Craig Bennell

Carleton University · Department of Psychology

BACKGROUND Law enforcement officers are routinely exposed to hazardous, disturbing events that can impose severe stress and long-term potential psychological trauma. As a result, police and other public safety personnel (PSP) are at increased risk of developing posttraumatic stress injuries (PTSI) and disruptions to the autonomic nervous system (AN...

Consistently outlined in juror decision-making research is that seemingly irrelevant variables (e.g., the appearance of defendants or plaintiffs) can impact judicial proceedings. Although police officers frequently appear in courtrooms, limited literature exists that assesses the impact of officer attire in this setting. The current study exposed p...

Systemic changes, such as the deinstitutionalization of mental health care, have increased the likelihood that people with acute mental health symptoms encounter the police. Given this, greater attention is being paid to mental health training for police officers in Canada. The current study presents a preliminary evaluation of SimVoice, a training...

Scholars and practitioners who develop evidence-based crime policy debate on how best to translate criminological knowledge into better criminal justice practices. These debates highlight the counterpoised problems of over-selling the contribution of scientific evidence; or, alternately, overemphasizing the limitations of science. This challenge at...

Some research suggests that video‐recorded police incidents may be subject to a camera perspective bias. This study examined whether the camera angle of a recorded police use of force encounter influenced interpretation of the video. Participants (n = 330) viewed a video‐recorded simulated use of force scenario in one of four camera angle condition...

We conducted a narrative review of existing literature to identify the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) necessary for officers who police in democratic societies to successfully manage potentially volatile police–public interactions. This review revealed 10 such KSAs that are frequently discussed in the literature. These KSAs include: (1) kn...

Under conditions of physiological stress, officers are sometimes required to make split-second life-or-death decisions, where deficits in performance can have tragic outcomes, including serious injury or death and strained police-community relations. The current study assessed the performance of 122 active-duty police officers during a realistic le...

Studies have shown that it is possible to link serial crimes in an accurate fashion based on the statistical analysis of crime scene information. Logistic regression (LR) is one of the most common statistical methods in use and yields relatively accurate linking decisions. However, some research suggests there may be added value in using classifica...

Background Effective shooting performance relies heavily on sufficient grip strength. However, some standard issue pistols used by police services may have a trigger weight that causes problems for officers with insufficient grip strength, including female officers. The current study aimed to replicate previous findings, which show that grip streng...

Concerns surrounding the use of force by police officers appear to be growing, fuelled by perceptions that the police use force too frequently, research showing that force is applied disproportionately to members of certain groups, and the view held by some that the mechanisms for holding police responsible for unjustified force are inadequate. In...

This study examined the risk of adverse outcomes during non-fatal encounters with subjects exhibiting features of Excited Delirium Syndrome (ExDS). Data for the study was collected over a five-year period through standardized reporting in a large Canadian law enforcement agency. Consistent with previous research, the presence of six or more of the...

The origins of this report, and of the Mental Health and Policing Working Group, can be traced to the unique situation Canadians have faced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The unique circumstances of this global outbreak, which have for many Canadians resulted in serious illness and death, intensified economic uncertainties, altered family an...

A small body of research suggests that the use of police tactical officers has become normalized in that they now commonly respond to “routine” calls rather than being restricted to high-risk situations. However, this research has tended to rely on crude data (i.e., call type), which fails to account for the context of the calls (e.g., the presence...

The current study aimed to examine the extent to which students were aware of, knowledgeable about, and willing to use services offered by Campus Safety at Carleton University. Surveying students revealed that most were unaware of the majority of services. When students were aware of the services, typically less than half of the students knew how t...

Leading police scholars and practitioners were asked to reflect on the most urgent issues that need to be addressed on the topic of use of force. Four themes emerged from their contributions: use of force and de‐escalation training needs to improve and be evaluated; new ways of conceptualizing use of force encounters and better use of force respons...

To develop a more informed understanding of why tactical officers are used in Canada, we interviewed patrol and tactical officers from three Canadian police services (Jenkins et al., 2020). Interviewees indicated that tactical officers tend to be used on calls that go beyond the capabilities of patrol officers, including high-risk calls and calls u...

The current study examines the impact of a recently implemented community-based Crisis Outreach and Support Team (COAST) in a small Canadian police service. COAST pairs a police officer from the South Simcoe Police Service in Ontario, Canada with a crisis response worker from either the Canadian Mental Health Association or York Support Services Ne...

It is important to understand how uniforms influence public perceptions of the police. The current study utilized a randomized design in which undergraduate students at a Canadian university were exposed to a series of photographs of officers wearing different uniform configurations (i.e., special duty vs. traditional uniform, dark vs. light shirt,...

People are known to offload memory processing tasks to devices, such as cameras. We examined whether body-worn cameras (BWCs) are used in this way by police officers. Fifty officers responded to a simulated domestic dispute that resulted in lethal force. Half the sample was provided a BWC and told their footage would be available to assist with pos...

