This project is designed to be a plug-and-play resource for the Phoenix Police Department and/or other police departments to create a website or other resource that helps educate commercial property and business owners on Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED). The created content includes an overview of CPTED and specific recommendations for eight common business types seen in the Phoenix area on how to best design their business or property to decrease the potential opportunities for crime to occur.

Abstract   The following research addresses some of the contemporary problems that individuals experiencing homelessness face; specifically, investigating the decision to forgo shelter services and spend nights in places unfit for human inhabitation, a phenomenon known as sleeping rough. The paper begins with a broad look at the historical roots of homelessness, urbanization and the failure of mental health services, before exploring past attempts at answering the research question, why do the homeless choose to sleep rough? Several seminal studies, most of which were performed in large New York City shelters, gave context to the dangers present within shelters, but, due to both their location and methodologies, failed to capture the nuances of decision making for individuals experiencing homelessness. In order to expand the literature’s understanding of homelessness and the decision to forgo shelters, I conducted 23 in-depth interviews with various individuals embedded in the homeless culture in Phoenix, Arizona, including those experiencing homelessness, shelter employees, service providers, and the police squad designated to work the shelter beat. This thesis also provides information about the unique circumstances of Phoenix shelter services, the majority of which are housed on the Human Services Campus, a cluster of services specialized for homeless outreach. To supplement the information gathered through in-depth interviews, I analyzed crime maps of the Human Services Campus. This information, coupled with the in-depth interviews, helps explain that the homeless avoid the shelter services for a variety of reasons. These include concerns for safety, freedom, and personal property, as well as a longing to maintain dignity and avoid confrontation with shelter staff and security. Mental health and substance abuse implications are also discussed.

In the United States, the profession of Law Enforcement is facing a workforce crisis. There are fewer applicants applying for policing jobs than there was just a decade ago. To worsen the problem, many officers are leaving the profession in less than five years. The Arizona State University Police Department is no exception to this problem. Police employees leave the department for a variety of reasons but among them is a conflict with their supervisor in the area of organizational justice. There is a gap in the training of first-line supervisors in policing as a whole as it pertains to organizational justice and how to implement it within their workgroups. Organizational Justice Theory includes the constructs of distributive justice, procedural justice, informational justice, and interpersonal justice. This mixed-methods study tested the assumption that organizational justice training with first-line supervisors at Arizona State University Police Department would have an effect on their self-efficacy and implementation of organizational justice practices and therefore improve relationships with their subordinates. Results of the study showed a single eight-hour class on Organizational Justice had no effect on the self-efficacy or implementation of organizational practices by first-line supervisors within the timeframe of the study. Like the supervisors, there was also no statistically significant effect on the employees and their belief that their supervisors were practicing organizational justice within their workgroups.

The presence of police officers is not an assurance of safety for everyone. Yet,

modern concerns for school safety suggest there is a need for more police officers in

schools. Over the last 70 years of School Resource Officer (SRO) programs, the variations

of SRO program implementation and the expectation of roles and responsibilities has

produced conflicting research on benefits or harms of police in the school environment.

The purpose of police in schools has shuffled from relationship-building ambassadors for

the community, to educators on crime prevention and drug use, to law enforcement

officers for punitive juvenile sanctions, to counselors and role models for legal

socialization, and other roles for emergency management and crisis response. Plans to

place more officers in schools for purposes of “school safety” requires an examination of

the SROs’ roles within the school, their interactions with students, and how these roles

and interactions contribute to safety. This study explores the roles of SROs to

understand the variations of roles within a program and understand factors influencing

the roles of SROs (e.g., school climate, initiation by others). To evaluate these roles and

potential influences, cluster analysis and multinomial regression models were developed

from one year of SRO-student interaction data (n=12, 466) collected daily from the

Richland County (SC) Sheriff’s Department SRO Division located in South Carolina.

These interactions were defined by the framework of counseling, educating, and law

enforcing roles. Results indicate the variations of roles performed are largely influenced

by the school type (e.g., elementary), SRO perceptions (e.g., counselor), and the

engagement of SROs by school officials for specific roles.

Officials employed in the criminal justice system have a duty to serve, protect, and uphold the law. Nevertheless, previous research has found problematic drinking and illegal substance use exists among criminal justice system employees. Criminal justice employees may be more likely to use substances due to strains or due to increased access to drug. On the other hand, self-selection and screening processes may result in a pool of employees who fewer substances than the general population. Using waves 1 through 17 of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, the current research examines substance use patterns of criminal justice system employees, assessing how their rate of substance use compares to a nationally representative sample, and how their substance use changes once employed with the criminal justice system, this research surveys the alcohol and illicit drug use of people who went on to work in the criminal justice system and how their substance use compares to the general population. In addition, this research compares police officer substance use to the general population. When compared to a nationally represented sample, criminal justice system employees consistently use illegal substances at lower rates. However, the prevalence of alcohol use among police officers specifically is higher when compared to the general population and increases once employed with the criminal justice system. Information from this research can be used to help agencies with employee selection procedures and employee assistance programs for current employees.

Mental illness creates a unique challenge for police. Changes in medical infrastructure have left many mentally ill without adequate access to resources or treatment. They often face additional challenges of substance abuse and homelessness. This has led to increasingly frequent contact with police and a shift from mental illness being treated as a health problem to being treated as a police problem. Police are unable to provide treatment, and are frustrated by the amount of their time consumed by persons with mental illness (PMI) and by the amount of time and effort it takes to connect them with treatment. Due to the unpredictable behavior often caused by mental illness and the way police are trained to deal with uncooperative behavior, persons suffering from mental illness are subject to the use of force by police at a disproportionate rate. Police are trying to combat these problems with the implementation of advanced training and the development of Crisis Intervention Teams and Mobile Response Units, as well as increasing connections with local medical facilities to promote treatment over arrest. Other strategies have been experimented with, both in the United States and across the globe, but there is currently a limited amount of research on how effective these programs are. Anecdotally, the most successful programs seem to be those that take a comprehensive approach to mental illness, creating solutions that include police, medical facilities, courts, dispatchers, first responders, and the community. Due to the limits of programs confined to one institution, it is recommended that treatment be expanded and police receive advanced training in dealing with mentally ill people, as well as involving others in the criminal justice and medical communities so that they provide a coordinated response to PMI.