Jyoti Belur

Theft in Price-Volatile Markets: On the Relationship between Copper Price and Copper Theft

Recently, against a backdrop of general reductions in acquisitive crime, increases have been observed in the frequency of metal theft offences. This is generally attributed to increases in metal prices in response to global demand exceeding supply. The main objective of this article was to examine the relationship between the price of copper and levels of copper theft, focusing specifically on copper cable theft from the British railway network. Results indicated a significant positive correlation between lagged increases in copper price and copper cable theft. No support was found for rival hypotheses concerning U.K. unemployment levels and the general popularity of theft as crime type. An ancillary aim was to explore offender modus operandi over time, which is discussed in terms of its implications for preventing copper cable theft. The authors finish with a discussion of theft of other commodities in price-volatile markets.

Status, gender and geography: power negotiations in police research

This article is a reflexive analysis of the impact of researcher characteristics such as gender, age, ethnicity and status on doing police research in conflict zones. The reported research explored perceptions of front-line police officers working in left wing extremism-affected areas in India. I suggest five working propositions that emerge from this work. First, power is necessarily negotiated between the interviewer and the interviewee throughout the interview process. Second, while researcher gender and age do influence the research process, it is proposed that status dominates power negotiations in hierarchical organisations. Third, working in conflict zones places many restrictions on the researcher and the research process, which impact research design and outcomes. Fourth, the microgeography of the interview site is relevant to how power negotiations are conducted. Finally, guidelines to resolve ethical dilemmas rarely provide solutions to tricky field research situations.

The social construction of 'dowry deaths'

The classification of cause of death is real in its consequences: for the reputation of the deceased, for her family, for those who may be implicated, and for epidemiological and social research and policies and practices that may follow from it. The study reported here refers specifically to the processes involved in classifying deaths of women from burns in India. In particular, it examines the determination of ‘dowry death’, a class used in India, but not in other jurisdictions. Classification of death is situated within a framework of special legal provisions intended to protect vulnerable women from dowry-related violence and abuse. The findings are based on 33 case studies tracked in hospital in real time, and interviews with 14 physicians and 14 police officers with experience of dealing with burns cases. The formal class into which any given death is allocated is shown to result from motivated accounting processes representing the interests and resources available to the doctors, victims, victim families, the victim’s husband and his family, and ultimately, the police. These processes may lead to biases in research and to injustice in the treatment of victims and alleged offenders. Suggestions are made for methods of ameliorating the risks.

Police investigations: discretion denied yet undeniably exercised

Police investigations involve determining whether a crime has been committed, and if so what type of crime, who has committed it and whether there is the evidence to charge the perpetrators. Drawing on fieldwork in Delhi and Mumbai, this paper explores how police investigations unfolded in the specific context of womens deaths by burning in India. In particular, it focuses on the use of discretion despite its denial by those exercising it. In India, there are distinctive statutes relating to womens suspicious deaths, reflecting the widespread expectation that the brides family will pay a dowry to the grooms family and the tensions to which this may on occasion give rise in the early years of a marriage. Often, there are conflicting claims influencing how the womans death is classified. These in turn affect police investigation. The nature and direction of police discretion in investigating womens deaths by burning reflect in part the unique nature of the legislation and the particular sensitivities in relation to these types of death. They also highlight processes that are liable to be at work in any crime investigation. It was found that police officers exercised unacknowledged discretion at seven specific points in the investigative process, with potentially significant consequences for the achievement of just outcomes: first response, recording the victims ‘dying declaration’, inquest, registering of the ‘First Information Report’, collecting evidence, arrest and framing of the charges.

A systematic review of tagging as a method to reduce theft in retail environments

BackgroundRetailers routinely use security tags to reduce theft. Presently, however, there has been no attempt to systematically review the literature on security tags. Guided by the acronym EMMIE, this paper set out to (1) examine the evidence that tags are effective at reducing theft, (2) identify the key mechanisms through which tags are expected to reduce theft and the conditions that moderate tag effectiveness, and (3) summarise information relevant to the implementation and economic costs of tagging.MethodsIn this mixed-methods review, we performed systematic keyword searches of the published and unpublished literature, hand searched relevant journals, conducted forward and backward citation searches and consulted with four retailers. Studies were included if they reported an explicit goal of reducing the theft or shrinkage of items through the use of security tags in retail environments.ResultsWe identified 50 eligible studies, eight of which reported quantitative data on the effectiveness of tags in retail environments. Across these eight studies, five showed positive results associated with the introduction of tags, but heterogeneity in the type of tag and reported outcome measures precluded a meta-analysis. We identified three mechanisms through which tags might plausibly reduce theft—increase the risks, reduce the rewards, increase the effort—which were found to vary by tag type, and their activation dependent on five broad categories of moderator: retail store and staff, customers (including shoplifters), tag type, product type, and the involvement of the police and criminal justice system. Implementation challenges documented in the literature related mainly to staffing issues and tagging strategy. Finally, although estimates are available on the costs of tagging, our searches identified no high-quality published economic evaluations of tagging.ConclusionsThrough applying the EMMIE framework this review highlighted the complexity involved in security tagging in retail environments, whereby different kinds of tags are expected to reduce theft through different casual mechanisms which are dependent on a distinctive configuration of conditions. Based on the available evidence it is difficult to determine the effectiveness of tags as a theft reduction measure, albeit there is suggestive evidence that more visible tags are associated with greater reductions in theft than less visible tags.

