Gary Cordner, Elizabeth Biebel

Problem-oriented policing was first introduced in an article by Herman Goldstein in 1979. It was formally field-tested in the 1980s in Baltimore County (Cordner, 1986) and Newport News (Eck and Spelman, 1987), given a wider audience through an Atlantic Monthly magazine article in 1989 (Wilson and Kelling), and systematically described and explained in Goldstein's 1990 book. Today, it is widely regarded as the most analytical and intellectually challenging strategy in the police arsenal.

Questions linger, however, about the implementation and practicality of problemoriented policing (POP). The SARA process (scanning, analysis, response, assessment) for carrying out POP is analytically and creatively demanding, as well as time-consuming. Some observers question whether police have the knowledge and skill to implement the SARA process properly. Police officers often question whether they have the time to do so.

The research reported here carefully examined problem-oriented policing in practice by ordinary police officers in one agency - the San Diego, California Police Department. The objective was to discover and describe the reality of everyday, streetlevel POP as practiced by generalist patrol officers. San Diego was chosen because of its reputation as a national leader in problem-oriented policing.

U.S. Department of Justice.. 2003. 28p.

By The New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller

The Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) is authorized to conduct audits, investigations, and reviews of Executive branch entities, including state and local police departments, to identify and prevent fraud, waste, and abuse in the expenditure of public funds. OSC initiated this investigation into Street Cop Training (Street Cop or the Company) after receiving information that public funds were spent to send New Jersey police officers to a six-day conference in October 2021 in Atlantic City that trained officers on questionable policing tactics and contained offensive and discriminatory content (the Conference). Street Cop is a New Jersey-based company. Around 990 law enforcement officers nationwide attended the Conference, with about 240 from New Jersey. The 240 New Jersey officers came from agencies across the state, working at all levels of government—interstate, state, county, and municipal. The majority of these officers had their attendance paid for by their public employers. OSC’s investigation confirmed that at least $75,000 in public funds were directly spent by New Jersey entities on attendance at the Conference. This number does not include paid time off and/or paid training days relating to officers’ attendance. To conduct this investigation, OSC’s Police Accountability Project reviewed documents, videos, and other materials received from the Company, training centers, and various law enforcement agencies and departments with officers in attendance at the Conference, among other sources. OSC also consulted directives, regulations, policies, and case law, and conducted interviews of relevant witnesses. OSC also conducted a sworn interview with Street Cop’s founder and Chief Executive Officer, Dennis Benigno. OSC’s investigation uncovered alarming deficiencies in the police training provided at the Conference and a dangerous and potentially costly gap in the oversight of private post-academy police training. Currently, private post-academy police training in New Jersey is not regulated by the Attorney General, Police Training Commission (PTC), or any other designated entity. Among other things, OSC found: • Instructors at the Conference promoted the use of unconstitutional policing tactics for motor vehicle stops; • Some instructors glorified violence and an excessively militaristic or “warrior” approach to policing. Other presenters spoke disparagingly of the internal affairs process; promoted an “us vs. them” approach; and espoused views and tactics that would undermine almost a decade of police reform efforts in New Jersey, including those aimed at de-escalating civilian-police encounters, building trust with vulnerable populations, and increasing officers’ ability to understand, appreciate, and interact with New Jersey’s diverse population; and • The Conference included over 100 discriminatory and harassing remarks by speakers and instructors, with repeated references to speakers’ genitalia, lewd gestures, and demeaning quips about women and minorities. This kind of training comes at too high a price for New Jersey residents. The costs of attendance for training like this is small in comparison to the potential liability for lawsuits involving excessive force, unlawful searches and seizures, and harassment and discrimination. It is well-documented  that state and local entities in New Jersey spend millions of dollars litigating these types of allegations. Between 2012 and 2018, over 100 excessive force lawsuits were brought against officers and departments in New Jersey. 1 And in 2022, just one excessive force lawsuit cost a New Jersey county $10 million. 2 The costs of lawsuits alleging discrimination or harassment can be just as expensive. By one estimate, from 2019 to 2023, New Jersey police departments agreed to pay at least $87.8 million to resolve claims of misconduct by officers, and many of those claims involved harassing and discriminatory behaviors. 3 Of course, these quantifiable high dollar amounts do not include the immeasurable and hidden cost to the victims, their families, and their communities. Quality police training can play a crucial role in ensuring law enforcement is equipped with the knowledge, expertise, and experience to navigate complex and difficult situations safely. But training that encourages officers to employ techniques that violate civil liberties, disparage legitimate public safety initiatives, undermine police reform efforts, and promote a toxic culture in which women and racial and ethnic minorities are made to feel unwelcome — this is not training that should be paid for with New Jersey’s public money. In light of these findings, and because Street Cop and other private police training companies who receive public funds operate without oversight or regulation by the Attorney General, PTC, or any other designated organization, OSC makes nine recommendations. OSC is also making a number of referrals to appropriate agencies, including to the Attorney General, the Division on Civil Rights, and internal affairs departments for further investigation into OSC’s publicly reported findings, and into additional concerning conduct identified in OSC’s review of the Conference presentations. 

