By The Matrix Consulting Group

The scope of this study included the assessment of current law enforcement operations, response capabilities, staffing, and other resources necessary for the delivery of services to the city. A review of services and the delivery of those services should be performed periodically to ensure needs are being met. This project focused on the emergency services system delivery that included: • Proactivity • Resource allocations • Current and projected staffing • Alternative service delivery • Management of resources • Responsiveness to the public • Facility implications of projections This report represents the culmination of this process, presenting the results of our analysis, including specific recommendations for the department on staffing, deployment, and other relevant issues.

Kyle Texas, 2024 166p. 

By: Thalia Anthony, Tamara Walsh, Luke McNamara & Julia Quilter 

Drawing on interviews with 164 people experiencing homelessness across Australia, this article discusses the concept of hyper-policing to account for excessive police interventions. Hyper-policing is exhibited in the sheer number of police apprehensions of people experiencing homelessness (quantitative aspect) and the extreme use of force (qualitative aspect). By deploying Wacquant’s (Daedalus 139(3):74–90, 2010) notion of hyper-incarceration in “ghettos”, we reveal that policing homelessness in Australia creates a panopticon on the streets and a conveyor belt into the panopticon of prisons. The lived experience of homeless participants demonstrates that hyper-policing is characterized by casual and constant encounters that reinforce homeless peoples’ status as ‘urban outcasts’ (Wacquant Int J Urban Reg Res 17:366–383, 1993). With growing pressures on access to housing and the cost of living across Western capitalist societies, policing is likely to play an increasing role in managing the housing crisis fallout. Homeless participants contend that the antidote to hyper-policing is not better policing but the dilution of policing. A common refrain among participants was for the police to ‘leave us alone’—a strategy that does not seek help from community policing but instead seeks peace on the streets. We articulate how the voices of homeless participants further ‘defund the police’ and abolitionist thinking by drawing attention to the need for housing justice over policing interventions in either benevolent or malevolent forms.

Critical Criminology, August 2024.

By  Liam Michaud , Jenn McDermid b , Aaron Bailey.,  Tyson Singh Kelsall 

The unregulated drug toxicity crisis in British Columbia (BC), Canada, has claimed over 14,000 lives since 2016. The crisis is shaped by prohibitionist policies that have led to the contamination of the unregulated drug supply, resulting in a surge of fatal and non-fatal overdose events. The criminalization of drug users exacerbates this situation, pushing individuals into carceral systems for the possession of and/or social practices related to drug use. This commentary examines the involvement of policing in the development and throughout the first 15 months of its implementation, of BC's decriminalization framework. We highlight concerns regarding police discretion, the expansion of scope, and the interweaving of carceral logic into policies that purport to be public health-oriented.

International Journal of Drug Policy, Volume 129, July 2024, 104478

By Jensen Hughes

 At the request of the Columbus (Ohio) Division of Police (CDP), the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) conducted an independent review of the CDP via the COPS Office Collaborative Reform Initiative – Critical Response Program. This review was focused on the CDP’s use of force (UOF) policies, procedures, operational protocols, training, data collection and reporting processes, and community engagement related to UOF oversight and investigations. The CDP has experienced major changes in senior leadership, with the hiring of an external chief in June 2021 followed by a significant turnover in senior command staff. This influx of new leadership created an opportunity to undertake a critical analysis of the division’s operations with an eye toward improving transparency and improving relationships between the CDP and the community. In addition to the CDP’s leadership change, the division experienced a significant operational change in February 2022 when the Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) voted—and the mayor confirmed—the appointment of an inspector general to investigate allegations of police misconduct and excessive UOF by members of the CDP. During the Critical Response review process, CDP leadership demonstrated a genuine interest in engaging in this collaborative effort as a means not only to gauge the organization's UOF practices but also to capitalize on this opportunity as a catalyst for cultural change in the organization. The COPS Office tasked Jensen Hughes with assisting the CDP through this review process. The intent of the review is to assist the CDP in determining the extent to which its current use of force policies, procedures, practices, and associated training align with what is considered best or emerging practices in policing consistent with modern policing principles and standards. It should be noted that the scope of this review did not include an in-depth review of officer-involved shootings. This category of UOF was excluded since all officer-involved shootings in the city of Columbus are investigated by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations and not handled internally and this inquiry is focused on internal CDP UOF processes. The ultimate goals of this Critical Response assistance the COPS Office and Jensen Hughes are providing to the CDP are to (1) increase public trust and community and officer safety and (2) support effective, contemporary, and innovative policing practices through improvements in training, policy, transparency, professionalism, and accountability related to CDP officers’ UOF. To assist the CDP in realizing these goals, the Jensen Hughes team focused on two objectives: 1. Identifying operational practices the CDP currently employs that ensure any UOF by the agency’s personnel is – – compliant with local, state, and federal law and constitutional protections; appropriately documented; – – – – 2. subject to thorough supervisory review; compliant with current policies and standard operating procedures; consistent with current agency training; as transparent as possible, both internally and externally, to community and agency stakeholders; Identifying areas in which the CDP’s policies, procedures, protocols, and data collection and reporting processes could benefit from potential changes or updates that align with – – – – national standards; best practices; current and emerging research; community expectations.   

