Otwin Marenin

Police Training for Democracy1

In this paper the position is taken that the best way to prepare officers for policing based on democratic values is through an andragogy approach to training (mutual involvement of the expert and the novice in the learning process) rather than through the traditional pedagogy approach (the transmission of information from the expert to the learner). Furthermore, the education and training of police officers must be grounded in experimental learning, oriented toward problem‐solving, and it must emphasize critical thinking and the values and goals of a democratic society. The training and education of officers must continue throughout their careers and personnel from all levels within the organization should continue to obtain the education and training needed to be effective in completing the tasks associated with the positions they hold.

The goal of democracy in international police assistance programs

There exists a large and growing international exchange network for policing ideologies, technologies and skills. Transnational policing programs seek to promote more effective global crime control, help develop and sustain demographic policing reforms, and support the stability of the emerging new political and economic world order. Existing transnational policing programs and emerging international regimes of democratic policing are sketched. The likelihood of successful reforms are assessed considering existing policy and standards of democratic policing.

Building a Global Police Studies Community

Policing has become decentered from the state as substate and transnational developments have shifted some of the roles and authority for policing to new social and international groups and agencies. At the international level, a number of regime communities (e.g., scholars, nongovernmental organizations, police leaders, transnational policy makers, and policy think tanks) have actively promoted the emergence of a democratic, international policing regime and its adoption by states and police forces in transitional, failed, and developed countries. Recent developments are described, and their implications for the practices and the study of policing are assessed.

A general theory of crime and patterns of crime in Nigeria: An exploration of methodological assumptions

Abstract The general theory of crime proposed by Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) claims to be valid across time and space. That claim is assessed through an analysis of three categories of Nigerian crime — normal, political-economic, and riotous. Logical, empirical, and theoretical shortcomings in the theory are identified and discussed. Factually, many individuals who act imprudently (and criminally) in Nigeria do not seem to fit the low self-control characterization required under the theory. Logically and theoretically, unacknowledged value assumptions built into the theory undermine its claim to universality.

Explaining crime in developing countries: The need for a case study approach

The relationship between crime and development typically has been investigated within the theoretical umbrella of three dominant frameworks (modernization, underdevelopment, routine activities) and by the analysis of cross-national, statistical correlations between developed and developed countries. We outline the empirical, methodological, conceptual and theoretical weaknesses of these studies. The categories developed and developing are invalid when studying crime and change and the defects of existing approaches can only be overcome by a case study approach to the relationships of patterns of crime in different countries.

Criminal justice: Portrait of a discipline in process

Abstract Criminal justice is an academic discipline in practice but not yet in theory. An analysis of intellectual resources used in recent criminal justice books shows that theory development is still tied to established disciplines, does not accurately reflect and incorporate the multiple intellectual traditions from which the discipline of criminal justice arose, and has failed to achieve a genuine multidisciplinary and multitheoretical stance or project. Some reasons for this state of affairs and some suggestions for training and practice in the new discipline of criminal justice are advanced.

Victimization surveys and the accuracy and reliability of official crime data in developing countriesPublications received

Abstract The accuracy and reliability of official crime data are always suspect because knowledge of crime depends on the independent decision made by each victim of whether or not to report her/his experiences to the police. Victimization surveys allow estimates of degrees of inaccuracy, but such research is rarely done in developing countries. The little research done on victimization and the police in developing countries shows that levels of nonreporting, reasons for nonreporting, and relations between the public and the police to whom one would report are vastly different among developing countries and between developing and developed countries. One cannot assume, therefore, that the impact of victim behavior on the accuracy and reliability of official data will be similar across countries.

Policing African States: Toward a Critique

The state is the dominating intermediary between people and the world system. Conceptions of what the state is, how it functions, and in whose interests it functions are central to theories of modernization and underdevelopment. The state, though, is an abstraction. What does exist is the actions of individuals and institutions that comprise the theorized concept; and only when these actions are described, as they occur and their effects become known, does the state take on life, and do domination, force, legitimation, and service production and reproduction become concrete. The police, in the life of the state, are one of the basic links between the state and society, and they are fundamental to the states efforts to maintain its power and authority. Police behavior is state power; the police make real, by what they do or fail to do, the intentions and interests of the state and of those groups that attempt to control the state. Put picturesquely by a practitioner:

Their reports are not read and their recommendations are resisted: the challenge for the global police policy community

The goal of reforming policing systems in transitional, conflict‐torn, and failed states has become a major focus of donor assistance projects, for without effective, efficient, equitable, and accountable policing wider social, economic, and political development is not likely to be sustained. Although a large reform literature, written by members of a global police policy community, has been generated, few long‐range improvements can be pointed out. We argue that this failure to have a stronger impact through aid and assistance has resulted mainly from the priority of donor over recipient interests, lack of knowledge about policing, non‐appreciation of the complexities of local security conditions, and the inability to link conceptual advice to the practicalities of implementation. We suggest some changes in how policing reforms should be approached.

Emerging liability issues in the implementation and adoption of community oriented policing

The adoption of community oriented policing (COP) is likely to have an impact on patterns of civil liability claims filed against police departments and officers. We hypothesize that COP practices may lead to an increase in civil liability claims by expanding the scope of police responsibilities and roles and by altering patterns of police citizen interactions which, in turn, could affect the clarity and uses of three legal standards which support civil liability claims: negligence in state tort claims, “color of law” under Section 1983, and the “legal duty” standard. We call for further research and suggest some managerial strategies to avoid the eventualities presented.