This article draws on a field experiment that took place in Amsterdam in 2012 to examine the impact of technology on police practice. The experiment consisted of four simulated robberies in which the use of the global positioning system (GPS) and short data service (SDS) were systematically varied (in a 2x2 between-subjects design) with different levels of operational command. The experiment resulted in faster coordination and less radio traffic. But this experiment also showed something else: almost all operational units displayed more or less disobedient behaviour. They deliberately deviated from orders to go to particular locations in the city to search for the suspects. In this article it is argued that this behaviour can be explained through officers’ situational awareness and the use of SDS. Additional interviews and group discussions further indicate that the lack of trust and hierarchical control may also have contributed to this behaviour. It is the question whether the findings of this study covers the current state of police practice in the Netherlands and perhaps beyond. This remains a subject for further study. The results from this experiment can be valuable for analysis in social behaviour studies among police units.

This paper aims to understand the relationship between aggressivity and burnout among police officers, more precisely, it investigates whether burnout is a predictor of aggressivity among police officers. The study focuses on the relationship between burnout and aggressivity, using regression analysis to identify aggressivity predictors. The Maslach Burnout Inventory was used to measure burnout, while the Aggression Questionnaire was used to measure aggressivity. A cross-sectional study collected data from 274 male police officers (from PSP – Portuguese Police of Public Security) exercising urban patrol tasks in Porto or Lisbon. Low burnout and moderate aggressivity levels were found, with positive significant correlations. Regression analysis reveals that burnout, more than socio-demographic characteristics, predicts 13% to 22% of aggressivity. In particular, feelings of high depersonalisation and low personal accomplishment are the burnout dimensions that most strongly explain anger and aggressivity, whereas emotional exhaustion only explains 4% of verbal aggression. The study highlights the need to develop prevention strategies of stress, aiming to avoid the development of burnout as occupational chronic stress, and decreasing the risk of developing aggressivity among police officers. Despite the wide literature in the area of police officers’ burnout and individual characteristics (e.g. aggressivity proneness as a personality trait), there is limited research on the relationship between burnout and aggressivity. Within democratic societies where excessive use of force by police officers is criticised, aggressivity predicted by burnout reinforces the need to prevent occupational stress that leads to burnout.

Denmark, as is known, maintains four EU cooperation opt-outs as a result of its Maastricht Treaty referendum on 18 May 1993. In spite of this, Denmark remains an active partner in matters relating to the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union, known as Frontex. The facts are that the Danish police have maintained a staff of Seconded National Experts (SNEs) in Warsaw since Frontex’s operational launch in 2005, and that Danish police regularly provide staff for Frontex Joint Support Teams (FJSTs) and are consequently also involved in related – and quite extensive – joint exercises. Denmark also contributes to the central Frontex registry for technical equipment for use in specific operational theatres, the so-called Centralised Record of Available Technical Equipment (CRATE), and it is no great secret that Denmark contributed to Frontex’s rapid border intervention team when Greece requested emergency assistance from Frontex because of the stress caused by immigration along the Greek-Turkish border from November 2010 to February 2011. Given Denmark’s judicial opt-out, how did Denmark come to participate in this type of cooperation? That is a question which is examined in greater detail in the article, which shows how the Danish Frontex cooperation is based upon interpretation of the notion to ‘build upon’ in the Protocol on the Integration of the Schengen Rules into the European Union, annexed to the Union Treaties.

International surveys show that trust in the police varies substantially between countries. This study investigates the underlying causes of this variation, and in particular the effect of perceived corruption in the public sector. A regression analysis of 50 countries worldwide suggests that both perceived corruption in the public sector and trust in government are important predictors of trust in the police. The homicide rate is also statistically significant but seems to have a more modest effect on trust. The findings are compatible with previous research findings that procedural concerns trump outcomes in explaining trust. Moreover, a correlation analysis suggests that perceived corruption in the public sector is more damaging to trust in the police than to trust in other government institutions. A plausible explanation for this is that many consider the police to be an indispensable institution for social order, and corruption is antithetical to this mission.