Does police size matter? A review of the evidence regarding restructuring police organisations

Hakala

Nordisk politiforskning

2017

The social context and the operational environment of the police has changed considerably around the world. Recently, that change has necessitated a restructuring in the Finnish police education. This reform is based on the belief that a higher level of education and a greater focus on research will lead to better professional skills and an increased ability to perform in the workplace. In this article, we examine the views of the staff of the Finnish Police University College on research, development and innovation activities (RDI) in the light of a survey answered by the staff. We pay special attention to the connection between the teacher's level of different skill areas and the experienced usefulness of RDI activities from an educational point of view. On the basis of the results, RDI activities are broadly understood to concern the whole staff. The study also shows that both the teachers' experienced RDI skills and their pedagogical skills for higher education are positively connected to their views on the experienced benefit of RDI activities. Indeed, if RDI provide the means to develop the police profession, then it is important that the related skills and the ability to transfer them are strengthened.

Section: Significance Of Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modernizing the Police with Research, Developmentand Innovation Activities

Hakala

Nordisk politiforskning

2017

“…The significant dynamics of social processes, economic instability, the need to constantly adapt to changes lead to an increased scientific and practical interest in the problem of overcoming the stress associated with the professional activity (Mendel, Fyfe & Den Heyer, 2017;Ostapovich et al, 2020). The specialists in high-risk professions (police officers, emergency response groups, miners, military officers) perform their duties under extreme conditions, and they are in a state of physical and mental stress for a considerable amount of time that can adversely affect their somatic and psychological health.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coping Behavior of Criminal Police Officers at Different Stages of Professional Activity

Fedorenko

Dotsenko

Okhrimenko

et al. 2020

BRAIN

The results of the investigation of the peculiarities of the coping behavior and mechanisms of psychological protection of police officers at different stages of professional activity are presented in the article. The study involved 65 criminal police officers, who were divided into two groups depending on the length of service: the first group included 30 policemen of the initial professional training who were just accepted for a job in criminal police units, their length of service was 3 months (46.2%); the second group consisted of 35 officers of criminal police units with 5-15 years of service experience (53.8%). Research methods: theoretical methods involved the analysis and generalization of the provisions of social and psychological literature, classification; the empirical methods-psychodiagnostic test methods, including the questionnaire called "Professional Burnout", the questionnaire for coping strategies, the questionnaire of Life Style Index. The majority of the police officers of both groups were determined to have a low level of professional burnout. It was diagnosed that when solving complex problems, police officers use similar copings (problem-solving planning, self-control, search for social support, careful actions) and the same mechanisms of psychological defense against stress (rationalization, projection, and objection) at different stages of professional activity. A number of statistically significant correlations were found between occupational burnout rates and psychological defense mechanisms and copings.

“…Since the 1970th, the victimization surveys have been conducted annually or regularly (each 2 or 3 years) in a number of countries such as the US, UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Russian Federation, etc. and worldwide under the auspices of the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) (Hashima & Finkelhor, 1999;Mendel et al, 2017;Van Dijk et al, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitude of Young People to the Criminality Problem in Ukrainian Postmodern Society

Kryvolapchuk¹,

Kulyk²,

Barko³

et al. 2020

The research paper contains key findings of the random monitoring survey of the Ukrainian students covering the period 2002-2017, in the course of which it was explored the attitude of young people to the problems of crime and the police's activities aimed at counteracting it in the city (Kyiv). The analysis of the survey findings allowed to identify the level of students' fear to become victims of certain types of crime, a degree of their victimization in general and their fear to suffer from particular crimes, their assessments of the character of crime dynamics in the city and the police's activities, to learn the opinions on the situation with personal security at a given time and in future. Among the trends identified in the course of the research are a high level of the respondents' fear to become a victim of violent and most spread minor offences; high level of their victimization that distinctly decreased in recent years; prevailing negative assessments of the crime dynamics, assessment of the police's activities and trust to it as unsatisfactory irrespective of the improvements in these indicators in the recent three years, prevailing negative assessment of the situation with personal security and positive expectations in relation to the changes in future.