Trenton: New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller, 2023. 43p.

By Sean E. Goodison,  and Connor Brooks

In 2020, 57% of local police departments almost always or always authorized oleoresin capsicum (OC) spray or foam, and 53% almost always or always authorized conducted energy devices, such as Tasers and stun guns (figure 1). Figure 1 displays the authorization of less-lethal equipment and techniques in 2020. Less-lethal equipment and techniques are weapons and tactics that are not intended to cause death or serious injury. Among less-lethal techniques, 73% of local police departments almost always or always authorized open-hand techniques and another 25% authorized them in  limited circumstances. Similarly, about 65% of departments almost always or always authorized takedown techniques and another 31% authorized them under limited circumstances. Conversely, more than half (59%) of local police departments never authorized vascular restraints or carotid holds. About 69% of local police departments never authorized respiratory neck restraints, while 29% did so under limited circumstances and 1% almost always or always authorized them.  This report uses selected variables from the 2020 Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) data collection, conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), to describe equipment, policies, and procedures in local police departments by population served. Additionally, this report describes the percentage of officers who work in departments with said equipment, policies, and procedures. Local police departments include general-purpose law enforcement agencies such as municipal, county, and regional police departments, but exclude other types of general-purpose law enforcement agencies, such as sheriffs’ offices and primary state and highway patrol agencies. For information on personnel in local police departments, see Local Police Departments Personnel, 2020 (NCJ 305187, BJS, November 2022). Findings in this report are primarily based on the 2020 LEMAS survey. Conducted periodically since 1987, the LEMAS survey collects data on a range of topics from a nationally representative sample of general-purpose state and local law enforcement agencies. (See Methodology in Local Police Departments Personnel, 2020 (NCJ 305187, BJS, November 2022).)     

 U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics ,2023. 36p.

By Oeindrila Dube, Sandy Jo MacArthur and Anuj Shah

Prevailing views suggest that adverse policing outcomes are driven by problematic police officers and deficient policies. This study highlights an overlooked factor – cognitive demands inherent in police work. A training designed to improve officer decision-making under stress and time pressure, two key cognitive demands, lead to 23% fewer uses of force and discretionary arrests, and 11% fewer arrests of Black civilians. The results demonstrate the power of leveraging behavioral science insights to make policing more effective and equitable.

Policing practices have increasingly come under public scrutiny, spurring widespread calls for police reform. To date, prevailing views have attributed adverse policing outcomes (such as excessive force and unnecessary arrests) to factors such as prejudiced officers and deficient departmental policies. In this paper, the authors introduce a new focus that explores the role of cognitive demands in contributing to poor policing outcomes. Police work often involves making complex decisions in situations that produce stress, trigger many emotions, and require officers to act quickly. These cognitive demands make it more likely that officers will act without sufficient deliberation and that their actions will be driven by cognitive biases. In this paper, the authors explore this overlooked perspective, which suggests an additional avenue for improving policing outcomes.

