In this article, the author reflects on the impact of COVID-19 on policing, the relations among police officers and the interactions between police and citizens based on systematic social observations in small to semi-sized local police forces during the pandemic. The article discusses the nature of police work during the crisis and new types of interventions that police officers are confronted with (e.g. curfew controls). Additionally, the impact of the pandemic on the internal and external relations is discussed. Internally, the COVID-19 measures may have an impact on police officers’ possibilities for personal, social interactions among colleagues, which may potentially challenge the solidarity within the police force. Externally, tensions may arise in relations with citizens, partly because of unclear regulations or variable interpretations of those regulations. Those unclear regulations, but also uncertainties concerning one’s own competences and questions regarding the police’s role in enforcing the pandemic regulations, put pressure on the police’s (self-)legitimacy.

This article examines the use of citizen participation in urgent missing person cases. The Theory of Planned Behavior was used to examine which specific considerations investigators have in this regard and which have the greatest influence on the choice of whether or not to involve citizens. The findings suggest that this choice is primarily attitude-driven. Detectives are predominantly positive about participation, but see harm to the investigation as the main risk. A practical implication is to focus collaboration primarily on professionally organized groups of citizens to reduce (perceived) risks.

Police officers are often the victim of aggression by citizens, which has negative consequences for them and society in general. Therefore, it is important to gain knowledge about related factors. This study examines to what extent experiencing aggression as a police officer is related to their patience with citizens and use of force. Two explanations based on the victim-offender overlap are examined: that aggression experiences and dealing with citizens influence each other and that they have common causes. This study was conducted on the basis of a longitudinal questionnaire survey among police officers (N=693). The results show that interaction with citizens, including patience with citizens and the use of force, is related to the aggression police officers experience. The association diminishes when common causes, in this case socio-demographic and work-related characteristics, are taken into account, but does not disappear. No direct support is found for reciprocal influence. Implications and suggestions for further research are described.

Based on a scoping review regarding international policy recommendations, the authors of this article explore the most important aspects concerning bodycam policies for police services. Even though most literature on the shortlist is situated in the United States, important issues are discussed for a Belgian bodycam policy. Examples are a clear activation policy and regulations regarding warnings. These recommendations are compared to the legal regulations on bodycams in Belgium, such as the individual discretion Belgian police officers have when activating the camera. Throughout the article, the use of bodycams is linked to procedural justice. Because of the scarcity of Belgian bodycam research, we also give some recommendations for further research on this topic.

Domestic violence is a prevalent and persistent problem in society. To be able to effectively intervene in cases of domestic violence, protect victims, and reduce the costs of domestic violence, several initiatives have been implemented in recent years with the aim of improving the response to domestic violence. A multidisciplinary and systemic approach to tackling domestic violence has been introduced, which is especially important in complex cases. Police work together with different partners, among others, the organisation ‘Safe at Home’ (Veilig Thuis) and the public prosecutor. Police play a particularly important role in achieving immediate safety in cases of domestic violence, and work together with partners to accomplish more structural safety for all family members. The development towards a more holistic response to domestic violence in which the police work together with other organisations is important to be able to tackle domestic violence more effectively. Although the importance of collaboration between different organisations has been recognised, the multidisciplinary response is still in development, resulting in some problems in practice.

In the past years important changes have occurred in police work in the Netherlands and Belgium. These developments, and new questions that arose because of these developments, are the reason we dedicate a special issue to ‘the police and citizen in a changing context’. In this introduction of this issue, we describe a number of developments and new questions. We address the changing distance between police officers and citizens, authority and trust, the role of citizens, technology and digitization and growing complexity and diversity. In addition, the articles in this special issue are introduced.

The rise of the internet and social media has important consequences for the way we interact, communicate and access information. This has repercussions for the police organization and also for the cooperation between police and citizens. One of these forms of cooperation between police and citizens are neighborhood watch (NW) projects (also known as ‘BINs’ in Belgium and ‘burgerwachten’ in the Netherlands). This study uses semi-structured interviews (n=380) in Belgium to examine how NW members and non-NW members perceive the effectiveness of both formal and informal NW projects and how the two relate to each other. The perceived effectiveness is assessed based on several criteria, including impact on crime, fear of crime, policing, and the relationship between police and citizens.

