In former times, citizens themselves were responsible for ensuring and protecting their own safety. Over the years, this responsibility largely shifted to the government, partly due to the establishment of an institutionalized police force. In recent years, citizens have increasingly reestablishing themselves in domain of social security. Citizens are engaged in tasks that are traditionally seen as primarily the responsibility of the police, such as law enforcement, criminal investigation and immediate in case of emergencies.
Technology can be considered as one of the major driving forces behind this increasing contribution of citizens in the field of security. Technology makes it possible to quickly find and share information and enhances people’s ability to deal with cognitively complex tasks. In a certain way, technology democratizes police work by making the skills and tools available for every citizen.
In this article we will discuss the value of a specific form of technological support for citizens in their search for missing persons: the missing persons app ‘Sarea’. The Netherlands has a high number of missing persons and in many incidents citizens start searching themselves. Often, this citizen initiatives are uncoordinated. Therefore, an app has been developed by the police to help citizens start and coordinate their own searches for a missing person.

This study explores the influence of police detention centres environments on police suspects’ psychological wellbeing and sleep problems. Results showed that suspects detained in a police cell experience a decreased psychological wellbeing, that they sleep poorly, and that their psychological wellbeing is related to sleep problems. Implications for police detention in relation to suspects’ psychological wellbeing and sleep problems, as well as directions for future research on police detention centre environments, are discussed.

In today’s society, full use is made of online banking. This makes safety and security of online banking an important issue. Two significant threats to users of online banking in The Netherlands are phishing and malware attacks. In this study, an end-user perspective is adopted to study customers’ perceptions regarding safety and security of online banking. A unique feature to this study is that we explore – besides other predictor variables – the relationship between online banking fraud victimization and risk perception. We have made a distinction between three types of victimization: 1) self-experienced victimization, 2) victimization of acquaintances, such as family and friends, and 3) having heard of stories in the media about online banking fraud victimization. Based on a secondary analysis of data from 1200 Dutch users of online banking, collected through an online survey, we conclude that participants perceive their risk of online banking fraud to be small. In general, participants have little experience with victimization, both themselves (2.3%) and in social settings (29.6%). Three quarters of the respondents (75.6%) are aware of victimization of online banking fraud by means of media coverage. Direct and indirect victimization, however, have almost no influence on risk perception regarding online banking fraud. Risk perception is mainly determined by perceived vulnerability, that is, the estimated probability of becoming a victim of online banking fraud. Furthermore, perceived severity or impact of online banking fraud and the degree of trust in online banking contribute to some extent to risk perception. In total, 64.0% of variance in risk perception was explained by the predictors perceived vulnerability, perceived severity, locus of control, trust in online banking, (in)direct experiences with victimization (self, acquaintances and media) and demographic variables (gender, age, educational level and work status). The results of this study may help to improve communication about risks regarding online banking.

Eleven Teams against Child Abuse Images and Transnational Child Sex Offences (TBKKs) are operating within the Dutch National Police Force. This study provides an in-depth analysis of the resilience of criminal investigators working in these teams and how they perceive and cope with daily work stressors. Observational studies within five TBKKs and 35 semi-structured interviews with child pornography investigators revealed that managing their heavy caseloads, classifying abusive images, dealing with suspects and conducting home searches can sometimes be (very) challenging. Despite these demanding work aspects, investigators experience low levels of stress. By employing emotional detachment, self-reflection, workload regulation, social support and meaningfulness, they overcome the stress of investigating internet child exploitation. However, successful implementation of these resilience-enhancing strategies depends on the availability of several individual and organizational resources. To reduce the risk of health problems and to stimulate positive functioning, these resources require permanent investment from police management and investigators themselves.

This study investigates criminal trajectories of individuals involved in organised crime. It combines qualitative information from the Organized Crime Monitor with rap sheets extracted from the Dutch Judicial Documentation System. A semi-parametric group model is used to cluster 854 individuals into groups with similar developmental trajectories, preceding the organised crime index case. Four judicial trajectories are identified: an early starters group with a high peak in late adolescence (11 percent); a persistent group of offenders with crimes from early adolescence until adulthood (30 percent); a unique group of adult onset offenders (40 percent); and a group of offenders without judicial contacts prior to the index case (19 percent). Largely, suspects who fulfilled different roles in criminal groups (leaders, coordinators, lower-level suspects) are equally distributed over the trajectory groups and the same applies to different types of criminal activities.