Police

In order to solve homicides, there are a number of important factors that contribute to the police’s likelihood of success, such as the amount of time the investigation requires, the presence of witnesses and witness cooperation, the type of weapon, and the relationship between the offender and the victim. Some of these issues are more … Read more

Police-reported crime statistics include frequency of criminal incidents, the severity of incidents, and the solve rate of incidents (Statistics Canada, 2011). These statistics are collected nationally on a monthly basis from over 1,200 different police departments in Canada, and are used to determine the overall crime and clearance rates annually reported to the public in … Read more

This report is in response to a request from the RCMP’s E Division Professional Standards Unit to conduct a statistical review of Code of Conduct allegations against RCMP members in British Columbia. Specifically, the request was to describe the nature and extent of recent Code of Conduct allegations against RCMP members in British Columbia. The … Read more

There is no shortage of police science literature focusing on the patrol vehicle. While considerable research has been devoted to the crime reduction effect of patrol in general, the examination of one versus two manned vehicles, the color scheme of patrol cars, and even the feasibility of converting to propane, there is an absence of … Read more

Over the past thirty years, the public has increased their demands for police services which has contributed to RCMP detachments taking on additional responsibilities. At the same time, changes in policing technologies and Canadian case law have increased the number of steps and the amount of time it takes police to perform many of their … Read more

As any general duty police officer knows, taking a break while on duty, especially for a healthy meal, is not always an easy thing to do. In fact, it is not uncommon for general duty police officers to recall shifts in which they were so busy that they did not even have time to take … Read more

General duty police officers spend a significant amount of time in their patrol cars. In a recent study for 12 the Surrey RCMP on average, officers spent approximately half (49%) of each shift in their patrol car. Of the time in their patrol vehicles, members spent nearly half of that time driving (48%) and the … Read more

Good nutrition is important to staying healthy. This is especially important if your job requires you to be physically fit. Given their mandate, police officers must have a readiness to respond quickly and sometimes lastingly to extremely taxing physical situations (Anderson and Plecas, 2008; Anderson, Plecas, & Segger, 2001). Moreover, police work can be extremely … Read more

Since 2003, auto theft has decreased substantially across Canada (Wallace, 2003; Dauvergne and Turner, 2010). In fact, auto theft has had the largest rate of decline in police-reported crime trends with a decrease of 17,000 auto thefts from 2008 to 2009 (Dauvergne and Turner, 2010). Still, over the past decade, British Columbia, and in particular … Read more

Despite training to handle the operation of motor vehicles under a variety of road, weather, and situational conditions, a substantial proportion of police vehicles are involved in collisions on an annual basis (Becker, Zaloshnja, Levick, Li, & Miller, 2003; Lundalv, Philipson, & Sarre, 2010). This is not unexpected given that police officers typically spend half … Read more