This chronicle discusses the importance of Bruno Latour’s work for criminology, paying attention to the role of technology and our relationship to nature. The author proposes to criminalize ecocide and advocates the use of restorative justice in dealing with environmental crimes.

In recent years scientific interest in various aspects of prison climate has increased exponentially. At first, such research was being initiated and undertaken predominantly within Anglo-Saxon penology but, more recently, research into prison climate is also increasingly taking place elsewhere, including in the Netherlands and Belgium. In this article the authors offer an overview of Dutch and Belgian research on prison climate. They discuss the literature from two broad angles: first, the characteristics of prisons and incarcerated individuals that determine the quality of prison climate; and, second, research on the impact of prison climate on inmates themselves.

Dutch prisons are not exempt from incidents. Despite the negative impact of violence on the safety of inmates and the chances of successful reintegration, not much is known about the prevalence of victimization in Dutch prisons and the characteristics of victims. Additionally, previous research has pointed out the overlap between victim status and offender status. In this contribution, the authors will discuss the prevalence of self-reported victimization among Dutch inmates and the characteristics of victims and victim-offenders. Data from 3,485 participants from the Life in Custody Study are used for this purpose.

Dutch mayors play an increasingly prominent role in tackling (organized) crime. However, empirical research into how mayors fulfil this role remains scarce. Based on 23 interviews with nineteen mayors and sixteen municipal officials, this study reveals the different ways in which mayors have given meaning to the administrative approach of outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMCGs) in the period 2012-2017. While the national approach to OMCGs fits within the wider focus in society on prevention and the exclusion of ‘risky groups’, this empirical study shows how mayors give their own effect to this focus at the local level.

Though less well-known than for instance the narcotics or weapons trade, illegal organ trade is a lucrative business with yearly revenues estimated between 840 million and 1.7 billion USD. The most commonly reported form of organ trade is the trade in living donor kidneys. The current study maps the criminal network behind the illegal organ trade that took place in the Medicus clinic in Kosovo based on police files, indictments, transcripts of suspect and victim statements, court rulings and interviews. The Medicus case involved at least 27 living kidney donations. Operations were performed by eleven actors in teams of varying composition. The total criminal network consisted of 107 individuals and is characterized by a low density and features a number of central actors.

In this essay the authors argue that social and genetic explanations for behavior are intertwined, and that genetically informed research designs can be a valuable addition to the toolbox that is available to criminologists for examining causal relationships and intergenerational transmission. From this ‘toolbox’ perspective, the authors discuss four study approaches: twin and family designs, genome-wide association studies, polygenetic scores and Mendelian Randomization. Finally, they address a number of practical considerations for applying genetically informed research designs in criminology.

Although reward systems are utilized in prisons worldwide, evaluations regarding their intended use are lacking. This contribution reconstructs the policy theory of such a system: Promotion and Demotion, as implemented in Dutch prisons in 2014. With a policy scientific approach the intended target group, means, goals and causal mechanisms of the system were delineated. The policy theory assumes three means, ten goals and 24 causal mechanisms. The policy theory is insufficiently empirically substantiated on a number of points and takes limited account of (cognitively) impaired prisoners. This accurate reconstruction offers a unique insight into the assumed functioning of a part of Dutch detention policy and provides starting points for international considerations of behavioral change in detention.

It has been proposed that when people perceive their treatment by criminal justice actors as more procedurally just, they will be more likely to comply with the law. Existing research mainly focused on the police or the judge. This longitudinal study examined how prisoners experienced their treatment by five different criminal justice actors using data from the Prison Project. The prisoners were most positive about the procedurally fair treatment by their lawyer and least positive about the treatment by the police. Additionally, the perceived treatment by the police was associated with the treatment by other actors at subsequent moments.

The ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp are among the main European ports of entry for the import and further distribution of cocaine. Earlier research underlines the interchangeability of these ports regarding the criminal networks trafficking cocaine into Europe. In this contribution, the interchange­ability of these European sea ports regarding cocaine trafficking is questioned. Based on empirical research, and applying the routine activity approach, the Port of Rotterdam and the Port of Antwerp are compared with respect to their physical characteristics, the potential, motivated offenders, as well as the existing public and private security measures.