Collaborative Reform Initiative Critical Response. Washington, DC: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.  2024. 58p.

By Everytown for Gun Safety

Racist shooters in Buffalo, Allen, Charleston, El Paso and Jacksonville turn grocery stores, outlet malls, churches, Walmarts, and Dollar General stores into scenes of mass carnage; antisemitic extremists attack synagogues; heavily-armed militia members plot to kidnap the governor of Michigan; far-right groups and individuals openly march with guns to intimidate political opposition.

These incidents underscore the alarming trend of political and hate-motivated gun violence confronting the United States. One sector has accelerated this trend of armed extremism while simultaneously profiting from it: the firearms industry. The industry and its lobbying apparatus have for decades warned target audiences of unhinged existential threats all around them, from supposed criminal hordes threatening their homes to tyrannical bureaucrats threatening their rights. They politically and financially support candidates for office and elected officials who have echoed those conspiracy theories, striking at the foundational pillars of American democracy, while eschewing gun laws that might keep military-grade arms out of the hands of dangerous individuals.

Toxic hate-filled ideas have gained unprecedented purchase in today’s political climate thanks to their embrace by gun lobby-backed political leaders. As a result, a small but alarming number of Americans see violence as a solution to political and cultural problems.1

In the face of these supposed threats, the firearms industry offers a single solution for those who feel at risk: guns, and the deadly violence they can achieve. The rhetoric in their advertising risks drawing the attention of those who see violence as inevitable or justified, including portrayals of their products as weapons used in war. It is clear that violent extremists see guns as important tools: Everytown has identified more than 200 extremists charged with a crime in recent years who allegedly used or possessed guns in the act, threatened or plotted gun violence, or illegally possessed or sold a firearm, an approximate average of one case charged every nine days. The vast majority of these cases involved extremists on the far right, and more than a quarter involved a crime in which a gun was fired or brandished.

New York: Everytown for Gun Safety, 2024. 43p.

By Nina Maxwell and Catrin Wallace

1.0 Summary 1.1 Introduction Child criminal exploitation is a complex social and cultural problem that has arisen due to a combination of economic and social factors. Much of what is known about child criminal exploitation relates to county lines, a model of drug supply where individuals, groups or organised criminal gangs manipulate or coerce children and vulnerable adults into transporting and storing drugs and money. This report was commissioned by Health and Care Research Wales to capture the voices of children with lived experience of exploitation, parents and professionals regarding how children are targeted, groomed and involved in county lines in Wales. Findings from this report will be used to develop a toolkit that underpins an effective community response aimed at improving the outcomes for children and their families. 1.2 Method Data collection was undertaken between October 2020 and May 2021. This period coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown measures and as such all data collection was undertaken remotely, either by telephone, Zoom or Microsoft Teams. Data collection was undertaken with three main groups: 1. Practitioner-led and researcher-led interviews and focus groups with 21 children who had lived experience of criminal exploitation. 2. Interviews with 15 parents who had at least one child who had been criminally exploited. This included 13 mothers and two fathers. 3. Interviews and focus groups with 56 professionals comprising representatives from British Transport Police, children’s services, education, health, housing, probation, youth offending services, the third sector and Welsh Government. To preserve and anonymity, this report uses pseudonyms when quoting participants. 1.3 Main findings 1.3.1 How does child exploitation manifest in Wales? Findings from professionals • Driven by ongoing demand to buy a range of substances including cannabis, cocaine, spice and prescription medication, child criminal exploitation manifests in three main ways in Wales: county lines, blurred lines and localised dealing. • The adoption of the term county lines may detract attention from children who are exploited by family members or local individuals or groups even where these groups were adopting a similar model and levels of violence as the county lines groups . • The presence of gendered notions regarding child sexual exploitation and child criminal exploitation poses the risk that sexually exploited boys and criminally exploited girls will not be identified or safeguarded.

• The distinction between child criminal exploitation and child sexual exploitation can serve to obscure the range of perpetrators, criminal activities, and the range of physical and sexual abuse children suffer when they have been exploited. 1.3.2 What makes children vulnerable to exploitation? Children’s views • A consistent theme across findings was the extent to which children were exploited due to the promise of financial gain and the assertion that making money through dealing drugs is easy. This served to minimise their perceptions regarding the risks and dangers inherent in their involvement. • Exploitation occurred across statutory, further, and higher education. Transitions, inclusive practice, school sanctions, and school exclusion were linked to heightened vulnerability to exploitation. • Peer influence was particularly salient for children as they strive to retain friendships and status. This can lead to the imitation of negative behaviours such as involvement in drug dealing activities or other forms of criminality. • Cannabis was used as a hook exploitation. This was either through introducing children to cannabis or reinforcing the child’s existing use. Drug dealers used ‘strapping’ where children were given drugs but then expected to pay for them later. 1.3.3 How are children involved in these activities? Findings from parents • While parents had noticed changes in their child’s attitudes, behaviours and peer groups, a lack of knowledge about exploitation meant that this was often not identified, understood or addressed. • Transition from primary to secondary education and secondary education to further education, and managed school moves emerged as a critical periods where children were groomed as they strived to form new friendships. • Indoctrination emerged as a core grooming tool where children are told that the people who were exploiting them are their new ‘family’. This is reinforced in two main ways. First, exploiters presented themselves as friends, role models, and in some cases father figures. Second, children were coached in techniques to deter their parents from seeking support. • On reflection, parents felt that missing episodes were the biggest indicator of exploitation. However, at the time, parents dismissed their children staying out late or staying overnight with friends as normal reactions to factors such as family arguments, parental separation, negative peer groups or difficulties at school. • Serious violence was closely linked to child criminal exploitation. Children were both victims and perpetrators of violence. Many parents had experienced violence and threatening behaviour from their children and threatening visits from drug dealers to their workplaces or homes. etc....   

