The current study aimed to investigate the mediating role of self-regulation between dark triad traits and workplace bullying victimization among Punjab Police personnel in Pakistan. A cross-sectional correlational research design was used. Data were collected using a purposive sampling technique. Standardized tools – the Dark Triad scale, Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised and Self-Regulation Scale– were utilized in this research. The total sample size was N = 200. Results showed that the dark triad traits – Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy – had a significant negative relationship with self-regulation. The dark triad also showed a significant positive relationship with workplace bullying and its subscales, including person-related bullying, work-related bullying and physical intimidation. Results also revealed a significant negative correlation between self-regulation and workplace bullying, including its subscales. Furthermore, self-regulation partially mediates the relationship between the dark triad and workplace bullying victimization. Notably, the prevalence of dark triad and workplace bullying victimization is more pronounced among male police personnel, whereas self-regulation is more prevalent among female police personnel. Addressing these dynamics through targeted interventions could foster healthier workplace environments and reduce instances of bullying and victimization.
Led by Special Issue Editors and cybercrime researchers Jin R. Lee (George Mason University) and Roberta O’Malley (University of South Florida), this issue compiles cutting-edge research and knowledge in this growing area. Specifically, the goal of this Special Issue on Cybercrime Enforcement, Prevention, and Policy is to make scientific research a central component in decisions about cybercrime policy and cybersecurity practice. The contributions assembled in this Special Issue advance diverse methodological approaches (e.g., quantitative analyses of national data, qualitative case studies, legal assessments, and mixed-methods evaluations) while maintaining a shared commitment to actionable implications. Collectively, they examine cybercrime behaviors across multiple domains and topical areas, including financial fraud, technology-facilitated abuse, online stalking, artificial intelligence-enabled propaganda, and law enforcement responses to online harms.
Despite the rising prevalence of cybercrime incidents and the mandates to respond to cybercrimes, police officers are generally ill-prepared to handle these cases because of the following individual and organizational factors: police officers’ knowledge gaps, technical and evidentiary challenges, and agency cultures’ prioritizing traditional offline crimes, obsolete organization cultures, limited budget and resources, outdated training on cybercrime investigations, and the effectiveness of specialized cybercrime units. This paper reviews the international literature on law enforcement responses to cybercrime, focusing on identifying the various types of cybercrime offenses officers encounter and assessing officers’ responses to these incidents, along with the factors that influence their responses. The purpose of this work is to identify the primary challenges confronting law enforcement and explain the key factors underlying these challenges worldwide. This paper provides a comparative basis for discussing potential policy changes and future research directions to make U.S. law enforcement responses to cybercrime more effective, such as establishing an agreed-upon definition to streamline the cybercrime reporting system, broadening data availability, overcoming organizational challenges, reforming organizational cultures, and addressing structural barriers through partnerships.
Trafficking in persons is estimated to affect millions of individuals worldwide. In Thailand, police officers are considered key actors in identifying, responding to, and investigating potential cases of human trafficking. Despite their significant role and national recognition as integral personnel in Thailand's efforts to combat human trafficking in various capacities, we know little about police officers’ perceptions and understanding of this phenomenon. Using survey data, we examine levels of myth endorsement among a sample of 522 Thai police personnel. Results indicate that significant differences exist between certain groups of officers based on individual-level characteristics, with officer status, belief and victim blame, and self-reported training being particularly salient. Generally, police in this study tend to endorse many common human trafficking myths. The implications and directions for future research are discussed.
Recent developments in criminology that allow investigators to statistically analyse patterns in criminal cases can create an impression of scientific profiling. However, many criminal cases, for example child abduction–homicides (CAH), seldom follow clear statistical patterns. This study critically examined the limitations of two contemporary temporal analysis techniques, crime script analysis (CSA) and behaviour sequence analysis (BSA), using 48 closed CAH cases sourced via open-source intelligence (OSINT). Although CSA offered structured frameworks and BSA provided statistical mapping, both undermined the chaotic, interrupted, and non-linear nature of real-world crimes. A comparative analysis of the crime data revealed minimal variation in offender profiles but significant differences in crime sequences. The study also highlighted how cognitive biases and statistical representations—e.g. standardised residuals (SRs) versus prevalence scores (PrevScores)—can distort investigative outcomes. Ultimately, the article advocates for flexible, context-sensitive approaches that integrate analytical tools with experiential insight, treating each case as unique rather than extrapolating from generalised data.
