This document summarizes research on comparative police studies in the EU, with a focus on lessons learned from research conducted in Macedonia. It discusses the aims of such research, including scientific knowledge building, understanding factors that influence police organizational change, and improving cooperation between EU police forces. It then outlines the partner countries involved in one research project. The remainder of the document discusses ethical considerations and challenges for policing research in Macedonia, including the value system, lack of formal research ethics regulations, limited ethical review processes, and difficulties ensuring informed consent, confidentiality, and anonymity given the police organizational culture and hierarchy.

1. Comparative Police Studies
in the EU
1
Lessons learnt in Macedonian research
context
Stojanka Mirceva& Rade Rajkovcevski
April, 3, 2017
MARGIN Final Conference

2. 2
Aims
 Scientific knowledge and theory building
 Insights into the factors that restrict or facilitate change in
an organisation that has a major impact upon the perception
of good governance in all European societies.
 Better understanding of risks and opportunities of change
processes in the police.
 Extended knowledge of change processes in European police
forces as well as the knowledge of the inner workings of
these change processes, improved cooperation, information
exchange, and knowledge sharing from one police force to
another.
 Input on better performance of police forces across the EU.
 Deepening existing networks and inter- as well as intra-
organisational ties between forces.

3. 3
COMPOSITE Partners
Italy
UK
France
Germany
Nederland
Belgium
Czech Rep.
Macedonia
Spain
Romania

4. Research Ethics in Macedonian context
 Value system
 Research ethics regulations
 Ethical committees
 Ethics in policing research
4

5. 5
Value system
Noticeable
fear from
public critical
expression
 Transitional processes (never
ending)
 Unemployment rate (high)
 Frequent political turmoil
 Poverty and inequality(increase)
 Political accountability(not in
dictionary)
 Transparency and freedoms

6. 6
Research Ethics regulations
Little attention
paid to ethical
regulations in
criminological
research
• No formal regulations
• Research ethics among
criminologist in the country
can be traced
• Left on ethics of the
researcher

7. 7
Ethical committee
Limited perception
on the necessity
of ethical review
against the risks
and harms to the
participants
• Poor evidence of existence
and operation of ethical
committees on national level
• Some practice present at
Universities (Medical and
BIO research)
• Ethics approval not tailored
to funds allocation, access
granting, publishing findings…
• Lack of awareness among
researchers on the role and
mandate of ethical
committees

8. Ethical concerns in
policing research
• Informed Consent
• Specific consent
• Voluntary and
Willingness
• Confidentiality
• Privacy and Data
protection

9. 9
Police organization and hierarchy?
• Granting access – top level managers
• Credibility of the funding entity,
researcher (and institution)
• Police culture and police
organization’s values system
• Limitations to the research
• Interviews and questionnaire surveys
• Sensitivity of the research topics
• Impact on the respondents

10. 10
Selection procedure
• Access to list of police officers
• Sampling consist of number of
respondents, ranks and sample of
organizational units
• Issues in relation to anonymity and
confidentiality within police
organization

11. 11
Information and consent!
Sufficient information on:
- aims, methods, sources of funding,
- rights to freely decide to
participate and to withdraw it at any
time during the interview
- nature of their involvement,
potential risks for harms,
- assurances on confidentiality and
anonymity, possible limits,
- data use, data storage, and
dissemination
Arguments on
commanding nature of
police context and
perceiving participation
as part of their
working obligations

12. 12
…I received a written communication
from my superior that you will come to
make an interview with me, which
means that it is my duty to do that’.
….Am I free to refuse, will you ask for
other …

13.  Participants not identifiable to the public, difficult to
conceal their identity within the police organization
(the superior of each unit poses written communication
with names of participants from the unit)
 hidden anxiety or indifference towards researcher
 much lesser openness and interest for research
 Assigning codes to places, organizational units, ranks and
participants
 Trust between the researcher and participant, (“one of
us”).
13
Confidentiality and anonymity

14. 14
Why Ethics Matter?
 Potential harm to participants
 Harm for future research
 Validity of findings

15. Thank you
15