On May 28-31, 2013, the Major Cities Chiefs Association held their summer conference in Grapevine, TX,. Stephen Rickman, SPI Senior Advisor, and Dr. James “Chip” R. Coldren Jr., SPI Project Director, presented an overview of the SPI project and its impact on police departments nationwide. Nola Joyce, Deputy Commissioner for the Philadelphia Police Department, Ed Davis, Commissioner of the Boston Police Department, and Charles Beck, Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, each described their SPI projects and highlighted the benefits and lessons learned from their work. Mr. Rickman described the vision for SPI: a strategic initiative based on greater use of science, data, and technology to drive intelligent decision-making by police departments. Dr. Coldren then discussed the driving principles behind SPI, including emphasis on researcher-practitioner partnerships. Nola Joyce reviewed the Philadelphia SPI project, which focused on the impacts of problem-oriented policing, foot patrols, and offender-focused policing. Charles Beck discussed the Los Angeles SPI project, which combined place- and offender-based strategies in the Newton Division. Edward Davis presented on the Boston SPI project, focused on reducing crime in hotspots by introducing Safe Street Teams and reinvigorating their existing Project Ceasefire.