Research suggests that certain characteristics of police uniforms and equipment influence how the public perceives police officers. The current study expanded on this research by examining how various features related to police militarism (e.g., weaponry) are perceived by the public. Approximately 2000 community members from across Canada were show...

Given their potential to reach a large audience, online recruitment videos are likely a useful way for police services to recruit applicants. To increase the likelihood of people applying, these videos should focus on issues potential employees consider when making career decisions. A literature review revealed six job factors that people consider...

In order to optimize public and officer safety, law enforcement training needs to adequately prepare officers for the complex tasks they will experience in the field. The incorporation of carefully-designed scenario-based training (SBT) into pre- and in-service training is essential for the development of effective decision making during dynamic, p...

It is startling to read how few sexual offenses are reported in a year; even more shocking to see how few reports lead to an arrest. Research on effective responses to sexual offenses is much needed and ongoing. This edited book presents the current state of research on investigative techniques used in sex crime investigations, and the operational...

Purpose A narrative review of existing research literature was conducted to identify practices that are likely to improve the quality of de-escalation and use-of-force training for police officers. Design/methodology/approach Previous reviews of de-escalation and use-of-force training literature were examined to identify promising training practic...

Purpose There has been an increasing emphasis on developing officers who can effectively make decisions in dynamic and stressful environments to manage volatile situations. The aim of this paper is to guide those seeking to optimize the limited resources dedicated to police training. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on research related to stres...

In order to better understand the use of tactical police resources in Canada we interviewed patrol and tactical officers (N = 28) from three Canadian police services. A thematic analysis indicated that tactical officers are primarily responding to calls beyond the capabilities of patrol to resolve optimally which included high-risk calls as denoted...

Law enforcement officers in the USA have one of the highest lethal force rates in the world. A shortcoming of previous research on the use of force is that officer-subject encounters are observed as static events, and not a complex escalation of behaviours. Behaviour sequence analysis can identify common pathways that show chains of behaviours occu...

This literature review assessed research related to injuries and deaths proximate to oleoresin capsicum (OC) spray deployment. Our review of 22 relevant documents suggests that OC spray is often effective and is typically associated with decreased odds of both subject and “deployer” injury. When OC-associated injuries do occur, they consistently ap...

The purpose of the present studies was to examine how officer characteristics influenced mock jurors’ judgments in a police use of force case. In study 1 (N = 356), we examined officer race, suspect race, and weapon type (gun vs. taser vs. assault gloves), and in study 2 (N = 352) we examined officer gender, weapon type, and whether the officer was...

The current paper reviews existing literature that relates to how body worn cameras might influence an officer’s memory of their interactions with the public, namely those that involve the use of force. Notably, most of this research does not come from the policing field but focuses on the impact of camera technology in other settings. Much of the...

Policing is a highly stressful and dangerous profession that involves a complex set of environmental, psychosocial, and health risks. The current study examined autonomic stress responses experienced by 64 police officers, during general duty calls for service (CFS) and interactions with the public. Advancing previous research, this study utilized...

For years, scholars and law enforcement agencies have been interested in examining the public’s perceptions of police legitimacy. However, previous studies have operationalized “police legitimacy” in a wide variety of ways. In an attempt to standardize this construct, Tankebe, Reisig, and Wang (2016) recently developed and validated the Police Legi...

Research suggests that certain individuals exhibit vulnerability through their gait, and that observers select such individuals as those most likely to experience victimization. It is currently assumed that the vulnerable gait pattern is an expression of one’s submissiveness. To isolate gait movement, Study 1 utilized kinematic point-light display...

Depuis quelques années, et cela n’est pas étranger au désir des corps policiers d’être de plus en plus proactifs (plutôt que traditionnellement réactif) et d’avoir des pratiques efficaces basées sur des données probantes (evidence-based policing), on assiste à une multiplication des études scientifiques qui visent à apporter support aux corps polic...

Purpose To conduct a test of the principles underpinning crime linkage (behavioural consistency and distinctiveness) with a sample more closely reflecting the volume and nature of sexual crimes with which practitioners work, and to assess whether solved series are characterized by greater behavioural similarity than unsolved series. Method A sampl...

Strategy implementation is the most challenging aspect of strategic management. In the case of police organizations, failure to effectively carry out a strategy results in loss of organizational resources and employee commitment. The present study is an attempt to explore the reasons behind failure of new strategies by drawing upon qualitative surv...

Research conducted in the United States (U.S.) suggests that many police professionals are unaware of, or resistant to, empirical research, and see little value in adopting evidence-based approaches for tackling policing issues. To determine whether similar views are held by Canadian police professionals, 598 police professionals (civilians and off...

Study objective: Police use of force (UoF) encounters include individuals with Excited Delirium Syndrome (ExDS) with some frequency. Situational factors and risks to officer safety associated with these encounters have not been well studied. We examined the likelihood that subjects displaying various concomitant features of ExDS were under the inf...

