges. Data were collected to provide an overview of police/security departments at Mississippi’s public community and junior colleges. A portion of the study contains information/data gathered from a random sample of students at one rural, public community college in the northern region of Mississippi concerning campus safety and their satisfaction of services provided by campus police. The researcher utilized a mixed-methods design to study existing descriptive information pertaining to the 15 Mississippi public community and junior college campus police departments, existing crime statistics reported by each public community and junior college in Mississippi, and existing data gathered by the Itawamba Community College administration from their students concerning their perception of campus police and safety issues. The researcher created a composite student satisfaction score and utilized a one-way ANOVA to determine the significance level of student perception concerning campus police and safety issues. In answering the research questions, the researcher discovered that Mississippi community and junior college campus police/security reported less favorable attitudes pertaining to funding and staffing their respective departments and positive attitudes pertaining to their ability to attend and provide training opportunities. The researcher found that Mississippi public community and junior college campuses seem to be safe, reporting low crime statistics in the Campus Safety and Security Data Analysis Cutting Tool. Lastly, the researcher discovered that student satisfaction of campus police and safety issues at one rural Northeast Mississippi community college increased from 2007 to 2011.

Studies exploring the impact of work-related traumatic stress on law enforcement couples are limited. Such studies suggest that when work-related traumatic stress impacts law enforcement professionals, their spouses may experience secondary traumatic stress and serve in a supportive role following trauma exposure. Grounded in secondary traumatic stress theory, this study explored the impact of work-related traumatic stress on law enforcement couples. Semi-structured dyadic interviews were conducted with law enforcement couples (N = 7) using transcendental phenomenology. Three themes emerged within the data that captured the essence of law enforcement couple experiences of work-related traumatic stress: (1) the stressful nature of the law enforcement profession, (2) the impact of work-related traumatic stress on the couple relationship, and (3) resilient couple characteristics. The impact of work-related traumatic stress manifested in couple's communication, role responsibilities and parenting, and commitment to the relationship and the profession. Whereas the impact of work-related traumatic events differed for the law enforcement professional and their spouse based on the type of traumatic event, overall work-related traumatic stress led couples to engage in a meaning making process and activation of resilient couple coping characteristics. Given the significant impact that work-related traumatic stress has on the law enforcement couple dyad, couples therapy interventions are needed for law enforcement professionals and their spouses. / Master of Science / Law enforcement professionals often experience symptoms of traumatic stress as a result of repeated exposure to work-related traumatic events. Spouses of law enforcement professionals may also experience secondary traumatic stress and serve in a supportive role following work-related traumatic stress exposure. This study explored the impact of work-related traumatic stress on law enforcement couples. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with law enforcement couples (N = 7) using transcendental phenomenology. Couples experienced work-related stress related to the nature of the law enforcement professional's work outside of the instances of work-related traumatic events. Job demands and expectations of police culture contributed to work-related stress along with the stress of work-related traumatic events. Three themes emerged within the data that captured the essence of law enforcement couple experiences including: (1) the stressful nature of the law enforcement profession, (2) the impact of work-related traumatic stress on the couple relationship, and (3) resilient couple characteristics. The impact of work-related traumatic stress manifested in couple's communication, role responsibilities and parenting, and commitment to the relationship and the profession. While the impact of work-related traumatic events differed for the law enforcement professional and their spouse based on the type of traumatic event, overall work-related traumatic stress led couples to engage in a meaning making process and activation of resilient couple coping characteristics. Given the significant impact that work-related traumatic stress has on the law enforcement couple dyad, interventions are needed for law enforcement couples.

Data on peer-on-peer child sexual demonstrates up to one-third of child sexual assaults perpetrated by other children and what the limited data suggest is that these rates are increasing. These alarming rates of sexual abuse take place alongside increased hyper-access to pornography, with the average first age of exposure at 11. Frontline workers who handle child sexual assault victims and perpetrators indicate that pornography creates a risk of sexual assault by and among children. Given that law enforcement officers will eventually see these same cases, what are their perceptions of pornography as a risk factor for peer-on-peer child sexual abuse? By interviewing law enforcement officers in the United States working directly on cases involving child sexual abuse, I examine law enforcement officer's perceptions of the connections between pornography and child sexual abuse. A sample of 11 law enforcement officers identify pornography to have a role in peer-on-peer child sexual abuse. Additionally, the sample distinguishes several differences between how pornography impacts peer-on-peer child sexual abuse versus adult-on-child sexual abuse. This study is essential given the confusion in the law and eventual prosecutions; law enforcement is struggling with legislation that does not fit the reality of the cases and results in prosecutorial issues. / Master of Science / This project explores the perceptions of law enforcement officers on pornography as a risk factor for peer-on-peer child sexual abuse. The data for this study originates from 11 semi-structured interviews with law enforcement officers with experience investigating child sexual abuse. This study identified that law enforcement officers do perceive pornography to be a risk factor for peer-on-peer child sexual abuse. The findings of this study indicate the importance for future research and attention to how law enforcement and the U.S. government approach pornography as a risk factor.

Yes / As the Fourth Review Conference of the Chemical Weapons Convention meets next month, state parties need to address mounting concerns about the potential development and use of law-enforcement weapons involving chemical agents that act on the central nervous system (CNS).