By Elizabeth R. Groff and Travis A. Taniguchi

The objective of this project was to test the efficacy of swift resident notification for preventing subsequent burglaries within near-repeat high-risk zones (NR-HRZ). The experiment was conducted in Baltimore County, Maryland and Redlands, California. As residential burglaries came to the attention of the police, a trickle randomization process was used to assign each micro-level NR-HRZ (measured 800 ft, 244 m from the burglary location) and associated buffer (400 ft, 122 m) to treatment or control. Treatment was performed by uniform agency volunteers and consisted of swift notification to residents in the area of increased risk of burglary victimization. Treatment and control zones were compared for differences in the mean count of residential burglary using independent samples t tests. Two surveys were administered to gauge the impact of the program: one targeted residents and one targeted at the treatment providers. There was limited evidence that the treatment reduced follow-on burglaries. The effectiveness of the intervention varied depending on the post-intervention time period being considered. The results of the community survey suggested that: (1) the most frequent crime prevention actions taken by residents were relatively low-cost and low-effort and (2) notification did not increase resident fear of burglary. The treatment provider survey found that the program was effective at increasing the level of engagement between volunteers and the agency and had positive impacts on community perception. This research demonstrated that law enforcement volunteers can be used to undertake programs that have positive impacts on police-community relations. Limitations included low near-repeat counts, delays in discovering/reporting burglary, and staffing constraints.

Washington, DC; National Police Foundation, 2018. 126p.

This guide begins by describing the problem of illicit public sexual activity and the factors that contribute to it. It then identifies a series of questions to help you analyze your local problem. Finally, it reviews responses to the problem, and what is known about them from evaluative research and police practice. Public sexual activity includes a range of behaviors, such as solitary nude sunbathing, flashing, streaking, solitary or mutual masturbation, fellatio, and vaginal or anal intercourse.

Read more at the Center for Problem Oriented Policing

This guide addresses homeless encampments, also known as transient camps. It begins by describing the problem and reviewing factors that contribute to it. It then identifies a series of questions to help you analyze your local problem. Finally, it reviews responses to the problem and what is known about them from evaluative research and police practice. Homeless encampments are only one aspect of the larger set of problems related to homelessness, street life, and public disorder.

Read more at the Center for Problem Oriented Policing

This guide addresses effective responses to the problem of graffiti—the wide range of markings, etchings, and paintings that deface public or private property. In recent decades, graffiti has become an extensive problem, spreading from the largest cities to other locales. Despite the common association of graffiti with gangs, graffiti is widely found in jurisdictions of all sizes, and graffiti offenders are by no means limited to gangs.

Read more at the Center for Problem Oriented Policing

By Kim Shayo Buchanan, Hilary Rau, Kerry Mulligan, Tracie Keesee, and Phillip Atiba Goff

Whether a group is dedicated to racism (a “hate group”), or advocates the overthrow of elected governments (a “paramilitary gang”), or both—no police officer or law enforcement agency should support or affiliate with it. Officers who support or affiliate with hate groups and paramilitary gangs undermine the mission of their law enforcement agency by allying themselves with lawbreakers and by undermining the department’s efforts to ensure equitable policing and earn community trust. These guidelines aim to assist law enforcement to 1) identify, discipline, and remove officers who intentionally affiliate with hate groups or paramilitary gangs, and 2) adopt institutional values, policies, and rules that will allow for no mistake about the department’s position: it is not appropriate for a law enforcement agency or a police officer to support or affiliate with hate groups or paramilitary gangs. We recommend that law enforcement agencies (“LEAs”) adopt the rules and best practices set out below, and make them public.

West Hollywood, CA: Center for Policing Equity, 2022. 24p.

By Roger Matthews

Prostitution has become an extremely topical issue in recent years and attention has focused both on the situation of female prostitutes and the adequacy of existing forms of regulation. Prostitution, Politics & Policy brings together the main debates and issues associated with prostitution in order to examine the range of policy options that are available.

Governments in different parts of the world have been struggling to develop constructive policies to deal with prostitution – as, for example, the British Home Office recently instigated a £1.5 million programme to help address the perceived problems of prostitution. In the context of this struggle, and amidst the publication of various policy documents, <EM>Prostitution, Politics & Policy develops a fresh approach to understanding this issue, while presenting a range of what are seen as progressive and radical policy proposals. Much of the debate around prostitution has been polarized between liberals – who want prostitution decriminalized, normalized and humanized – and conservatives – who have argued that prostitution should be abolished. But, drawing on a wide range of international literature, and providing an overview that is both accessible to students and relevant to policy makers and practitioners, Roger Matthews proposes a form of radical realism that is irreducible to either of these two positions.

Milton Park, Abingdon, UK: Routledge-Cavendish, 2008. 176p.

By Steve Herbert

Policing Space is a fascinating firsthand account of how the Los Angeles Police Department attempts to control its vast, heterogeneous territory. As such, the book offers a rare, ground-level look at the relationship between the control of space and the exercise of power. Author Steve Herbert spent eight months observing one patrol division of the LAPD on the job. A compelling story in itself, his fieldwork with the officers in the Wilshire Division affords readers a close view of the complex factors at play in how the police define and control territory, how they make and mark space.

Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997. 208p.

By Kam C. Wong

With nearly 20 percent of the world’s population located in China, what happens there is significant to all nations. Sweeping changes have altered the cultural landscape of China, and as opportunities for wealth have grown in recent years, so have opportunities for crime. Police Reform in China provides a rare and insightful glimpse of policing in the midst of such change. The book begins with a historical account of police reform in the region since 2000. Next, it discusses the difficulties encountered in trying to understand Chinese policing, such as outdated perceptions, misinformation, cultural ignorance, ideological hegemony, and problems with paternalistic attitudes. … Demonstrating how old ideologies are increasingly in conflict with the values and lifestyles of a new mentality, the book discusses steps that can be taken to improve professionalism. The final chapters investigate such problems as abuses of discretion and the improper use of firearms and highlight the importance of understanding the Chinese people, culture, values, and interests in order to truly effectuate successful police reform.

Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2011. 416p.

By David G. Bolgiano, L. Morgan Banks, III, et al.

A vigorous assessment and commentary on governmental uses of force, whether by civilian law enforcement officers in the United States or by military service members overseas, 'Virtuous Policing' presents strategies to ease rising tensions in citizen-law enforcement relations. The book particularly addresses the growing division between members of the police and citizenry due to a number of factors, including the effects of some press members who are more interested in cultivating sensational stories of 'rogue' cops than in discovering and disseminating facts

Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press [Imprint] Taylor & Francis Group, 2017. 256p.

Edited by Mike Stephens and Saul Becker

British policing faces major decisions about its future direction. Should it promote itself as a police force, dedicated to the attack on crime and public disorder, or should it adopt the mantle of police service, devoted to providing reassurance, flexibility to community wishes, and care? These are the critical decisions that the police face. The choice made will have implications for all citizens in our society. Together, a panel of eminent contributors examine the issues involved in this choice. They push the debate forward and show how complex are the interconnections between care and control within British policing. The implications are far-reaching and will influence not only the quality of policing but also the quality of life for all of us.

Houndmills, Basingstoke, UK:Palgrave Macmillan, 1994. 256p.

Edited by Gorazd Meško, Charles B. Fields, Branko Lobnikar and Andrej Sotlar

Policing in Central and Eastern Europe has changed greatly since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Some Central and Eastern European countries are constituent members of the European Union, while others have been trying to harmonize with the EU and international requirements for a more democratic policing and developments in accordance with Western European and international policing standards, especially in regard to issues of legality and legitimacy. This timely volume examines developments in the last two decade to learn the nature of these changes within Central and Eastern Europe, and their impact on police culture, as well as on society as a whole.

For the twenty countries covered, this systematic work provides: short country-based information on police organization and social control, crime and disorder trends in the last 20 years with an on policing, police training and police educational systems, changes in policing in the last 20 years, police and the media, present trends in policing (public and private, multilateral, plural policing), policing urban and rural communities, recent research trends in research on policing – specificities of research on police and policing (researchers and the police, inclusion of police researchers in policy making and police practice) and future developments in policing.

Cham: Springer, 2013. 332p.

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By Tim Newburn

This new edition of the Handbook of Policing updates and expands the highly successful first edition, and now includes a completely new chapter on policing and forensics. It provides a comprehensive but highly readable overview of policing in the UK, and is an essential reference point combining the expertise of leading academic experts on policing and policing practitioners themselves.

Cullompton, Devon, UK: Willan Publishing, 1994. 904p.

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By Cecilia MacDowell Santos

Women's Police Stations examines the changing and complex relationship between women and the state, and the construction of gendered citizenship. These are police stations run exclusively by police women for women with the authority to investigate crimes against women, such as domestic violence, assault, and rape. S?o Paulo was the home of the first such police station, and there are now more than 300 women's police stations throughout Brazil. Cecilia MacDowell Santos examines the importance of this phenomenon in book form for the first time, looking at the dynamics of the relationship between women and the state as a consequence of a political regime as well as other factors, and exploring the notion of gendered citizenship.

New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. 246p.

By Magnus Lofstrom, Joseph Hayes, Brandon Martin, and Deepak Premkumar, with research support from Alexandria Gumbs

In this report, we analyze data for almost 4 million stops by California’s 15 largest law enforcement agencies in 2019, examining the extent to which people of color experience searches, enforcement, intrusiveness, and use of force differently from white people. While it is important to caution the reader that analysis of these differences is not causal, our analysis—which focuses in particular on differences between Black and white Californians—reveals notable differences.Black Californians are more than twice as likely to be searched as white Californians, at about 20 percent versus 8 percent of all stops. …hese disparities are driven primarily by traffic stops made by the 14 data-contributing police and sheriff departments (as compared with the California Highway Patrol). These findings can provide guidance for discussing which stops can safely be reduced to mitigate racial inequities, which may also reduce risks and injuries to both officers and civilians.