WORKING PAPER · NO. 2023-118 . Chicago: University of Chicago, 2023. 99p.

By The Leadership Conference Education Fund, et al.

In 2021, The Leadership Conference Education Fund (The Education Fund), in partnership with the City of Dallas Office of Community Police Oversight (OCPO), released a report on misdemeanor arrests by the Dallas Police Department (DPD) titled “Public Safety in Dallas: An Analysis of Racial Disparities in Low-Level Arrests.”1 That report highlighted the disproportionate enforcement of misdemeanor offenses on Black and Brown residents. Since the publication of that report, there have been encouraging steps taken by DPD to decriminalize misdemeanor marijuana possession based on the report’s recommendation on low-level misdemeanor enforcement.2 As of April 2021, DPD introduced a change to their internal General Orders, 313.05, which states that given the right conditions (which include no intent to distribute, no companion charges besides a warrant hold, or there is a companion felony drug charge)3 DPD should no longer arrest or cite an individual with possession of marijuana indicative of personal use, which is considered 2 ounces or less. As a follow-up to the initial report, The Education Fund has once again partnered with a group of engaged advocates in Dallas to develop this report. This new publication reviews arrest data from 2018 through 2022 and provides an analysis of the impact of DPD’s instituted general order, which discontinues most arrests of marijuana possession of 2 ounces or less. Like the first report, this one also provides an analysis of other misdemeanor arrests to identify opportunities to minimize police interaction for misdemeanor nonviolent offenses, continue decriminalization of misdemeanor offenses, and eliminate disproportionate police arrests of residents of color by the Dallas Police Department. These insights are useful in order to adjust laws, practices, and procedures to align with a more fair and equitable public safety system in Dallas.

Dallas: Office of Community Police Oversight, 2023. 40p.

Katie Blum and. Jill Paperno

In recent years our country has faced a racial reckoning. One of the areas of focus has been racial bias in policing. In the following pages we will address the law enforcement practice of pretext stops – stopping individuals for a reason that may not be lawful but using a low-level traffic or other violation to justify the stop. The following report is our working draft of what will later be released as a comprehensive review of pretext stops in New York. In the coming months, Empire Justice Center will be gathering more information and feedback that will be incorporated into later reports. In Section III, the Introduction to this Report, we recognize that of the approximately 1,000 deaths of civilians during police-civilian encounters each year, approximately 10% occur during low-level traffic stops. We explain what pretext stops are, and how they came to be an integral part of modern policing. We preview the harm caused by pretext stops, further discussed in Section VII. In Section IV, Racial Bias and the Data, we review information gleaned from numerous studies, as well as two books – Pulled Over: How Police Stops Define Race and Citizenship, by Charles Epp, Donald Haider and Steven Maynard-Moody, and Suspect Citizens: What 20 Million Traffic Stops Tell Us about Policing and Race, by Frank Baumgartner, Derek Epp and Kelsey Shoub. These sources demonstrate that pretext stops are executed far more frequently on People of Color, with most studies focusing on Black and white drivers. Additionally, once stopped, Black drivers are more likely to be searched than white drivers. In Section V, The Law and Pretext Stops, we explain the cases that have led to the conclusion that absent proof of discriminatory intent on the part of a law enforcement officer, a high bar to reach, pretext stops are lawful. In Section VI, The Community Safety Question, we address findings that pretext stops provide minimal enhancement of community safety, reviewing studies that have addressed the frequency of seizure of contraband, as well as arrests and charges of individuals stopped. In Section VII, The Harms Caused by Pretext Stops, we consider whether these minimal community safety benefits are worth the many harms caused by pretext stops – racial disparities in how policing occurs, civilian deaths, officer deaths, and the resulting lack of trust in law enforcement and the criminal justice system. In Section VIII, Pretext Stops in Rochester, N.Y., we focus on the types of offenses that are the basis for some pretext stops in Rochester, New York, a city that has faced rising tension and civilian opposition to policing in recent years, and the racial disparities as well as geographic disparities in where these stops occur. We also review some of the statements and implicit recognition of racial disparities in policing by community leaders who have considered pretext stops.