Encryption technologies have become ubiquitous for both individual and commercial sectors. Perhaps no realm of law enforcement is so acutely affected by encryption than cybercrime, including internet crimes against children (ICAC) personnel. There exist a variety of encryption-based tools and authentication measures available to help online child sexual abusers and consumers of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) hide their activities and obstruct law enforcement efforts to gather evidence of criminal activity. Established here is the idea that ICAC investigative practice is ultimately shaped by these technologies as well as the relationship between the distributors of these technologies and private platforms on which investigators have to rely; therefore, this study asked: (a) what are ICAC investigator perspectives toward encryption and related data protection technologies, and (b) how might the relationship between ICAC investigators and private companies affect policing CSAM cases? Interviews of 47 ICAC investigators and similar personnel were conducted over two years. Four main themes emerged from the data in exploring the attitudes of ICAC investigators: (a) investigators made clear that encryption is something that would severely hamper law enforcement, (b) investigators spoke of a general reliance on the private sector, (c) this general reliance was supplanted by overall frustration where investigators cited ESPs and social media platforms as a source of investigative hindrance, and (d) the culmination of challenges presented here lends support to the idea that investigators tend to pursue the “low-hanging fruit.” Our results indicate a symbiotic relationship in which law enforcement somewhat reluctantly benefits from the purveyors of these digital tools and metadata access while the private sector gains legitimacy and regulatory positioning in this era of surveillance capitalism.
The proliferation of artificially generated images has introduced a new class of visual propaganda referred to as deepfakes, which can deceptively mimic reality and manipulate perception on a massive scale. Although propaganda is hardly a new social problem, the emergence of deepfakes necessitates an interdisciplinary response from the social sciences as well as cyber/computer sciences. In this study, the research team revisited long recognized propaganda categories to determine which types were most impactful across X.com with a focus on the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election. Working from a data set of 202 politically charged deepfakes, images were classified across 17 classic propaganda techniques (e.g., bandwagon, fear, transfer) and a propaganda impact score was introduced to quantify impact, which was a composite metric integrating reach, sentiment, and toxicity. The results of this study show that the propaganda categories of preemptive framing, deification, and bandwagon disproportionately shaped engagement and emotional response. Put differently, the results of this study showed that the most virally effective images are not necessarily the most toxic, but rather those that strategically pair emotional resonance with algorithmically optimized reach. Thus, a key takeaway from this study for cybersecurity and security professionals who are charged with combating disinformation in various spaces is that particular types of propaganda are more effective and dangerous to eliciting emotional responses relative to others.
The article examines the relationship between real-time crime updates and fear of violent crime among a sample of college students from multiple universities. Social media is a type of media source that has been examined in varied criminological research. Recent studies have begun to look at specific crime-related posts/Tweets and their significance on the perception of crime. As part of the social media trend, private individuals and community members have begun to utilize police scanners through various social media platforms to inform them of real-time crime updates occurring within their neighborhoods. Social media group(s) rely on private citizens listening to police dispatches and distributing the information via social media (Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), etc.). Information such as traffic accidents, home invasions, and shootings are all shared in real time. This study analyzes survey data (Qualtrics) from five universities in the West, Midwest, and Southwest USA. Ordinary least squares regression is used to examine the effect on fear of violent crime of various demographic and contextual factors. The findings indicate that members of police scanner groups via social media platforms have an elevated fear of violent crime among college students. Female and minority students had a higher fear of violent crime. In addition, students who have been victimized and those who perceive higher community disorder had increased levels of fear of violent crime. The current literature on fear of violent crime does not account for the utilization of various social media platforms to inform private citizens and community members of real-time crime updates. Thus, the article contributes to the literature by examining the effect of police scanner group membership on fear of violent crime among college students.
