Editorial
Editorial
This volume reflects the journal's commitment to advancing knowledge in the areas of crime, crime control strategies and matters pertaining to police organizations in the in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, and Slovenia.
In the first article Borislav Petrovic, Irma Deljkic and Eldan Mujanovic outline the offender characteristics of robbery in Canton Sarajevo based on their data drawn from 120 court and police records. They conclude that most crimes of robbery are done by professional perpetrators who are mostly recidivists. Findings also suggest that nearly 50 percent of incidents involve accomplices with extensive pre-planning characteristics more associated with professional robbers than "opportunistic" or "Alcoholic" robbers. The findings also suggest that in many of the cases, several varieties of weapons were used but mostly to threaten victims.
In the second article Irma Kovco Vukadin and Renato Matic examined Croatian police officers' perceptions of the role, practices, and responsibilities relating to victims assistance. Using a questionnaire consisting of 31 statements based on the UN Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power two cohorts of police officers (N=155) who attended the victimology course in the graduate program at the Police College in Zagreb, Croatia were surveyed in 2008/09 and 2009/10. The authors conclude that despite many "inhibiting factors, traditional patterns, stereotypes and prejudice" that are inherent to every day police practices, respondents appeared very sensitive to issues pertaining to victims in many areas. These include being sensitive to victims, victims' rights to compensation, opportunity to protect and present evidence in courts. The authors caution that while the findings suggest that Croatian police officers are aware of the ideals future research should examine the extent to which these ideals promulgated through course content are internalized.
The need to focus on police officers' sensitivity to victims as an essential element of democratic policing emerges in Radomir Zekavica, Zelimir Kesetovic, and Tanja Kesic's analysis of Belgrade police officers' attitudes relating to the core principles of democratic policing. More specifically, Zekavica and his colleagues examine the attitudes of 250 police officers regarding issues that relate to citizen protection, commitment to rule of law, and police accountability. On a positive note, officers acknowledged that protecting citizen interests is the primary goal of the police and citizen cooperation in crime prevention is desirable. However, officers appeared to view that rule of law hinders police efficiency and effectiveness. The results also suggest that a significant percentage of the officers viewed use of force in criminal investigations as necessary, a finding that the authors note is of concern and flies in the face of the principles of democratic policing. Further, while officers_
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acknowledge the need for police accountability they preferred regulation from internal affairs and expressed 'distrust' for external regulatory mechanisms.
The next three papers cover a wide range of issues relating to police leadership, information security, and security organizational culture in Slovenia. Dzemal Duric examines leadership styles of police managers at different organizational levels. In a survey of police managers at the local (N=290), regional (N=122), and state (N=74), Duric examined the relationship between leadership styles (transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire) to various outcomes that include effectiveness, satisfaction, and extra effort. The findings suggest that transactional leadership was more popular among Slovene police managers. However, among these styles, a transformational leadership style was more popular at higher organizational levels. Findings also suggest a positive relationship between police managers who followed transformational leadership and outcomes criteria but a negative relationship between laissez-faire leadership styles and outcome criteria.
In the article "Information Security in Risk Management Systems - Slovenian Perspective" Igor Bernik and Kaja Prislan introduce to the readers a range of information security threats and the strategies for managing such risks. More specifically, Igor Bernik and Kaja Prislan assess management perceptions of information security risk in various organizations in Slovenia and conclude that organizational success is directly related to the quality of information systems. More specifically, the authors note the criticality of data protection and storage in the effectiveness of their information systems that directly contribute to success irrespective of the size of the organization. They conclude that "many organizations use a combined approach, but the general and informal approaches are the methods of choice because they demand the least time, knowledge and financial resources" leading them to recommend employee awareness and education programs.
In the final paper, Denis Caleta, Katja Rancigaj, and Branko Lobnikar examine the security culture in the Slovenian Armed Forces (SAF). In a survey of 53 members of the SAF, responded to 32 statements "relevant for the operation of processes forming security culture" which were structured on a 5-point Likert Scale. Factor analysis yielded six measures. These include "personnel requirements for the management of classified information", "qualification for maintenance of security culture", "attitudes toward protection of classified information", "procedures for the provision of protection of classified information", "recording and elimination of violations in the protection of classified information", and "organizational measures for management of classified information." The findings suggest that respondents in general are supportive of various organizational characteristics that measure security culture. However, Caleta et al. in noting the dispersion of responses argue that "despite the good average assessment some respondents were very critical of certain areas of protection of classified information" which is indicative of the need for strengthening some measures to enhance and cultivate a strong culture of organizational security culture among Slovenian Armed Forces.
Gorazd Mesko and Mahesh K. Nalla Guest Editors
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