Suchergebnisse

AbstractDrawing upon seven years of police calls for service data (2014–2020), this study examined the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on calls involving persons with perceived mental illness (PwPMI) using a Bayesian Structural Time Series. The findings revealed that PwPMI calls did not increase immediately after the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020. Instead, a sustained increase in PwPMI calls was identified in August 2020 that later became statistically significant in October 2020. Ultimately, the analysis revealed a 22% increase in PwPMI calls during the COVID-19 pandemic than would have been expected had the pandemic not taken place. The delayed effect of the pandemic on such calls points to a need for policymakers to prioritize widely accessible mental health care that can be deployed early during public health emergencies thus potentially mitigating or eliminating the need for increased police intervention, as was the case here.

AbstractIn recent years, police services have begun deploying more robust responses to calls for service involving persons with perceived mental illness (PwPMI), but at times do so in a limited capacity because of various challenges. Drawing from established evidence-based policing practices, a more efficient use of these responses may be to proactively deploy them instead, focusing their efforts on hot spots of PwPMI calls. Unfortunately, little is known about PwPMI call concentrations. Therefore, this study seeks to contribute to the literature by not only examining the concentration of these calls within a small city, but also by introducing new methods and a new measure of concentration to the literature. Drawing on 6 years of calls for service data, the results reveal that a high proportion of PwPMI calls are concentrated in few spatial units—more so than in larger jurisdictions. Further analyses also reveal dispersion of these concentrations.

Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada, recently called for an examination on firearm legislation and for research evidence on best practices to curb gun violence. He also publicly discussed the need to look at the best available evidence to make decisions about firearms in Canada. In light of this, a systematic review of Canadian firearms research was initially attempted; however, searches yielded few results. Given this fruitless finding, a systematic scoping review was conducted of all peer-reviewed, empirical research on firearms in Canada from January 2000 to December 2018 to determine what is the nature and scope of the firearms literature in Canada, as well as what the research findings indicate. Results of the review revealed that the overall volume of peer-reviewed, empirical literature produced during this 18-year period was exceptionally low. In addition, we found significant gaps in the literature, which can impede any future 'evidence-based' approach to firearms in Canada. We discuss these gaps and propose directions for future research to produce better informed Canadian gun policy.

Abstract
Recent discussions around police reform have acquired a significant degree of traction. Within these discussions have been calls to remove the police as primary responders to calls involving persons with perceived mental illness (PwPMI). While previous research shows that ∼1% of all calls for service involve PwPMI, limitations around police data recording practices likely mask the true proportion of PwPMI within and across calls for service. Accordingly, following manual review and text search of qualitative data appended to all calls for service made to a Canadian police service in 2019, we sought to identify the true proportion of calls for police service that involve PwPMI and predict the extent to which PwPMI are involved within and across different call classifications. Our findings reveal that while the 'Mental Health' call classification only comprised 0.9% (n = 397) of calls for service, PwPMI were in fact involved in 10.8% (n = 4,646) of calls. Furthermore, logistic regression models reveal that PwPMI are more likely to be involved in certain call classifications relative to others. Implications for police practice and reform are discussed.

Chapter 1. Calling the Cops: What do we know about the policing of individuals with mental illness (and what should we know)? -- Chapter 2. The public safety role -- Chapter 3. Crime prevention and response role -- Chapter 4. Police attitudes towards their role in dealing with mental health issues -- Chapter 5. At the crossroads.

Abstract
Policing has become a shared endeavour among a variety of community stakeholders. Citizens are expected to take on a more active role in securing their own safety. Volunteers are one particular group that has been marshalled to become an essential part of policing. In Canada, volunteers work alongside police officers as auxiliary members and assist in a wide range of activities, such as victim support, safety campaigns, community events, and patrol. Despite auxiliary members actively participating in policing duties, we know little about their experiences or motivations for volunteering. This article presents the results of a survey conducted with auxiliary police personnel at a police service in Canada and discusses their roles and tasks, perceived quality of and ways to improve their experiences, and motivations to volunteer. We conclude by discussing how police services could enhance auxiliary members' experiences and better integrate this group into regular police officer recruitment efforts.