Investigations into major crimes and cold cases are often faced with an abundance of potential leads. What is required is a systematic method for organising, prioritising, and evaluating them. Although developing timelines and investigative leads is a familiar skill among investigators, the challenge lies in managing and prioritising these leads explicitly and effectively. This article outlines a novel combined approach that merges temporal analyses and the analysis of competing hypotheses to offer a synthesised effective means of explicitly stating, structuring, and organising leads in criminal cases. The approach is designed to map investigative pathways, reduce resource load, and provide a structured process for lead prioritisation. A real-world inspired case is used to exemplify the process which outlines how case strategies may be improved through hypothesis evaluation, supporting resource allocation, and assisting the prioritisation of leads.
Cyberfraud is turning into a transnational organised cybercrime, which creates tremendous conundrums for criminal justice systems in the global context. The current study examines the utility of the situational crime prevention (SCP) framework in combating this ‘wicked problem’, which has been advocated for years but remains empirically underdeveloped. Using China's anti-fraud centres (AFCs) as a case study, this research provides the Global South perspectives from the interviews with 21 Chinese police officers. The findings show the nuanced practices implemented by the AFCs under each major SCP component, such as routinised cyberfraud campaigns (increase risks), cyberfraud blacklists (increase effort), victim-focused interventions (reduce rewards), hot-spot regulation (remove provocations), and multi-situational offender deterrence (remove excuses). Although Chinese officers recognised the cost-effectiveness and tactical inclusiveness of these approaches, they also acknowledged the existence of worrying downsides, such as procedural injustice and crime displacement. This research contributes to criminological literature on cybercrime prevention by offering theoretical and practical insights for transnational fraud governance.
This study examines predictors of bystander responses to virtual sexual assault in immersive virtual environments. Drawing on a sample of 829 adult users of virtual platforms, it investigates how situational and individual factors shape three responses: intervention, self-protection, and inaction. Multinomial logistic regression showed that incident location, normative beliefs about aggression, preparedness for community-based action, and indirect reporting or monitoring significantly influenced bystander behavior. Incidents occurring in private virtual spaces were associated with higher odds of both helping the victim and engaging in self-protective behavior. Normative beliefs about aggression predicted self-protection, but not intervention. Digital guardianship capacities, especially indirect reporting and monitoring, were associated with a greater likelihood of active responses. By contrast, factors commonly emphasized in offline bystander research, such as the number of offenders and the presence of other witnesses, were not significant. These findings suggest that bystander behavior in immersive environments differs from offline patterns and has implications for platform design, safety policy, and digital literacy.
This qualitative study of interviews describes the experiences of 73 people who were abused by their partners via cyberspace and/or technology as they sought help from law enforcement officers (LEOs) and victim services organizations (VSOs). The use of the prior phrasing to describe this study's participants is intentional given these data call into question whether people experiencing cyber intimate partner abuse (cyberIPA) ever leave a state of victimization to survival with the help of community resources. As data in this study shows, people who experienced cyberIPA often reported that they felt they had nowhere and no one to turn to during their help-seeking. To be clear, although there were resources available from LEOs and VSOs, the participants in this study noted that specialized services to address cybervictimizations were absent. Moreover, participants indicated that they often encountered a lack of understanding about how intimate partner abuse manifested in cybercrimes, a lack of understanding about what laws could be utilized to address those harms, and/or how cyberspace and technology could be used to exert power and control within an abusive relationship broadly.