Cardiff, Wales: Cardiff University, 2021. 62p.

By Nina Maxwell, Jonathan Ablitt, Verity Bennett, Zoe Bezeczky and Megan Nightingale 

Executive summary The Serious Organised Crime Early Intervention Service (SOCEIS) is an innovative intervention for young people aged 11 to 18 years. It is aimed at identifying young people involved in, or at risk of involvement in serious organised crime, addressing the vulnerabilities that led to their involvement and diverting them towards more positive pathways. Following its success in Glasgow, Action for Children were awarded funding from the National Lottery Community to implement SOCEIS in four new areas: Cardiff, Dundee, Edinburgh and Newcastle. Method To examine the wider feasibility and applicability of SOCEIS, this process evaluation was commissioned by Action for Children in 2020. The evaluation had four objectives: 1. To capture information relating to the key components of SOCEIS. 2. To provide insight into young people’s entry and journey through SOCEIS. 3. To examine the views of young people, caregivers, partners, practitioners and peer mentors of ‘what works’. 4. To explore the feasibility of using police data to assess SOCEIS outcomes. Aligned with the research objectives, data collection consisted of four phases: 1. Documentary analysis. Programme manuals, reports, documentation and interviews with three of the four SOCEIS managers were used to identify the core components of SOCEIS and inform the development of a logic model. This model was refined based on the findings from phases two to four. 2. Case file data analysis and interviews: SOCEIS staff and partner organisations. Anonymised case files from each area were analysed to provide insight into young people’s entry and journey through SOCEIS. This included referral forms, risk assessments, contextual safeguarding forms and intervention plans. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with eleven SOCEIS practitioners, one peer mentor and ten representatives from partner organisations to capture their views of the core components of SOCEIS and views of the service. 3. Updated case file data analysis and interviews with young people and caregivers. Case file data was updated and supplemented with semi-structured interviews with eleven young people and eighteen caregivers to examine their views and experiences with SOCEIS. 4. Service data and police data analysis, and focus groups: SOCEIS staff and co-ordinators Anonymised data for all young people referred to the service and police data for those who had offending or missing person’s police records were analysed. Additionally, data for a comparison group of young people matched on demographic and offending criteria were requested from each police force. Due to delays in negotiating information-sharing agreements, findings will be presented in a supplemental report due for submission in December 2023. Focus groups were undertaken in each of the four areas to capture outcome information. A focus group with all four SOCEIS managers was conducted to explore strategic-level service developments on outcomes, information-sharing, partnership working and the journey to desistance. 

Cardiff, Wales: CASCADE, Cardiff University, 2023. 62p.

By Police Executive Research Forum

   For the past several years, the policing profession has faced a workforce crisis. Hiring of new police officers has slowed, while resignations and retirements have increased. PERF has documented these trends in annual surveys of our members.4 PERF found that the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the widespread protests following the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis only accelerated these trends. PERF’s latest survey did have some encouraging news: Police hiring rebounded in 2023, while resignations and retirements eased.5 But the crisis in police staffing has by no means disappeared. Many agencies, especially large police departments and sheriffs’ offices, continue to be far below their authorized levels, sometimes by hundreds of officers. These agencies are sometimes forced to take sometimes drastic measures, such as mandating overtime and canceling days off, just to adequately staff patrol cars and other units. One potential solution to the workforce crisis in policing is civilianization — the process of hiring trained and skilled professionals to assume some of the roles currently performed by sworn law enforcement officers. This allows officers to be reassigned to duties that require their unique training, skills, and law enforcement responsibilities. T his report provides a roadmap for agencies that are serious about implementing civilianization. It contemplates civilianization not simply as a short term solution to the staffing crisis currently facing many agencies. Rather, it presents civilianization as a long-term strategy for effectively staffing any law enforcement agency, improving performance, and, ultimately, advancing public safety. Civilianization begins with police leaders rethinking the qualifications that are needed for many positions in their agencies. They are likely to find that while sworn law enforcement authority — the ability to make arrests, carry a firearm, use force, etc. — is needed for the majority of agency positions, it is not required for every one of them. Leaders are also likely to discover that many of the positions that do not require a badge and a gun are currently held by sworn police officers. These are the positions that are ripe for civilianization.  

Washington, DC: Police Executive Research Forum, 2024. 110p.

