Witnesses to and victims of serious crime are normally asked to describe the appearance of a criminal suspect, using a Cognitive Interview (CI), and to construct a facial composite, a visual representation of the face. Research suggests that focusing on the global aspects of a face, as opposed to its facial features, facilitates recognition and…

Accreditation and public safety are vital issues for colleges, but rarely do they put the two together. The International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators is trying to change that. The group, known as Iaclea, started accrediting colleges' police and public-safety departments last year, holding them to a strict set of standards.…

Prior research demonstrates negative consequences of racism, however, little is known about community, parenting, and intrapersonal mechanisms that protect youth. Using a mixed-methods approach, this study illuminated linkages between positive and negative contextual influences on rural African American adolescent outcomes. Quantitative results…

In the aftermath of any disaster, natural or otherwise, stories of men and women reaching out to help one another abound. Whether it's the courage and training of first responders--police officers and firefighters--that leads to the rescue of a marooned family, the expert work of doctors and nurses that saves a life on the operating table, or the…

A study is presented of two methods of resolving personal and family disputes by police in low income housing projects and by precinct crisis intervention units. In addition to the analysis of the variables that make for disputes in which police are called upon to intervene, the study addressed itself to an examination of general police…

This document is a transcript of a public review held by California's Senate to examine the adequacy of existing training requirements and the selection standards for school police. The various speakers for this hearing focused on: (1) existing standards; (2) how school districts currently meet their safety personnel needs; and (3) what changes,…

Examined the social, psychological and temporal dimensions of "disturbance calls" and evaluated effects of crisis intervention training on 64 patrol officers. Found that trained officers tended to rate their handling of cases more positively, and citizens gave more favorable evaluations of the services provided by trained officers.…

This article presents 20 reasons why it is usually easy for police to get confessions from individuals with mental retardation. It urges that police training be seen as everyone's responsibility and that individuals with mental retardation be prepared for possible police interrogation. (DB)

In Brattleboro (Vermont), adventure activities contributed to efforts of the police department to move to a more cooperative model of community policing. Adventure-based workshops helped officers to build unified teams with common goals and develop trust, empathy, and communication skills, while police-sponsored adventure activities forged links…

A study involving police officers in Western Australia (n=138) and Pennsylvania (n=168) revealed that officers responded differently to crimes involving persons with mental retardation. In some cases, police were more tolerant of the disability, in others they were less tolerant. Response patterns were not different for Australian and Pennsylvania…

The public's views about behaviors that should be crimes, behaviors that should come under the control of the police, and the public's view of how the police spend their time are examined. A telephone questionnaire survey was conducted with a random sample of 250 persons in San Diego (California). Over 98% of the respondents believed that the…

It's called Multimedia Instruction for Law Enforcement (MILE), and the Los Angeles Police Department is using it to train recruits more effectively and in less time than traditional classroom instruction. (Author)

The need for public support of each nation's police force and law enforcement systems is cited. (JB)