Myths and legends: the reality of rape offences reported to a UK police force

Rape myths affect many aspects of the investigative and criminal justice systems. One such myth, the 'real rape' myth, states that most rapes involve a stranger using a weapon attacking a woman violently at night in an isolated, outdoor area, and that women sustain serious injuries from these attacks. The present study examined how often actual offences reported to a central UK police force over a two year period matched the 'real rape' myth. Out of 400 cases of rape reported, not a single incident was found with all the characteristics of the 'real rape' myth. The few stranger rapes that occurred had a strong link to night-time economy activities, such as the victim and offender both having visited pubs, bars, and clubs. By contrast, the majority of reported rape offences (280 cases, 70.7%) were committed by people known to the victim (e.g., domestic and acquaintance rapes), occurred inside a residence, with most victims sustaining no physical injuries from the attack. The benefits of these naturalistic findings from the field for educating people about the inaccuracy of rape myths are discussed.

Police Legitimacy in Sub-Saharan Africa

Is fairness in process and outcome a generalizable driver of police legitimacy? In many industrialized nations, studies have demonstrated that police legitimacy is largely a function of whether citizens perceive treatment as normatively fair and respectful. Questions remain whether this model holds in less-industrialized contexts, where corruption and security challenges favor instrumental preferences for effective crime control and prevention. Support for and against the normative model of legitimacy has been found in less-industrialized countries, yet few have simultaneously compared these models across multiple industrializing countries. Using a multilevel framework and data from respondents in 27 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (n~43,000), I find evidence for the presence of both instrumental and normative influences in shaping the perceptions of police legitimacy. More importantly, the internal consistency of legitimacy (defined as obligation to obey, moral alignment, and perceived legality of the police) varies considerably from country to country, suggesting that relationships between legality, morality, and obligation operate differently across contexts. Results are robust to a number of different modeling assumptions and alternative explanations. Overall, the results indicate that both fairness and effectiveness matter, not in all places, and in some cases contrary to theoretical expectations.

A formação de oficiais de polícia: uma perspetiva custo-benefício

O Oficial de Polícia formado pelo Instituto Superior de Ciências Policias e Segurança Interna (ISCPSI) é a figura essencial, enquanto futura chefia superior da Polícia de Segurança Pública (PSP), uma vez que cai sobre a sua responsabilidade levar a cabo que sejam cumpridos os objetivos da Instituição. Como tal, a formação ministrada no ISCPSI revela-se de uma elevada importância, pois permite dotar os seus Oficiais com os conhecimentos e as competências necessárias para o desempenho das suas funções. O presente estudo, baseado em métodos qualitativos e quantitativos, tem como objetivos, por um lado, compreender se existem diferenças ao nível da aquisição de conhecimentos e de competências dos Oficiais de Polícia da PSP que terminaram o Curso de Mestrado Integrado em Ciências Policiais (CMICP) na modalidade de internato em contrapartida com a modalidade de externato e, por outro lado, perceber se os custos associados ao regime de internato justificam a sua manutenção. Realizou-se um estudo de caso que incidiu nos três cursos do CMICP do ISCPSI, onde se realizaram entrevistas aos Diretores e Comandantes do Corpo de Alunos durante a formação dos três cursos e se aplicaram questionários a uma amostra significativa de formandos desses mesmos cursos que frequentaram, uns o regime de internato e outros o regime de externato. Como resultado da investigação verifica-se que na perspetiva dos inquiridos não existem diferenças entre os Oficiais de Polícia que concluíram o curso em regime de internato perante os que o concluíram em regime de externato, no que diz respeito à aquisição de conhecimentos e competências adquiridas. Nesta conformidade, não se justifica a manutenção do regime de internato porque não há perda de qualidade da formação recebida e, traduz-se um ganho significativo com os custos suportados com o regime de internato.

Effectiveness of Depression-Suicidal Behaviour Gatekeeper training among police officers in three European regions: outcomes of the Optimising Suicide Prevention Programmes and their Implementation in Europe (OSPI-Europe) study

Background: Gatekeeper training for community facilitators, to identify and respond to those at risk of suicide, forms an important part of multi-level community-based suicide prevention programmes. Aims: This study examined the effects of gatekeeper training on attitudes, knowledge and confidence of police officers in dealing with persons at risk of suicide. Methods: A total of 828 police officers across three European regions participated in a 4-hour training programme which addressed the epidemiology of depression and suicidal behaviour, symptoms of depression, warning signs and risk factors associated with suicidal behaviour, motivating help-seeking behaviour, dealing with acute suicidal crisis and informing bereaved relatives. Participants completed internationally validated questionnaires assessing stigmatising attitudes, knowledge about depression and confidence in dealing with suicidal persons pre- and post-training. Results: There were significant differences among countries in terms of previous exposure to suicidal persons and extent of previous training. Post-training evaluation demonstrated significant improvements in stigmatising attitudes, knowledge and confidence in all three countries. Conclusion: The consistently positive effects of gatekeeper training of police officers across different regions support inclusion of this type of training as a fundamental part of multi-level community-based suicide prevention programmes and roll-out, nationally and internationally.

Annual Report 2-15 Office of the Chief Information Officer, January 2016

In 2015, the OCIO worked across a broad range of projects and key initiatives in alignment with these goals. As an IT organization supporting services consumed by every agency of the State of Iowa (State), our key enterprise initiatives are conducted in addition to the day-to-day support activities required to keep government IT services operational and secure. These initiatives maintain alignment with key efficiency goals established by Governor Branstad and with specific legislative mandates.

27th International Police Executive Symposium, Washington DC, USA, Urban Security: Challenges for 21st Century Global Cities

Goncalo de Melo Bandeira Counter-Terrorism, State of Emergency and Human Rights. In the global cities, the fight against terrorism is a way forward. Prevention of terrorism is another possible way. There are legal systems where the prevailing idea is combating terrorism. Fight, because is possible: life imprisonment or informal death penalty or even torture. While other jurisdictions only follow the prevention of terrorist crime: the retribution and positive general prevention and the resocialization. There may be extreme cases also in restorative justice. The recent terrorist attacks in Paris on 11.13.2015 have shown to the different types of police several problems. Some of those are: the declaration of State of emergency and the consequent restriction of human rights as the privacy of human communication or the liberty of travel by local city citizens or foreign citizens or the public entertainment shows, the problem of money laundering and the restriction of the business as usual, the vicious circle of more isolation from some urban communities, v.g. muslims, and other citizens also; and, brevitatis causa, the criminological problem of the causes and consequences of terrorism.

The ethics of an incoming cohort of students in a college professional police technology program

Since ethics is such a predominant subject of interest on one hand, and graduating from a two or three-year college police technology program is the first step towards a police career un Quebec on the other, this study will look at the ethics of an incoming cohort of students in a two or three-year college professional police technology program. One of the aims will be to develop a profile of young people wishing to pursue a career in policing.||Résumé : Dans un premier temps, étant donné que l'éthique est un sujet d'intérêt majeur et que, dans un deuxième temps, un diplôme en techniques policières dans un programme collégial de deux ou trois ans est un prérequis pour une carrière policière au Québec, cette étude se penchera sur l'éthique d'une cohorte d'étudiants d'un tel programme. Un des buts de cette étude sera de déterminer le profil des jeunes qui désirent poursuivre une carrière policière.