Browsing by Subject "law enforcement"
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Item Item Gun Violence Prevention in Hennepin County(2023) Concepcion, Kya; McGee, Sean; Pults, Ben; Wahlberg, MaiaThrough Hennepin County’s newly created Safe Communities Division, the County partnered with a team of graduate researchers from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs to better understand gun violence within the County, as well as strengthening gun violence prevention and intervention work. Our team’s research consists of an extensive literature review that details root causes of gun violence along with current gun violence prevention and intervention methods across the country. The research incorporates a mixed-methods approach of quantitative data to identify disproportionately affected areas of gun violence in the County, as well as qualitative data vis-à-vis interviews with community leaders, nonprofit representatives, local government officials, and law enforcement officers. These data work in tandem to improve the Safe Communities Division’s work by aligning its resources with highly successful and innovative strategies. The findings suggest that the County could support several effective solutions based on the qualitative data: leverage partnerships with community partners, convene community organizations, diversify funding strategy, and build capacity.Item Improving African-American Representation in the Brooklyn Park Police Department(Resilient Communities Project (RCP), University of Minnesota, 2016) D'Haem, Dan; Jiabia, MikeThis project was completed as part of the 2016-2017 Resilient Communities Project (rcp.umn.edu) partnership with the City of Brooklyn Park. Brooklyn Park is one of the most diverse cities in Minnesota, but the Brooklyn Park Police Department currently does not reflect this diversity. To develop a police force that is more representative of city demographics, Brooklyn Park wanted to identify proven methods for recruiting more applicants of color. City of Brooklyn Park project lead, Deputy Police Chief Mark Bruley, worked with two students in Dr. Greg Lindsey’s PA 8081 capstone course to analyze available data to determine the demographics of students enrolled in police training programs in Minnesota. Based on this analysis and interviews with key stakeholders, the students recommended that Brooklyn Park examine current barriers for applicants of color, use pro-diversity messaging in recruitment, reach out to current African American police officers, and embrace diversity as a means to improve performance. The students' final report and presentation are available.Item The Other Family: How Gangs Impact Latino Families and Communities(Hispanic Advocacy and Community Empowerment through Research (HACER), 2005) Hispanic Advocacy and Community Empowerment through Research (HACER)Item Protecting the Civil Rights of Detained Immigrants in Minnesota(Minneapolis: Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, University of Minnesota., 2011) Chin, Jacob; Fennelly, Katherine; Moccio, Kathleen; Miles, Charles; Pacas, Jos� D.Item Risk Factors And Decision-Making In Potentially Injurious Motor Vehicle Activities(2023-08) Jacobs, SamObjective: Driving a motor vehicle can be a dangerous experience. Motor vehicle crashes were the leading cause of unintentional injury death for individuals aged 5-29 in the United States in 2020. The pursuit of a fleeing motor vehicle and the use of a motor vehicle crash as a method of suicide are two specific driving activities that have the potential to lead to injury; in the case of the latter, an intentional injury to the driver can result in the unintentional injury of a bystander. Previous research has examined several risk factors of both these activities, but further exploration remains. This research aims to approach these activities through the lens of hermeneutic phenomenology to mold the research questions and methods to greater explore how the world experiences or lifeworlds of individuals involved in pursuits and motor vehicle suicides may impact the decisions made leading to and during the event. Methods: Each of the three studies in this research addresses potential risk factors or influence on the phenomena of pursuits or motor vehicle crashes as a method of suicide through different methods. Semi-structured interviews with law enforcement officers (n=9), public defenders(n=9), and individuals who had fled from the police (n=20) were analyzed with a previously utilized framework to incorporate hermeneutical phenomenological analysis to identify essential themes of influences that influenced decision-making prior to and during a pursuit. A survey on perceived restrictiveness of pursuit policy was sent to the law enforcement agencies across Minnesota to be used in concert with data from the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) to understand further the relationship between perceived restrictions of a policy and the number of reported pursuits by the agency. Collected policy data for State Patrol was utilized with their incident level data to understand further the association between increased policy restrictions and the outcome of pursuits. The final study of this research utilized data from the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) to analyze the prevalence of different demographics and psychosocial circumstances that may differ within suicides utilizing motor vehicle crashes as compared to another method. Results: Findings from the interviews with officers found how policy and personal experience drive officers' decision-making when deciding to pursue and actions during the pursuit. Likewise, interviews with public defenders and offenders showed prior experience with law enforcement and their current legal situation drive the decision to flee officers, and the desired outcome of pursuits influences the decisions during the pursuit. Within pursuit policy, only policies perceived to discourage pursuits outright resulted in an impact on reported pursuits. State Patrol's policy update remained the same proportion of pursuits ending in non-initiation or law enforcement disengagement.Criminal/legal problems along with a history of suicidal attempts or thoughts and disclosure of suicidal intent were all circumstances that had a higher prevalence in motor vehicle crashes than in non-motor vehicle crash methods. History of mental health disorders, substance use/alcohol abuse, physical health problems, family/friend death, and job/financial problems all were more prevalent in non-motor vehicle crash suicides compared to motor vehicle crash suicides. Conclusion: Each study of this research showed how addressing traffic safety and injury prevention topics through the lens of phenomenology and lifeworlds can provide a new way to address research questions and the context of findings. While not mutually exclusive to phenomenology, this way of thinking may help guide future research questions to bring a more integrated approach to understanding risk factors and injuries.Item The Study of Work-Related Stress among Law Enforcement Personnel(2022-03) Nam, Yoon-SungLaw enforcement has been extensively documented as one of the most stressful occupations [1]. With sudden disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the civil unrest following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, new sources of stress (e.g., negative public interaction, risk of infection) have created unprecedented challenges for law enforcement. A large body of work has shown that the stressors experienced in law enforcement are associated with PTSD, suicidal ideation, and depression at a rate higher than the general population [2-12]. However, much of the current stress literature focuses on sworn officers and largely overlooks the growing non-sworn population. This represents a significant public health concern with more than 300,000 civilians working in a non-sworn position [13]. Despite the adverse impacts of stress being well-described among sworn officers, very little is known about the levels of stress within non-sworn personnel and how they compare to sworn officers [14, 15]. In addition to these knowledge gaps, work-related stress has largely been measured by surveys. While surveys provide valuable insight, they are subject to recall bias [16, 17]. Emerging research using cortisol has shown great promise in addressing survey limitations but remains mixed as to whether biomarkers correlate with stress. To address these knowledge gaps, this study used a mixed-methods approach to characterize work-related stress across two large urban Minnesota law enforcement departments. A total of 37 interviews explored novel stressors including barriers and facilitators to accessing mental health resources; 417 surveys quantified the prevalence of work-related stressors and PTSD among sworn and non-sworn personnel; 38 hair samples were collected to demonstrate the possibility of analyzing cortisol among a high-stressed occupation. The prevalence of PTSD symptomology was 24% among sworn and 39% among non-sworn personnel. Results indicated that mental health stigma was a perceived barrier to seeking help. Service providers familiar with law enforcement facilitated seeking help. Non-sworn respondents had lower organizational stress than sworn personnel. Responding to the civil unrest was particularly stressful for early-career non-sworn personnel. This study demonstrated the possibility of using hair samples in studies of stress within law enforcement.