By Desmond Ang

Nearly a thousand officer-involved killings occur each year in the United States. This paper documents the large, racially-disparate impacts of these events on the educational and psychological well-being of Los Angeles public high school students. Exploiting hyperlocal variation in how close students live to a killing, I find that exposure to police violence leads to persistent decreases in GPA, increased incidence of emotional disturbance and lower rates of high school completion and college enrollment. These effects are driven entirely by black and Hispanic students in response to police killings of other minorities and are largest for incidents involving unarmed individuals.

Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government, 2020. 81p.

The synthetic opioid crisis in North America has increased fatal overdose rates to unprecedented levels within a matter of a few years. It involves new technologies, a new source of supply (the chemical industry in China), and new forms of distribution (the internet and mail). These elements are perhaps even more difficult to suppress than other supply sources from foreign countries. This has led to an assumption that nothing can be learned from prior experience in trying to control drug markets.

This paper applies the insights of the “focused deterrence” approach developed by David Kennedy and Mark Kleiman, which involves using multiple levers to attain a specific policy goal. We conclude with some specific suggestions for local and national supply-control agencies— including the need to focus more on regulating rather than reducing markets to minimize harm, and to distinguish between markets not yet swamped by fentanyl or in transition and those where the drug is entrenched. Strategies appropriate in one context may not serve well in another.

Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 2020. 21p.

By Law Library of Congress, Global Legal Research Center

This report examines the weapons and equipment generally at the disposal of law enforcement officers in several countries around the world. It also provides, for each of these countries, a brief overview of the rules governing the use of weapons by law enforcement officers. Precise and reliable information on the weapons and equipment of some countries’ police forces was often difficult to find. Nevertheless, certain interesting facts and patterns emerged from the Law Library’s research.

Washington, DC: Law Library of Congress, Global Legal Research Center, 2014. 106p.

By International Union of Railways

Metal theft is a big problem for railway networks as thieves target signalling cables, overhead power lines and even metal fences to sell it for scrap. Railway networks are designed to fail safe, which means that when a cable is cut, trains are brought to a stop. This protects passengers but can lead to long and frustrating delays while the problem is examined and fixed safely. This type of crime causes considerable disruptions and the costs that are associated with replacing and repairing the damage often massively exceed the value of the metal stolen. Loss of communication networks and damage to railway tracks also raise public safety concerns. A large proportion of railway networks funds come from the government, so these thefts are, ultimately, at the taxpayer’s expense. It is clear that the stolen metal is often transported across several borders and sold as scrap or for recycling far away from the actual scene of the crime. Thus, both national and international cooperation and collaboration initiatives are needed to raise awareness, provide expertise and best practice to allow the exchange of ideas between all parties involved. Therefore, only a structured and common approach can provide a wide and extended set of solutions.

Paris: International Union of Railways, 2013. 12p.

By U.S. Department of Energy. Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE) monitors changes, threats, and risks to the energy infrastructure in the United States. As part of that responsibility, OE published research in 2007 on the theft of copper wire from electric utilities. Early in 2010 there was evidence of an increase in such thefts. Because of this increase, OE decided to update its 2007 assessment of copper wire thefts. 1 • Electric utilities have launched public awareness campaigns, offered rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of thieves, marked copper wire for easier recovery from scrap metal dealers, and collaborated with stakeholders. Copper wire theft continues today throughout the United States, but the magnitude of theft has been reduced considerably. The problem is not likely to cease as long as copper prices remain sufficiently attractive to would-be thieves. However, the combined efforts of electric utilities, lawmakers, scrap metal dealers, and local law enforcement have succeeded in reducing the problem and driving a wedge between copper price increases and comparable increases in copper theft. • Legislation to reduce copper theft has been introduced in every State and passed into law in all but five States as of August 2010. • Scrap metal dealers are cooperating with utilities and lawmakers, reporting suspected thefts, and disseminating information through ISRI’s Theft Alerts. • Local law enforcement has become more responsive to electric utilities facing copper theft and is collaborating to recover more stolen copper and arrest those responsible. Since the beginning of the 2004 spike in copper prices, copper theft and copper prices have been directly linked. Although this link continues today, the rate of thefts as a function of the upward pull of prices has been mitigated

Washington DC: The Department, 2010. 17p.

