Newsletter and News Stories | Lethbridge Polytechnic

Applied Research Bulletin for Public Safety

Mobilizing partnerships with Canadian public safety agencies and community organizations through collaboration and innovation to promote evidence-based policies and practices.

Select a date below to view the articles in that edition of the Bulletin.

Fall Edition - October 2024

NEW INITIATIVES

Exploring Communication Barriers for Police Applicants

Communication skills have been identified as essential for day-to-day work in policing. In this applied research project, we are working with Calgary Police Service and Edmonton Police Service to identify communication barriers of new applicants and potential ways to use feedback tools to increase applicant communication awareness and skills.

"Police services strive to attract and retain diverse applicants and recruits; however, strong communication skills pose a barrier for many," says Lyon. “We know effective communication is crucial in public safety in Canada. The public safety industry reports challenges in supporting applicants and recruits to meet this standard.”

Our research explores one AI-powered speech tool to provide targeted feedback, which is designed to improve communication skills. Participants and instructors are being surveyed to measure perceived effectiveness. If AI-tools prove effective for providing targeted speech feedback, then police instructors can leverage their time and expertise towards nuanced industry-specific communication demands.

Civilian Staff Member Identity Formation and Roles in a Police Service

There is a considerable amount of research focused on police officers and how they learn their job, their satisfaction with their roles and the various occupational challenges they face. However, there is relatively little research focused on civilian members and how they come to think about their position as non-sworn staff in a police service. This research project will enhance the available information about the way that civilian employees develop their understanding of their roles within public safety. The project may also offer insights to the challenges faced by civilian employees and possibly address their management and professional development needs.

Researcher: Dr. Jim Urasaki

Funding source: Centre for Applied Research Internal Fund (CARIF)

Preventing Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence in Youth

Technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TF-GBV) is a growing problem in Canada; Cybertips.ca noted a 150 per cent increase in TF-GBV in youth between May and November 2023. Community partners have noted significant increases in sextortion (the online targeting of youth) in southern Alberta. However, specific baseline prevalence data for southern Alberta is lacking. Alongside efforts to address TF-GBV against youth, partners first need to understand the scope of the issue, including who is being targeted across intersectional factors.

Through reviewing existing surveys/tools to measure TF-GBV, sexual assaults and sexual abuse, we will work with research partners to develop a TF-GBV in youth instrument survey. Creating this measurement and testing its reliability/validity would provide great insight on future intervention research. Students’ involvement allows them to work directly with us and our partners to solve a real-life challenge and develop their technical, research and professional skills. This study supports Lethbridge Polytechnic and Centre for Justice and Human Services goals of students engaging in applied research meeting partner/community needs.

Research team: Dr. Jami Albright-Tolman and Dr. Kirsten Fantazir

Funding source: Centre for Applied Research Internal Fund (CARIF)

Strategic Document Analysis: Informing Applied research Initiatives for Enhancing Policing in Alberta

The objective of this project is to enhance comprehension of the strategic plans of police services in Alberta, with the potential to facilitate supportive applied research endeavours. Analyzing these plans is essential for refining strategic planning outcomes and guiding applied research initiatives. This undertaking entails a thorough examination of these documents to grasp the dominant priorities, challenges, and objectives influencing public safety services in Alberta. Aligning applied research efforts with the strategic plans of police services offers valuable insights and tangible benefits for public safety partners throughout the province.

Researcher: Dave Maze

Funding source: Social Sciences Humanities Research Council Explore (SSHRC)

UPDATES ON OUR CURRENT PROJECTS:

Using Virtual Reality to Assess Ethical Decision-Making

We are collaborating with eight police agencies across British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario to evaluate the decision-making skills of policing candidates through virtual reality (VR) and immersive simulation scenarios. Working closely with our Spatial Technologies Applied Research and Training (START) Centre, we've been crafting a series of lifelike interactions to enable more authentic candidate assessments. We've recently conducted presentations and user testing at various events, including Regional Innovation Network Southern Alberta (RINSA) and our Alumni Recognition Event.

Our development team has introduced a VR Basics immersive experience, aimed at familiarizing users with virtual environments, encompassing movement, object manipulation, and equipment management. Additionally, our extended reality development team has conceptualized nine characters and is currently shaping their personas. To ensure authenticity and alleviate stereotyping concerns prevalent in immersive experiences, we've actively involved representatives from diverse community backgrounds in character design.

Partner agencies received their character interaction experiences tested and experimented with these interactions. Feedback was provided, which will served as a foundation for refining both scenarios and character depictions. For a sneak peak of the ethical decision-making environment, which is a restaurant, click here.