By Nina Maxwell  

  Child criminal exploitation is a national priority in the UK. According to Home Office (2024) figures, there were 3,123 referrals to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) for child criminal exploitation in the year ending December 2023. These figures exclude young people who have not been identified as victims and therefore, the actual number of young people affected by criminal exploitation is likely to be much higher. Safeguarding young people from exploitation falls within the roles and responsibilities of youth justice services, while also recognising that child criminal exploitation is a complex, cross-cutting issue. In practice, many children receive a criminal justice rather than a child protection response. The Jay Review, Shattered Lives. Stolen Futures (2024), highlighted variations across agencies in their responses to criminally exploited young people, adding that this is due to the lack of a universal definition of child criminal exploitation in the UK and that there is a need for improvements to service responses. With no statutory definition, many professionals adopt the UK Government’s definition which states that child criminal exploitation occurs: ‘…where an individual or group takes advantage of an imbalance of power to coerce, control, manipulate or deceive a child or young person under the age of 18 into any criminal activity (a) in exchange for something the victim needs or wants, and/or (b) for the financial or other advantage of the perpetrator or facilitator and/or (c) through violence or the threat of violence. The victim may have been criminally exploited even if the activity appears consensual. Child criminal exploitation does not always involve physical contact; it can also occur through the use of technology’ (HM Government, 2018) However, this definition lacks clarity. For example, The Children’s Society (2019) found that frontline workers focused on tangible forms of ‘exchange’ rather than subtler forms where young people were enticed into relationships through a sense of belonging or protection. Consideration of exchange should be extended to include the prevention of something negative such as threats or actual violence to the young person or their family. In a study of child criminal exploitation in Wales, Maxwell and Wallace (2021) found that inconsistencies in service responses were exacerbated by the challenges in identifying child criminal exploitation; there is rarely a single piece of evidence or concern that signifies that a young person is being exploited. Young people may be found with visible evidence of their criminal behaviour and the way child criminal exploitation manifests varies according to the local context, service responses, and actors (Harding, 2020). In an English study, Harding (2020) described how a London-based group moved from a commuting model, commonly known as county lines (see Academic Insights paper 2021/01 by Pitts), to the implementation of satellite hubs so they could retain control over additional geographical areas. In Wales, Maxwell and Wallace (2021) found three forms of child criminal exploitation: • County Lines exploitation • Blurred Lines exploitation • Intra-familial exploitation.

Their interview findings with 56 professionals across statutory and third sector agencies revealed a tendency to associate child criminal exploitation with County Lines exploitation where young people were trafficked into Wales from England. Professionals seldom associated child criminal exploitation with young people affected by Blurred Lines, where young people were exploited and trafficked across Wales by local groups who mimic strategies adopted by county lines groups, or young people exploited by family members or other adults within the local community. Rather, Blurred Lines and exploitation from family members tended to be perceived as the young person’s ‘lifestyle choice’ and, as such, they were deemed culpable for their actions. Young people cannot consent to being forced into criminality or to be abused or trafficked (Home Office, 2023). Safeguarding them from child criminal exploitation requires both an understanding of how young people are affected and the extent to which community and service level factors protect them from exploitation and re-exploitation. Drawing largely on Maxwell’s studies of child criminal exploitation over the last four years, this paper considers the barriers and facilitators to an effective approach. 

 Academic Insights 2024/04

Manchester, UK: HM Inspectorate of Probation, 2024. 15p.

By Ian T. Adams, Joshua McCrain, Daniel S. Schiff, Kaylyn Jackson Schiff, Scott M. Mourtgos

The accountability of police to the public is imperative for a functioning democracy. The opinions of police executives—pivotal actors for implementing oversight policies—are an understudied, critical component of successful reform efforts.We use a pre-registered survey experiment administered to all U.S. municipal police chiefs and county sheriffs to assess whether police executives’ attitudes towards civilian oversight are responsive to 1) state-level public opinion (drawing on an original n = 16,840 survey) and 2) prior adoption of civilian review boards in large agencies. Results from over 1,300 police executives reveal that law enforcement leaders are responsive to elite peer adoption but much less to public opinion, despite overwhelming public support. Comparedto appointed municipal police chiefs, elected sheriffs are less likely to support any civilian oversight. Our findings hold implications for reformers: we find that existing civilian oversight regimes are largely popular, and that it is possible to move police executive opinion towards support for civilian oversight. There is a legitimacy crisis in law enforcement today, resulting partly from highly-publicized use of force incidents and arguably inadequate institutional responses to them (McLean & Nix, 2021). In Response, attention has turned to identifying reforms and oversight institutions that might shed light on and ultimately ameliorate these issues. Civilian review boards (CRBs) have been highlighted as a promising strategy to improve the responsiveness of law enforcement agencies to public oversight and input. 

 .J Policy Anal Manage. 2024;1–25.

