Mahesh Nalla
Professor of Criminal Justice | Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI, UNITED STATES
Mahesh Nalla is an expert in global crime and security issues, ranging from sexual harassment to the security guard industry.
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Biography
Mahesh Nalla research projects are centered in two areas: (a) civil society, security, legitimacy and trust in public and private police, and (b) gendered spaces & victimization, and domestic violence in emerging democracies. One of his multi-nation projects on firearm-related violence for the United Nations resulted in forming the cornerstone of the draft (UN ECOSOC) International Protocol Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition and Other Related Materials, as a supplement to the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime. He spearheaded the development and introduction of the first full-time online master's in Criminal Justice in 1998, for which he received an Award for Excellence – Creative Program Credit-Award in 1999 presented to Michigan State University by the University Continuing Education Association Region IV. He served in various administrative roles for the School including Interim Director and Director of Graduate Studies. He is Editor-In-Chief of the International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, which is the official journal of the American Society of Criminology’s International Division.
Industry Expertise (3)
Education/Learning
Research
Writing and Editing
Areas of Expertise (4)
India
Sexual Crimes
Domestic Violence
Security Guard Industry
Education (4)
University of Albany: Ph.D.
Andhra University, India: M.A.
University at Albany: M.A.
Andhra University, India: B.Com.
Journal Articles (5)
Is police integrity an important predictor of citizen satisfaction in police in post- colonial emerging democracies? The case of India
Asian Journal of Criminology2018 The focus of this study is to examine citizen satisfaction with the police. Specifically, the authors aim to understand the factors that determine citizen satisfaction with police services in India, a former English colony and a relatively new republic that has achieved a significant economic development in recent decades. Findings from analysis of a convenience sample (N = 845) obtained from four Northern states in India suggest that perceived procedural fairness, fear of crime, and age of the respondents predict satisfaction with police services. Moreover, perceived professionalism of police officers is found to increase their perceived procedural fairness.
Sustaining police officers’ motivation in aviation security
Journal of Transportation Security2017 The focus of the present study is airport police officers. The aim of this studyis to examine factors that determine and shape airport police officers’ work motivationin the context of goal-setting theory advanced by Locke and Latham (1990a) toimprove the effectiveness of airport security. More specifically, we ask whether goaldifficulty and goal specificity influence officers’ motivation. Additionally, we seek todetermine if goal commitment, task significance, self-efficacy, feedback, rewards, andparticipatively set goals have a positive effect on police officers’ motivation. The results indicate that goal difficulty, goal specificity, task significance, commitment, self-effi-cacy, and rewards are related to police officers’ sense of motivation. That is, the goal-setting model is a practical tool that increases motivational skills of airport police officers to bolster aviation security. Thus, this model is a good starting point for assisting airport police officers in their work context and offering important insights and implications, theoretically and practically, in the field of aviation security
The influence of organizational and environmental factors on job satisfaction among security guards in Singapore.
Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology2016 This study examines the determinants of security guards’ job satisfaction in Singapore. Specifically, data gathered from 251 security guards and security supervisors are analyzed to assess how job and organizational characteristics such as autonomy, supervisory support, innovation, pay and benefits, and support from other employees (non-security) affect the participants’ job satisfaction. In addition, given the nature of their work that brings them in close contact with citizens, the authors examine to what extent the environmental factor of perceived citizens’ views of security guards helps explain the level of satisfaction. The findings suggest that job autonomy, pay and benefits, and perceived support from other employees in the organization are strong predictors of participants’ job satisfaction.
Assessing police–community relationships: is there a gap in perceptions between police officers and residents?
Policing and Society: An International journal of Research and Policy2014 The notion that community residents are key players responsible for the well-being of the larger society has become a cornerstone of approaches to modern policing in democratic societies. That is, residents partner with police to help maintain social order. An essential element of successful implementation of any programme is communication and understanding between various parties in the partnership. In this paper, we examine whether there is congruence between police officers and residents in how they perceive their relationships on various dimensions of police–community relations. These dimensions include residents’ respect for police and their willingness to cooperate in various community-policing activities. Using survey data collected in 2011 from a larger project with a national sample of 581 Slovenian police officers and 959 residents, we analyse both groups’ perceptions of community support of and willingness to partner with police officers. Results show that, on the one hand, residents appeared to have respect and confidence in police and were willing to cooperate with police officers in various crime prevention and community-policing activities. On the other hand, we find police officers’ perceptions of residents’ willingness to cooperate with the police ranked lower than residents’ reflections on these matters. On many of the dimensions of police–community partnerships, residents appeared more willing to cooperate and support the police compared to what officers perceived of residents’ willingness. This research identifies a gap in perceptions of citizen support of the police between Slovenian residents and police officers, which has to be bridged to make community policing more effective.
Assessing goals and functions of private police
Journal of Criminal Justice2003 Despite large increases in the growth of the private policing industry in the last four decades, very little is known about how the public perceives agents of private policing. College students in a large midwestern school were surveyed concerning their attitudes toward private security officers. Responses were received from 631 undergraduate students (of 750 distributed surveys) and summarized in this article. The findings suggest that respondents generally held positive attitudes toward private security officers though there were some observable differences based on subjects' demographic characteristics. These differences were strongest for gender, employment, and “contact” variables, with some support gained for variables related to family income and race.
