Ross Wolf | University of Central Florida (original) (raw)

Papers by Ross Wolf

Criminal Justice Review, 2008

Although many police departments throughout the nation have been quick to incorporate the use of ... more Although many police departments throughout the nation have been quick to incorporate the use of conducted energy devices (CEDs) within their use-of-force policies, the use of these devices on college campuses has been relatively unexamined in the literature. This article addresses campus police agency decisions regarding CEDs as a less-than-lethal force alternative. This study utilized a stratified random sample of public 4-year universities and colleges throughout the United States. Respondents answered questions pertaining to multiple variables, such as political pressure, public opinion, officer safety, liability, and funding, as factors considered when deciding whether to acquire CEDs. The results suggest that a majority of the public institutions surveyed have not acquired CEDs due to public opinion. Furthermore, the results reveal that for institutions that have issued CEDs their acquisition can be attributed to the campus law enforcement agency's concern for officer safety. Suggestions for future research are discussed.

The purpose of this manuscript is to evaluate rubber ball grenades and their application for law ... more The purpose of this manuscript is to evaluate rubber ball grenades and their application for law enforcement and correctional officers. This study examines the "Stingball" brand of rubber ball grenade and identified a number of factors that potentially impact its deployment. Two factors were identified that negatively affect the accurate placement of the grenade, both causing unpredictably in deployment. These factors may make application of these devises inconsistent with existing case law.

Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 15614263 2015 1031750, Apr 13, 2015

Following a brief literature review, this research project conducted a comparison of the differen... more Following a brief literature review, this research project conducted a comparison of the different flares and related traffic control devices in order to identify and examine alternative highway flare systems utilizing chemical or electric sources of energy to determine their suitability ...

The Police Journal

Volunteers within the police service are an understudied but invaluable area of policing, both in... more Volunteers within the police service are an understudied but invaluable area of policing, both in the UK and the USA. Although across England and Wales there are standardised policies governing the recruitment, training and deployment of volunteer police officers, across the United States there is no national standard for their use. As a result, research comparing and contrasting across these national boundaries is of value. This current study examines similarities and differences of two policing agencies, Cleveland Police in the North East of England, and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO) in Florida, USA. Results show that while the agencies have similarities in employment status, gender and experience as a volunteer, OCSO volunteer deputies were older than their Cleveland counterparts, and were much more inclined to participate in volunteer policing because of their past experience as full-time regular police officers.

Aerial flash bangs are derived from the concepts of bird bangs which are used to scare birds away... more Aerial flash bangs are derived from the concepts of bird bangs which are used to scare birds away from unwanted areas, runways in particular. The purpose of this study was to complete preliminary testing on aerial flash bangs and gain basic knowledge and applicable use of aerial flash bangs. There were several variables that were recorded and observed during testing including time delay, malfunctions and anomalies. The most prevalent observation found was that aerial flash bangs lack consistency with time delay and were difficult to aim as they performed like a glorified bottle rocket. The most significant finding was a discrepancy between the manufacturing date of the pyrotechnic inside the 12 gauge shell and the stated manufacturing date on the shell itself, leading to field usage of munitions often expired by a decade or more.

Orange County, Florida, is approximately 2,600 square kilometers in size, and has a resident popu... more Orange County, Florida, is approximately 2,600 square kilometers in size, and has a resident population (not including tourists) of nearly 1.2 million. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO) has approximately 2,000 paid employees, of which over 1,400 are sworn law enforcement officers, making OCSO the 12th largest sheriff’s office in the nation and the 3rd largest in the southeast US. The agency is responsible for all law enforcement and criminal investigations in the unincorporated areas of Orange County. This year, 2014, marks the 50th anniversary of the OCSO Reserve unit. OCSO Reserve Deputies must meet stringent police academy and state of Florida required training and serve either as “auxiliary” deputies (with over 300 hours of academy training) who perform their law enforcement duties under the control of a fully certified volunteer deputy or full-time deputy, or as fully-certified volunteer deputies (who must attend the same certification academy as full-time Florida law e...

Police Practice and Research, 2015

Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, 2000

Campus Law Enforcement …, 2005

This article identifies issues that must be addressed when a campus law enforcement agency is con... more This article identifies issues that must be addressed when a campus law enforcement agency is considering whether or not to purchase electro-muscular disruption devices (EMDs) as a "less-than-lethal" weapon, and a case study is provided on the equipping of campus ...

Deputy and Court Officer, 2014

The utilization of volunteer or part time sheriff’s deputies by sheriffs’ offices throughout the ... more The utilization of volunteer or part time sheriff’s deputies by sheriffs’ offices throughout the United States is greatly varied. In
some agencies, for a variety of reasons (such as state laws, union
regulation, or local or county policies or code), volunteer or part
time officers are not used at all. Other agencies utilize volunteer
and part time deputies to the same level and extent that
they use their full time counterparts. While many other sheriffs’
offices fall somewhere in the middle and use volunteer and
part time officers for specific limited functions. This variation is
both interesting and complex; it is evidence of the history the
Office of Sheriff has had in American history, but it also makes
national coordination and representation difficult.

