Resource Results

The National Network for Safe Communities’ group violence reduction strategy holds that violent crime can be dramatically reduced when law enforcement, community members, and social services providers join together to directly engage with violent street groups and gangs to clearly communicate: (1) a law enforcement message that any future violence will be met with clear, predictable, and certain consequences; (2) a moral message against violence by community representatives; and (3) a… Read More

Objectives

The objectives of this research were to test the impacts of three shift lengths (8-, 10-, and 12-hour) on performance, health, safety, quality of life, sleep, fatigue, alertness, off-duty employment, and overtime among police.

Methods

Although collection of information about traffic or pedestrian stops is an important part of a department's strategy to address perceptions of bias, taken by itself this data may be insufficient to resolve the controversy about racial profiling. Unfortunately, most jurisdictions have implemented data collection systems with little thought about how information will be disseminated to the public or, more important, used to create an effective policecommunity dialogue about police… Read More

This guide by the Institute for Law and Justice provides information that will help police departments measure the effects of information technologies to support community policing activities. The guide is based on the results of an assessment of the COPS Office’s 2002 Making Officer Redeployment Effective (MORE) grantees; however, the results apply to any agency that is considering or has recently made a technology purchase.

Volume 3, Issue 1 of the Geography and Public Safety newsletter focuses on promoting the broader use of GIS by law enforcement. It highlights ways in which community policing, problem solving, community outreach, and partnerships can be enhanced by GIS. While mapping for the purpose of “putting cops on the dots” remains a core focus of GIS in law enforcement, more needs to be said about the versatility of GIS and how it can be deployed to improve effectiveness and efficiencies across all law… Read More

In 2001, the Department of Justice implemented the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) initiative which represents a nationwide commitment to reduce gun and gang crime in America. Since its inception, PSN has supported several research efforts, innovative strategies, and partnerships across the country. The report "Crime Incident Reviews" summarizes best practices for how PSN communities have adopted incident review programs that meet their own particular goals and needs...

The Integration of Crime Analysis Into Patrol Work: A Guidebook explores the data and analysis needs of patrol officers and the importance of analysis throughout the police organization. This guidebook explores the current state of the field as it relates to the use of crime analysis and analytical products, the needs of the police organization, and best practices in crime analysis and data collection as they relate to patrol work. The guidebook also illustrates the work of a select group of… Read More

Problem solving is widely advocated in contemporary policing and crime prevention. Despite its appeal, carrying out effective problem solving is a complex and challenging task. Much can go wrong. Hence difficulties and failures are often encountered. Such types of problem are not unique to policing and crime prevention. They are also often avoidable. In other substantive fields for problem solving, the formulation and use of well-designed, evidence-based checklists have been found helpful in… Read More

Incidents of mass violence and terrorism—bombings, mass riots and shootings, hijackings, bioterrorism attacks, and other human-caused disasters—present unique challenges to the communities in which they occur. These incidents require a coordinated, cross-sector approach among federal, state, local, and tribal governments; private entities; and nonprofit organizations to drive an effective response.

This short video discusses NIJ’s research on the use of body-worn cameras and the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s body-worn camera toolkit. The video reminds viewers there has been little scientific research to help law enforcement executives and other officials decide whether and how to implement the use of body-worn cameras. Since technologies, like body-worn cameras, are always evolving, it is important our understanding of such technologies must also continue to evolve.

NIJ is… Read More