By David Weisburd, David B. Wilson, Charlotte Gill, Kiseong Kuen and Taryn Zastrow

One of the key policing innovations of the last three decades has been community-oriented policing. It is particularly important because it is one of the only proactive policing approaches that consistently improves citizen evaluations of the police. At the same time, a series of reviews have concluded that there is not persuasive evidence that community policing reduces crime. In this paper we argue that these conclusions are likely flawed because of what we term crime reporting sensitivity (CRS) bias. CRS bias occurs because community policing leads to more cooperation with the police and subsequently increased crime reporting. Such increased crime reporting bias adjusts crime prevention outcomes of community policing downward. We illustrate this process by reanalyzing data from the Brooklyn Park ACT Experiment (Weisburd et al., 2021). We begin by showing the specific crime categories that contribute most to CRS bias. We then use a difference-in-differences panel regression approach to assess whether the experimental intervention in Brooklyn Park led to significant CRS bias. Finally, we use bounded estimates from the Brooklyn Park Experiment to adjust meta-analytic results from prior community policing studies to examine whether the conclusion that community policing does not impact on crime would need to be revisited if CRS bias was accounted for. We find that adjusted estimates tell a very different, more positive, story about community policing, suggesting that future studies should recognize and adjust for CRS bias, or identify other measures not influenced by this mechanism.

Journal of Law and Empirical AnalysisVolume 1, Issue 1, June 2024

By Enes Al Weswasi

To estimate how many offenses are averted through the incapacitation of first-time incarcerated offenders with sentences of two years or less. Methods: The counterfactual challenge of estimating criminal acts that would have been committed had the offender not been incarcerated is approached utilizing a matching design. Data comprise all offenders convicted in Sweden in 2018, matched on a vector of time-stable and time-varying covariates drawn from an extensive set of Swedish registers. Each incarcerated offender is matched to a nonincarcerated offender whose offending frequency is used to infer the incapacitation effect. Full sample estimates are provided as well as subgroup estimates for males, females, and various risk groups. Results: The annual incapacitation effect for first-time incarcerated offenders is estimated to be 0.53 when measured as the number of averted convictions and 1.14 when measured as the number of averted offenses that would have resulted in a conviction. For males, the annual number of convictions averted through incapacitation is 0.51, and for females 0.37. For the highest risk group, the annual number of averted convictions is 1.22, and the number of averted offenses resulting in conviction is 2.55. For offenders in the low-to-medium risk groups, the corresponding figures are approximately 0.31 averted convictions and approximately 0.68 averted offenses. Conclusion: For first-time incarcerated offenders, the incapacitation effect is modest and the heterogeneous effects found across different risk groups warrant considering whether the crime-preventive effect is sufficiently large for low-risk inmates and whether noncustodial sanctions might constitute an alternative that would ease overcrowding without producing any considerable risk for costs in terms of recidivism.

European Journal of CriminologyVolume 0: Ahead of Print - July 2024

By The Police Executive Research Forum

  This final report summarizes and synthesizes what we have learned from our research on the implementation of FirstNet over the past three years. This report is intended for both public safety leaders and technical audiences. • For agency leaders, the report provides an overview of what FirstNet is, including how and why it came into being, how it is being managed through a public-private partnership, and the current status of the network and its build-out. This background is important for police chiefs, fire chiefs, and other public safety executives who are trying to make informed decisions about their mobile broadband needs. • The report also contains technical details about FirstNet operations and performance that should be valuable to an agency’s information technology and emergency communications staff. PERF’s Findings Four key findings emerged from our research: 1 FIRSTNET IS PROVIDING PUBLIC SAFETY AGENCIES WITH RELIABLE, HIGH-SPEED ACCESS TO MOBILE DATA. In performance tests run during two large public demonstrations in Washington, D.C. (the March for Life on January 18, 2019, and the Women’s March the following day), and during everyday police patrols in Camden, NJ, the PERF team found that mobile devices operating on FirstNet had faster data upload and download speeds, and experienced fewer service reliability problems, than devices operating on commercial networks (including AT&T’s own commercial network). 

2 FIRSTNET PROVIDES CRITICAL SUPPORT DURING NATURAL DISASTERS AND MAJOR EVENTS. Throughout this project, PERF heard examples of how FirstNet helped public safety agencies respond to hurricanes, flooding, wildfires, and other natural disasters. Often, one of the first casualties of these events is cell phone towers and other communications infrastructure, which can be damaged or destroyed. Through its nationwide deployables program, FirstNet has been able to get mobile communications assets – both land-based and airborne – to disaster locations to reestablish data and voice communications for first responders. Over the past three years, FirstNet also has supported public safety at major events, like the Super Bowl, which attract large crowds that can tax or overwhelm cellular networks. And when the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged parts of the country, FirstNet deployables were brought in to support the medical community and first responders. 3 FIRSTNET IS HELPING AGENCIES STREAMLINE OPERATIONS AND IMPROVE EFFICIENCY. FirstNet users reported being able to more easily access information in the field; complete and upload reports; transmit photographs, video and other large data files; and carry out other everyday tasks. For police agencies, these efficiencies are allowing officers and deputies to remain out in the community, available to answer calls for service and engage in prevention activities, and not have to return to a police facility to access information or file a report. For fire and EMS personnel, reliable access to mobile data is speeding up dispatching and improving situational awareness when battling fires and tracking patients from incident scenes to hospitals.    4 FIRSTNET IS ENABLING AGENCIES TO EXPERIMENT WITH NEW WAYS OF DOING BUSINESS. For example, agencies are using FirstNet to conduct video roll calls; live-stream video of fires, accidents, or disaster scenes to improve situational awareness; provide TeleHealth services to first responders who come upon persons in crisis; and even remotely dispatch 911 calls during the COVID-19 pandemic, so that social distancing and other safety protocols could be maintained in the Emergency Communications Center. These and other innovations are made possible because agencies have access to a dedicated and secure mobile broadband network. These findings are explored in greater detail throughout this report.  