A qualitative study of the background and in-hospital medicolegal response to female burn injuries in India

BackgroundMost burns happen in low- and middle-income countries. In India, deaths related to burns are more common in women than in men and occur against a complex background in which the cause – accidental or non-accidental, suicidal or homicidal – is often unclear. Our study aimed to understand the antecedents to burns and the problem of ascribing cause, the sequence of medicolegal events after a woman was admitted to hospital, and potential opportunities for improvement.MethodsWe conducted semi-structured interviews with 33 women admitted to two major burns units, their families, and 26 key informant doctors, nurses, and police officers. We used framework analysis to examine the context in which burns occurred and the sequence of medicolegal action after admission to hospital.ResultsInterviewees described accidents, attempted suicide, and attempted homicide. Distinguishing between these was difficult because the underlying combination of poverty and cultural precedent was common to all and action was contingent on potentially conflicting narratives. Space constraint, problems with cooking equipment, and inflammable clothing increased the risk of accidental burns, but coexisted with household conflict, gender-based violence, and alcohol use. Most burns were initially ascribed to accidents. Clinicians adhered to medicolegal procedures, the police carried out their investigative requirements relatively rapidly, but both groups felt vulnerable in the face of the legal process. Women’s understandable reticence to describe burns as non-accidental, the contested nature of statements, their perceived history of changeability, the limited quality and validity of forensic evidence, and the requirement for resilience on the part of clients underlay a general pessimism.ConclusionsThe similarities between accident and intention cluster so tightly as to make them challenging to distinguish, especially given women’s understandable reticence to describe burns as non-accidental. The contested status of forensic evidence and a reliance on testimony means that only a minority of cases lead to conviction. The emphasis should be on improving documentation, communication between service providers, and public understanding of the risks of burns.

Is crime analysis at the heart of policing practice? A case study

ABSTRACT Following the introduction of National Intelligence Model (NIM) in 2004, this paper explores whether crime analysis has been integrated into policing practice. Fieldwork was conducted in one UK police force with both analysts and police officers. Findings from the analysis of semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions suggest that while crime analysis is acknowledged as being central to the business of everyday policing, police officers’ general lack of understanding of how analysts work and their capability leads to underutilisation of their skills. The research uncovered knowledge and process gaps, deepened by cultural constraints, budget cuts and resource reallocations, which inhibited incorporation of analysis into the heart of policing practice. Findings also indicated that analysts lack the resources, time, and sometimes, motivation to undertake sophisticated analysis, and often feel frustrated when officers’ opinions override analytical wisdom. The paper argues that at least in the UK, better training and cultural change are necessary for creative utilisation of analytical resources and for bridging the knowledge and process gaps in the organisation.

Police Stop and Search in India: Mumbai Nakabandi

The Indian police have wide discretionary powers of stop and search. One peculiar and regular manifestation of this power is ‘nakabandi’ (meaning blockade), where the police set up road blocks on important road junctions and conduct stop and search operations. This paper is the first attempt of its kind to describe the way the Mumbai police exercise these powers in the form of nakabandi and what is achieved from these operations. The conditions under which the police conduct stop and search operations in Mumbai and their effectiveness are discussed. While police nakabandi do not ostensibly raise allegations of racial discrimination and controversy like police stop and search operations in the West, nevertheless several questions regarding their purpose and efficacy arise, especially in relation to the amount of time and resources devoted to these operations.

Extending the remit of evidence-based policing

Evidence-based policing (EBP) is an important strand of the UK’s College of Policing’s Police Education Qualifications Framework (PEQF), itself a component of a professionalisation agenda. This article argues that the two dominant approaches to EBP, experimental criminology and crime science, offer limited scope for the development of a comprehensive knowledge base for policing. Although both approaches share a common commitment to the values of science, each recognizes their limited coverage of policing topics. The fundamental difference between them is what each considers ‘best’ evidence. This article critically examines the generation of evidence by these two approaches and proposes an extension to the range of issues EBP should cover by utilizing a greater plurality of methods to exploit relevant research. Widening the scope of EBP would provide a broader foundational framework for inclusion in the PEQF and offers the potential for identifying gaps in the research, constructing blocks for knowledge building, and syllabus development in higher level police education.

Perceptions of gender-based violence around public toilets in Mumbai slums

ABSTRACT The lack of adequate public toilets and associated gender-based violence around their use is a matter of concern in many developing countries and has recently come to the forefront of the political agenda and media discourse in India. Previous research suggests the absence of lighting, inadequate provision of basic sanitation, poor design and siting of toilets, and lack of police presence in slums as facilitators for violence against women. However, the evidence is often anecdotal and usually unsystematic. The exact extent of crimes against women in these circumstances is unknown because unsurprisingly women in slums rarely report crimes to the police, either due to fear or lack of access. The research reported in this paper gauges women’s perception and experience of crime and violence around different types of public toilets in two slums areas in Mumbai, India. A survey of 142 households indicated that although women’s fear of crime was higher than their actual experience, the perception of insecurity was not uniform for all toilet types and locations. Findings also indicated that there was at least minimal provision of toilet facilities, basic security features, water, and electric supply in the research sites. Furthermore, greater police presence and previous contact with the police in one slum area led for greater confidence in reporting offences to the police as compared to the other. Overall, better provision of lighting and regular police patrols were considered by a majority of those surveyed to reduce fear of crime around toilets.