This study evaluated the impact of a computerized visuospatial memory training intervention on the memory and behavioral skills of children with Down syndrome. Teaching assistants were trained to support the delivery of a computerized intervention program to individual children over a 10–16 week period in school. Twenty-one children aged 7–12 years with Down syndrome were randomly allocated to either an intervention or waiting list control group. Following training, performance on trained and non-trained visuospatial short-term memory tasks was significantly enhanced for children in the intervention group. This improvement was sustained four months later. These results suggest that computerized visuospatial memory training in a school setting is both feasible and effective for children with Down syndrome.

For security and justice professionals (e.g., police officers, lawyers, judges), the thousands of peer-reviewed articles on nonverbal communication represent important sources of knowledge. However, despite the scope of the scientific work carried out on this subject, professionals can turn to programs, methods, and approaches that fail to reflect the state of science. The objective of this article is to examine (i) concepts of nonverbal communication conveyed by these programs, methods, and approaches, but also (ii) the consequences of their use (e.g., on the life or liberty of individuals). To achieve this objective, we describe the scope of scientific research on nonverbal communication. A program (SPOT; Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques), a method (the BAI; Behavior Analysis Interview) and an approach (synergology) that each run counter to the state of science are examined. Finally, we outline five hypotheses to explain why some organizations in the fields of security and justice are turning to pseudoscience and pseudoscientific techniques. We conclude the article by inviting these organizations to work with the international community of scholars who have scientific expertise in nonverbal communication and lie (and truth) detection to implement evidence-based practices. Para los profesionales de la seguridad y la justicia (policías, abogados, jueces), los miles de artículos revisados por pares sobre comunicación no verbal representan fuentes importantes de conocimiento. Sin embargo, a pesar del alcance del trabajo científico realizado sobre este tema, los profesionales pueden recurrir a programas, métodos y enfoques que no reflejan el estado real de la ciencia. El objetivo de este artículo es examinar (i) los conceptos de comunicación no verbal transmitidos por estos programas, métodos y enfoques, pero también (ii) las consecuencias de su uso (por ejemplo, sobre la vida o la libertad de las personas). Para lograr estos objetivos, describimos el alcance de la investigación científica sobre la comunicación no verbal. Se examina un programa (SPOT: Evaluación de pasajeros mediante técnicas de observación), un método (BAI: Entrevista de análisis de conducta) y un enfoque (sinergología) que contradicen el estado de la ciencia. Finalmente, presentamos cinco hipótesis para explicar por qué algunas organizaciones en los campos de la seguridad y la justicia están recurriendo a la pseudociencia y a las técnicas pseudocientíficas. Concluimos el artículo invitando a estas organizaciones a trabajar con la comunidad académica internacional especializada en la investigación sobre comunicación no verbal y detección de mentiras (y verdad) para implementar prácticas basadas en la evidencia.

The numbers of police officers in England and Wales who resigned voluntarily from the service have been increasing rapidly in recent years. Despite this, there has been scant attention paid to this issue academically or organisationally. Using the guiding framework of organisational commitment with its focus upon active institutional identification, this paper considers police officer decisions to resign voluntarily from the police service. It does this through an analysis of a survey distributed to police officers from one English force who had resigned voluntarily between November 2014 and June 2019. The findings demonstrate that resigning police officers highly value the occupation they have joined, the nature of their work, the opportunities for fulfilling public service ambitions and the satisfaction of working with policing colleagues as part of a team. The findings also indicate however that they are ultimately frustrated by the perceived inability of the organisation to manage the demands upon them and by a sense of organisational ‘injustice’ emanating from perceptions of a lack of ‘voice’, leadership, autonomy and support. This damages the exchange-based working relationship between officers and managers, causing a decline in affective organisational commitment. Consequently, these factors have a negative personal impact upon their physical and mental health and an impact upon their caring responsibilities and personal relationships outside of their working environment.

Drawing on survey and interview data collected in one police force area, this article considers the varied impacts on police well-being arising during the COVID-19 pandemic. Approximately one-third of police officers surveyed reported feeling less safe in their role during the pandemic, and nearly half suffered increased anxiety. The toll on well-being appears to be most acute for frontline officers and those with caring responsibilities, and is strongly associated with increases in workload. The task of ‘repairing’ well-being will require detailed and sensitive consideration involving genuine efforts to hear the voices of those who have endured this prolonged tour of duty.

The suspension of certain civil liberties and the extension of police powers to combat the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic has provoked concerns about the longer-term implications of the pandemic on police legitimacy. Drawing upon pathways to police legitimacy identified within the literature, this paper examines police officers’ perceptions of the impacts on, and potential challenges to, police legitimacy arising from the pandemic. Qualitative interviews, video diaries and focus groups were conducted with police officers in one police force area in England, captured over a five month period in winter 2020/21. The experience of policing Covid-19 left many police officers concerned about the possible consequences for the relationship with the public. The paper cautions that any gains in public perceptions of procedural justice through using enforcement measures only as a last resort, may be offset by losses in other pathways to legitimacy. Expectations of enforcement and increased visibility plus prolonged changes to deployment practices have all heightened a focus on the more instrumental aspects of police legitimacy. Concerns were also voiced that the policing of Covid-19 has accentuated divisions in society, exacerbating the sense of multiple publics to police, with different and often competing expectations of – and beliefs about – the police. Enforcement falling more heavily within some groups and locations risks exacerbating long-standing concerns about distributive fairness. As agents of social control with unique powers to exercise force and compulsion, the pandemic will require the police to exercise continued vigilance on the means by which public consent and support are sustained.

As part of a substantial research project on policing the Covid-19 pandemic, a public survey was conducted in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in England. Four open-ended questions provided participants with the opportunity to produce unlimited free-text responses regarding their perception of policing during the pandemic. Responses were coded and thematically analysed to identify themes concerning public compliance and policing during the lockdown. Subthemes surrounding communication, efficiency, and equity emerged from participant’s perceptions of what they considered to be ‘satisfactory’ and ‘unsatisfactory’ forms of policing during the pandemic. A common sub-theme regarding the public’s confusion over the role of the police was countered by an acknowledgement that the police were ‘doing their best.’ The pandemic has thrown into sharper relief pre-crisis public perceptions of appropriate policing. The free-text responses highlight the ongoing tensions between normative and instrumental approaches to policing and public expectations of police actions.