Volunteer policing in America is a largely under-studied part of the criminal justice system. Alt... more Volunteer policing in America is a largely under-studied part of the criminal justice system. Although many different countries throughout the world effectively utilize volunteer police to supplement regular police forces, the United States has had mixed success with diverse types of volunteer law enforcement programs throughout its history. Most American sheriffs are elected, and the implementation of volunteer law enforcement programs in this type of agency is especially interesting considering the community/political relationship. Utilizing data from a nationwide exploratory research survey with 1,525 respondents, the current study examines reserve, auxiliary, and other volunteer law enforcement officers within sheriffs' agencies. The results of the study show that American sheriffs utilize volunteer law enforcement deputies in a variety of ways. Respondents indicated that most have law enforcement power of arrest, and that most have law enforcement authority to carry a firearm. Demographic information of these volunteers and motivational factors to work as a volunteer law enforcement officer in a sheriff's department are also reported. See more at: http://dl4.globalstf.org/?wpsc-product=an-exploratory-study-of-the-utilization-of-volunteer-law-enforcement-officers-by-american-sheriffs#sthash.Qld46jk2.dpuf

Interviews and interrogations of suspects, witnesses, and victims are still the most important ev... more Interviews and interrogations of suspects, witnesses, and victims are still the most important evidence available to police officers today. Crime scene evidence, including DNA samples, blood samples, fingerprints, and shoe tracks may be instrumental in making a case in court, but often physical evidence cannot be located without a properly conducted, thorough preliminary investigation which may include both interviews of witnesses and victims and interrogations of suspects. It is difficult for the most seasoned criminal lawyer to keep up with the various interpretations of law; yet law enforcement officers are tasked with not only being able to comprehend decisions and how they impact their processes and the rules of criminal procedure, but to diligently and correctly interpret those rulings into rapidly-evolving situations on the street or in an interrogation room.

This book has been compiled to provide practitioners and those who study criminal justice with the resources necessary to fully understand Supreme Court interpretations of how the police can and must utilize case law in collecting testimonial evidence, evidence from stop and frisk encounters, and polygraph testing. This book presents federal case law, and discussions of those cases, to develop an understanding of laws concerning police interviews and interrogations.

… An International Journal …, Jan 1, 2009

This paper aims to build on and contribute to earlier studies on use of force by the police, and ... more This paper aims to build on and contribute to earlier studies on use of force by the police, and examines both officer and suspect force levels during altercations. Prior attempts to study non-lethal force have only recently begun to examine the multiple levels of force that may be used within a single encounter, advocating the use of a “force factor” approach. This study examines 4,303 “use of force” reports from the two agencies in Florida for a five-year period. Similar to prior studies which utilized data gathered by observation, this current study finds that law enforcement officers are operating at a force deficit; officer levels of force are consistently less than suspect resistance levels. Data examined through police reports have certain inherent limitations, including the bias of the reporting officer. Analyses of these reports make it impossible for researchers to determine the length of each portion of a conflict. While verbal commands, threats, handcuffing, and takedowns may be important forces to review, they are not well represented in the data collected.These findings have critical implications for law enforcement by continuing to examine conflicts where police force is utilized, showing the importance of officers to be prepared to use decisive force at the point where verbal techniques and force de-escalation have failed. This paper is valuable to scholars and police practitioners because it continues to expand the scholarly review of police use of force, utilizing existing force continua to analyze the data, and taking into account levels of suspect resistance.

lesslethalweapons.org

Campus police departments across the United States work conscientiously to maintain a friendly po... more Campus police departments across the United States work conscientiously to maintain a friendly policing stance for the communities they serve; yet at the same time, many have been forced to take a more law-and-order approach to fight encroaching criminal activity. Although trained police canines are not the norm in the campus environment, they have been deployed as a method to assist police agencies in controlling illegal drugs, and as a proactive measure against explosives and acts of terrorism. Specifically, this paper examines student perceptions of the effectiveness of campus police canines following the implementation of such a unit trained in narcotics and explosives detection at the University of Central Florida. Findings indicate that students tend to view police dogs in a positive light. The results of three multiple regression models suggest that certain social construction variables were significant predictors of perceptions of canine effectiveness.

A report to the National Institute of Justice …, Jan 1, 2008

A Conductive Energy Device (CED) is a device designed to deploy electricity throughout the body o... more A Conductive Energy Device (CED) is a device designed to deploy electricity throughout the body of the target to temporarily cause loss of muscle control. TASER® International, the company best known today for producing CEDs, claims it provides an advanced non-lethal option for the use in law enforcement, private security and personal defense. However, recent competition by StingerTM Systems, Inc. in the once limited field of CEDs has led many agencies to question the advantages and disadvantages of the competing products.

Criminal justice research has persistently demonstrated that a small percentage of police encount... more Criminal justice research has persistently demonstrated that a small percentage of police encounters with the public involve use of force. While extreme uses of force often garners media attention, lesser levels of force are used regularly by police without public notice. Research in the areas of use of force, and subsequent suspect injuries, has focused on the level of force used by the police officer and the suspect, excessive force, and officer misconduct. The literature on suspect injuries, police officer injuries, and the environmental and situational factors leading to police uses of force, is limited. This study examines use of force levels by the police and subject resistance levels in two agencies in Central Florida; the Orange County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO), and the Orlando Police Department (OPD). Both agencies provided copies of force documentation pursuant to public records requests as stipulated in Florida law. While previous research on police force has focused on the rate of police force, this study examined situations that required force and the actions taken by the police and citizens during the encounter.