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The offender's journey to crime has attracted much attention in mobility triangle research, whereas the journey to victimization and the spatial distance between the offender's and the victim's residences have been relatively less examined. This research fills this gap in the literature by examining spatial comparisons of variations in journey to crime, journey to victimization, and the distance between victim's and suspect's residences for five types of offenses. Crime data from the Houston Police Department from 2010 to 2013 were used to analyze the mobility triangle in five types of crime. The results show that the dynamics of travel pattern vary by demographic characteristics of the suspects and victims. It is also contingent on the types of crime. The proximity of offender's and victim's residences is closely related to the chance of crimes. The findings provide important implications for theory, policy and policing practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Community Justice Assistance Division (CJAD) requested a task analysis to validate its probation officer certification examination. Survey data from 361 community supervision officers and 91 agency directors was used to aid in identifying the frequency and criticality of tasks performed on a statewide basis. Data provided insight regarding the role of community supervision officers. The key finding is that the individual officer's role is dominated by monitoring/control/enforcement, while structured counseling is out-sourced to contracted social development organizations. Contracted services are best characterized as an agency rather than officer function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Police response time to calls for service is a crucial factor in evaluation of police performance. While domestic violence is now considered serious interpersonal violence, factors associated with response time to domestic violence incidents are underexplored. Using hierarchical linear modeling, over 10,000 cases of calls for service for domestic violence across 438 census tracts in Houston, Texas, were examined. The result of multilevel analysis revealed that complainant’s race, weapon involvement, and day and time of incidents were associated with response time at the situational level. At the neighborhood level, concentrated disadvantage, immigration concentration, and residential stability were significantly associated with response time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore whether the relation between police transformational leadership and organizational commitment is mediated by organizational culture. Drawing on the competing values framework (Quinn, 1988), four types of cultural orientations (group, developmental, hierarchical, and rational) are analyzed. Design/methodology/approach – In total, 358 South Korean police officers are surveyed. Using competing values as multiple mediators, a parallel four mediator model is estimated. Bias-corrected bootstrapping methods are employed to consider the small sample size, as well as the possible non-normal distribution of specific indirect effects. Findings – The linkage between transformational leadership and commitment appears to be fully mediated by group culture. Interestingly, multiple individual officer characteristics, duty type, and departmental size do not impact respective constructs overall. Research limitations/implications – The use of cross-sectional data hinders causal ordering among constructs included. Practical implications – Given the full mediation relationships among the three constructs, it is advisable to develop more nuanced leadership training programs optimized for fostering “considerate and supportive leaders” who have been known to impact group culture. Originality/value – Including two understudied police organizational correlates (i.e. transformational leadership and organizational culture), this study accounts for the mediating role of organizational culture in the transformational leadership-commitment link with multiple variables frequently used in previous research being controlled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Police factor in extra-legal as well as legal context in their decision to arrest a suspect. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of extra-legal factors at both situational and neighborhood levels. Design/methodology/approach – Using hierarchical generalized linear modeling, over 9,000 domestic violence cases across 421 census tracts in Houston, Texas were examined. Situational information was derived from police reports, and neighborhood factors were measured by population characteristics drawn from the US Census Bureau. The model also controls for spatial autocorrelation of arrest rates between census tracts in the estimation of officer's arrest decision. Findings – At the neighborhood level, concentrated disadvantage and immigration concentration had positive effect on the odds of arrest. At the situational level, the time of day, day of the week, premise type, and gender and racial relations between suspect and complainant, along with offense type and weapons use, had significant impact. Originality/value – The scant literature has not yet provided an affirmative set of extra-legal factors affecting police arrest decision. The paper's findings may contribute to the literature and suggest the need for guidelines concerning officer discretion exercised in the line of duty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple regression and data available through the World Values Survey (2009; http://www. worldvaluessurvey.org/index_funding) were employed to analyse the impact of mass media on public confidence in Thailand's legal authorities. Media consumption was measured by survey responses pertaining to exposure to daily newspapers, radio and television news broadcasts, in-depth radio and television reports, and the internet or email. In addition, levels of public confidence in the police and courts in Thailand were compared with five other Asian countries: China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam. Findings indicate that extent of exposure to mass media was positively associated with confidence in the Thai legal authorities. In addition, although the level of public confidence in the courts was the highest in Thailand compared with other democratic Asian countries, the nation ranked second lowest regarding public confidence in the police. