This thesis examines a widespread yet understudied tourism destination in Canada – the police museum. I visited and collected data at three police museums in the province of Ontario, Canada: the Toronto Police Museum and Discovery Centre in Toronto, the OPP Museum in Orillia, and the RCMP Musical Ride Centre in Ottawa. Engaging with Brown’s (2009) theory of “penal spectatorship”, I investigate how these sites (re)produce and circulate meanings about penality through their different representational practices. I identify three dominant themes and argue that the police museums foster social distance between visitors and those in conflict with the law. By sharing these findings, and along the way reconceptualizing the definition of police museum, identifying fifty-nine police museums in Canada, and presenting a Canadian police museum typology, this thesis lays some groundwork for expanding the horizons of penal spectatorship theory and penal tourism scholarship to the realm of policing.

A current trend that has emerged as a result of the information age is information-seeking behavior. From individuals to large social institutions, information-seeking behavior is utilized to attain a wide variety of goals. This body of work investigates the information-seeking behaviors of police officers who work in police stations in the Turkish National Police force. The study utilizes Leckie et al.’s (1996) model of information-seeking behavior of professionals. The findings indicated that police officers initially consulted their personal knowledge and experience. Next, officers rely upon their colleagues and then official documents. These information sources were consulted in the context of both conducting tasks and staying current. However, contrary to expectation, they rarely consulted informants. In addition police officers rarely consulted printed journals, libraries, books and attendance at conferences as information sources. The results of this study show that there were significant differences in the information sources used by police officers based on their gender in the context of staying current. On the other hand, there were no significant differences in the context of conducting police station tasks, by gender. Surprisingly, there were no significant differences in the information sources used by police officers based on their educational level. There were significant differences in the use of information sources by age, service years in police stations and service years in policing in the context of conducting police station tasks. Lastly, the results of this study indicated that service years in policing and the roles in police station were significantly correlated with the information sources used by police officers regarding staying current. This body of work offers insight into the factors that guide the information-seeking behaviors of police officers.

Working in the police service can be very demanding on a physical and emotional level. Many police offers often experience stress, trauma and anxiety which even sometimes leads to suicide. In order to deal with the stressors they face, officers have to use various coping methods. This present study aims to analyse the coping strategies used by police officers in the SAPS and whether these coping strategies change over a period of time. The main purpose is to investigate which coping responses are used most by police officers in the SAPS and to determine how the prominence of these coping responses change over a period of time. This study has a longitudinal approach and will add value to the body of research since no longitudinal study has previously been conducted on coping within the SAPS. Three samples, collected at three different points in time, were used in this study. The first sample (n = 1277) was collected while the officers were newly enrolled, the second sample (n = 463) was taken whilst they were undergoing practical training in the college and the last sample (n = 120) was collected when the police officers had spent two years in the field. The Ways of Coping (WoC) questionnaire was used as measuring instrument. The results of this study suggest that police officers predominantly use seeking social support, planful problem solving and positive reappraisal to deal with their daily stress. These responses are mainly seen as adaptive ways of dealing with stress. The coping responses used least includes escape avoidance, accepting responsibility and confrontive coping. There are clear indications that the way in which police officers use coping responses change over time spent in the SAPS. Over time, police officers accepted significantly less responsibility, and made less use of confrontive coping. Police officers also relied more on planful problem solving, positive reappraisal and escape avoidance. On a practical level it is suggested to conduct interventions in all units, divisions and on all levels to reinforce and refresh positive coping strategies in order to enhance the emotional well-being throughout the SAPS. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Human Resource Management / MCom / unrestricted

This thesis examines the idea that police officers have supportive factors in their lives which influence coping mechanisms used to handle occupational stress. This idea comes from police culture literature which suggests that officers are encouraged to use maladaptive coping strategies like drinking and emotional suppression to deal with stress. Additional research on management support and family support are introduced as alternative supportive factors which can promote the use of adaptive coping like agency offered services and programs. This thesis uses data from “Work and Family Services for Law Enforcement Personnel in the United States” (Robert, O’Quin, & Kennedy, 2000). A subset of questionnaire items and officer responses are coded and run through statistical analysis including linear regression and logistic regression. Finally, findings are discussed and future research on the topic is suggested.

There is limited empirical research related to lawsuits involving the police due in part to limited accessibility to relevant data sources. This study aims to examine the relationship between citizen, situational, and lawsuit factors and police misconduct litigation in the city of Chicago. Data were collected from two separate databases: The Chicago Reporter and The Invisible Institute. The analyses in this study demonstrate that there is a relationship between lawsuit payout amounts, lawsuit misconduct type and various situational factors. Policy implications are discussed.

This study examined the impact of four categories of variables (demographics, neighborhood context variables, contact with the police, and vicarious influence variables) on juvenile perceptions of the police and police services. Data analyzed in this study were collected as part of a larger research evaluation that examined the impact of law enforcement efforts in relation to violent crime. Students from one middle school were surveyed. Statistical analysis consisted of a series of One-Way ANOVA tests and several ordinary least squares regression (OLS) models. The study found significant results for both dependent variables within all four categories of independent variables. Policy implications and suggestions for further research are discussed.

