Framing Belgian police research: an exploration of scoping reviews regarding police decision-making in terms of topics, methodology and literature characteristics – toward a research agenda

Abstract

PurposeThis article provides an overview of the latest empirical research regarding police decision-making in Belgium from 2000 to 2021 in terms of methodology and general findings (e.g. types and year of publication, topics studied). Recommendations are given concerning police research and the development of a research agenda.Design/methodology/approachFourteen separate and limited scoping reviews regarding police decision-making topics were carried out by students in criminology and law. All scoping reviews followed the same procedure.FindingsSeventy-nine unique publications are included in the analyses. These show that police violence is most frequently studied, whereas violence against the police was only included in one publication. Empirical research on bodycams and (social) media was not found. Most of the studies followed a quantitative research design, mainly by means of secondary data analysis.Research limitations/implicationsThe scoping reviews are limited in scope and were carried out by different students, potentially leading to variable interpretations and selections. Additionally, the conclusions are partly the result of the developed review protocols (e.g. keywords, databases).Originality/valueThis article combines 14 different scoping reviews, following the same procedure, on subtopics regarding police decision-making and thus enabling comparison of the literature found in a consistent way.