Albany, NY: Empire Justice Center, 2023. 71p.

By Aaron Chalfin and Felipe Goncalves

  How do public sector workers balance their pro-social motivations with private interests? In this study of police officers, we exploit two institutional features that change the implicit cost of making an arrest: arrests made near the end of an officer’s shift are more likely to require overtime work, and arrests made on days when an officer “moonlights” at an off-duty job after their shift have a higher opportunity cost. We document two consequences for officer behavior. First, contrary to popular wisdom, officers reduce arrests near the end of their shift, and the quality of arrests increases. We argue that these patterns are driven by officer preferences rather than departmental policy, fatigue, or incapacitation from earlier arrests. Second, officers further reduce late-shift arrests on days in which they moonlight after work, suggesting that they are, in fact, modestly responsive to financial incentives. Using these results, we estimate a dynamic model that identifies an officer’s implied trade-off between private and pro-social motivations. We find that police officers exhibit high pro-social motivation towards their work. In contrast to prior research showing that law enforcement outcomes are sensitive to financial incentives at an institutional level, the behavior of individual officers — the “street-level bureaucrats” who enforce the law — is not meaningfully distorted by monetary considerations.

Unpublished paper, 2020. 74p.

By Shani A Buggs , Daniel W Webster, Cassandra K Crifasi  

Objective To estimate the long-term impact of Safe Streets Baltimore, which is based on the Cure Violence outreach and violence interruption model, on firearm violence. Methods We used synthetic control methods to estimate programme effects on homicides and incidents of non-fatal penetrating firearm injury (non-fatal shootings) in neighbourhoods that had Safe Streets’ sites and model-generated counterfactuals. Synthetic control analyses were conducted for each firearm violence outcome in each of the seven areas where Safe Streets was implemented. The study also investigated variation in programme impact over time by generating effect estimates of varying durations for the longest-running programme sites. Results Synthetic control models reduced prediction error relative to regression analyses. Estimates of Safe Streets’ effects on firearm violence varied across intervention sites: some positive, some negative and no effect. Beneficial programme effects on firearm violence reported in prior research were found to have attenuated over time. Conclusions For highly targeted interventions, synthetic control methods may provide more valid estimates of programme impact than panel regression with data from all city neighbourhoods. This research offers new understanding about the effectiveness of the Cure Violence intervention over extended periods of time in seven neighbourhoods. Combined with existing Cure Violence evaluation literature, it also raises questions about contextual and implementation factors that might influence programme outcomes.  

