Small and rural police chief perspectives on human trafficking in Pennsylvania

Purpose: Research on human trafficking largely focuses on large, urban areas, yet it is a problem in small, rural areas. Police in these areas must have the training to identify human trafficking and resources to combat the issue – both of which may be lacking in small, rural areas. The purpose of this project is to explore police chiefs' perspectives on human trafficking in small, rural areas.

Design/methodology/approach: A mixed-methods approach was used to assess Pennsylvania police chiefs' understanding of human trafficking and their perspective of the extent of the problem in their area. First, 349 police chiefs completed an online survey during the summer of 2020. Follow-up in-depth interviews were conducted with 52 police chiefs.

Findings: Most chiefs believed human trafficking is a problem in Pennsylvania (81%) or in their local area (12%). Logistic regression analysis indicated chief experience, department budget and the number of employees affect small and rural police chief perceptions of human trafficking. Qualitative analyses identified three themes of police chief perceptions of human trafficking: conflation with prostitution, definitional debates and competing beliefs about prevalence. Training on identifying human trafficking would benefit small and rural police departments. Chiefs recommended outside assistance investigating human trafficking cases and other state-level resources would be helpful.

Originality/value: Scant research exists on small and rural police departments in the United States, especially in regards to human trafficking. This study contributes to the literature by addressing this gap with a mixed-methods approach.

The version of record is available at https://doi.org/10.1108/pijpsm-01-2023-0015. The full citation is as follows: [Small and rural police chief perspectives on human trafficking in Pennsylvania. Policing: An International Journal 46, 3 p521-534 (2023)]. 'This author accepted manuscript is deposited under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC) licence. This means that anyone may distribute, adapt, and build upon the work for non-commercial purposes, subject to full attribution. If you wish to use this manuscript for commercial purposes, please contact permissions@emerald.com'

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Work Title Small and rural police chief perspectives on human trafficking in Pennsylvania
Access
Open Access
Creators
  1. Jennifer C. Gibbs
  2. Emily R. Strohacker
  3. Jennifer L. Schally
Keyword
  1. Rural policing
  2. Quantitative-qualitative method
  3. Human trafficking
  4. Pennsylvania
License CC BY-NC 4.0 (Attribution-NonCommercial)
Work Type Article
Publisher
  1. Policing: An International Journal
Publication Date May 25, 2023
Publisher Identifier (DOI)
  1. https://doi.org/10.1108/pijpsm-01-2023-0015
Deposited March 18, 2024

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Version 1
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  • Created
  • Added AAM_for_deposit_in_institutional_repository.PDF
  • Added Creator Jennifer C. Gibbs
  • Added Creator Emily R. Strohacker
  • Added Creator Jennifer L. Schally
  • Published
  • Updated Keyword, Publisher, Description, and 1 more Show Changes
    Keyword
    • Rural policing, Quantitative-qualitative method, Human trafficking, Pennsylvania
    Publisher
    • Policing
    • Policing: An International Journal
    Description
    • <p>Purpose: Research on human trafficking largely focuses on large, urban areas, yet it is a problem in small, rural areas. Police in these areas must have the training to identify human trafficking and resources to combat the issue – both of which may be lacking in small, rural areas. The purpose of this project is to explore police chiefs' perspectives on human trafficking in small, rural areas. Design/methodology/approach: A mixed-methods approach was used to assess Pennsylvania police chiefs' understanding of human trafficking and their perspective of the extent of the problem in their area. First, 349 police chiefs completed an online survey during the summer of 2020. Follow-up in-depth interviews were conducted with 52 police chiefs. Findings: Most chiefs believed human trafficking is a problem in Pennsylvania (81%) or in their local area (12%). Logistic regression analysis indicated chief experience, department budget and the number of employees affect small and rural police chief perceptions of human trafficking. Qualitative analyses identified three themes of police chief perceptions of human trafficking: conflation with prostitution, definitional debates and competing beliefs about prevalence. Training on identifying human trafficking would benefit small and rural police departments. Chiefs recommended outside assistance investigating human trafficking cases and other state-level resources would be helpful. Originality/value: Scant research exists on small and rural police departments in the United States, especially in regards to human trafficking. This study contributes to the literature by addressing this gap with a mixed-methods approach.</p>
    • <p>Purpose: Research on human trafficking largely focuses on large, urban areas, yet it is a problem in small, rural areas. Police in these areas must have the training to identify human trafficking and resources to combat the issue – both of which may be lacking in small, rural areas. The purpose of this project is to explore police chiefs' perspectives on human trafficking in small, rural areas.
    • Design/methodology/approach: A mixed-methods approach was used to assess Pennsylvania police chiefs' understanding of human trafficking and their perspective of the extent of the problem in their area. First, 349 police chiefs completed an online survey during the summer of 2020. Follow-up in-depth interviews were conducted with 52 police chiefs.
    • Findings: Most chiefs believed human trafficking is a problem in Pennsylvania (81%) or in their local area (12%). Logistic regression analysis indicated chief experience, department budget and the number of employees affect small and rural police chief perceptions of human trafficking. Qualitative analyses identified three themes of police chief perceptions of human trafficking: conflation with prostitution, definitional debates and competing beliefs about prevalence. Training on identifying human trafficking would benefit small and rural police departments. Chiefs recommended outside assistance investigating human trafficking cases and other state-level resources would be helpful.
    • Originality/value: Scant research exists on small and rural police departments in the United States, especially in regards to human trafficking. This study contributes to the literature by addressing this gap with a mixed-methods approach.</p>
    Publication Date
    • 2023-01-01
    • 2023-05-25
  • Updated