HSRV 410: Special Needs Policing Report a Broken Link

Criminal Justice 410: Special Needs Policing is designed to identify those groups, and the various characteristics of those groups, that have special needs with respect to policing. Identifying and assessing these needs within the policing context will better equip police officers to protect and work within these various communities. The purpose of Criminal Justice 410: Special Needs Policing is to provide you with a broad understanding of the diverse policing needs within a community, the diversity within a community, and how policing needs change over time. As the dynamics of a community change, so do the ways in which it is policed.

By considering the evolving nature of policing roles, you will examine the movement of certain sociological issues from the realm of family matters to public issues that involve the police. This examination will answer two main questions:

  1. Who are the groups, or perhaps even the individuals, in society who have special needs that must be taken into account by police?
  2. What defines a special need?

It might be said that every situation in which a police officer becomes involved may have extenuating circumstances—and the officer needs to be aware of such circumstances and consider them within the policing role and context. Every community has its strengths and weaknesses, and the diversity found within each community is created by the people who live there. Although some needs are readily known, many are not.

The focus of this course is to identify target groups that may be defined as having special needs and that can be found in most Canadian communities. These groups include the elderly, battered women, people with disabilities, and children. As well, we will look at how police agencies decide to respond to challenges faced by these groups as well as by others in society such as street gangs. We will also delve briefly into the impact of technology (Internet crimes), the attitude of some groups to the growing diversity of the Canadian population (hate crimes), and changing attitudes toward dealing with other issues, specifically illicit drugs and the growing idea of initiating various, sometimes controversial, harm reduction strategies. This list is far from exhaustive, and the course encourages you to leave these boundaries to venture out and examine other interest groups and any special needs they may have.

Unit 1: Police Decision Making


Required Readings

Whitelaw, B., Parent, R., & Griffiths, C. (2006).

Community-based strategic policing in Canada. Toronto: Nelson Thompson, chapter 2 (pp. 41–67).

This reading is not currently available electronically. Please email the Library (library@athabascau.ca) and they will send you a copy.

http://aupac.lib.athabascau.ca/record=b1188479 -- Book

Supplementary Readings

Click green PDF link to access Ratcliffe's full article above.

Unit 2: Identification of Special Needs in Policing


Required Readings

Linden, R. (1989). Demographic change and the future of policing. In D. Loree (Ed.), Future issues in policing: Symposium proceedings (pp. 111–127). Ottawa: Minister of Supply and Services Canada.

Use this form to request a print copy of this article from the AU Library.
Supplementary Readings

http://aupac.lib.athabascau.ca/record=b1468504 -- Book

Unit 3: Crimes Against Children


Required Readings
Steed, J. (1994).

Our little secret: Confronting child sexual abuse in Canada (remaining chapters). Toronto: Random House.

http://aupac.lib.athabascau.ca/record=b1146007 -- Book

(e-book temporary unavailable)

Supplementary Readings

Steed, J. (1994). Kingston: Corruption in the cathedral. Chapter 1 in J. Steed, Our little secret: Confronting child sexual abuse in Canada. Toronto: Random House.

http://aupac.lib.athabascau.ca/record=b1146007 -- Book

Use this form to request a print copy of this article from the AU Library.

Unit 4: Women at Risk


Required Readings

Canadian Panel on Violence against Women. (1993).  Executive Summary of Part I: Changing the landscape: Ending violence, achieving equality. Ottawa: Author.

Request the second call number (HV 6626 C2125 1993 ex.sum.) using this form when requesting this book from the Athabasca University library.
Supplementary Readings
Use this form to request a print copy of this book from the AU Library.

Unit 5: Elder Abuse


Required Readings
McDonald, P. L., Hornick, J. P., Robertson, G. B., & Wallace, J. E. (1991).

The definition, context, and prevalence of elder abuse and neglect. Chapter 1 in Elder abuse and neglect in Canada (pp. 1–20). Toronto: Butterworths.

Use this form to request a print copy of this Chapter from the AU Library.

Podnieks, E. (n.d). Accessing the mistreated elderly: Indicators of abuse. In B. Schlesinger and R. Schlesinger (Comps. & Eds.), Abuse of the elderly: Issues and annotated bibliography (pp. 37–42). Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Use this form to request a print copy of this article from the AU Library.
Supplementary Readings
This book is currently unavailable. Please contact your course coordinator on how to further proceed.

Unit 6: Mental Health and People with Physical Disabilities


Required Readings
Supplementary Readings

Unit 7 : Internet Crimes


Required Readings

Reproduced with the permission of the Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2010.

Supplementary Readings

Unit 8: Hate Crimes


Required Readings
Web Archive Version
Supplementary Readings

Unit 9: Profiling


Required Readings

Unit 10: Street Gangs in Canada


Required Readings
Supplementary Readings

Unit 11; Policing and the Issue of Drugs


Required Readings

Supplementary Readings