The Importance of Reproduction in Evidence Based Policing: A Comment

In the following comment, the author examines the importance of reproduction in evidence based policing. Moreover, she argues that failure to reproduce studies – including through the use of varied methodologies – is antithetical to the development of a solid evidence base upon which to ground effective and efficient community safety practices

The Economics of Policing Research

In 2012, provincial, territorial and federal governments of Canada reached consensus on an important policy issue: public policing costs were escalating and something needed to be done about ‘the economics of policing’. They also discovered that, as a result of the federal government’s chronic defunding of policing research, they had very little Canadian knowledge upon which to draw. The focus of the present paper is on how both the ‘economics of policing’ crisis, and policy-makers’ inability to utilize domestic research to resolve it, were generated by successive governments sharing an ideologically-informed view of the relative importance of criminal justice research

The Implications of Misinformation for Public Order Policing

On September 8th, 2022, Dr. Laura Huey, a professor of Sociology at the University of Western Ontario, presented on The Implications of Misinformation for Public Order Policing. The presentation was followed by a question-and-answer period with questions from the audience and CASIS-Vancouver executives. The key points discussed in Dr. Huey’s presentation highlighted the risks and effects of misinformation around policing and how they can quickly spiral globally and have harmful effects on the police force’s reputation and police officers

What Do We Know About In-service Police Training? Results of a Failed Systematic Review

To learn more about what the social scientific research literature can tell us about ‘what works’ in the field of in-service police training, the author attempted to conduct a systematic review of the recent published research on this topic (2000-2015). After initially narrowing the search results to 21 studies, the review had to be abandoned because there was an insufficient number of studies on any one topic or training technique. The author reflects on what this failed review means from the standpoint of the possible economic and social costs of potentially ineffective and inefficient in-service training

What is Known About the Impacts of Supervised Injection Sites on Community Safety and Wellbeing? A Systematic Review

To learn more about what the social scientific research literature can tell us about the impacts of supervised injection sites (SIS, also known as ‘safer injection sites’ and ‘drug consumption rooms’) on local community safety and wellbeing, the author conducted a systematic review of the recent published research on SISs and their relationships to issues of crime, disorder and non-user public health (2000-2018). After initial searches were conducted, thirteen studies were selected and reviewed, the results of which were then synthesized to answer the research questions posed. Overall findings indicate there are no appreciable increases in crime and disorder following the implementation of a SIS, nor are there increased risks to the health of the local community (in the form of increased unsafely disposed needles and syringes)

What One Might Expect: A Scoping Review of the Canadian Policing Research Literature

Using the medium of a scoping review, the author provides an analysis of the Canadian policing research literature published over the past ten years (2006-2015). What this analysis reveals is both expected and unexpected. In line with public views expressed by a number of sources (academics, policy-makers and police), the overall volume of literature produced during this period was low (some 188 (n=188) papers were identified). However, in contrast to the belief expressed by some that the Canadian policing literature is overly theoretical and largely qualitative, the bulk of studies examined (n=123) were quantitative, and eighteen (n=18) were experimental or quasi- experimental in design. Of more critical import, however, is the issue of overall production and lack of coverage of key policing topics. Gaps in topic coverage are explored here, with some key recommendations offered for improving Canadian output

Street Checks: What the Literature Doesn’t Tell Us

In this paper I provide a brief review of the limited research on the police practice of street checks

Access to Justice as a Component of Citizenship: Reconsidering Policing Services for Canada’s Homeless

Due to their vulnerability on the streets, it has been frequently reported that the homeless experience high rates of harassment and criminal victimization. And yet, reports of such victimization are rarely made to the police. Failure to report crime has often been conceptualized as a problem for law enforcement, policy makers and social scientists (Skogan 1984). We conceptualize the failure to notify authorities as to the experience of criminal victimization by homeless men, women and youth as a problem directly linked to their status as ‘lesser citizens’, individuals and groups who are more often viewed as the criminal element to be protected from, than as citizens who need the protection of the state and its mechanisms of justice (Huey 2007; Hermer 2007). What we explore within the present study is a possible avenue for reconstituting marginalized crime victims as citizens equally worthy of access to justice

Another Digital Divide: Cybersecurity in Indigenous Communities

The Indigenous ‘digital divide’ relates to community-level disparities in access and use of online technologies, a prominent public policy issue that federal governments have attempted to address. Following from such efforts is an expected increase in communication and other technologies. However, concurrently, cybersecurity becomes a matter warranting consideration, as increased access means increased exposure to online harms for which many Indigenous communities may lack awareness, education, and prevention skills. To offer key insights relevant to this matter, this study conducted a systematic review of research pertaining to Indigeneity and cybersecurity issues. Findings show that critical subject areas, such as human trafficking and cyberbullying, are starkly under-researched and small in study volume. It was also discovered that there is very little diversity in research topics, rendering the research base narrow in scope. From these findings, this study concludes with several critical areas for future research and evaluation, as is necessary for public policy and prevention-oriented initiatives

‘Questions about Dawlah. DM me, plz.’ The Sock Puppet Problem in Online Terrorism Research

This paper explores the problem of deception in online terrorism research. While conducting research into the growing phenomenon of female migration to Islamic State-held territory by Western females, we began following a Twitter account exhibiting suspicious activity. The account owner – believed to be a Canadian teenage female – indicated interest in learning more about joining the IS. We tracked this account for three weeks in order to discover more information about its activities and thus to develop a set of key indicators that might help predict future migration risk. We subsequently learned it was a fake account (‘sock puppet’) established to fool IS recruiters. The operation of such ruses and the problems they create is discussed here