Stalking remains a pervasive public safety problem, yet limited research has examined the factors associated with police responses and how these responses are related to victim-reported outcomes. Using nationally representative data from the 2016 and 2019 Stalking Victimization Supplements of the National Crime Victimization Survey, this study examined the correlates of ten police actions and assessed the associations between specific police responses and whether victims reported that stalking had ceased at the time of the survey. Victim demographic characteristics showed limited and inconsistent associations with police actions. In contrast, incident severity, particularly non-sexual physical injury, was strongly associated with formal police responses, including taking a report and arresting the perpetrator. Intimate partner stalking was associated with only one police action, the recommendation of a restraining order. Differences also emerged across stalking modalities. Offline stalking was associated with higher odds of restraining order recommendations, whereas technology facilitated stalking was associated with lower odds of certain formal legal actions, including prosecutor referrals. Analyses of victim reported cessation indicated that cases involving more substantial police engagement, such as taking a report, arrest, or multiple coordinated actions, were more likely to be characterized by reported cessation, while cases in which police took no action were associated with lower odds of stalking having ended. Although the findings reflect associations rather than causal effects, they highlight important variation in policing responses to contemporary stalking and underscore the potential role of early and substantive police engagement as a key dimension of prevention in cases that may involve digital or multi-channel behaviors.
Nonconsensual dissemination of intimate images (NCDII), which is broadly defined as sharing or threatening to share nude or sexual images without the subject's consent, represents a pervasive form of technology-facilitated abuse that undermines individuals’ privacy, autonomy, and psychological well-being. In the United States, all 50 states and the federal government have enacted legislation addressing NCDII, yet substantial variation persists among these laws. This study provides a comprehensive review of state and federal statutes criminalizing NCDII to evaluate inconsistencies in statutory definitions, consent standards, and the scope of criminal liability across jurisdictions, highlighting how divergent legislative approaches categorize prohibited conduct, assign culpability, and structure penalties. In addition, the study explores key enforcement challenges (e.g., evidentiary burdens, jurisdictional limitations, and the implications of emerging technologies) that complicate prosecution and limit effective redress. By synthesizing current legal frameworks, this study highlights critical gaps and ambiguities that may weaken victim protection and impede offender accountability. To that end, the study underscores the need for greater statutory uniformity, clearer definitional standards, and enhanced institutional awareness among relevant stakeholders (e.g., policymakers, law enforcement, the public) regarding the harms and dynamics of NCDII. Overall, this study contributes to the growing body of scholarship examining image-based sexual abuse by mapping the U.S. legislative landscape, elucidating challenges in legal practice, and proposing avenues for reform aimed at strengthening victims’ rights while ensuring consistent and effective enforcement against nonconsensual image distribution.
The veil of darkness (VOD) is a low-cost analytical approach that considers how the presence of daylight may influence the officer's decision-making based on the driver's race/ethnicity. Knode and colleagues expanded upon VOD by considering a novel seasonal weighting to account for seasonality and using this framework; the current study also considers how the physical characteristics of the car, specifically a luxury brand car, may also impact the officer's decision-making and how sensitivity analyses when testing VOD should also account for the driver's gender and age. This study examined traffic stops by the Chicago IL Police Department between 2016 and 2018 during the intertwilight time period. The results indicate that racial profiling was only evident within the context of VOD for stops made in daylight involving young Black male drivers and for young Black male drivers who were stopped in a luxury brand car. In all other models, racial profiling was not evident. Future studies should also consider how the type of vehicle or the age or gender of the driver may also influence police decision-making for the VOD hypothesis.
As police agencies across the globe continue to address recruitment and attrition within their organisations, the voices of early career, i.e. police recruit, officers offer insight into what motivates recruits to join the police profession and their expectations of the role ahead of them. This article presents initial findings from the first of six cohorts of police recruit students who are part of a 5-year longitudinal study as they commence their policing careers. Findings from survey data suggest that supporting the community and expectation of good career prospects were the highest ranked motivators. Having a family member in the police force was indicated as a strong source of knowledge and influence on joining a police organisation, and this together with the opportunity for a long-term career were strong motivators, particularly for Generation Z respondents. The study findings offer indicative trends for police organisational recruitment strategy deliberations.
Globally, violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a pervasive issue which has wide-scale consequences. This paper focuses on VAWG in the context of the night-time economy (NTE), and the policing strategies targeted at its prevention. Using a mixed-methods approach, it identifies the centrality of police officer knowledge to operational practice. Original insight suggests that this provides, at best, a partial basis for effective interventions and demonstrates a limited understanding of the complexities of VAWG offending behaviour. The significance of these findings is considerable for police leaders in terms of training and deployment in this high-profile field. The study found limits in relying on police knowledge as a basis for action and argues that this needs to be supplemented by other forms of evidence in relation to perpetrators and victim–survivors.
