Browsing by Subject "Law enforcement"
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Item Attitudes and Perceptions of Texas Public Safety Training Officers Regarding the Effectiveness of the National Incident Management System (NIMS).(2010-07-14) Wilson, JasonThis thesis sought to understand reasons for noncompliant respondents and ineffective leadership in the National Incident Management System (NIMS) by Texas public safety training officers. Research has been conducted on the policies and their implications for NIMS, organizational culture and its impact on NIMS, and the hierarchy network of the Incident Command System (ICS). However, research evaluating the attitudes and perceptions regarding the effectiveness of NIMS is scarce. Training officers from rural fire departments, emergency medical services, and law enforcement agencies were the population for this study (n=33). The results of this study have implications for combined fire department, emergency medical services, and law enforcement training (interoperability), simplification of the management structure, and a mentoring program. This study should be explored further in an urban setting, based on this model. This study showed that respondents agreed that rural emergency responders tend to be noncompliant with NIMS. Respondents mentioned that rural emergency responders disagree with the effectiveness of NIMS. This study showed that a correlation occurred between the effectiveness of NIMS and the number of times a respondent was involved in a formal NIMS incident command. The following recommendations were made based on the findings and conclusions of this study. Researchers should continue to look at what public safety training officers believe affects the adaptability of NIMS. Training officers should consider contributing to the future NIMS curriculum. Training officers should focus on interoperability issues through increased field exercises. Research should be conducted to determine what improvements to curriculum effect future NIMS compliance. Further research should be conducted on the effectiveness of individual compliance, and achievement.Item Media coverage versus law enforcement and the social construction of the serial killer in American society(Texas Tech University, 2002-05) Bones, Gary L.The following research takes a look at serial killers and how they are socially constructed by the mass media versus law enforcement. Serial killers commit the most heinous of crimes over and over, and I view them as sources of information for research on their motivations and socialization. The information I have read on serial killers comes from books and newspapers dealing specifically with them and will be mentioned throughout the analysis, for some sociological implications can be seen from them and used for this study. This information dealt with serial killers from a maudy psychological approach. I feel the need to approach the serial killer using a more sociological analysis, for a sociological viewpoint is necessary so that research on serial killers may incorporate the influence of the wider social environment. All the sciences should be combined to profile the serial killer from every direction, from the biological to the sociological. In turn, this should provide valuable information regarding the characteristics behind serial killers and other repeat offenders. For this analysis I begin by discussing news reports given to society about serial killers. Although society is a general term, I refer to the groups that receives information on a daily basis from institutions that portray reality. There is no argument that serial killers receive an abundant amount of attention when their crimes are being committed, but the period of 1983-1985 was a point in history where this attention was at an all time high. The importance of this period will be discussed later in the chapter dealing with methodology. For now I will suggest that news coverage of serial killers during this period shaped the perception of the American public. Behind this coverage were two institutions we are very familiar with: law enforcement and the mass media.Item Standardized decomposition rates of human remains in the West Texas area(Texas Tech University, 2004-08) Cavness, Gina DeeAnnRecent requests by law enforcement agents for accurate time since death analysis has led to the necessity for region specific data. This study focuses on the decomposition rate of human tissue for the West Texas environment. Fourteen human limbs were placed in wire rabbit hutches on the ground of the Texas Tech Native Rangeland. Data was collected on the type of animals and insects present and their impact on the decomposition process. Also collected were weather and climatic data for the months of March through September. This study shows that skeletalization of the remains is directly affected by environmental factors. Skeletalization first began two weeks after the study was started and became completed by the third month, in most specimens. Application of this study will contribute to an accurate estimation of time since death for human remains found in the West Texas area.