The purpose of this special issue is to explore the multifaceted nature of police staffing issues and presentinnovative solutions that can be adapted globally and locally. By bringing togetherleading researchers and practitioners, this edition seeks to provide evidence-basedinsights and strategies to help police departments navigate the current staffing landscapeeffectively. Read More
This PSO Perspective summarizes and extends lessons from our research, “Reframing the Police Staffing Challenge: A Systems Approach to Workforce Planning and Managing Workload Demand,” appearing in Vol. 18 of Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice. It highlights the advantages and disadvantages of referring to the current police staffing situation as a crisis, and how, by instead considering it a dynamic challenge, a systems approach offers evidence-based guidance for addressing it. Read More
The purpose of this special issue, The Police Staffing Crisis: Evidence-Based Approaches for Building, Balancing and Optimizing Effective Workforces, is to help unpack the dynamic staffing challenge, examine many of its component parts, and offer lessons to advance the science and practice of police workforce planning. It features work by global, thought-leading researchers and practitioners, many of whom collaborate on research and outreach as part of the Michigan State University Police Staffing Observatory (https://cj.msu. edu/research-excellence/pso/pso-home.html). While each of the 15…
Police agencies face myriad staffing challenges. Among these are changing preferences for police work, training officers for increasingly complex environments, diversifying police workforces to reflect the communities they serve, and ensuring officer wellness. Perhaps the most pressing of these, as reported by agencies themselves, is the need to maintain force levels by balancing recruitment and retention. Citing decreasing numbers of applicants and increasing numbers of retirements or other departures from the field, many police agencies report being understaffed. This, in…
Policing agencies in the United States and elsewhere continue to face staff shortages. Calls for greater diversity and different skills among police officers further complicate staffing efforts. Attempts to address these issues typically focus on recruitment and retention. This oversimplifies the problems and leads to piecemeal solutions. We draw on multiple threads of staffing research and field experience to highlight lessons for building effective police workforces. We illustrate the interconnected nature of staffing allocation, workload demand, performance objectives, staff supply…
This article discusses how a police agency can become a learning organization for recruitment. First, it reviews some recent issues and initiatives in recruiting. Second, it discusses recruiting in the context of becoming a learning organization. Third, it reviews how one agency has applied the principles of a learning organization to its own recruiting work. Finally, it identifies some lessons for agencies interested in applying principles of a learning organization. Read More
An important recent trend is the increased role of social media influencers in facilitating the trade. Influencers are regarded as trusted opinion leaders in their online communities, so their views matter to followers. Rights holders leverage this trust by offering products to influencers who can help promote them. However, some complicit influencers promote the illicit wares whilst reassuring potentially susceptible followers that buying counterfeits is both rational and acceptable. Previous research commissioned by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) focused on…
Online marketplaces have developed over the past 20 years into a vigorous, innovative and hugely successful industry. It supports large corporations and empowers emerging entrepreneurs by connecting them with customers across the globe. However, there is a dark side to this success: it also facilitates the trade in counterfeit goods. In contrast to other facilitative industries, such as logistics and payment providers, online marketplaces attract special attention because the visibility of the counterfeits in their shop windows create obvious opportunities…
Police officer recruitment and selection are challenging, yet vitally important contributors to police accountability and establishing a trusted relationship with the community. To help police leaders make informed decisions, researchers at Michigan State University reviewed existing literature and compiled this guide to current resources on law enforcement staffing. The guide presents summaries of publications describing innovative strategies and rigorously tested recruitment and selection tactics in a format that is concise and accessible. All information is cross tabulated on an easy-to-read…
Product counterfeiting is a large and global economic crime that causes significant economic, social and personal harms. Facilitated by the efficiency and convenience of e-commerce, finding and buying counterfeits have never been easier. Going beyond product listings on websites, counterfeiters are now using sophisticated marketing techniques to promote their illicit wares. This includes employing deviant social media influencers who violate social norms and the law to peddle counterfeit goods via channels such as YouTube and Instagram. However, very little is…
Policing: An International Journal
U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services
Edward Elgar Publishing
***WINNER OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY DIVISION ON WHITE-COLLAR AND CORPORATE CRIME OUTSTANDING BOOK AWARD***
Policing: An International Journal
Policing: A Journal of Police and Practice
U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services
