Daniel B. Kennedy

Police perceptions of spouse abuse: A comparison of male and female officers

The purpose of this article is to compare policewomen with policemen regarding their attitudes toward handling family fights, specifically, toward handling spouse abuse. Sixty-two policewomen responded to a questionnaire measuring their involvement, or professional concern about family fights. As hypothesized, policewomen scored significantly higher on this variable (rpb = + .43). Although sample differences in education and other demographic variables accounted in part for this finding, police-officer gender correlated with involvement even when all other variables were controlled for. There was some evidence that identification with a feminist point-of-view and concern for the battered women were significant intervening variables that explained why policewomen scored higher on involvement. It was also found that policewomen and policemen differed in their perceptions of how policewomen handle family fights. Policemen tended to view policewomen as lacking assertiveness, while policewomen viewed themselves as more patient and understanding, and as less likely to escalate a conflict. The results of this study support the findings of an earlier study in which women in shelter homes described policewomen as more likely than male officers to be informative, to take time to listen, and to provide helpful information. It is suggested that the results of the current study could provide a basis for discussion among mixed groups of police officers concerning various approaches to handling family fights.

Psychological Aspects of Crime Scene Profiling: Validity Research

Crime scene profiling is distinguished from psychological profiling and offender profiling, and the profiling process is described. A review of the literature on offender types indicates that it may be possible to generalize from various behavioral aspects of a crime scene to some characteristics of the perpetrator. There is some evidence that it may be possible to type offenders and crime scenes as organized or disorganized, and that this categorization may be related to certain aspects of offender personality. There is also some evidence that those who are FBI trained in profiling may perform better at the task. At this time, however, the evidence for the validity of profiles is weak, and it is recommended that profiling not be relied on to the exclusion of other alternatives. There is a need for more specific validity research, especially when profiling is generalized beyond its original purpose of providing leads and focusing investigations.

Attitudes of Abused Women toward Male and Female Police Officers

A total of 103 women from three Detroit-area shelter homes were interviewed about their perceptions of the police response to family violence. Ninety women reported that they had had contact with police officers as the result of a family disturbance. Seventy percent of the women reported that the police had been at least a little helpful in their cases. There were significant differences in attitudes toward policewomen and policemen. There was strong evidence that those who had had contact with policewomen viewed them differently than did women whose only contact had been with policemen. In general, contact with policewomen resulted in a more favorable evaluation of them. However, while policewomen were more able to calm a situation than the subjects had anticipated, they did not automatically take the womans side in an argument between cohabitants.

Real and perceived danger in police officer assisted suicide

Abstract In order to determine the danger involved, 123 cases of police officer assisted suicide were collected from various sources and the contents analyzed. In 56 percent of the incidents, police or bystanders were threatened with lethal force, and in 22 percent an intermediate level of threat was present. In the remaining 22 percent of the cases there was no real danger, with the subject using an empty gun or a prop. These nondangerous incidents were typically perceived as more dangerous, and resulted in a slightly higher percentage of subjects being killed by police. The only variable that distinguished the nondangerous incidents—prior planning by the subjects—was unlikely to be useful for guiding police tactics in an actual situations.

Suicide by police: a proposed typology of law enforcement officer‐assisted suicide

A typology of suicide by police was created by separating 143 such incidents from a database of 174 police shooting incidents. The 143 incidents were found to consist of three main categories: Direct Confrontations, in which suicidal subjects instigated attacks on police, Disturbed Interventions, in which potentially suicidal subjects took advantage of police intervention, and Criminal Interventions, in which subjects preferred death to submission. These three categories were then subdivided into nine types. Two judges obtained a reliability coefficient of 0.87 for distinguishing suicide by cop, and 0.58 for placement into the nine types. Meaningful distinctions among the types were found on three variables: subject age, real danger, and lethality.

HOSTILE ATTRIBUTION IN PERCEIVED JUSTIFICATION OF WORKPLACE AGGRESSION

A 10-item Hostile Attribution Scale was developed to test the hypothesis that hostile attribution is predictive of support for aggression in frustrating workplace situations in which a supervisors motivation is ambiguous. The Hostile Attribution Scale showed good test-retest reliability (.80), but weak internal consistency (alpha = .60). For one workplace scenario (Steve), hostile attribution predicted aggression in the ambiguous but not the definite version of the scenario. For the other scenario (Dan), however, hostile attribution in both the ambiguous and definite versions was equally predictive of aggression. Ambiguous situations are the most problematic for generating workplace aggression so research should focus on individual differences in hostile attributions.

Predicting custodial suicides: Problems with the use of profiles

Although the problem of jail and lockup suicides is nationwide, this social problem has begun only recently to receive the scholarly attention it warrants. A number of studies have advanced profiles of the typical jail suicide, but noncritical applications of these profiles may lead to problems if practitioners are unaware of their limitations. Different profiles often are mutually contradictory and seem to be more postdictive than predictive. Other problems include the potential for false positives, selective inattention, and the exposure of correctional authorities to inappropriate tort liability. Jail and lockup suicide data from Michigan for 1980–1985 were used to examine the implications of reliance on published suicide profiles. Only seven of 80 suicides were found to fit a national profile completely, while nine suicides would have been totally unexpected. It was concluded that because of the differences between various jail environments and inmate populations, it is unlikely that even a methodolog...

Facility site selection and analysis through environmental criminology

Abstract Crime is increasingly recognized as a problem by persons responsible for facility site selection and premises security. Environmental criminology can contribute to crime prevention through analyses of spatial patterns in crime, perceptions and awareness spaces of potential criminals, criminal mobility patterns, and the processes of target selection and decision to commit a criminal act. Rational choice theory is utilized to illustrate the decisionmaking process employed by many criminals. Although physical target-hardening measures are relevant to environmental criminology, the social interaction dimension among criminals, victims, bystanders, and certain aspects of the environment are central. Levels of security necessary for a given location may be established through consideration of the probability of attack at a given location, the vulnerability of this location to such an attack, and the critically or importance of any resultant loss to the continuing viability of the organization.

A comparative analysis of police vehicle pursuit policies

The written pursuit policies of 47 state law enforcement agencies and the nations 25 largest cities were subjected to comparative analysis. Qualitative analysis of the policies focused on factors justifying pursuit, physical operation of the police vehicle, circumstances of operation, and external factors. The policies also were rated quantitatively on a continuum ranging from allowing officers a great deal of judgment in the conduct of a pursuit to discouraging all pursuits except as a last resort. Most policies were found to permit a great deal of judgment, although cities tended to be more likely than states to place restrictions on pursuits.

Effectiveness of Less than Lethal Force in Suicide-by-Cop Incidents

A review of 143 suicide-by-cop incidents found 23 cases in which police employed less than lethal (LTL) force requiring some instrument or technology and an additional 13 cases in which police attempted to physically overpower the subject. These were compared with 16 cases involving negotiation and 21 cases presenting scenarios in which some form of LTL force may have been possible. Although no cause-and-effect relationships are implied, the authors found that 44% of the LTL force incidents were resolved without the death of the subject, as opposed to only 11% of the comparison incidents. Deadly force was least likely to be resorted to in cases where police attempted to physically overcome the subject, although these cases also presented a heightened level of risk to law enforcement officers.