Washington, DC: Police Executive Research Forum , 2022. 60p.

By The Police Executive Research Forum

  The 2019 Chicago Police Department Executive Development Program for Sergeants (EDPS) pilot training was part of a larger PERF initiative to promote leadership development within the CPD, support reform strategies, and address violence in Chicago. The multi-year PERF initiative was funded jointly by grants from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Joyce Foundation. This project was carried out in two phases. Phase I provided CPD Command personnel with leadership and management training needed to manage change and better address the issues of crime and violence in Chicago. In the spring of 2017 and winter of 2018, PERF facilitated a Senior Management and Leadership Development Program for CPD Command staff members. Modeled after PERF’s Senior Management Institute for Police (SMIP), this program was designed to quickly and dramatically boost the management and leadership skills of CPD leaders, many of whom were new to their current leadership roles. A series of day-long workshops for Command members covered topics such as organizational change, negotiation strategies, strategic communications, and developing leadership values and capacity. Phase II was the development and delivery of the EDPS, which was completed in the fall of 2019. This phase also included an assessment of the program and publication of this report.  

Washington, DC: Police Executive Research Forum,2022. 16p.  

By The Police Executive Research Forum

  Engaging the community is a key step in the planning and preparation phase of building a drone program. Once you determine your agency’s needs and decide that a drone program is right for your agency, it is important to develop a comprehensive outreach strategy. Community engagement should occur very early in the process—even before your agency purchases a drone and related equipment. This early engagement will help build community support for the program and prevent misunderstandings about how and when your agency intends to use its drones. A comprehensive outreach strategy should • solicit input from a wide range of community voices; • explain the police department’s planned approach and specific reasons for using drones (i.e., the missions in which you intend to use drones); • provide detailed assurances about privacy, accountability, and other issues of concern; • ensure that questions and concerns are adequately addressed. To accomplish these objectives, the method of engagement and the specific content to include are addressed'  

Washington, DC: Police Executive Research Forum, 2022. 44p. 

By The Police Executive Research Forum

  The United States has traditionally trained police officers on the cheap. The survey PERF conducted for this project (see page 10) found that more than 71% of agencies devote less than 5% of their total budget to recruit training. And while nearly half of the agencies responding to the survey said that spending on recruit training had increased over the past five years, that was before police budgets faced the dual challenges of cuts related to the COVID-19 pandemic and calls to “defund” the police. Investments in training could be stalled or reduced at the very time they need to be increased to bring about needed changes in American policing. In many jurisdictions, the goal seems to be moving as many recruits as possible through academy training as fast as possible and at the lowest possible cost. This approach has been driven, in part, by the desire to get more officers on the street, quickly – a challenge that became particularly acute as officer hirings declined and retirements and resignations increased because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and as homicides and other violent crimes surged  But there can be serious consequences – legal, financial, and reputational – for agencies that fail to adequately invest in training for their recruit and veteran officers. In the United States, the Courts have consistently held that municipalities can be held liable for failing to adequately train police officers under Section 1983 of the U.S. Code.8 While these claims can be difficult for plaintiffs to prove and the total cost of failure-to-train judgments is hard to ascertain, police agencies that fail to invest in training run the risk of losing the trust and support of the community when they are sued. Compared with other countries and other often demanding professions, the duration of police recruit training in the United States is limited, especially given the levels of crime and disorder that today’s police officers are expected to address, and the challenges of policing during an opioid addiction crisis, an underfunded behavioral health system, a protracted pandemic, and a largely unchecked firearms market. In 37 states, recruits are permitted to begin working as police officers even before they have completed their basic training course. Furthermore, recruit training is not necessarily aligned with research on what works, although the research in this area is limited. As the Council on Criminal Justice Task Force on Policing recently pointed out, “Despite the critical importance of police officer training to the onboarding of new recruits, there is very little evidence about its effectiveness. The scant research that does exist is not promising.”  So not only does the policing profession need to invest in training itself; it also needs to invest in rigorous research about what works and what doesn’t in police recruit training. For example, there should be research not just on what topics need to be covered, but also on the best sequence for delivering those courses.   The current state of recruit training demands that we rethink – and remake – the system for how new police officers are trained. We need national consensus and national standards on what the training contains, how it is delivered, and by whom. This report may present a grim picture of the current state of recruit training, but it also puts forth a series of principles that can help guide the transformation of training to meet the challenges of policing for today and tomorrow.

Washington, DC: Police Executive Research Forum, 2022. 84p.