  Inj Prev 2022;28:61–67  

By Baroness Casey of Blackstock DBI CB

The Met has faced significant challenges over the last ten years. Many of these have been beyond their control. These include austerity, changes in crime patterns, greater non-crime demand and a regulatory system that makes it difficult to get rid of people who corrupt the Met’s integrity. The Crown Prosecution Service and the courts are also under acute pressure. This impacts the effectiveness of the Met, and makes the criminal justice system overall much less effective. Significant societal shifts are rightly making us less tolerant of crimes such as domestic abuse, rape and child abuse as well as discrimination. Public expectations on policing are therefore greater. London too is always changing. Its population is expanding, and is swelled by thousands of commuters daily and millions of visitors each year. It is more diverse in terms of nationalities, ethnic and faith groups, and sexuality than other UK cities. The majority of the population are not from White British ethnic backgrounds, one in five do not have English as their main language, and London has greater extremes of wealth and poverty than other parts of the UK. In contrast, Met officers are 82% White and 71% male, and the majority do not live in the city they police. As such, the Met does not look like the majority of Londoners. Traditional volume crime (such as burglary and theft) has declined, while low volume but more serious offences such as violence against the person, and sexual offences have significantly increased from 17% of all crimes in 2012-13 to 31% in 2022-23. Such cases take longer to investigate and resolve. Domestic abuse-related crimes have doubled over ten years to nearly 100,000 a year and the number of reported rape cases have increased fourfold. But the number of officers investigating them has not increased at the same rate. This places more demand on police detective services in particular, while there is a national shortage of detectives. Like other public services, austerity has profoundly affected the Met. In real-terms, the Review has calculated that the Met now has £0.7 billion less than at the start of the previous decade, meaning its budget is 18% smaller. This is enough to employ more than 9,600 extra Police Constables at full cost. It has lost 21% of its civilian staff and two thirds of its Special Constables while the number of Police Community Support Officers has halved. Between 2010 and 2022 it closed 126 police stations. Specialist units and functions have been prioritised, including through ring-fenced Government funding. Together, this has eroded frontline policing, weakening the strongest day-to-day point of connection with Londoners, as well as impacting the Met’s reactive capabilities, its response levels, and its response to male violence perpetrated against women and children. The model of policing by consent, pioneered in London and admired and copied around the world, requires the Met to both earn and maintain public trust in everything it does. However, there is declining public confidence and trust in the institution. Public trust has fallen from a high point of 89% in 2016 to a low of 66% in March 2022. Public confidence in the Met to do a good job locally has fallen from high points of 70% in 2016 and 2017 to a low of 45% in March 2022. People from Black and mixed ethnic groups have lower trust and confidence in the Met, scoring 10 to 20% lower than average on trust and 5 to 10% lower on confidence, although declining scores among White Londoners mean that gap is closing. Among those who responded to surveys undertaken for the Review, three quarters of Met employees and two in five Londoners think the Met’s external reputation is poor. Black Londoners are even more likely to say its reputation is poor. A series of scandals involving the Met and the Met’s response – playing them down, denial, obfuscation, and digging in to defend officers without seeming to understand their wider significance – combined with this loss of trust, are strong indicators of fundamental problems.

London: Metropolitan Police, 2023. 363p.

By Pradhi Aggarwal, Alec Brandon, Ariel Goldszmidt, Justin Holz, John A. List, Ian Muir, Gregory Sun, Thomas Yu

Given news reporting in recent years, many readers are likely familiar with research which finds that, conditional on an encounter, police officers are more likely to enforce a law, conduct a search, or use force when a civilian belongs to a racial minority group. In other words, once they are stopped, minorities are more likely to face some police action. However, what research has yet to show is whether minorities are stopped more in the first place.

This new paper addresses the issue of minority status and the likelihood of police encounters by reviewing driving data from Lyft records in Florida from August 2017 to August 2020, totaling over 40 billion observations. These data allow the authors to explore whether minority drivers, because they are minorities, are more likely to be stopped and to be issued a citation. To examine this question, the authors focus on citations for speeding.

Becker Friedman Institute for Economics, University of Chicago: Working Paper, 2022. 27p.

