Mark Fraser Briskey

Purpose
Emergency service dispatchers perform a vital role in assisting callers by helping them through the emergency they are in and ensuring the delivery of first responders. If an emergency caller prematurely hangs up a call, before the arrival of first responders, it can impact a dispatcher’s ability to provide them with assistance. This paper aims to understand why staged callers, who are attempting to cover up a crime, and authentic callers hang up by identifying which linguistic and behavioural indicators occur prior to the end of a call.

Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 40 emergency calls (20 staged; 20 authentic) related to health and welfare emergencies were analysed with a temporal measure known as indicator waves. This provided a means to identify which indicators occurred above the level expected by chance near the end of authentic and staged calls.

Findings
The results of the current study show that the indicators that proceeded hanging up in authentic calls reflected the nature of the situation (e.g. nonurgency wherein the victim is deceased or is in a stable condition). Whereas the indicators that proceeded hanging up in staged calls focused on the “staging” aspect of the incident by accounting for forensic evidence that could be incriminating.

Originality/value
The identification of indicators that occur before the end of staged and authentic calls provides further insight into the differences between the two call types and offers opportunities for further research, potentially leading to application.

This article examines the early foundations of the strategic culture of the Pakistan Army. By exploring the impact of the partition of British India in 1947 and the First Kashmir War of 1947–48, the article identifies the pivotal factors in the development of strategic culture of Pakistan. In also examining Pakistani fears of a “vengeful” Hindu India and a persistence in the belief of discredited martial race theories as well as the idea of a Muslim military exceptionalism, the article concludes that the foundation of this culture remains evident while it is also malleable to contemporaneous events.

This article examines the early foundations of the strategic culture of the Pakistan Army. By exploring the impact of the partition of British India in 1947 and the First Kashmir War of 1947–48, the article identifies the pivotal factors in the development of strategic culture of Pakistan. In also examining Pakistani fears of a “vengeful” Hindu India and a persistence in the belief of discredited martial race theories as well as the idea of a Muslim military exceptionalism, the article concludes that the foundation of this culture remains evident while it is also malleable to contemporaneous events.