By The Police Executive Research Forum

  Understanding the Barriers … and the Opportunities for Change This project sought to answer a simple question: Why? Why are women underrepresented in the leadership ranks of most police agencies? What are the barriers to advancement for women, and what are the strategies for overcoming those barriers? What can women do themselves to enhance their opportunities for attaining leadership positions? And, more importantly, what can police agencies do to help women along their career pathways? To help answer those questions, we reached out to hundreds of women in law enforcement and asked for their opinions and perspectives. Based on these information-gathering efforts, plus a review of the literature on women in policing, several key themes emerged, which are examined throughout this report: • Women have a strong interest in leadership roles. • Women don’t feel they need special consideration in hiring or training standards. • Agency culture is key. • Opportunities – for assignments and training – are not always equal. • Mentors play a crucial role for women looking to advance in policing. • Men are a crucial part of the equation. 10 Action Items for Advancing Women in Police Leadership Based on these and other themes, PERF developed 10 Action Items that police agencies can implement to help level the playing field and create more opportunities for women to advance in their departments. Some of these are steps that agencies can take right away, with little or no cost. Others will take more time and planning, and they may require dedicated resources or new spending. But all of the Action Items will demand a commitment on the part of agency leaders – police chiefs, sheriffs, their command staffs, and other upper- and mid-level managers. Implementing these Action Items will benefit more than the women currently in law enforcement and those who aspire to careers in policing. It will also benefit the agencies they work for. As many people – women and men – pointed out during the course of our research, increasing diversity at all levels makes police agencies stronger and more effective. Erika Shields, Chief of the Louisville Metro Police Department and a member of the PERF Board of Directors, summed it up during the discussion at the PERF Annual Meeting: “We’re stronger when we’re listening to people who don’t look like us. Diversity builds strength.”  

Washington DC: Police Executive Research Forum, 2023. 64p.

By The Police Executive Research Forum

  Police agencies face no greater challenge today than recruiting and retaining enough qualified officers to meet rising demands to provide services and address violent crime. So when the easing of the COVID-19 pandemic made it possible for PERF to resume holding large in-person issue forums, the workforce crisis was the logical topic for our first such conference. “Innovations in Recruitment and Retention to Meet Tomorrow’s Challenges,” held on November 3, 2022 in Washington, DC, drew roughly 275 participants from across the country and was a striking success. Nearly 100 people signed up to attend in just the first 24 hours after registration opened, and before long we reached the venue’s maximum capacity. This swift, sizable response — and the animated discussion we had throughout the day — is a testament to the significance of this issue for law enforcement and the commitment of those stakeholders to addressing it. I hope this report, which builds on PERF’s 2019 report “The Workforce Crisis, and What Police Agencies Are Doing About It,” will help members of the profession address this vital issue. Participants at the conference agreed that we are at a critical moment in policing. Many younger officers are resigning and older officers are retiring, even as applications plummet. Departments are competing for existing officers, making one department’s solution another department’s problem. Departments also are struggling to attract younger and more diverse candidates. The conference gave representatives from a wide range of departments — small and large, urban and rural — a chance to share their struggles and frustrations, but also to   describe changes they’ve made that have had an impact. As you will read in this report, many of those changes are designed to help officers see the organization as a place where they can grow and thrive, and where they can earn respect and hono

Washington, DC: Police Executive Research Forum . 2023. 75p.

By The Police Executive Research Forum

  This report addresses one of the most critical issues in policing today: the role of police in responding to calls for service involving people in mental or behavioral health (MBH) crisis. This has been a serious challenge for policing for decades, ever since mental health institutions were closed, people were discharged without adequate provision of help to live in the community, and many of them landed on the streets. Police found themselves responding to incidents involving people in crisis and doing the best they could. It has been more than 30 years since then-Commissioner of the NYPD, Lee Brown, said that “this country’s social problems are well beyond the ability of the police to deal with on their own.”  Yet that is what they are often called upon to do. The issue has come into sharper focus in debates about policing reform, especially since the murder of George Floyd. While many calls to reallocate funds from police to social services were not well thought out, many police agree that responsibility for responding to MBH calls for  service should not fall to the police alone, and in some instances not at all. The scope of the problem is enormous. The American Psychological Association reports that 60 percent of psychologists currently have no openings for new patients.  Emergency room visits by children and young adults surged by almost 60 percent between 2011 and 2020, and suiciderelated visits increased five-fold. In 2021 more than 100,000 people in the U.S. died from drug overdoses, more than twice as many as in 2015.  Nearly 600,000 people in the U.S. experience homelessness on a given night.  All these individuals risk falling victim to crimes, and some pose risks to the safety of themselves or others. Whether or not there is a threat to safety, police are likely to be called to MBH incidents, which can account for anywhere from 1 to 10 percent of all 911 calls. There are several reasons why calls come to police even when there is no immediate threat to safety. As a deployed service, patrolling the streets 24/7, police are usually in a position to respond quickly. Many people call 911 for help without thinking about whether another service provider may be more appropriate. And often, no one else is available to call; few mental health and social service providers have rapid response capabilities and even fewer operate during nights and weekends. MBH calls are resource intensive. They can be time consuming both on-scene and during the follow-up, which can include transporting subjects to the hospital and writing reports. Often, the subject is arrested; about 2 million times  annually, people with serious mental illness are booked into U.S. jails. MBH incidents can also be fraught with risk. The great majority of encounters are handled safely but some end tragically. According to the Treatment Advocacy Center, the risk of being killed is 16 times higher for people with untreated serious mental illness than for others approached or stopped by police. The issue therefore touches on three significant aspects of our current policing crisis, which is the worst in a generation: • First, a crisis of public trust in policing, driven in large part by high-profile incidents of police shootings and fatalities in police custody. • Second, a workforce crisis. Recruiting shortfalls in many departments — and budget tightening — have made patrol officers’ time more precious than ever. • Third, gun crime rates appear to have risen since 2019 (though early data from 2023 suggest they may be subsiding), and violent    crime clearance rates have been declining for decades. This third point also affects public trust in the police. If the role of police officers in mental health-related calls can be focused on instances where the potential risk of the encounter necessitates an armed presence or police powers, police departments should be able to divert their limited resources toward actions that require immediate police response, as well as toward crime prevention and investigation. We have made significant progress over the years in preparing police for MBH encounters. Mental health awareness training has been widely implemented. Thousands of agencies have conducted Crisis Intervention Training (CIT), which has been shown to increase understanding and empathy for individuals in crisis. Yet police often have to deal with MBH incidents with inadequate mental health resources. And tragically, some of those encounters end in a fatality