By Ross Deuchar, Liz Frondigoun and Catherine Davidones

The aim of this study was to evaluate the introduction of Police Scotland’s extended use of Conductive Energy Devices (Tasers). It was focused around the following key objectives: 1. To explore and examine the pre- and post-change perceptions of police officers, key members of stakeholder groups and community representatives regarding the Specially Trained Officer (STO)/Taser rollout, with a specific focus on: a. the extent to which perceived resilience, confidence and personal safety among officers is enhanced as a result of the deployment of STOs with Tasers. b. the perceived impact of the rollout of STOs/Tasers on public reassurance and safety, and the perceived benefits and risks. 2. To identify any remaining challenges with the Taser rollout and make recommendations for the future.

Edinburgh: Scottish Institute for Policing Research, 2019. 37p.

By Kristy Docherty and Brigid Russell

The purpose of this report is to present the findings of the evaluation of the Police Scotland and Local Government Collaborative Leadership Pilots (hereafter referred to as ‘the programme’). This evaluation has been undertaken independently by Dr Kristy Docherty and Brigid Russell on behalf of the Scottish Institute for Policing Research (SIPR) between August 2021 and February 2022. The objectives of the evaluation were: • To critically examine the programme. • To capture and analyse information about the activities, processes, characteristics, and outcomes of the programme. • To offer insights and suggestions for future action with the purpose of improving programme effectiveness, and/or to inform and shape future programme decisions. It is important to note that our evaluation took place while the programme was still running, participants were at various stages and they had not completed all of their sessions. This ‘formative’ approach was deliberate and links in principle with the embedded evaluation process adopted by the facilitation team.

Edinburgh: Scottish Institute for Policing Research. 2022. 68p.

By Ana María Ibáñez, Amy Ritterbusch, Catherine Rodríguez

This paper uses a natural experiment to identify the impact of a judicial system reform on police behavior. The study finds that, after a decrease in the severity of judicial punishment imposed on Colombian adolescents, arrest rates for adolescents in most misdemeanor crimes decreased due to a change in police behavior. The magnitude of this effect ranged between 0.08 to 0.321 standard deviations. The uncertainty on how to operate the new system, the lack of training, and the potential disciplinary sanctions led police officials to reduce arrest rates. Nonetheless, police forces learned gradually how to operate within the new system and adjusted their operations, countervailing the initial negative impact on arrest rates. We present suggestive evidence that the reduction in arrest rates and the lower sanctions increased crime incidents in cities with a large proportion of adolescents in their population. Qualitative evidence collected in focus groups with police officials supports the principal quantitative findings and contextualize the obstacles that led to the decrease in arrest rates and the perceived increase of juvenile crime based on the officials' experiences in the streets.

Bogotá, Colombia: Universidad de los Andes–Facultad de Economía–CEDE, 2017, 36p

By Laura E. Joyce

Representations of forensic procedures saturate popular culture in both fiction and true crime. One of the most striking forensic tools used in these narratives is the chemical luminol, so named because it glows an eerie greenish-blue when it comes into contact with the tiniest drops of human blood. Luminol is a deeply ambivalent object: it is both a tool of the police, historically abused and misappropriated, and yet it offers hope to families of victims by allowing hidden crimes to surface. Forensic enquiry can exonerate those falsely accused of crimes, and yet the rise of forensic science is synonymous with the development of the deeply racist ‘science’ of eugenics. Luminol Theory investigates the possibility of using a tool of the state in subversive, or radical, ways. By introducing luminol as an agent of forensic inquiry, Luminol Theory approaches the exploratory stages that a crime scene investigation might take, exploring experimental literature as though these texts were ‘crime scenes’ in order to discover what this deeply strange object can tell us about crime, death, and history, to make visible violent crimes, and to offer a tangible encounter with death and finitude. At the luminol-drenched crime scene, flashes of illumination throw up words, sentences, and fragments that offer luminous, strange glimpses, bobbing up from below their polished surfaces. When luminol shines its light, it reveals, it is magical, it is prescient, and it has a nasty allure

Santa Barbara, CA: Punctum Books, 2017. 137p.

