This textbook addresses existing gaps in police research, education, and training, and provides guidance on how to respond to and address the vulnerability that arises in policing practice. It guides students through the conceptual and also the practical issues of managing vulnerability in policing with case studies and practitioners’ views from the UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the US, Canada, France, and beyond to the Maldives, China, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. It includes key concepts, views from the front-line, further reading and activities in each chapter. Policing Practices and Vulnerable People is aimed at researchers and practitioners working with police. While focussed on democratic policing practices, this book includes case studies and practitioners’ views from a wide range of approaches, including those from the Global South. This book provides readers with a framework that can assist them in converting conceptual knowledge to critical, ethical policing practice.

In a constantly evolving context of performance management, accountability and risk assessment, police organisations and frontline police officers are required to pay careful attention to what has come to be known as ‘at risk people’, ‘vulnerable populations’ or ‘vulnerable people’. Vulnerable people have become a key focus of policy. Concurrently, there have been stronger demands on police, and a steep increase in police powers in relation to their interaction with vulnerable people. The premise of this protectionist and interventionist agenda is threefold: to protect the rights of vulnerable individuals proactively cater for their vulnerability within the justice system; and to secure police operations and protocols within strict guidelines. This collection unpacks ‘vulnerable people policing’ in theory and practice and guides the reader through the policing process as it is experienced by police officers, victims, offenders, witnesses and justice stakeholders. Each chapter features a single step of the policing process: from police recruit education through to custody, and the final transfer of vulnerable people to courts and sentencing. This edited collection provides analytical, theoretical and empirical insights on vulnerable people policing, and reflects on critical issues in a domain that is increasingly subject to speedy conversion from policy to practice, and heightened media and political scrutiny. It breaks down policing practices, operations and procedures that have vulnerable populations as a focus, bringing together original and innovative academic research and literature, practitioner experience and discussion of policy implications (from local and international perspectives). The particular nature of this collection highlights the multi-disciplinary nature of police work, sheds light on how specific, mandatory policies guide police officers steps in their interaction with vulnerable populations, and discusses the practicalities of police decision making at key points in this process.

This edited collection brings together scholars and practitioners to consider the ways in which policing organisations approach vulnerability and the strategies they develop to reduce victims, offenders and police officers’ susceptibility to increased harm. Based on their work with policing services, the public criminologists and critical policing scholars collected together in this edited volume consider vulnerability in terms of people, processes, and institutional practices. While more attention is being paid to some experiences of vulnerability — particularly at the later stages of the criminal justice process — this collection will be the first to focus on the specific issues faced by policing services as the front end of criminal justice. The case studies of vulnerability in each chapter offer the reader new insights into the operational concerns in working with vulnerable people (including vulnerable police officers). This collection is ideally suited for scholars of applied criminal justice studies (including policing studies), police recruits and officers in training, and policing practitioners such as policy and program development officers.

This brief addresses the question of the various ways in which mental health-related issues have become police responsibility. It provides a detailed understanding of the myriad of ways in which police are often called upon to be the primary responder to mental health-related issues, well beyond the standard media images of individuals in extreme crisis. Drawing upon the results of two separate ethnographies of police practices in Canada, this volume examines how public policing has become entangled in cases of persons with mental illness (PMI). It examines two aspects of the police role and mandate that brings police officers into contact with individuals dealing with mental health disorders: public safety, and crime prevention and response. It explores police perceptions towards the roles they play in the lives of PMI, and police demands in these types of calls for service that have transformed aspects of public policing. Appropriate for policing researchers, law enforcement and public policymakers, this book presents the argument that tackling this matter requires knowledge of police involvement in situations with PMI, as well as a set of evidence-based policy options that will not generate additional resource or other strains.

This book addresses and reviews progress in a major innovative development within police work known as evidence-based policing. It involves a significant extension and strengthening of links between research and practice and is directed to the task of increasing police effectiveness in the field of community crime prevention. This volume provides an international perspective that synthesizes recent research results from the United States and other countries – including systematic reviews of large bodies of evidence – to illuminate several of the most challenging issues currently confronting police departments. It examines recent advances in research-based models of policing and the expanding base in outcome evaluation. Key areas of coverage include: Managing the nighttime economy. Supervising sex offenders. Tackling domestic/intimate partner violence. Addressing school violence and the formation of gangs. Reducing victim and witness retraction and disengagement. Responding to mental disorders, safeguarding vulnerable adults, and providing victim support. Leveraging public awareness campaigns. In addition, each chapter presents an overview of key issues within a designated area, synthesizes existing reviews, and examines the most recent research. The book clearly and concisely presents major concepts, theories, and research findings, thereby providing both conceptual and analytic tools alongside an integrated presentation of principal findings and messages. The volume concludes with a discussion of current directions in research, key developments in policing strategies, and identification of effective operational structures for facilitating and sustaining research-practice links. Evidence-Based Policing and Community Crime Prevention is a must-have resource for researchers, clinicians and other professionals, and graduate students in forensic psychology, criminology and criminal justice, public health, developmental psychology, psychotherapy and counseling, psychiatry, social work, educational policy and politics, health psychology, nursing, and behavioral therapy/rehabilitation.

This book is an in-depth, evidence-based guide to interviewing suspects with specific vulnerabilities. It provides an overview of current research, practices, and legal considerations for interviewing vulnerable suspects, incorporating guidelines regarding the identification of vulnerabilities, engaging with third parties in the interview, and training and supervision. It then goes on to cover specific vulnerabilities typically encountered in suspect populations, providing clear summaries of current research, case studies, and practical guidance for conducting interviews with these populations to facilitate best practice in interviewing. Expertise is drawn from both law enforcement practice and academic research to ensure an evidence-based approach that is relevant for contemporary practice. Interviewing Vulnerable Suspects offers the international policing audience a practical guide to interviewing vulnerable suspects for both uniform police and detectives. It is relevant for statutory bodies involved in investigations of misconduct; legal practitioners and forensic psychologists; practitioners in counselling, social work, and psychology; and students in policing, criminology, and forensic psychology programs.