This cross-sectional study utilises an explanatory-sequential, mixed-methods design, using quantitative surveys ( N = 275) and semi-structured interviews ( N = 17) to explore the psychological impacts of investigation type on a sample of UK police senior investigating officers (SIOs). Prevalence rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (5.4%) and complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) (4.1%) are also established. Analyses demonstrate that organisational stress ( B = 1.15), experiencing trauma 6 to 12 months ago ( B = −1.72) and child homicide investigations ( B = 1.76) predict PTSD, whereas operational stress ( B = 1.82), experiencing trauma 6 to 12 months ago ( B = −1.45) and 10 to 20 years ago ( B = 3.92) predict CPTSD. Child homicide is the only investigation type to predict all three PTSD symptoms, while adult homicide predicts lower re-experiencing ( B = −1.50) and sense of threat ( B = −1.07). The qualitative analysis suggests that although SIOs may become more resilient to traumatic experiences through coping processes of avoidance and detachment, this career-long experience of trauma exposure leads to psychological vulnerability. Supporting the quantitative findings, increased PTSD resulting from child homicide investigations appears to be related to levels of personal resonance. Many SIOs that maintained it is not any particular type of investigation, however. It is thus argued that the relationship between child homicide and PTSD is influenced by Lazarus and Folkman's concept of ‘centrality’. The practical findings of this paper are discussed, and implications for police practice and supporting officer well-being moving forward are considered.
Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory with limited forensic capabilities, currently relies on external forensic service providers for evidence analysis. This dependency results in several challenges, including long turnaround times, high transport costs, and reduced compliance. Such issues are not unique to Gibraltar and are observed in other small countries and territories with similar constraints. By characterising these challenges, this study identifies solutions that can improve forensic processes in Gibraltar and provide a model for other small regions facing comparable issues. Data analysis of Gibraltar's existing forensic pipeline together with interviews from local stakeholders and external forensic experts identified two possible supportive strategies: Strategy 1, sample screening of evidence prior to outsourcing; and Strategy 2, the implementation of Rapid DNA technology within custody suites. To further explore the cost-to-benefit ratio of these strategies, a business plan was developed for each. These analyses show that sample screening can improve the efficiency of local forensic processes by integrating cost-effective solutions and repurposing existing laboratory infrastructure, whereas Rapid DNA technology was less favourable because of the high initial investment required for equipment. Although no single pipeline was found to be an ideal fit, each strategy offered potential societal benefits, including increased speed and quality of results, leading to faster investigative leads and a reduction in re-offending. These findings add to the limited research on cost-effective forensic solutions for small jurisdictions, and support the development of more autonomous forensic capabilities, ultimately enhancing their efficiency and effectiveness in criminal investigations.
This study explores the role of social identity and group-level processes in shaping public perceptions of police legitimacy and procedural justice during anti-war demonstrations in the United Kingdom. Building on procedural justice theory and extending the findings of Radburn and colleagues, we conducted two studies to examine how social context and identification with protestors influenced evaluations of protest policing. Study 1 investigates the impact of prior attitudes towards the Israel–Palestine conflict on perceptions of procedural fairness, identification with police and legitimacy. Results show that participants who viewed a video of the policing of protests over the war in Gaza who identified with pro-Palestine protestors viewed the police as less procedurally fair and legitimate than with neutral or pro-Israel attitudes. These findings affirm the importance of social identity in shaping vicarious experiences of policing. Study 2 extended this analysis by examining how the perceived operational independence of the police influenced these relationships. We found that perceptions of police independence moderated the effect of protestor identification on evaluations of procedural justice, police legitimacy and identification with police. This research highlights that police legitimacy is a dynamic and contextually embedded social psychological process. By demonstrating how social identity, vicarious experience and perceptions of police–government relations shape public evaluations of policing, the study underscores the importance of maintaining operational independence and engaging with group-level dynamics to foster legitimacy and trust in diverse democratic societies.
