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European Journal of Policing Studies

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Issue Online First, 2023 Expand all abstracts
Article

The Qualitative Analysis of the Perceived Abilities, Skills and Characteristics of Turkish Crime Investigators

Keywords police, criminal investigation, investigator, professionalism, strategic management
Authors Burak M Gönültaş, Ivar Fahsing, Emek Yuce Zeyrek Rios e.a.
AbstractAuthor's information

    A study combining interviews and the repertory grid analyses explored Turkish investigators’ views on what it takes to be an effective investigator. Experienced Turkish police officers (n = 286) from seven different cities dealing with high-harm, low-volume crime investigations were asked to describe what differentiates the effective investigator from the less effective one. A total of 1,819 skills, abilities and personal characteristics (SACs) described could be clustered under three main categories, namely “personality and general knowledge”, “investigative and analytical abilities” and “management and cooperation skills”. A vast majority of SACs identified were quite unspecific and provided only a general indication of a relatively low ability to describe the deeper and underlying functions involved in the job. They view their job mostly as a form of art which can only be mastered through mentorship and job experience. In this study, the variety and vastness of skills, abilities and characteristic in the data indicate that the investigators seem to acknowledge the complexity and the difficulty of modern-day criminal investigations. Thus, we reached inferences from the findings, and they are discussed in relation to levels of professionalism, strategic staff management and previous research from other cultures and jurisdictions. The findings of this research can assist with the development of a cross-cultural and cross-jurisdictional and evidence-based policy for the selection and development of investigators.


Burak M Gönültaş
Burak M. Gönültaş is Professor at the department of Social Work, Sivas Cumhuriyet University, Sivas, Turkey.

Ivar Fahsing
Ivar A. Fahsing is Professor at the department of Criminal Investigation, Norwegian Police College University, Oslo, Norway.

Emek Yuce Zeyrek Rios
Emek Yüce Zeyrek-Rios is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Letters, Psychology Department, Mardin Artuklu University, Middle East Techical University, Ankara, Turkey.

Esra Çetinöz
Esra Çetinöz is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Security Sciences, Department of Crime Studies of the Turkish National Police Academy, Ankara, Turkey.
Article

What Are They Doing in the Dark?

Police Strategies and Working Methods in Fighting Crime on the Tor Network

Keywords dark web, tor, ACN, criminal investigation, law enforcement
Authors Bram Emmen, Christianne Poot and Wouter Stol
AbstractAuthor's information

    The dark web is creating difficulties for traditional policing. Previous studies have focused on users, but very little is known about law enforcement dealing with the core challenge of Anonymity Communication Networks: absent and anonymous suspects whose locations and identities are effectively hidden behind encryption. Based on 14 interviews with Dutch police officers and public prosecutors, enriched with a media analysis of 45 Dutch newspaper articles, we come to a model of Dutch law enforcement dealing with Tor cases. We observe that the police are adapting to the new reality of Tor use. However, they still work within their set framework which does not always match the needs for policing Tor cases. We additionally note a more prominent place for the strategy of disruption which may create the need for additional legal grounds.


Bram Emmen
Bram Emmen is PhD candidate at the Open University of the Netherlands.

Christianne Poot
Christianne Poot is Endowed Professor at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Wouter Stol
Wouter Stol is Endowed Professor at the Open University of the Netherlands. Funding: This work was supported by NordForsk [ grant 80512] within the call for collaborative research projects on Society, Integrity and Cyber-security and is part of the “Police detectives on the Tor network” project.
Book Review

Comparative Policing: An honest attempt

Authors Paul F.M. Ponsaers
Author's information

Paul F.M. Ponsaers
Dr. Paul F.M. Ponsears is Professor emeritus of Criminology, at Ghent University, Belgium.