By Maša Galič, Abhijit Das and Marc Schuilenburg

There is great enthusiasm for the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the criminal justice domain in the Netherlands. This enthusiasm is connected to a strong belief – at least on the side of the government – that experimenting with new technologies can enhance security as well as improve government efficiency. New digital systems are considered as leading to rational, scientific and value-neutral ways to generate knowledge and expertise within the criminal justice domain. AI in this domain therefore holds a central position not only in policy documents,3 but can also be seen in numerous examples in practice. The Dutch police stand at the forefront of predictive policing practices, at least in Europe, being the first to deploy an AI-based system for predictive policing nation-wide, and continue to set up an increasing number of predictive policing projects. Facial recognition technology is increasingly used in public space, both by the police and municipalities, often in public-private partnerships constituted within smart city initiatives. And AI-based systems, such as Hansken, are used for the purpose of finding evidence among huge amounts of data gathered in contemporary criminal investigations.6 It should be noted, however, that in the Dutch public sector the term AI is oftentimes used in a broad manner, including algorithmic systems of various complexity. The term AI is used not only for data-driven algorithms (where algorithms are trained on the basis of input data) or rule-based algorithms (where the steps, methodologies and outcomes can be traced to pre-programmed instructions implemented by a human), but also for older and much simpler types of statistical analysis (e.g., actuarial risk assessment tools, which are based on the correlation between certain factors and past statistics concerning recidivism). Because of this broad use of the term AI and a lack of publicly available information on the functioning of many technological systems used in practice, it is sometimes difficult to know whether the system used in the criminal justice domain is strictly speaking AI-based or not. In any case, older methods for statistical analysis should be seen as a precursor of contemporary advanced AI techniques. The development of risk assessment technology, such as predictive policing and tools used for the assessment of the risk of recidivism, is namely taking place on a continuum, where several generations can be discerned.

e-Revue Internationale de Droit Pénal .2023. 57p.

By U.K. Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS)

Following the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving police officer, the then Home Secretary commissioned HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) under section 54(2B) of the Police Act 1996 to assess current vetting and counter-corruption capacity and capability in policing across England and Wales. This was to include forces’ ability to detect and deal with misogynistic and predatory behaviour.

We were asked to consider current vetting (and re-vetting), arrangements for transferees, whistleblowing arrangements, the work of counter-corruption units and, where relevant, wider Professional Standards Departments.

London: HMICFRS, 2022. 163p.

By Harvey Treger

This book examines the empirical evidence demonstrating the efficacy of police–social work crisis teams, barriers to effective teamwork, and the tasks and situations that police social workers are likely to experience. Descriptive data obtained from a police–social work team within a midsize law enforcement agency located in the northeastern U.S. is used to illustrate the situations and tasks that social workers encounter. Implications for the use of such teams with assisting law enforcement agencies with their community service and community policing functions, and research implications for conducting program evaluations to determine the efficacy of police–social teams are discussed.

Illinois. Charles C. Thomas. 1975.

By Special Advisor Board of Police Commissioners on Civil Disorder in Los Angeles.

Motion: “In light of the events that have consumed this City since the verdict in the criminal prosecution of the four officers involved in the arrest of Rodney King, the Police Commission will undertake an investigation to examine the Police Department's preparations in the event of a civil disturbance and to understand what worked and what did not work In the days following April 29, 1992, with a view toward improving Departmental systems intended for that purpose.”

Board of Police Commissioners on Civil Disorder in Los Angeles. 1992. 227p.

By Keren Weitzberg

Despite widespread myths that the British police are unarmed and govern through consent, paramilitary-style policing has a long and ugly history in the UK and across the British Empire. This report looks at the increasingly blurry line between the police and military and the role of the UK in militarised policing globally. Challenging the idea that war and policing are fundamentally different powers, it examines the evolution of Britain’s policing industrial complex. It shows how a war mentality has infiltrated policing at various levels – from counter-terrorism to  anti-protest policing to border control to the policing of gangs.  

London: Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) , 2022. 56p.

By The International Association of Chiefs of Police

This guide provides evidence-based policing practices (EBPP) for small, rural, and tribal agencies. The information comes from published research studies and working group conversations with command staff from various small, rural, and tribal agencies. In this guide, we use the terms small and rural or small, rural, and tribal broadly. The types of agencies that fall within these categories vary in terms of size, crime rates and types, and community characteristics. More than 12,000 local police agencies in the United States are “small” or serve small populations—75 percent employ fewer than 25 sworn officers, and 71 percent serve populations of fewer than 10,000 residents (Hyland and Davis 2019). However, not all small agencies serve rural communities. For example, some small agencies serve independent towns within densely populated metropolitan areas. On the other hand, some county police agencies with hundreds of sworn officers serve predominantly rural communities (e.g., Yang et al. 2018). Police agencies that serve tribal communities operate within a unique cultural, historical, and legal context. While we use the terms small, rural, and tribal somewhat interchangeably, the main guiding principle for police agencies trying to implement evidence-based policing is that strategies, interventions, and practices must be specific, tailored, and based on the best available information relevant to the department and jurisdiction. This is with the understanding that there is no one-size-fits-all approach.   