Research team: Dave Maze and Dr. Kirsten Fantazir

Funding sources: Centre for Applied Research Internal Fund (CARIF), Social Sciences Humanities Research Council Explore (SSHRC), and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Mobilize Grant

Phase II (2024-27): Funded by NSERC/SSHRC CCSIF Grant: Read More

Learn more:

CARIE Report

Global News

Lethbridge Herald

Discovering Better Ways to Engage and Recruit Youth

During the past year, our research team, which includes two Lethbridge Polytechnic student researchers, has completed 10 interviews with representatives of five different agencies. The next stage of involved codifying the results of our interviews and observing of some of the Youth Cadet Programs in southern Alberta. We plan to share our findings and results with public safety partners in 2025.

Research team: Dean Kolebaba and Gord Ryall

Funding sources: Social Sciences Humanities Research Council Explore and Natural Sciences (SSHRC), and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Mobilize Grant

Exploring Police Recruit Identity Formation

By studying the process of socialization and integration, I can see how new recruits' experiences and their interpretation of their roles can affect their choice to stay in the job. I am now analyzing data collected in face-to-face interviews conducted with recruits from two police agencies.

Researcher: Dr. Jim Urasaki

Funding source: Centre for Applied Research Internal Fund (CARIF)

Community Integration Through Art – Pissatsinaskssini

Since November 2023, the Community Integration Through Art – Pissatsinaskssini (CITAP) team has been busy collecting data using surveys and talking circles to ensure we inform the CITAP program using the perspectives of the priority population who will be served by the program. To do this, 91 members of our priority population completed surveys or participated in talking circles. Data was gathered from people who use the soup kitchen and shelter, and people who are incarcerated. Additionally, we surveyed agencies that provide services to the priority population to get their perspectives on program content and delivery. To date, 48 service providers have completed surveys. The CITAP team analyzed and interpreted this data. We have started phase 3, which entails facilitating, in close collaboration with the Ninastako Cultural Centre, the art-based, social-recreational peer support gatherings.

Research team:

Dr. Jami Albright-Tolman (lead researcher); Dr. Kirsten Fantazir (project director); Anamaria Turuk (senior web developer); Faith Wanjiku (research operations officer); Amy-Lee Lateeph (student research assistant); AJ Aguila (student web developer)

Funding source: SSHRC/NSERC College and Community Social Innovation Fund (CCSIF)

Read more:

CITAP Program

CARIE Report

Lethbridge Herald

CPSAR Research Assistant Roles

Lethbridge Polytechnic’s Centre for Public Safety Applied Research (CPSAR)works with student research assistants on a variety of projects that solve real-world problems with innovative solutions.

CPSAR Research Assistant Roles (youtube.com)

Fall Edition – November 2023

Using Virtual Reality to Assess Ethical Decision-Making

With 7 police agencies from BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario, we are assessing the decision-making capabilities of policing applicants using virtual reality (VR) and immersive simulation scenarios. In coordination with our Spatial Technologies Applied Research and Training (START) Centre, we have been developing a series of authentic interactions that can help police agencies more authentically assess candidates. We recently presented this project at the Alberta Association Chiefs of Police (AACP) subcommittee on recruitment and retention.

Initial feedback from our research partner agencies has been obtained on the environment, non-player characters, and the interactions that will assist agencies in understanding more clearly an applicant's behaviours and thought process when faced with realistic scenarios in a public setting.

Currently, our XR development team is creating the digital environment, characters, and interactions based on partner feedback. We are aiming to have a prototype sent to our partner agencies at the beginning of December 2023.

Brandon Sun Article: https://www.brandonsun.com/local/2023/04/06/police-stepping-into-world-of-vr

Research team: Dave Maze and Dr. Kirsten Fantazir

Discovering Better Ways to Engage and Recruit Youth

Our applied research project examines the impact of existing youth engagement programs on public safety recruitment and identifies how programs can evolve to improve career outcomes.

The main purpose is to foster student involvement and examine the youth cadet programs that currently exist in Western Canada.

Secondly, this research aims to review and combine the information on youth engagement strategies used in public safety.

Thirdly, the research team endeavours to determine what strengths, challenges and opportunities exist in current youth cadet programs that can be strengthened and adapted by other public safety agencies. We are currently working with five agencies from BC, AB, SK, and MB on this project.

Research team: Dean Kolebaba and Gord Ryall

Exploring Police Recruit Identity Formation

When new police recruits make the transition from being regular civilians to being sworn members of a police organization, they undergo a process of identity formation and perspective development. It’s an intensely personal process that can be enhanced by the development of new job-related skills and other factors.

“Police agencies have a continued challenge of recruiting and retaining new members,” says Dr. Urasaki. “The study will explore the transition of police recruits into their new roles as police officers, and it may also inform the development of strategies for municipal police agencies to recruit, retain and manage their members.”

Through one-on-one interviews with police recruits, Dr. Urasaki will document the data collection using recorded audio interviews, which will then be transcribed and coded. The coding process will determine whether common characteristics exist between research participants regarding their perspective development.

