Search results

The aim of this paper is to examine whether accredited police agencies display higher clearance rates than their non‐accredited counterparts.

The study group consists of all municipal police departments operating continuously in the State of Florida from 1997 through 2006. Independent variables capture organizational characteristics for nearly 260 agencies to determine whether becoming accredited improves clearance rates.

Random‐effects Tobit analysis suggests that accreditation status does not affect violent and property crime clearance rates. Clearance rates are more influenced by the number of sworn personnel and law enforcement expenditures per capita.

Much of what is currently known about the impact of accreditation stems from anecdotal and testimonial evidence. Still, the industry manages to expand and flourish. A glaring need for sound empirical research is evident.

Instead of advancing the protection of local communities and bringing about meaningful organizational reform, accreditation appears to be a useful tool for bureaucrats who wish to further their own careers.

Advocates link accreditation status to a number of benefits, including better investigatory practices that culminate in more solved cases. Recent academic work suggests that accreditation has dubious benefits, despite claims to the contrary. This study adds to that literature by showing that accreditation also fails to elevate clearance rates.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the adoption of state accreditation has diffused or spread among Florida municipal police law enforcement agencies.

The study group consists of all municipal police departments operating continuously in the State of Florida from 1997 through 2006. Independent variables are taken from an annual survey, sponsored by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, to compare agencies that became accredited (n=81) with agencies that did not gain state accreditation (n=189).

While accredited agencies differ from non‐accredited agencies on a host of indicators at the zero‐order, it does not appear that the state accreditation process itself is responsible for nurturing organizational change. Having received national accreditation is an important predictor of gaining state accreditation.

Instead of looking at organizational details, future researchers might wish to conceive of accreditation as a credentialing process and concentrate on characteristics of agency leaders, especially those who are seeking upward mobility in their professional careers.

State accreditation status has reached only a small portion of the intended audience and appears to have morphed into a credential rather than an actual tool for meaningful reform.

This paper informs accreditation oversight bodies as to who their self‐selected constituents tend to be and which members of the target audience are not being reached.

Studies agency compliance with affirmative action mandate on black and/or female personnel. Examines turnover in sworn personnel in a municipal police department at Tallahassee, Florida. Looks at characteristics of “stayers” and “quitters” in the context of race and gender. Discusses possible ramifications of differential turnover. Notes pronounced attrition rate for black females. Suggests that female turnover may be due to their having a higher educational level than male officers, since college‐educated personnel are more likely to grow disenchanted with routine beat duties.

A recent entry into the police selection tools market has been the behavioral‐personnel assessment device (B‐PAD). Applicants view videotaped scenarios and are instructed to respond as if they were the officer handling the situation. Participant responses are preserved on tape for subsequent review by panels of three raters. Given the instrument’s limited reliability checks to date and literature that questions the reliability of the oral board process, the present study examines whether B‐PAD ratings are influenced by the demographic backgrounds of raters and ratees. The data were based on 113 subjects exposed to eight scenarios graded by panels of three judges. The results indicate that B‐PAD scores are independent of rater race and sex, as well as ratee race and sex. While the B‐PAD appears to be reliable and free from bias, the study cautions that a need for an independent validity check still remains.

Analyzes “use of force” reports from one municipal law enforcement agency to assess officer reliance upon Oleoresin Capsicum (OC) spray. When the agency first authorized OC, it classified OC as an impact weapon along with batons, flashlights, and stun guns. A year later, the department revised its policy and downgraded OC to the level of soft hand techniques (punches, kicks, and pain compliance). Before this policy change, social characteristics of officers and suspects had no influence on whether OC was used. New predictors emerged after the restrictions on OC were relaxed. Officers who were male, college educated, and veterans were more likely to rely upon OC than hand‐to‐hand maneuvers. In addition, officers tend to resort to pepper spray when they are at a physical disadvantage compared to the relative size of the offender. OC use does decline as suspects become more violent. Finally, the use of pepper spray significantly curtails officer and offender injuries. Discusses the implications of these findings for police organizations and further research.

