Of the some 18,000 law enforcement agencies in the United States, TASERs have been adopted by approximately 7,000 departments. Following on the call of White and Ready (2007) for more research on TASER use by police, this paper investigates the use of TASERs by a medium sized, Midwestern police agency. All TASER deployments by police officers in this Midwestern city are examined for a three-and-a-half-year time period (January 2004-August 2007. Findings indicate that the TASER was used primarily against physically resistant white male suspects with a history of police contact. The majority of the incidents took place at a private residence or apartment as opposed to a public place of business. The TASER was overwhelmingly effective and, as for officer safety, on the few occasions that an officer was injured, the injury was not related to the TASER.

No abstract

Mission statements are instruments of organization communication. They have the ability to shape the attitudes and behavior of individuals in the organization. They also have the ability to shape the perceptions of the public. Changes in organizational activity and responsibility are often accompanied by changes in the written mission of the organization. At times these changes are brought about by conflict or crisis. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, are presented here as the impetus for change in law enforcement mission statements. This research examines the extent to which law enforcement agencies have incorporated references to terrorism in their mission statements. The research also examines the ease with which citizens are able to locate these mission statements through accessing agency Web sites. The content of law enforcement mission statements is also examined in respect to five key dimensions.

This study examines the functionality and propagation patterns of computer viruses, worms, and Trojan horses detected during a 12-month period beginning on January 1, 2004. Using data obtained from threat reports prepared by a major vendor of computer security products, the authors find that these unique forms of cybercrime warrant general concern but that their overall threat to corporate, government, and end computer users thus far has been exaggerated. The authors conclude that greater attention must be paid to the role of the computer user in the spread of viruses and other malicious software and to the small handful of chronic offenders who contribute disproportionately to the problem.

Reviewing the juvenile justice processing reveals a confusing pattern of under‐ and overrepresentation of youth by race (and ethnicity). These patterns are reviewed at multiple stages. Decision‐making influences are discussed to differentiate patterns of differential offending by race/ethnicity of juveniles and differential enforcement by race/ethnicity of juveniles. Descriptive data and multivariate research studies are reviewed to identify future theoretical directions. These efforts are limited by the lack of comprehensive national data sets on juvenile justice processing.