Washington, DC: Police Executive Research Forum, 2023. 59p.

By The Police Executive Research Forum

  ICAT – Integrating Communications, Assessment, and Tactics – is a training program that is transforming how law enforcement officers are trained to de-escalate critical incidents and minimize the use of force whenever possible. Created and managed by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), ICAT was developed with input from hundreds of police officers, trainers, researchers, and others from across the United States and overseas. The curriculum includes classroom instruction split into seven modules, video case studies, and, importantly, live-action scenario-based exercises where students can practice what they learned in the classroom. Rolled out by PERF in 2016, ICAT was originally created for patrol officers, who are typically the first responders on the scene of dynamic encounters where the potential for use of force exists. Since then, ICAT has been adopted by hundreds of police departments and sheriffs’ offices across the country for their patrol divisions. And the training has been successful. In a randomized controlled study of the Louisville Metro Police Department, researchers found that ICAT was associated with substantial reductions not only in use of force by officers, but also in injuries to both subjects and officers (see page 7). Other agencies have experienced similar reductions since adopting ICAT. The good news is that ICAT is making    things safer for everyone – police officers, subjects they encounter and, by extension, the community at large. The success and growth of ICAT in police departments led us to think: if the training works for patrol officers, why wouldn’t it work for correctional officers as well? After all, both groups face similar challenges. They are regularly involved in stressful, dynamic, and potentially violent encounters with people who may have mental health challenges, substance use disorders, and extensive criminal histories. In addition, police officers and correctional officers share common goals: to de-escalate these types of encounters and minimize the use of force, all while securing the safety of both officers and subjects, whether they are on the street or in a jail or prison. ICAT is built on the guiding principle of the sanctity of human life, the goal that everyone goes home safely at the end of the day. ICAT is designed primarily for incidents in which subjects are either unarmed or armed with a knife, baseball bat, or other impact weapon. The presence of a firearm changes the equation when it comes to use of force and de-escalation, and while ICAT principles can still be applied in some of these encounters, the training is largely designed for those situations where the subject is not armed with a firearm. This focus makes ICAT particularly relevant to jails, where firearms are not an  issue but potentially violent inmates may still be armed with other, home-made weapons. Recently, some sheriffs’ offices that train their patrol deputies in ICAT have begun to adopt the training for their detention personnel as well. (See Chapter 3 for case studies of two such agencies: the Harris County, TX and Santa Cruz County, CA sheriffs’ offices.) They have found that not every part of ICAT applies to their jail personnel; for example, the module on “suicide by cop” is not necessarily a close fit in the jail environment. However, these agencies have discovered that the core elements of the training – communications, assessment, tactics, and decision-making – do apply to correctional officers, as does the concept of “stepping up and stepping in” with fellow officers when a situation is not going as planned. Agencies have found that the bulk of the ICAT curriculum can seamlessly be adapted for their jail personnel. The early adopters have also found that the curriculum works best when they use scenarios and video case studies that are customized to the corrections environment. (The videos and scenarios in the core ICAT curriculum focus on street encounters.) But the basic ICAT curriculum transfers easily. This publication is designed to help sheriffs’ offices, as well as other agencies that operate lockups or other detention facilities, to implement the ICAT curriculum in their facilities. This report draws heavily on the experiences of the sheriffs’ offices in Harris County and Santa Cruz County, which have been teaching ICAT to their patrol and detention personnel for well over a year. The report also reflects the ideas and insights of close to 20 individuals – sheriffs and other sheriffs’ office personnel, experienced ICAT  instructors, and PERF staff – who participated in a two-day meeting in November 2022 at PERF’s National ICAT Training Center in Decatur, IL. This report is not a new curriculum for teaching ICAT to correctional personnel. What we have learned from the early adopters, as well as many of the experts we consulted with, is that the existing ICAT curriculum is a solid foundation for teaching ICAT in jails. Rather, this report serves as a guide for sheriffs’ offices that are interested in how to deliver ICAT training to their jail personnel. The following chapters summarize the key elements of the ICAT curriculum, review how they apply to correctional officers, and provide examples of how sheriffs’ offices have customized the curriculum and rolled out the training in their jails

Washington, DC: Police Executive Research Forum, 2023. 48p.