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The role of the law enforcement agencies in transport security, a survey with Swedish operators

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Logistics Research

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Abstract

Transport security, that is, the protection against antagonistic attacks in form of terrorism, theft, counterfeiting, piracy etc. has become a major concern for managers during the last years. The consequences of security incidents include economic losses for industries, but in case of terror attacks may also affect society in general. If transport networks are not adequately protected, consumable products (e.g. food, pharmaceuticals) could be counterfeited or contaminated and smuggled into a country, giving rise to death or diseases. Today, to enhance the protection of transport networks, companies have wide access to handbooks, advanced security technologies or certification programs (e.g. TAPA EMEA, ISO28001, C-TPAT or AEO, etc.). Despite this, statistics indicate that transport networks are low-risk/high-revenue targets, and therefore security needs to be enhanced. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the role played by the law enforcement agencies in transport security. More specifically, this paper strives to demonstrate the influence of the allocation of law enforcement agencies’ resources on criminal justice efforts as well as on community policing activities to deter crime. Using Structural Equation Modelling techniques, two hypotheses are empirically tested on a sample of 577 Swedish transport operators. The results unveil that both the relationships are statistically significant. Finally, implications for managers and practitioners are discussed.

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Notes

  1. Insurance company seminar, Gothenburg, Sweden, March 2008. Workshop on Transportation Security, Jönköping, Sweden, November 2007.

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Correspondence to Luca Urciuoli.

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 8 and 9.

Table 8 Demographic characteristics of the respondents

1.1 Interviews questions

  1. Q1.

    Could you describe your company and your role within the company?

  2. Q2.

    What is the vision and goal of your company from a security viewpoint?

  3. Q3.

    What do you think are the main reasons behind the increased insecurity of supply/distribution chains?

  4. Q4.

    Can you describe the security solutions you have knowledge about?

  5. Q5.

    Have you ever invested in security?

  6. Q6.

    What have been/would be the main reasons for investing/not investing in security?

Table 9 Summary of EFA and SEM fit indices (N = 175)

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Urciuoli, L., Paulraj, A. & Näslund, D. The role of the law enforcement agencies in transport security, a survey with Swedish operators. Logist. Res. 6, 145–157 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12159-013-0102-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12159-013-0102-8

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