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The majority of the previous research on hot spots policing focuses on a single set of relatively small selected experimental areas. However, given limited resources, most law enforcement agencies dispatch hot spots intervention units to several areas on a rotation basis. The purpose of this paper is to examine policing activities in hot spots to determine if the various types of crimes were affected when deployment was applied on a rotation basis. Design/methodology/approach – This study uses data from the Dallas Police Department. The differential influence of police activities, including stops, citations, and arrests, are observed against a number of aggregate crime measures (i.e. violent, property, nuisance offenses, and total index crimes). The impact of police activities have been observed for their immediate and lagged effects during the following week to measure residual deterrence effects. Findings – It was found that the DPD's Disruption Unit's hot spots policing immediately affected violent crimes, nuisance offenses, and total index crimes, while there were no residual effects of hot spots policing. The Disruption Unit was engaged in policing activities that include motor vehicle and pedestrian stops, issuing citations, and making arrests. Among these activities, the number of police stops was the most significant factor for the reduction in violent crime and nuisance offenses. Research limitations/implications – The researchers use a patrol sector as a unit of analysis in order to compare the influence of various types of police activities on crime across a broader area. Future research should consider using an intermediate geographic unit of analysis (e.g. patrol beat). Originality/Value – The paper examines the differential influence of policing activities on different types of crime around hot spots when deployment was applied on a rotation basis. Both immediate and lagged effects were investigated to find residual deterrence effects of hot spots policing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of police job satisfaction show consistent findings that work-related variables have greater effects than personal demographic factors. Despite the cumulative knowledge about the sources of police officers' job satisfaction, there exist several limitations, including the applicability of the findings drawn from Western studies to the Asian context and differences in the determinants of job satisfaction across organisational subgroups. This study contributes to current literature by examining both phenomena: (1) whether work-related factors dominate for South Korean police officers, and (2) whether determinants of job satisfaction vary across type of duty. Using a sample of 341 Korean police officers, this study found that work-related variables indeed had stronger effects than demographic on job satisfaction in the sample. However, the determinants of job satisfaction differ between patrol officers and clerical officers. Although perceptions of pay and commitment have significant effects on job satisfaction for both groups, autonomy, job security and citizen feedback affect only clerical officers' job satisfaction, but not patrol officers'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the mid-1990s, the index crime rate has steadily decreased while the rate for Part II offenses has increased. The current study examines these differences from 1990 to 2004 using arrest rate data from the 35 largest cities in the state of Texas. Cluster regression analyses is employed to examine the effect of city size and city location, whether the city is part of a larger metropolitan area or 'stand-alone,' to explain variation in juvenile and adult arrest rates by category of offense (violent, property, Part II) while controlling for the influence of social disorganization variables. Findings indicate that differences exist in the arrest rates for almost all types of offenses in mid-size versus very large cities. Contrasting adult versus juvenile arrest rates, city size and city location offer limited explanation for variation over time. Implications of these findings are discussed in the context of suggested policy and research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compstat as a policing strategy became popular following the significant crime reduction in New York City during the 1990s. As an innovative management strategy in policing, Compstat attracted considerable attention from scholars and police practitioners. Despite its popularity, little empirical research has scientifically evaluated the effectiveness of the Compstat strategy. In addition, few studies have concentrated on Compstat strategies implemented during the 2000s outside New York City. This study examines the effectiveness of Compstat as implemented by the Fort Worth (Texas) Police Department (FWPD). Using monthly time-series arrest and crime data over a multiyear period, the study examines whether Compstat engendered a significant increase in “broken windows” arrests (minor nuisance offenses) and, using multivariate time-series analysis, the role of the Compstat strategy in explaining changes in violent, property, and total index crimes. Findings indicate that the implementation of Compstat significantly increased some types of broken windows arrests in the FWPD whereas others decreased. Analysis indicates significant decreases in property and total index crime rates after controlling for rival factors, but fails to show a significant change in violent crime rates. If the Fort Worth strategic approach to Compstat had to be described with a single word, it would be focusing. The Queensland study of Compstat also reported using a problem-oriented intervention model—focusing—in lieu of a broken windows approach (Mazerolle, Rombouts, & McBroom, 2007). Property crime was significantly reduced in both settings. Parallel findings from two differently constituted Compstat programs on two different continents provides evidence that the primary component of the Compstat model is focusing, not broken windows enforcement, and the primary impact is on property crime. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The police academic establishment began in the United States with an emphasis on the principles approach to administration as defined by O. W. Wilson. It evolved with the field over the last 50 years. Each decade has lent distinctive characteristics to its development. Four changes are necessary for its evolution into a genuine science of policing: launching of systematic strategy research; separation of evaluation of strategy from political or social advocacy; inculcation of respect for police scientists who have preceded-particularly O. W. Wilson; and adoption of an open-minded, scientifically neutral approach to assessing what works in policing. The physical sciences provide an appropriate model in this respect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the core of community policing approaches is expanded citizen interac tion. Yet, little data exists regarding the extent and nature of citizen con tact with the police. This research examines the experiences of a random sample of Texas citizens and the effect the nature of their contact has on satisfaction with police response. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Discusses the erosion of police and firefighter wage parity. Arguments for the maintenance of parity; Agency morale; Stress among public safety workers; Supplementation of salary with overtime and outside employment; After-retirement employment opportunities; Recruitment and retention of personnel.