International Edition Volume 3 (2013)
"Police Science"
A programmatic analysis of how police science stands in the German-speaking world
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Joachim Kersten
Police science in the German-speaking world is a young discipline and typically has a "hybrid" status, rather than a homogenous research structure. I will return to this metaphor at the end of the paper in the context of the current debate on "Tides and currents in police theories" (Journal of Police Studies 2012). "Polizeiwissenschaft" (police science) in the German-speaking world differs fundamentally from Anglo-American police science (otherwise known as police studies) for reasons related both to contemporary history and culture. This paper outlines both those reasons and the findings of international police science research with reference to a number of a key studies, since greater attention should also be paid to these in police science in the German-speaking world. This paper is concluded with an excursus on the topic of politics and violence.
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Europe’s Changing Police Forces
Comparative police studies in the European Union
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Mario Gruschinske, Nathalie Hirschmann, Susanne Stein-Müller
The following paper presents the COMPOSITE (COMparative POlice Studies In The EU) project. It gives an overview of the project structure, the project partners and project goals, as well as preliminary findings. The COMPOSITE project, supported by the European Commission as part of the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development, sets out to investigate change processes in Europe’s police forces and to identify what factors contribute to the success or failure of such processes. Police forces in ten European countries are being studied in detail over a period of four years. The research findings are designed not only to serve the academic community, but also to find practical application in the implementation of training materials and diagnostic instruments.
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New Training for Spotters
Development of international training standards
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Ireen Christine Winter, Bernhard Jäger, Pamela Geissler
Spotters are regularly used at football and ice hockey matches and play an important role in the operational tactics of the police. Austrian spotters work in close proximity to fan scenes and enter into open dialogue with supporters before, during and after large sporting events to prevent security-related incidents involving problem fans. However, until now there has been a lack of national training programmes and uniform training guidelines for spotters. For that reason, in the present comparative study a comprehensive analysis of the current situation in Austria and in five other European countries has been carried out, and professional training and further training standards for spotters have been drawn up in an European Best Practice Manual, which is expected to be used as the model for developing Austrian training for spotters in 2013.
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Peer Support – Support for Stressfull Events in the Austrian Police Force
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Angelika Schäffer, Elisabeth Schneider
In their everyday work police officers are repeatedly exposed to situations that not only represent a threat to their physical, but also to their mental state. In 1994 the Psychological Service of the Ministry of the Interior established the project "Support for Firearms Use" (= post-shooting), which in 2006 became "Peer Support" – support for stressful events at work. At the University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt three students of the course "Police Leadership" dealt with this new project intensively. Issues such as the confidentiality of the conversations, the question of whether the peer support offer is sufficient and helpful and colleagues’ general expectations of the project are considered.
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Trafficking in Human Beings
An ongoing problem for the EU’s law enforcement community
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Maria O´Neill
The Trafficking of Human Beings (THB) is a core business of international criminal organisations. It is seen as a relatively low risk/high reward crime. The EU’s legal provisions for dealing with THB are currently undergoing a radical reform. The new directive is to be in place in national laws by April 2013. Putting the provisions of the directive into practice will have a substantial impact on both undercover and uniformed police operations, and the development of effective interaction between the two. In addition, the G8’s Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has highlighted the fact that the investigative culture of focusing on the predicate offence, at the expense of its allied money laundering offences, is a “recurrent obstacle” in many jurisdictions. All of these issues will have a significant impact on police organisational structures as, it is arguable, the working relationship between covert and uniformed policing, to include the relevant Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), will have to be tighter than might traditionally be the case, say, during a drug trafficking operation. This paper, written by an EU laywer, examines these issues from a law enforcement perspective.
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The Prevention Monitor
Results of an Austria-wide survey on fear of crime and experiences of crime victims
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Gerald Furian, Matthias Gaderer, Patrik Manzoni
The population’s subjective sense of safety and fears of crime have become an increasingly hot topic in scientific circles and the wider public in recent years. Periodic surveys with consistent methodology had previously only been carried out in Austria. The Austrian Road Safety Board in conjunction with the Zurich University of Applied Sciences developed the "Prevention Monitor", a representative survey repeated at regular intervals. The first wave of the survey was carried out in 2011. In international comparison, Austria is in the lower midrange in terms of fear of crime. Around a quarter of those surveyed reported feeling "very" or "a bit" unsafe when out alone in their neighbourhood after dark. Avoidance behaviour in given situations, such as avoiding certain areas or avoiding public transport because of fear of crime, was chiefly observed among women. Despite an actual improvement in the crime statistics of crimes reported, Austrians tend to take a pessimistic view of crime trends, which indicates the need for further research into media influence. Victims of common offences (attempted or successful burglary, fraud, physical attacks) are most frequently young men living in urban areas.
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Rare Earths and their Use in High Security Printing
Security pigments out of rare earths and the anti-Stokes luminescence with rare earths in high-security printing at OeSD
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Anna Maria Findeisen, Stephan Aigner
Security and identity are catchwords associated with the printing company, Österreichische Staatsdruckerei (OeSD), for more than 200 years. Since as far back as the days of the Dual Monarchy products of the security printing field of the printing industry have been an important ingredient for the functioning of our society. Österreichische Staatsdruckerei products – such as passports, visas, residence permits, driving licences, ownership titles, paper money, and postage stamps – often also serve as proof of the identity of the current owner as well as having a material value. For this reason it is necessary to protect such products in particular against forgers. With built-in security features, however, the longer they are in use, the greater the likelihood of forgery and criminal abuse. In order to minimise this effect and thus also the risk of falsifications, it is essential that the high-security printing industry maintain the security features used at the cutting edge of technology through continuous research, improvements, and further development, and that the latest innovations be incorporated into the various products. This is why in 2010 OeSD established a new Research and Quality Centre that enables state-of-the-art production and guarantees the high quality of the secured products and will rise to the challenge posed by the innovation pressure facing security printing companies.
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Protection of Endangered Species
The interplay between aesthetics, law, economics and evolution
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Andreas R. Hassl
In 1982 Austria joined the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The aim of the signatory states, which presently number 175, is to protect endangered animal and plant species by restricting transnational trade in them. A complex body of regulations based on CITES has been established through several legislative acts of the European Union and national legislatures that hinders the transport of certain higher organisms, parts of them and products produced from them through bureaucratisation. The actual goal of CITES, that of reducing the removal of wild specimens from their natural habitats, is unfortunately barely discernible any more. Implementation of the increasing body of regulations causes considerable frustration, both among citizens affected by the norms, who are mostly not legal experts, and the responsible public security bodies, which tend to have little familiarity with natural history. This essay seeks to point out the points of friction between terms that are used both in the legal and biological fields but are not consistent in content, to shed light on the meaning of biological terms and to present the biological processes that are intended to be influenced by CITES. An appraisal of the prospect of succeeding in protecting plant and animal species by counteracting natural selection through trade-restricting legislation runs through the essay.
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Last update: 22 October 2024