CLASHES IN CONFINEMENT: MEN’S GENDERED EXPERIENCES WITH CONFLICT IN CANADIAN PRISONS

This dissertation presents the results of in-depth qualitative interviews with twenty-three formerly imprisoned men regarding their lived experience with prison conflict and the pain of incarceration. The results suggest that prison is a gendered ‘total institution’ (Goffman 1961). The pains that men experience in prison are uniquely gendered in that the deprivations imposed by incarceration– deprivation of autonomy, liberty, goods and services, heterosexual sex, and security (Sykes 1958) – in the reverse, define idealized masculinity as it is currently socially constructed: self-reliance, independence, toughness or invulnerability, material and economic success, and heterosexual prowess. From these shared deprivations emerges a gendered code of conduct that perpetuates a hierarchy among incarcerated men by constructing violent masculinity as a subcultural norm. The results suggest that the gender code in prison represents a set of rules that create opportunities for men to police each other’s gender performance and make claims to masculine statuses. Because status is inextricably tied to survival in this context, many men feel pressured to perform violent masculinities in prison despite privately subscribing to a non-violent sense of self-concept. The results suggest that violence is an expressive and instrumental resource for men in prison. A gender theory of prison violence, methodological findings, theoretical implications, ethical considerations and the short and long term aftermath of violent prison conflict are discussed.

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.

Knowledge-based management systems for the police force

Knowledge-Based Management Systems enable new ways to process and analyse knowledge to gain better insights to solve a problem and aid in decision making. In the police force such systems provide a solution for enhancing operations and improving client administration in terms of knowledge management. The main objectives of every police officer is to ensure the security of life and property, promote lawfulness, and avert and distinguish wrongdoing. The administration of knowledge and information is an essential part of policing, and the police ought to be proactive in directing both explicit and implicit knowledge, whilst adding to their abilities in knowledge sharing. In this paper the potential for a knowledge based system for the Mauritius police was analysed, and recommendations were also made, based on requirements captured from interviews with several long standing officers, and surveying of previous works in the area.

Continuing the conversation: 30 years of motivational interviewing dissemination

The systematic examination of motivational interviewing (MI) training outcomes provides a cautionary tale for the dissemination of evidence-based psychological interventions in the substance abuse field. We argue that in order to achieve sustained practice of MI, a greater understanding of successful implementation fidelity in real world settings is required.

A 'fair cop': queer histories, affect and police image work in Pride March

This article investigates how proactive police image work contends with the politics of queer history by drawing from aspects of affect theory. It asks: How does police image work engage with or respond to ongoing histories of state violence and queer resistance? And why does this matter? To explore these questions, the article provides a case study of the Victorian Pride March in 2002. It analyzes textual representations of Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon’s participation in the parade to show how histories of homophobic police violence can be used strategically to fortify a positive police image among LGBT people and the wider community. Police image work carried out at Pride March becomes a means of legitimizing past policing practices with the aim of overcoming poor and antagonistic LGBT-police relations. The visibility of police at Pride March, this analysis suggests, contributes to the normalization of queerness as a site to be continually policed and regulated. Image work here also buttresses police reputation against the negative press associated with incidents of police brutality. This investigation contributes to the literature on police communications and impression management by demonstrating how police can mobilize negative aspects of their organizational history as an important part of police image work in the present.

The police and punishment: understanding the pains of policing

This article argues that police studies should draw on the sociology of punishment to better understand state pain-delivery. Whereas penal theorists commonly assess the pain and punishment of inmates in relation to wider social sentiments, police theory has yet to regard police violence and harm in the same fashion. As a result, police scholarsoften fail to address why the damage caused by public constabularies, even when widely publicized, is accommodated and accepted. Adapting the idea of ‘punitiveness’ from penal theory allows some explanation of how the public views injury and suffering caused by the police by illuminating the emotions and sentiments their actions generate.

Deconstructing pedagogies of professional practice and learning for police officers.

This research applied qualitative and narrative methodology to investigate police officers' professional practice and learning. Analysis of the data revealed three thematic frameworks of power-knowledge relations, practice and knowledge, and gender and (dis)embodied practice that harboured doubtful matters (aporias) and blind spots (lacunae). The potential for change and the possibility of different perspectives and new learning was evident. Paradigmatic shifts in thinking, learning and practice are needed for police officers to develop reflexive practice that is social, relational, agential, and embodied, however, limitations and constraints exist based on the strength and resilience of dominant pedagogies influenced by social, cultural, institutional and occupational practices and discourses.

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.