Police Workgroup - Final Report (From Strafrechtsbedeling en Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, P 331-360, 1978, Marianne Geeroms, ed. - See NCJ-79664)

• NCJ Number: 79675
• Author(s): Y Dewallef; R Delsarte
• Date Published: 1978
• Length: 30 pages
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: French
• Country: Belgium

Annotation

The major points of discussion raised in the conference section on police work, principal problems of police policy, and suggestions for improving cooperation between police and researchers are summarized.

Abstract

The presentations raise such issues as the inaccessibility of Belgian police and universities' lack of interest in real police problems, the need for the police to concentrate on preventive goals after gaining understanding of social causes for criminal behavior through research, and the public definition of the police role. Also covered are the need for suitable criminalistic methods, the social assistance role of the police, criteria for police officer selection, and the importance of providing personality and social training for the police. The papers stress the need for an integrated criminal policy and for cooperation between practicing police officers and researchers. Current criminal policy provides for arrest, trial, and prison penalties with little regard for establishment of new more lenient penalties such as probation. In addition to policy reform, mass media efforts are necessary to modify the public image of the police. Special work groups on the collaboration of police and scientific research conclude that scientific research must deal not only with practical problems but more generally with the whole criminal justice system. Furthermore, police should give priority to research on the police role in relation to other official and unofficial means of social control, on police training, on evaluation of police action, on the police image, and on practical problems of criminalistics. Specific guarantees and methods for collaborative research are enumerated. Integration of researchers into different levels of the policymaking decision process, development of possibilities for outside researchers to conduct research within the police organization, and professional review of the police are recommended. An appendix lists locations with potential for particular types of criminalistic work.