San Francisco, CA Public Policy Institute of California, 2021. 30p.

By Jeremy West

Nonrandom selection into police encounters typically complicates evaluations of law enforcement discrimination. This study overcomes selection concerns by examining automobile crash investigations, for which officer dispatch is demonstrably independent of drivers’ race. I find State Police officers issue significantly more traffic citations to drivers whose race differs from their own. This bias is evident for both moving and nonmoving violations, the latter indicating a preference for discriminatory leniency towards same-race individuals. I show this treatment is unmitigated by socioeconomic factors: officers cite other-race drivers more frequently regardless of their age, gender, vehicle value, or characteristics of the local community.

Santa Cruz, CA: Economics Department, University of California at Santa Cruz , 2018. 37p.

By Roland G. Fryer, Jr

This paper explores racial differences in police use of force. On non-lethal uses of force, blacks and Hispanics are more than fifty percent more likely to experience some form of force in interactions with police. Adding controls that account for important context and civilian behavior reduces, but cannot fully explain, these disparities. On the most extreme use of force – officer-involved shootings – we find no racial differences in either the raw data or when contextual factors are taken into account. We argue that the patterns in the data are consistent with a model in which police officers are utility maximizers, a fraction of which have a preference for discrimination, who incur relatively high expected costs of officer-involved shootings.

Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2018. 57p.

By Travis Campbell

A difference-in-differences design finds census places with Black Lives Matter protests experience a 15% to 20% decrease in police homicides over the ensuing five years, around 300 fewer deaths. The gap in lethal use-of-force between places with and without protests widens over these subsequent years and is most prominent when protests are large or frequent. This result holds for alternative specifications, estimators, police homicide datasets, and population screens; however, it does not hold if lethal use-of-force is normalized by violent crime or arrests. Protests also influence local police agencies, which may explain the reduction. Agencies with local protests become more likely to obtain body-cameras, expand community policing, receive a larger operating budget, and reduce the number of property crime-related arrests, but forgo some black officer employment and college education requirements.

Working paper, 2021. 65p.

By Christie Gardiner

This report describes the findings of a recent survey of a nationally-representative sample of local law enforcement agencies on the role of higher education in policing. The survey was completed by 958 agencies (116 which employ 250 or more officers and 842 which employ fewer than 250 officers) from every state in the nation. This is the largest and most comprehensive non-governmental study ever conducted on the role of higher education in policing on a national level. It is also the first study in forty years to provide substantial information about higher education policy and practice in small departments.

Washington, DC: Police Foundation, 2017. 76p.

By David L. Carter

Law Enforcement Intelligence: A Guide for State, Local, and Tribal Law Enforcement Agencies is a policy oriented review of current initiatives, national standards, and best practices. The first two chapters provide definitions and context for the current state of law enforcement intelligence. Chapter 2 also provides a discussion of homeland security—or “all-hazards”—intelligence. While more law enforcement agencies and fusion centers are embracing the all-hazards approach, its application remains somewhat unclear. This discussion provides a framework for homeland security intelligence policy. Chapter 3 is a historical perspective that has multiple purposes. First, it provides a discussion of past abuses by law enforcement intelligence because it is important to understand the problems of the past in order to prevent them in the future. Next, the chapter provides a framework for national recommendations and professional standards for the practice of intelligence. Finally, the discussion identifies the various working groups and committees that are framing the current intelligence model and the relationship of those groups to federal agencies and professional law enforcement organizations. Fundamental to all types of intelligence is a system for managing the flow of information for analysis. This is alternately called the Intelligence Process or the Intelligence Cycle. Chapter 4 is a descriptive discussion of the process as it applies to law enforcement agencies. While there are different models for the Intelligence Process, this discussion relies on the model used in the National Criminal Intelligence Sharing Plan. Recommendations from both the National Criminal Intelligence Sharing Plan and the COPS Office-funded International Association of Chiefs of Police intelligence summits urge law enforcement agencies to adopt Intelligence-Led Policing (ILP). The challenge, however, is that there is no universally accepted definition or process for understanding and implementing ILP. Chapters 5 and 6 amalgamate the diverse literature on ILP to provide a holistic view. Chapter 5 focuses on the concept of ILP as it applies to American law enforcement, with a perspective on the British approach from which the concept originated. Chapter 6 focuses on the organizational and administrative processes for implementing ILP.

Washington, DC: U. S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2009. 496p.

By Dermot S. Barr

This thesis explores the intergroup dynamics during the development of rioting at two sites in Greater Manchester in 2011, Pendleton, in Salford, and Manchester city centre. The primary theoretical contribution of this thesis is to the Elaborated Social Identity Model of the development of conflict (ESIM, Drury & Reicher 2000). Through detailed analysis of how the intergroup dynamics informed the development of the two riots, and participants’ subjective experiences, the thesis confirms and extends the ESIM understandings of the social psychological processes involved in escalating intergroup conflict.

Manchester, UK: University of Manchester, 2018. 420p