麻豆原创 criminal justice researcher Ross Wolf’s聽interest in volunteer and tourism-oriented policing recently took him half way around the world.
Earlier this month, Wolf traveled to Hong Kong聽and Singapore to conduct research on volunteer policing and share his knowledge of volunteer law enforcement in the United States.
In Hong Kong, he met with members of the Hong Kong Auxiliary Police Force聽鈥� a part-time force that supplements the uniformed foot patrol of the Hong Kong Police. He also toured聽areas they patrol, such as the Lan Kwai Fong district. “The district is聽a tourist and nightlife area,” Wolf noted. “I learned how the two policing groups work together to handle large crowds.”
In Singapore, Wolf聽learned that every male at age 18 must serve two years in the military, police or 鈥渃ivil defence鈥� (fire department) as part of 鈥淣ational Service,鈥� and that the city-state has one of the lowest crime rates in the world.
He worked with members of the Singapore Police Force and Singapore Volunteer Special Constabulary. “The latter supplements all aspects of Singapore policing, including criminal investigations, traffic policing, road patrol and neighborhood policing,” Wolf said. “They also聽serve in the Singapore Police Coast Guard, which is one of the largest branches of the聽Singapore Police Force.”
Wolf also met with private security leaders from Resort World, an entertainment area that is home to Universal Studios Singapore. He learned about the leaders鈥� relationship with local police and police volunteers and about tourism-oriented policing.
Most Americans are familiar with volunteer firefighters, but few know聽about volunteer police officers, said Wolf, an associate professor of criminal justice and associate dean for聽academic affairs聽and technology for the College of Health and Public Affairs.
Many American jurisdictions use reserve and auxiliary police to perform police duties, most often as volunteers, he explained.聽
麻豆原创聽students have been a beneficiary of Wolf’s partnerships with international volunteer policing programs. In 2011, members of the Singapore聽Volunteer Special Constabulary聽visited Orlando and 麻豆原创聽to learn about U.S. volunteer policing and speak with criminal justice students about their own activities. And 麻豆原创 students have studied volunteer policing in England during two study abroad programs sponsored by Wolf.