Washington, DC: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2021. 64p.

By The International Association of Chiefs of Policy (IACP)

As part of our long-standing commitment to advancing the profession of law enforcement and the practice of policing, eleven leading law enforcement leadership and labor organizations continued their work to provide guidance to the law enforcement profession on de-escalation techniques, less-lethal force, and deadly force. The extensive work of the participating organizations resulted in the development of a companion Discussion Paper to supplement the Consensus Policy on Use of Force that was originally published in 2017 and updated in 2020. The combined document represents our collaborative efforts to advance the law enforcement profession, while upholding our commitment and duty to serve the public and preserve all human life. The National Consensus Discussion Paper on Use of Force is designed to provide essential background material and supporting documentation to promote greater understanding of the developmental philosophy and implementation guidelines for the Consensus Policy. Law agencies are encouraged to utilize the Discussion Paper and the information contained therein to better inform their decisions on whether to implement the various elements found in the Consensus Policy in their own agencies.

Alexandria, VA: IACP, 2020. 16p.

By Li Sian Goh

Despite the widespread implementation of new policies intended at reducing police officers’ use of force in encounters with civilians, evidence about these policies remains patchy. Consisting of a series of three papers, my dissertation seeks to contribute to the body of knowledge on measures to reduce police use of force. The first paper considers the effect of consent decrees and other forms of federal intervention on fatalities resulting from citizen encounters with the police. Using a panel dataset of deaths caused by the police between the years 2000 and 2016, a difference-in-differences analysis found that court-appointed monitorships reduced fatalities by 29.1%. The second paper examines the effect of departmental oversight over body-worn cameras on officer-involved shootings. Using a panel dataset of police departments in 36 large departments across the United States, a difference-in-differences analysis finds that while the presence of body-worn cameras alone did not reduce shootings, restricting officer discretion on when cameras should be activated reduced shootings by 33.3%. The final paper evaluates the effect of a de-escalation training program. A difference-in-differences analysis of individual officers revealed no significant changes in serious force levels between officers who had been trained and officers who had not been trained. However, an analysis comparing the department which implemented the training with other law enforcement agencies in the same state suggested that serious force rates declined by approximately 40%. In totality, the dissertation

• More.....

  provides evidence about the effectiveness of contemporary measures to reduce use of force.

Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 2020. 171p.

By Thomas Woodmansee, John Markovic

As more police agencies have adopted BWCs on their own initiative, and at least seven states have recently moved to mandate their use, BWCs are becoming a permanent fixture for the majority of police agencies. As BWCs continue to garner widespread support across varied segments of the public and of law enforcement, the benefits of this technology are becoming firmly established and agencies are demonstrating novel ways to use BWCs to improve policing. The context in which agencies implement BWCs is important, and police understand that BWCs are quickly becoming another component of the required “toolbelt” that they take into the field every day. Command staff now realize that BWCs are part of the fabric of their policing operations, i.e., BWCs are affected by and are affecting many other dimensions of policing. BWCs have, for instance, added to police workload by generating public and media requests for footage that must be painstakingly reviewed and redacted before release. On the positive side, departments have realized some areas where BWCs serve to streamline existing practices, such as the investigation and resolution of citizen complaints. At the same time agencies also recognize some previously unidentified and unintended benefits of this technology. BWCs provide police with opportunities to enhance their patrol responses and investigations. In this article written by CNA's Thomas Woodmansee and BJA's John Markovic, we discuss these two applications and other unique benefits of BWCs.

2022. 9p.