By Maurice Punch

Policing and corruption are inseparable. This book argues that corruption is not one thing but covers many deviant and criminal practices in policing which also shift over time. It rejects the 'bad apple' metaphor and focuses on 'bad orchards', meaning not individual but institutional failure. For in policing the organisation, work and culture foster can encourage corruption. This raises issues as to why do police break the law and, crucially, 'who controls the controllers'?

Corruption is defined in a broad, multi-facetted way. It concerns abuse of authority and trust; and it takes serious form in conspiracies to break the law and to evade exposure when cops can become criminals. Attention is paid to typologies of corruption (with grass-eaters, meat-eaters, noble-cause); the forms corruption takes in diverse environments; the pathways officers take into corruption and their rationalisations; and to collusion in corruption from within and without the organization. Comparative analyses are made of corruption, scandal and reform principally in the USA, UK and the Netherlands. The work examines issues of control, accountability and the new institutions of oversight. It provides a fresh, accessible overview of this under-researched topic for students, academics, police and criminal justice officials and members of oversight agencies.

Cullompton, Devon, UK: Willan Publishing, 2009. 296p.

By P.A.J. Waddington

This analysis of policing throughout the modern world demonstrates how many of the contentious issues surrounding the police in recent years - from paramilitarism to community policing - have their origins in the fundamentals of the police role. The author argues that this results from a fundamental tension within this role. In liberal democratic societies, police are custodians of the state's monopoly of legitimate force, yet they also wield authority over citizens who have their own set of rights.

London; Philadelphia: UCL Press, 1999. 312p.

By Rob C. Mawby

The major areas of research covered in this study of the influence of the media on police work are covered in eight chapters. In chapter 1 a History of Police Image Work From 1829 to 1987 traces the history of image work. Chapter 2 the Professionalizing of Police Image Work Since 1987 discusses the distinguishing features of the most recent phase of police image work. Chapter 3 Police Legitimacy, Communication and the Public Sphere introduces theoretical concerns, and the nature of police communications. Chapter 4 the National Picture: Systems of Police Image Work looks at the terrain of contemporary image work across the police service nationally. Chapter 5 One Force and Its Image provides historical background of the force and outlines the 1984-85 Miners' Strike and the 1989 Hillsborough tragedy. Chapter 6 Press and Public Relationship Officers At Work examines news management and the planning and delivery of set piece promotional events. Chapter 7 Image Work in Routine Policing looks at three areas of practical policing. In the final chapter, Image Work, Police Work and Legitimacy the author considers the extent to which image work pervades contemporary police work and the implications for policing in the context of a highly mediated society. The study concludes that the mass media has played an important role in shaping police work, image work, the legitimization of policing. The media and the police will continue to work together to influence policing and society.

Cullompton, Devon, UK: Willan Publishing, 2002. 226p.

Edited by Michael Dean Reisig; Robert J Kane

The police are perhaps the most visible representation of government. They are charged with what has been characterized as an "impossible" mandate -- control and prevent crime, keep the peace, provide public services -- and do so within the constraints of democratic principles. The police are trusted to use deadly force when it is called for and are allowed access to our homes in cases of emergency. In fact, police departments are one of the few government agencies that can be mobilized by a simple phone call, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They are ubiquitous within our society, but their actions are often not well understood. The Oxford Handbook of Police and Policing brings together research on the development and operation of policing in the United States and elsewhere.

Oxford, UK; New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. 697p.

By Suat Çubukçu, Nusret M. Sahin, Erdal Tekin & Volkan Topalli

Police body-worn cameras (BWCs) have been the subject of much research on how the technology’s enhanced documentation of police/citizen interactions impact police behavior. Less attention has been paid to how BWC recordings affect the adjudication of citizen complaints against the police. We employ citizen complaint data from the Chicago Police Department and Civilian Office of Police Accountability filed between 2012-2020 to determine the extent to which BWC footage enhances the efficacy of evidence used to formulate a conclusion of responsibility, and whether bias against complainants based on race would subsequently be reduced. Accordingly, we exploit the staggered deployment of BWCs across 22 Chicago police districts over time to estimate the effect of BWCs on these outcomes. Our findings indicate that BWCs led to a significant decrease in the dismissal of investigations due to insufficient evidence ("not sustained") as well as a significant increase in disciplinary actions against police officers ("sustained" outcomes”) with sufficient evidence to sanction their misconduct. We further find that disparities in complaints across racial groups for the “unsustained” category fade away with the implementation of BWCs.

Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), 2021. 43p.

By William Webster, Diana Miranda, and Charles Leleux

This report provides research findings from a rapid research project reviewing the use of Body-Worn Video (BWV) cameras in a policing context, with specific reference to police-citizen interactions and scrutiny mechanisms. The research was conducted in November and December 2021, using a methodology consisting of a literature review and a sequence of semi-structured interview with BWV experts. The research was undertaken with a view to providing advice and guidance to Police Scotland for the potential widespread future roll-out of BWV in Scotland. It is evident, from the research reviewed here, that BWV is being deployed internationally by law enforcement agencies and other public service providers. Typically, BWV is recognised to provide evidence of incidents, provide a level of personal protection and increased transparency in policing. The rationale for the use of BWV in policing is well established and is afforded a good level of public support. It is also evident, that across UK police forces there is differentiated use of the technology and associated governance mechanisms. In this respect, Police Scotland is in an advantageous position in that it can learn from what is perceived to be ‘best practice’ elsewhere in the UK and beyond. It is apparent that across the UK there are novel emergent mechanisms used to govern BWV in relation to scrutiny and accountability. These include dedicated Scrutiny Panels and practices referred to as random ‘dip sampling’, as well as dedicated codes of practice and use protocols. Here, it is suggested that Police Scotland review what other police forces are doing in this area and design processes that are compatible with Police Scotland’s institutional arrangements. The research presented here also suggests that BWV use protocols and data management procedures are established prior to the widespread deployment of the technology. One aspect in which published literature was lacking was in relation to the impacts of BWV on minority groups and ethnic minorities. Here, the evidence is mixed with some authors claiming BWV strained community relations, whilst others claimed BWV made police interactions more transparent. This points to both, a need for further research, plus the use of caution in the use of BWV in certain situations. It is also noted, that whilst there is a general level of public support for BWV, this relates primarily to basic BWV camera units and that this level of support cannot be assumed from more sophisticated data processes, such as those associated with face recognition and live streaming technologies. Here, it is recommended that Police Scotland implement mechanisms that ensure a degree of oversight and accountability in how BWV cameras are used. This can ensure legitimacy of use and facilitate public confidence in the use of the technology.

Edinburgh: Scottish Institute for Policing Research, 2022. 74p.

By Vanda Felbab-Brown

Even as the administration of Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto has scored important reform successes in the economic sphere, its security and law enforcement policy toward organized crime remains incomplete and ill-defined. Preoccupied with the fighting among vicious drug trafficking groups and the rise of anti-crime vigilante militias in the center of Mexico, the administration has for the most part averted its eyes from the previously highly-violent criminal hotspots in the north where major law enforcement challenges remain. • The Peña Nieto administration thus mostly continues to put out immediate security fires—such as in Michoacán and Tamaulipas—but the overall deterrence capacity of Mexico’s military and law enforcement forces and justice sector continue to be very limited and largely unable to deter violence escalation and reescalation.

Washington DC: Latin America Initiative, Foreign Policy at Brookings, 2016. 48p.

By D. Elaine Pressman

Risk factors for violent individuals have been used in risk assessment protocols for decades. Such tools and guides have been shown to be a valid and reliable way to assess risk of future violence. The risk assessment protocols currently available, however, have questionable relevance to violent extremists and terrorists because the factors used to assess risk do not relate to the background and motivations of this group of violent actors. The need was identified for a relevant tool for the population of violent ideologically motivated extremists. Approaches to risk assessment for violence are described in the document. These include unstructured clinical judgment, actuarial approaches and structured professional judgment (SPJ). Unstructured approaches have been criticized for not demonstrating high validity or good inter-rater reliability. Given the low base rate of violent extremists, it is difficult to create empirically based actuarial prediction instruments for violent extremism. The structured professional judgment approach (SPJ) has been used successfully with forensic populations and was considered appropriate for a tool to address risk assessment for the population of violent extremists. As current SPJ guides were found to be inadequate to address the specific historical and contextual features of violent extremists, a new SPJ guide was developed and is described in this document. The major goals of the project were to identify and compare the specific characteristics and factors of those who perpetrate “general” criminal violence and those who perpetrate ideologically motivated violence, to highlight the salient differences among the historical, contextual, attitudinal and protective risk factors of these types of criminal violence and to construct a new tool to assess the risk of violence in ideologically motivated extremists. ‘Political violence’, ‘radicalization’, ‘extremism’ and ‘terrorism’ were defined and elaborated in the document. The most significant risk factors relevant to violent extremism and terrorism were extracted from the literature and organized into a structured professional judgment (SPJ) protocol. Five categories were identified as risk factors and relevant items were identified for each category. These categories are modeled after other well-established SPJ tools but are item specific to violent extremism. The categories include attitude factors, contextual factors, historical factors, protective factors and demographic factors. A preliminary model for the assessment of de-radicalization and disengagement efficacy was proposed. The new SPJ protocol, Violent Extremist Risk Assessment or VERA is designed to be used with persons having a history of extremist violence or having been convicted of such offences. At this stage of development, the VERA is a conceptual “research” tool intended to generate debate and discussion.

