The aim of this paper is twofold. First, to explore whether Avon and Somerset Police can get better value for money from the Special Constabulary by increasing officer retention and second, and perhaps more importantly, to stimulate debate and highlight the apparent dearth of research and evidence pertaining to the Special Constabulary at a time of rapid expansion. Based on personal experience as a Special Constable and empirical research conducted in 2012 within Avon and Somerset Police, this paper considers whether forces nationally can increase value for money from their Special Constabulary volunteers by reducing annual attrition. The findings indicate that some relatively simple interventions and changes could increase retention and, through this, value for money. In a period of economic stringency forces cannot afford to assume that the voluntary nature of the Special Constabulary automatically presents value for money.

Silverstone, DM and Whittle, J 'Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown': The policing of Chinese organised crime in the UK http://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/6578/ Article LJMU has developed LJMU Research Online for users to access the research output of the University more effectively. Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any article(s) in LJMU Research Online to facilitate their private study or for non-commercial research. You may not engage in further distribution of the material or use it for any profit-making activities or any commercial gain.The version presented here may differ from the published version or from the version of the record. Please see the repository URL above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription. London Metropolitan University, London, UK Abstract This article outlines the impact and changing nature of Chinese organised crime in the United Kingdom (UK). It reviews the conventional policing approaches to the problem in the UK and in China, and argues they are limited in their scope and could be substantially improved. It suggests this is possible by employing police specialists here and in-country. The evidence for the paper has been collected from interviews with the relevant law enforcement and government personnel in the UK and in China in 2010 and again in 2014-15. KeywordsThe policing of organised crime, Chinese organised crime Research relating to the threat posed by Chinese organised crime to the UK is scarce, but available evidence (what little there is) suggests that this threat is changing. The lack of recent research hinders definitive judgement, but it seems that these changes have two key dimensions: the first is that the threat from locally based triads (secret societies) closely connected to Chinatowns with transnational links primarily to Hong Kong has diminished and been replaced by mainland Chinese networks which operate across the UK and have transnational links to mainland China (Dees, 2013;Silverstone, 2011;Wang, 2013). The second is that the types of criminality in which Chinese organised crime is involved have expanded. These now range from serious and organised crime such as production and exportation (to the UK) of firearms and new psychoactive substances through to mundane but financially profitable activities of copyright

No abstract

No abstract