Previous research has found that targets located in close proximity to previously victimized targets are at an increased risk of also being victimized. However, this elevated risk of near repeat victimization appears to be temporary and subsides over time. Near repeat victimization has rarely been examined using Canadian data, and exact space-time...

Concerns have emerged over the readiness of police agencies to adapt to change. To better understand why this might be the case, we used Lewin’s theory of change and an emic methodology to investigate the internal and external forces for and against change within this sector. Using a qualitative methodology we analysed the data from 103 interviews...

Sexual assault and abuse are among the most heinous crimes that can be committed. However, these crimes are largely underreported worldwide. Despite this, research on the investigation of sexual assault and abuse cases has been slow to emerge and there exists an important gap between the current knowledge on sexual victimization and the police resp...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the structure of juvenile psychopathy, as measured by the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL: YV). Design/methodology/approach Using a sample of 2,042 male youths from the USA, Canada, and the UK, the study was a conceptual replication of Bishopp and Hare’s (2008) multidimensional scaling (M...

Some researchers suggest that police professionals see little value in adopting evidence based approaches to tackle policing challenges. To examine this issue, 586 Canadian police professionals were surveyed. We explore responses to one particular question, which caused 353 respondents to reflect on whether they think their agencies enact evidence...

Purpose: This study compared the utility of different statistical methods in differentiating sexual crimes committed by the same person from sexual crimes committed by different persons. Methods: Logistic regression, iterative classification tree (ICT), and Bayesian analysis were applied to a dataset of 3,364 solved, unsolved, serial, and apparent...

Dans cette etude, les auteurs discutent de l’ importance de reprendre et de reproduire des etudes afin de bâtir une base de donnees probantes en recherche policiere. Ces donnees probantes, notentils, sont importantes en ce qui concerne l’ orientation des politiques et des pratiques policieres et, de maniere plus generale, les efforts de securite co...

Study objective: The frequency with which the police encounter non-fatal cases of Excited Delirium Syndrome (ExDS) has not been well studied. To date only a single prospective, epidemiologic study has been completed to determine the prevalence of the features of ExDS in police use of force (UoF) encounters. We examined a cluster of previously publ...

Geographic profiling (GP) is an investigative technique that involves predicting a serial offender’s home location (or some other anchor point) based on where he or she committed a crime. Although the use of GP in police investigations appears to be on the rise, little is known about the procedure and how it is used. To examine these issues, a surv...

This research examined the coordination of interrogator and suspects' verbal behavior in interrogations. Sixty-four police interrogations were examined at the aggregate and utterance level using a measure of verbal mimicry known as Language Style Matching. Analyses revealed an interaction between confession and the direction of language matching. I...

The presentation discusses the following questions: What rhetorical and lexico-grammatical features of genuine suicide notes, if any, have not been investigted? Do these features add to our understqnding of the nature of genuine suicide notes? If so, what do they allow us to see?

The number of published studies examining crime linkage analysis has grown rapidly over the last decade, to the point where a special issue of this journal has recently been dedicated to the topic. Many of these studies have used a particular measure (the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, or the AUC) to quantify the degree to...

As made clear in previous chapters, the goal when carrying out crime linkage analysis is to identify patterns of offending behavior that meet two criteria: behavioral similarity and behavioral distinctiveness. Behavioral similarity exists when offenders behave in the same or similar way across crimes they have committed. Behavioral distinctiveness...

Actuarial tools can be developed to identify linked crimes within large databases of similar offences. However, no attempt has been made to determine whether these tools are useful for other types of linking tasks commonly encountered by investigators. The current study examined the effectiveness of two regression-based actuarial tools for predicti...

Recent research has shown that near repeat victimization is common, whereby targets located in close proximity to previously victimized targets are at an increased risk of also being victimized. However, this elevated risk is only temporary and appears to subside over time. Although this space-time clustering has been found across a variety of crim...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a theoretical framework, which describes how police training programs can be developed in order to improve learning retention and the transfer of skills to the work environment. Design/methodology/approach – A brief review is provided that describes training strategies stemming from Cognitive Load...

When relying on crime scene behaviours to link serial crimes, linking accuracy may be influenced by the measure used to assess across-crime similarity and the types of behaviours included in the analysis. To examine these issues, the present study compared the level of linking accuracy achieved by using the simple matching index (S) to that of the...

Over the past two decades, classification systems have been developed for various crime types in an attempt to make the process of generating offender profiles more systematic (e.g., Canter & Fritzon, 1998; Häkkänen, Lindlof, & Santtila, 2004; Salfati & Canter, 1999). Generally speaking, these classification systems are used in an attempt to catego...

This study examined the effect that priming a participant with a male or female face has on subsequent weapon identification decisions. Previous research has indicated that racial biases exist in this task, whereby black (vs. white) face primes lead to faster weapon identification and more mistaken identifications when presented with neutral object...