The project findings will provide insight on the process of perspective development for newly hired police officers working in a municipal agency, which could inform approaches to policing in other jurisdictions.

Research team: Dr. Jim Urasaki

New ways of learning, through traditional ways of knowing

Lethbridge College leaders are discovering new ways of learning and exploring traditional Indigenous ways of knowing. In 2023, Lethbridge College formed Kakyosin (“coming to know” in Blackfoot), which is an indigenous-informed Research Committee tasked with developing research protocols based on traditional Indigenous methodologies.

Lowell Yellowhorn, Indigenous Services Manager, says the group’s name, Kakyosin, suits its purpose. He says, “When you put that word into context in English, it is essentially defined as ‘coming to a place of knowing,’ so that really fits with the college’s research mandate. That’s why we chose Kakyosin. That’s what it entails. We really are coming to a place of knowing, in a good way.”

The Kakyosin initiative is focused on incorporating Indigenous ways of knowing into the college’s applied research projects through the Centre for Applied Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CARIE). The committee is comprised of 15 internal and external partners who are learning from each other and expanding its understanding of Indigenous-informed research protocols and methodologies.

“It underpins everything,” says Dave McMurray, Manager, Applied Research Operations. “It’s about developing those principles and protocols for engaging with Indigenous communities in research. It isn’t just in one area of applied research; it’s institutional, so it ties back to the Niitsitapi Strategy.”

The creation of the Kakyosin committee was a natural progression of the Niitsitapi Strategy, which is a commitment to truth and reconciliation at Lethbridge College. The Niitsitapi Strategy guides the college toward an understanding of the cultural perspectives of Indigenous peoples and communities. It is focused on Indigenous cultural inclusion and deepening connections with internal and external Indigenous communities.

The goal of the strategy is to ensure the college community can come together for inclusive, diverse, engaged, and successful education. This strategy is not the start of that work, but rather, it is an extension and continuation of work the college has been doing for many years.

Kakyosin team: Lowell Yellowhorn, Dave McMurray, Anamaria Turuk, and Dr. Kirsten Fantazir

Deciding When to Use Deadly Force

When is it appropriate for police officers to use deadly force? The answer is subjective depending on the role someone plays in any given situation. In a hostage scenario, for example, you might have a different opinion on deadly force depending on whether you are a hostage, a hostage-taker, a police officer, a witness, or simply watching the incident unfold on TV or social media. Your preconceptions about police may also play a role in your opinion.

The primary goal of this study is to understand how deadly threat situations are perceived by people. This applied research project aims to understand whether the target of a deadly threat (a hostage or a police officer being threatened by a suspect, for example) influences whether responding officers use deadly force, and whether people in general think officers should use deadly force against a suspect. A secondary goal of this research is to examine how individual perceptions and opinions influence these results.

Beyond providing insights into these issues, the results of this applied research project may have training and policy implications for police services across Canada.

Research team: Dr. Kirsten Fantazir

Community Integration Through Art Pissatsinaskssini

Through partnership with the Ninastako Cultural Centre (NCC), this project will design, implement, and evaluate the Community Integration Through Art Pissatsinaskssini (CITAP) program. CITAP will honour the Siksikaitsitapi People through a relationship that is respectful, relevant, reciprocal, and responsible by using Indigenous ways of knowing and learning to improve the community integration of marginalized people in Lethbridge, Alberta.

Specifically, CITAP will host weekly meetings of a social recreational support group that will include creating art, sharing food, building relationships, and learning about health and wellbeing in an environment guided by Blackfoot knowledge and worldview.

Each meeting will involve a member of the research team, an artist/craftsperson, participants and at least one of the following: an Elder, a knowledge keeper, a health or wellness professional, or a service organization representative.

The goal of each meeting is to socialize and build relationships, create art, and learn about a topic relevant to the lives of participants in an informal setting that encourages open discussion. In this way,

CITAP will break down systemic barriers between marginalized people and the services they need. Participation will be open to anyone and CITAP will be inclusive of diversity.

By infusing Indigenous ways of knowing and learning and Blackfoot language and cultural knowledge into the program, CITAP will work toward reconciliation by decreasing conflict and building positive and equitable relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. The CITAP program will designed, implemented, and evaluated according to the four Rs of Indigenous research: respect, relevance, reciprocity, and responsibility.

Evaluation will take a mixed-methods approach, incorporating quantitative, qualitative, and Indigenous research methods and analysis. Results will be interpreted by the research team, the NCC, collaborators, and participants to guard against the misinterpretation of results.

If diverse interpretations result from the project, all interpretations will be included in the results. Knowledge gained from, and created by, this project will be disseminated and mobilized widely in both scholarly and community venues. While the research project will last three years, the CITAP program will be sustained in the community well beyond the duration of the research project.

Research team: Jami Albright-Tolman and Dr. Kirsten Fantazir