Ottawa: Public Safety Canada, 2009. 44p.

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Proactive policing, as a strategic approach used by police agencies to prevent crime, is a relatively new phenomenon in the United States. It developed from a crisis in confidence in policing that began to emerge in the 1960s because of social unrest, rising crime rates, and growing skepticism regarding the effectiveness of standard approaches to policing. In response, beginning in the 1980s and 1990s, innovative police practices and policies that took a more proactive approach began to develop. This report uses the term “proactive policing” to refer to all policing strategies that have as one of their goals the prevention or reduction of crime and disorder and that are not reactive in terms of focusing primarily on uncovering ongoing crime or on investigating or responding to crimes once they have occurred.

Proactive policing is distinguished from the everyday decisions of police officers to be proactive in specific situations and instead refers to a strategic decision by police agencies to use proactive police responses in a programmatic way to reduce crime. Today, proactive policing strategies are used widely in the United States. They are not isolated programs used by a select group of agencies but rather a set of ideas that have spread across the landscape of policing.

Proactive Policing reviews the evidence and discusses the data and methodological gaps on: (1) the effects of different forms of proactive policing on crime; (2) whether they are applied in a discriminatory manner; (3) whether they are being used in a legal fashion; and (4) community reaction. This report offers a comprehensive evaluation of proactive policing that includes not only its crime prevention impacts but also its broader implications for justice and U.S. communities.

Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. 2018. 408p. .

By Daniel Meji and Pascual Restrepo

This paper develops a simple model of the war against illegal drugs in producer and consumer countries. Our analysis shows how the equilibrium quantity of illegal drugs, as well as their price, depends on key parameters of the model, among them the price elasticity of demand, and the effectiveness of the resources allocated to enforcement and prevention and treatment policies. Importantly, this paper studies the trade-off faced by drug consumer country`s government between prevention policies (aimed at reducing the demand for illegal drugs) and enforcement policies (aimed at reducing the production and trafficking of illegal drugs in producer countries). We use available data for the war against cocaine production and trafficking in Colombia, and that against consumption in the U.S. in order to calibrate the unobservable parameters of the model. Among these are the effectiveness of prevention and treatment policies in reducing the demand for cocaine; the relative effectiveness of interdiction efforts at reducing the amount of cocaine reaching consumer countries; and the cost of illegal drug production and trafficking activities in producer countries.

Bogotá, Colombia: Universidad de los Andes–Facultad de Economía–CEDE, 2011. 31p.

By National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Injury and death from use of excessive force by police officers remain a common concern in countries across the globe. Despite local, national, and international attempts to legislate and provide guidance for police use of force, there continue to be global accounts of excessive force by law enforcement. Reports of officer-involved killings, injuries to citizens, and attempts to control protests and demonstrations with chemical irritants, rubber bullets, and sometimes shooting into crowds with live ammunition frequently appear in the press worldwide. However, reliable data on and accounting for these incidents are both lacking.

Policies and Practices to Minimize Police Use of Force Internationally, the third in a series of five reports produced for INL, addresses what policies and practices for police use of force are effective in promoting the rule of law and protecting the population (including the officers themselves). This report looks at what is known about effective practices and their implementation and identifies promising actions to be taken by international donors in their efforts to strengthen the effectiveness of law enforcement agencies.

Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2022. 84p.