Méconnue du grand public, la criminalité dans le domaine de l'environnement et de la santé publique est pourtant une réalité, qui affecte notre quotidien et hypothèque l'avenir des générations futures. Des simples profiteurs aux groupes criminels, ce type de criminalité est protéiforme, se nourrissant de quatre effets majeurs : le manque d'harmonisation législatif, le taux relativement faible des poursuites pénales, les fortes marges bénéficiaires et une moindre exposition à des risques physiques. En outre, l'utilisation des nouvelles technologies et l’émergence des nouvelles formes d'économie favorisent encore un peu plus l'action néfaste des criminels. Ce faisant, sur les bases d'un droit technique et complexe, magistrats et officiers de police judiciaire s'astreignent à lutter contre cette forme de criminalité, tentent de s’approprier ses codes, d'analyser ses modes opératoires et de se forger aux nouvelles techniques d'enquête. Notre travail met en lumière la réelle conversion des délinquants opportunistes, des membres de réseaux et organisations criminels dans les secteurs de l'environnement et de la santé publique tout en essayant de faciliter l'approche pratique de la police judiciaire. / Unknown to the general public, crime in the field of the environment and public health is a reality, which affects our daily lives and puts the future of future generations at risk. From simple profiteers to criminal organized groups, this is a multifaceted criminality, based on three major effects: the lack of legislative harmonization, the relatively low rate of criminal prosecution, high profit and less exposure to physical risks. Moreover, the use of new technologies and the emergence of new forms of economy further favor the harmful action of criminals. Also, on the basis of a technical and complex law, magistrates and police officers keep fighting against criminals, try to understand their codes, analyze their operating methods and learn new techniques to investigation. Our work highlights the real conversion of opportunistic offenders, members of criminal networks or criminal organizations into the fields of environment and public health, while trying to facilitate a pragmatic approach of the criminal police.

Community policing has been developed in the Anglo-American countries and implemented in the Swedish Police Authority during the last years. One of its main goals is to reach a proximity to citizens and thereby increase the level of trust. A qualitative interview study is used to scruti-nize how community policing stands as a trust-building method, by looking closer into the police trust to citizens connected to their approach to community policing and identifying potential dif-ferences in the police organization. The result shows a deviation in the police’s trust in citizens which relates to their approach to community policing. Partially, a difference is reflected in the police perception of the citizens’ perspectives and ability to comprehend the police profession, indicating that the citizen role should rather be of informative than of participating character. To-gether with a review on earlier research of what constitutes trust and demonstrated deficiencies in the implementation of community policing in the Swedish Police Authority, the results imply a weak foundation for police pledges as an effective measure to gain trust.

South Africa is known for being a country with high crime rates. Many factors contribute to this notion. Cape Town is ranked 14th on the list of the most violent cities in the world. Furthermore, gang violence in the Western Cape is believed to be the highest in South Africa, with the South African Police Service (SAPS) considering 25 of the Western Cape's 151 police stations as gang related police stations. It is apparent that South Africa as a developing country falls short in addressing the social ills in our communities, such as continued high unemployment rates, gangsterism, and the formation of illegal partnerships due to money greed and boredom (lack of motivational support in the form of activities provided, especially among the youth). The objective of the study was to describe and analyse the police service delivery challenges experienced by Western Cape Station Commanders in the context of the crime statistics retrieved from published SAPS data. This research explored police service delivery challenges through the lens of Station Commanders from the 151 police stations in the Western Cape. Thus, the research question was formulated as follows: "What are the service delivery challenges experienced by Station Commanders at police stations in the Western Cape?" The target population comprised all Station Commanders in the Western Cape. For the data collection, a survey strategy was adopted. The data collection tool was a telephonic interview conducted in a systematic manner. The data of the profiling survey of all Station Commanders in the Western Cape Province conducted by the Department of Community Safety, were utilised to analyse the police service delivery challenges they face. The Know Your Station Commander Tool (KYSCT) is a survey tool developed with 'profiling questions' of the Station Commanders at every police station in the Western Cape. In general, limitations prohibiting police service delivery do exist from time to time, but when the lack of service delivery is experienced over long periods, it points to deep-rooted issues that need intervention, not merely observation. This study revealed that the top ten (10) service delivery challenges experienced by the Station Commanders in the Western Cape are: 1) Shortage of human resources; 2) Insufficient physical and aging resources; 3) Extended unproductive meetings; 4) SAPS 2 building and office infrastructure challenges; 5) Lack of involvement of all government departments; 6) Low morale of members; 7) Administrative-intense tasks to maintain a paper-trail; 8) Community police relations; 9) Population growth and development (police to population ratio unbalanced); and 10) Absenteeism.

This dissertation was undertaken to examine and review the theoretical issues concerning decision-making. From this analysis, a new and innovative technique for problem-solving was developed, entitled Integrated Management Decision-making. The underlying theoretical framework of this model involved the integration of the organization and the environment. Political, economic, social, cultural, and other community factors were discussed as major influences in the decision-making process. Integrated Management Decision-Making was derived from the combination of four existing theoretical perspectives: (1) decision-making is a process; (2) decision-making involves the ability to make rational choices; (3) decision-making involves the ability to make rational choices; (3) decision-making assumes a systematic methodology; and (4) decision-making is conducted by human beings attempting to achieve a desired consequence or result. Further, this study addressed the application of this new model to the task of police patrol deployment in small urban centers. The City of Jonesboro, Arkansas was used as a test case for the demonstration of this process. After examining over 8,300 radio-dispatched calls for service in 1980, a method for deployment was proposed utilizing Integrated Management Decision-Making. The statistical techniques of Multiple Response Analysis and Kruskal-Wallis Analysis of Variance by Ranks were utilized to explore the relationship between existing patrol procedures and proposed deployment design based on specific allocation variables designated by the police manager. The objective of the new deployment plan was to achieve an optimum patrol scheme with equalized workload between districts. This involved the determination of several decision-products: (1) the calculation of an assignment-availability factor; (2) the design of sector boundaries; (3) the calculation of shift requirements; and (4) the assessment of patrol strategies and techniques. This goal was achieved and recommendations for the Jonesboro Police Department were developed. Finally, Integrated Management Decision-Making was discussed as a catalyst for change in current police management thinking. Futuristic concepts of organization-environmental learning, long-range planning, and strategic modeling were suggested as necessary improvements in police decision-making.