The oral board interview is a common personnel assessment practice in law enforcement. While on the surface this procedure may appear suitable, there is some literature questioning its utility. Presents a study which uses data from admission interviews of police academy recruits to determine the effectiveness of this selection procedure. Although the results question the reliability of this technique, there are some distinctions between academy students who survived the oral board process and recruits who were exempt from this procedure. However, the empirical evidence compiled to date suggests that the oral board is a fallible practice that has outlasted its usefulness.

The repeat sales house price index (HPI) has been widely used to measure house price movements on the assumption that the quality of properties does not change over time. This study aims to develop a novel improvement-value adjusted repeat sales (IVARS) HPI to remedy the bias owing to the constant-quality assumption.

This study compares the performance of the IVARS model with the traditional hedonic price model and the repeat sales model by using half a million repeated sales pairs of housing transactions in the Auckland Region of New Zealand, and by a simulation approach.

The results demonstrate that using the information on improvement values from mass appraisal can significantly mitigate the time-varying attribute bias. Simulation analysis further reveals that if the improvement work done is not considered, the repeat sales HPI may be overestimated by 2.7% per annum. The more quality enhancement a property has, the more likely it is that the property will be resold.

This novel index may have the potential to enable the inclusion of home condition reporting in property value assessments prior to listing open market sales.

The novel IVARS index can help gauge house price movements with housing quality changes.

This paper aims to describe a robust empirical approach to generating plausible historically based interest rate shocks, which can be applied to any market environment. These interest rate shocks can be readily linked to movements in other key risk factors, and used to measure market risk on institutions with large fixed-income portfolios.

Using yield curve factorization, we parameterize a time series of historical yield curves and measure interest rate shocks as the historical change in each of the model’s factors. We then demonstrate how to add these parameterized shocks to any market environment, while retaining positive rates and plausible credit spreads. Given a set of shocked interest rate curves, joint risk factor movements are calculated based upon historical, reduced form dependencies.

Our approach is based upon yield curve parameterization and requires a parsimonious yet flexible factorization model. In the process of selecting a model, we evaluate three variants of the Nelson–Siegel approach to yield curve approximation and find that, in the current low interest rate environment, a 5-factor parameterization developed by Björk and Christensen (1999) is best suited for accurately translating historical interest rate movements into plausible, current period shocks.

An accurate measure of market risk can help to inform institutions about the amount of capital needed to withstand a series of adverse market events. A plausible set of shocks is required to ensure market value, and cash flow projections are indicative of meaningful market sensitivities.

The purpose of this cross-national study is to evaluate the communality and differences in experiences and policy responses in the run up to the 2007-2009 credit crisis and during its critical early stages in Germany, Ireland and the UK. The importance of shared cognitive illusions regarding the power and stability of financial markets is emphasised.

A multiple case study approach is used which draws on publicly available information to trace developments leading up to bank failures (or near failures) and the evolution of government responses drawing upon alternative paradigms used to justify State intervention.

Findings emphasise the role of state regulatory bodies and their response to the crisis as a primary source of the “rules of the game” in financial markets, here it is the “game of bank bargains” and a potential source of repair. Given the degree of interconnectedness, opacity and complexity of financial markets investors/politicians/regulators will fall victim to cognitive biases which affect their decisions.

This case study method allows identification of patterns in decision-makers’ behaviour and yields richer insights than a quantitative approach but is limited in its generalisability.

This paper offers practical implications in suggesting that a pivotal step in effective crisis management requires directly addressing sources of uncertainty, namely, time pressure, complexity and opacity of underlying cause–effect relationships, empowering decision-makers to act responsibly.

This paper is novel in its illustration of the collective cognitive paradigm for justifying regulatory action across three countries using six case studies.

Although typologies of violence have become more common, relatively little attention has been given to Donald Black’s (1983) distinction between moralistic and predatory violence. Moralistic violence is rooted in conflict; predatory violence is rooted in exploitation. We elaborate Black’s typology and show how it is similar to, but distinct from, other typologies of violence. We also address the criteria by which typologies of any kind might be judged. Borrowing from the literatures on typologies and on standards of scientific theory, we argue that explanatory typologies should be evaluated according to four criteria: the degree to which they are powerful, theoretical, general, and parsimonious. Applying the criteria to Black’s typology, we argue that the distinction between moralistic and predatory violence is an important contribution to the arsenal of the student of violence.