Rémi Boivin

Measuring the Impact of Police Discretion on Official Crime Statistics: A Research Note

This article examines the effect that collective bargaining had on official crime statistics compiled between 1998 and 2009 in Montreal, Canada. Police officers collectively decided to reduce their use of record-discretion on two occasions, to increase administrative workload and pressure their employers. Considerable increases of recorded assaults and mischief were observed, despite no apparent variation of reported infractions measured by calls for service. Recorded and reported car thefts and burglaries displayed no significant variation. Results suggest that observed variations can be explained in terms of temporary differential treatment of specific incidents rather than increases of reported criminality or proactive police activity. This research challenges the reliability of official statistics as measures of crime and demonstrates that external circumstances can influence police recording practices.

Nightly variation of disorder in a Canadian nightclub

Objective: This paper aims to study nightly disorder within a single bar over an extended period, in order to analyse variations across time (n = 258 nights). Methods: The security staff of a large Canadian nightclub agreed to note detailed information on every intervention in which they were involved. Bouncers wrote detailed narratives of each incident of aggression and incivility that occurred in the bar. Environmental characteristics (e.g. number of admissions and alcohol sales) were collected by one of the co-authors. Results: “Hot nights” were observed. The number of problem events was particularly high on Tuesday nights, which had the highest number of customers admitted and higher alcohol sales. The average alcohol sale per customer was also higher during long weekends, and alcohol sales were positively related to problem events. Finally, path analyses revealed that the presence of more bouncers was a deterrent. Conclusions: The level of disorder in a bar varies greatly over time. Contrary to what is often postulated, bars are not always high- or low-risk. The results strongly support responsible alcohol-serving policies and highlight the benefits of adequate surveillance.

Macrosocial Network Analysis: The Case of Transnational Drug Trafficking

The social network perspective is a fruitful way to understand criminal organizations. Most analyses are based on networks of relations between individuals or small groups of individuals. Yet contextual (or macrosocial) factors may be crucial for a complete understanding of criminal activity. This chapter aims to put criminal activity in the larger context in which it takes place. More precisely, it is argued that country-level features may complicate or facilitate legitimate business as well as criminal activities. A brief review of the literature on macrosocial network analysis and a framework for the study of transnational criminal activities are provided. Various sources of information are described and commented.

The malleability of attitudes toward the police: immediate effects of the viewing of police use of force videos

Abstract Purpose: To examine whether videos of controversial police interventions shape individual opinion and, consequently, if attitudes towards use of force are malleable in the short-term. Methodology: A self-administered survey was conducted among 248 undergraduate students as part of a larger project on attitudes towards police use of force. Two groups of respondents were asked general questions about the police: one group was shown fictional videos of controversial police interventions just prior to completing the questionnaire; the other was not. Findings: Results strongly suggest that videos of police interventions have significant effects on reported opinions about use of force: the group that watched the videos was more likely to report that the police frequently use force. Implications: The wide distribution of images by police organizations might have unexpected adverse effects on public attitudes.

Police Use-of-Force Situations in Canada Analyzing the Force or Resistance Ratio Using a Trichotomous Dependent Variable

This study is one of the few to investigate correlates of force in the Canadian context. It also investigates the existence of protective factors that decrease the level of force used by the police. A total of 1,174 self-reported uses of force are analyzed. Multinomial logistic regression models were used to identify factors related to three possibilities: The force used by the police was lower than, equal to, or higher than the level of subject resistance. The analysis reveals that the impact of individual characteristics on the correspondence between officer force and subject resistance is negligible. Also, three general patterns of relationships are found. First, the presence of a weapon helps distinguish lower-than-expected force situations. Second, the presence of a single officer, resistance toward officer(s), conflict between the subject and another citizen, and subject intoxication have linear effects, that is, the effect increases or decreases consistently. Third, for every less severe level of force that was used, cases are more likely to be in the expected than the lower-than- and in the higher-than-expected group. The findings obtained in this study are consistent with the literature, suggesting that it is reasonable to apply most conclusions from previous studies on police use of force to the Canadian context. The analysis also suggests that police use of force could be better understood as a trichotomy where the force used by the police is depicted as lower than, equal to, or higher than the level of subject resistance.

The Impact of Known Criminals on the Proportion and Seriousness of Intimate Partner Violence Incidents

This study examines a hypothesis that has not received adequate scrutiny: that an important proportion of intimate partner violence (IPV) incidents, particularly those that are more serious, involve generalist offenders known to the police. Many criminological theories and empirical studies suggest that offenders are often generalists, yet few IPV studies consider this hypothesis. Based on a sample of 52,149 IPV incidents recorded by police, we found that 31% of IPV incidents involved suspects only with criminal records for non-IPV criminality, 9% involved victims only with criminal records for non-IPV criminality, and 14% involved both suspects and victims with criminal records for non-IPV criminality. Thus, 45% of IPV offenders and 23% of IPV victims had criminal records for non-IPV criminality. Multilevel regression analyses reveal that controlling for prior IPV incidents, community context, and other individual and couple variables, IPV offenders with criminal records are 16% more likely to be involved in more serious incidents, and victims of IPV with criminal records are 17% more likely to be involved in more serious incidents. In addition, IPV incidents for which both suspects and victims had criminal records were 46% more likely to be more serious incidents. These results suggest that generalist criminals known by police have an important impact on the proportion of IPV incidents, particularly the more serious ones.

Domestic violence reported to the police: correlates of victims' reporting behavior and support to legal proceedings

This article analyzes reported incidents of domestic violence according to the source of the complaint and whether the victim initially supported judicial action against the offender. Almost three quarters of incidents studied were reported by the victim (72%), and a little more than half of victims initially wanted to press charges (55%). Using multinomial logistic regression models, situational and individual factors are used to distinguish 4 incident profiles. Incidents in which the victim made the initial report to the police and wished to press charges are the most distinct and involve partners who were already separated at the time of the incident or had a history of domestic violence. The other profiles also show important differences.

Space and Time Variations in Crime-Recording Practices within a Large Municipal Police Agency

When comparing crime rates across several locations or analysing general trends, it is usually assumed that police statistics are an imperfect, but relatively constant indicator of the phenomenon. This study delves into the possibility that this may not be the case. Multilevel models are used to analyse the recording rate of six types of offences for the 33 police districts of a large Canadian city between 2005 and 2009. Results demonstrate that geographical and time factors unrelated to the offence committed may influence a police officers decision whether or not to record certain types of offences. In some cases, official statistics do not provide a meaningful indicator of crime for comparative purposes.