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2002 Census of Law Enforcement Training Academies
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PERF conducted the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) 2002 Census of Law Enforcement Training Academies. The instrument was developed by BJS, with feedback provided by PERF staff. The survey obtained baseline information about national law enforcement training practices, and was used to examine variation in the characteristics of training staff, recruits/trainees, training curricula, training facilities and policies.
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2003 Sample Survey of Law Enforcement Agencies
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PERF has been chosen by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) to administer the 2003 Sample Survey of Law Enforcement Agencies, which is part of the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) program. PERF has assisted BJS in finalizing this instrument through review by PERF staff and by pre-testing the instrument. The survey has been disseminated to law enforcement agencies across the country to obtain information about law enforcement personnel, equipment, computers, and other topics. PERF will be seeking to obtain survey and item response rates between 90 to 100 percent.
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2006 Census of State & Local Law Enforcement Training Academies
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PERF is conducting the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) 2006 Census of State & Local Law Enforcement Training Academies. The instrument was developed by BJS, with feedback provided by PERF staff. The survey obtained baseline information about national law enforcement training practices, and was used to examine variation in the characteristics of training staff, recruits/trainees, training curricula, training facilities and policies.
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2006 Critical Issues in Policing Series
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PERF set out to explore three major critical topics facing law enforcement today:
1. The Rise in Violent Crime – Concerns about national violent crime increases were originally raised anecdotally by police chiefs in the summer of 2005, and then validated following the release of 2005 FBI UCR figures and a PERF study of 2006 violent crime statistics. These issues were first discussed on a national scale at PERF’s National Violent Crime Summit held in Washington, D.C on August 30, 2006. The summit was attended by more than 170 police, municipal, and federal leaders from over 50 cities and 10 federal agencies. PERF subsequently expanded its 2006 violent crime survey, and presented the final results two months later on October 15, 2006, in its Gathering Storm report at the PERF Town Hall meeting held in Boston. Violent crime concerns were echoed by the more than 400 police leaders and stakeholders present at that meeting. The crime summit, town hall meeting, and information presented in the Gathering Storm report was widely reported in the media, and the rise in violent crime has emerged as a national issue facing the country. The culmination of the efforts led to a meeting at the White House to discuss the role of the federal government in helping to address the crime increases. PERF is continuing to examine this issue and coordinating various response strategy development.
2. Suicide Bomber Tactics – Law enforcement in the U.S. is readying for the possibility of a suicide bomb incident. PERF is conducting reviews of current policies and training for such an incident. In regards to suicide bomb threats, PERF will be reviewing (1) what decisions need to be made, (2) how to assess such situations to make those decisions, and (3) considering tactical alternatives. This project requires information sharing within the national and international policing communities, primarily with those who have the greatest experience with suicide bomb threats. PERF is collaborating with the Israel Police, London Metropolitan Police Service (UK), Los Angeles Police Department, New York Police Department, and various federal agencies, among other organizations. A draft report—along with suggested guidelines—is expected in 2007.
3. Pandemic – Pandemic risks pose significant challenges to law enforcement. In addition to maintaining public order, protecting critical infrastructure, and supporting vaccination programs during a pandemic outbreak, law enforcement agencies will have to collaborate with other government agencies, and develop mutual strategies for maintaining order and controlling the outbreak. How effectively those various agencies work together may well determine the overall success of any public response. PERF is examining emergency preparedness and response in a few select cities as a result of public health threats they’ve experienced and/or are preparing for. Cities include Toronto (SARS outbreak) and Louisville, as well as New Zealand (Foot and Mouth Disease). Milestones, site visits and overall project research and development are currently underway.
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Advancing Community Policing through Community Governance
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Many police agencies that have adopted community policing realize that they need to partner with other municipal departments (e.g., public works, utilities, code enforcement) along with community members to address community problems. Some police agencies have sought to add value to these efforts and are working with municipal leadership to take community policing to its next logical step by taking its philosophy, principles, and elements to the citywide level. This idea of community governance seeks to have municipal agencies work together collaboratively and with the community to provide quality services and respond to community needs. In essence, it takes a systematic, organized, citywide approach to implementing the community policing philosophy at the municipal level. With funding from the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office), PERF is developing a community governance foundation document that will, among other things, highlight the purpose, goals and objectives of community governance (including how it can help localities develop a holistic approach to addressing crime and disorder issues) as well as identify the key elements and sub-elements and barriers and to implementation. The foundation document will also describe community governance in select jurisdictions.
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An Evaluation of the Impacts of Federal DNA Casework Programs
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PERF will serve as a subcontractor to Caliber Associates/ICF on a two-year NIJ-funded project. PERF will conduct a national survey of police departments on best practices in using DNA evidence. PERF will examine whether law enforcement agencies that have aggressively pursued DNA forensic evidence experienced superior results in targeted clearance and arrest rates for crimes such as stranger homicides and stranger sexual assaults over time. PERF will also examine the evidence that can be assembled toward identifying best practices when strong DNA forensic capacity is available. Finally, PERF will examine the cost component of a DNA investigation for a police department.
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An Experimental Evaluation of Gender Violence/Harassment (GV/H)
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Caliber Associates/ICF, Wellesley College, and PERF have been funded by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) for two years to evaluate the effectiveness of two youth GV/H prevention programs in reducing the probability of GV/H perpetration/victimization. Guided by the Theory of Reasoned Action, a well-tested theoretical model, we will employ an experimental, longitudinal design and randomly assign one hundred 6th and 7th grade classrooms in the Cleveland, Ohio area to one of three conditions. Treatment 1: A gender socialization-based curriculum that addresses GV/H, by focusing on construction of gender roles, power and control in relationships, hyper-masculinity, and compulsory heterosexuality and the formation of healthy and mutual relationships/friendships. Treatment 2: A criminal justice-based curriculum for GV/H prevention focusing on deterring aggressive behavior and teaching self-control. Deterrence is achieved through a fact-based curriculum emphasizing information and data about penalties for sexual assault, state laws and definitions, and results from research. Self-control is achieved through the teaching of anger management and by imparting facts about the consequences for perpetrators of gender violence. Control group: This group will go through their normal class schedule and not receive any of the elements of Treatments 1 and 2. Quantitative surveys will be administered immediately before, immediately after and 6 months after treatment. Additionally, a small number of key informant interviews with program staff and focus groups with teachers also will be conducted to assess the integrity/fidelity of the intervention delivery process.
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Analysis and Interpretation of "Racial Profiling" Data: Guidelin
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With funding from the COPS Office, PERF is developing a “how to” guide for analyzing and interpreting vehicle stop data collected by agencies to assess racially biased policing. “By the Numbers: A guide for Analyzing Race Data for Vehicle Stops,” targets people who will conduct data collection to assess racial bias and will describe various ways that agencies can “benchmark” their stop data. PERF staff is assisted by an Advisory Board made up of experts in this area, including social scientists that are involved in data collection analysis and staff from agencies’ research and planning units. Chapters 1-10 of “By the Numbers” is available on the PERF website. The remaining chapters (11-13) and a second document targeting citizens, the media, policy makers and so forth will be available in early 2004. The second document, “Understanding Race Data from Vehicle Stops: A Stakeholder’s Guide,” will set forth both the potential and constraints associated with data collection. A purpose of this document will be to bring expectations for data collection in line with the realities of social science.
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Anti-Violence Initiative in Jamaica
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This project was inspired by efforts of the American Chamber of Commerce in Kingston when the violent crime and the number of homicides increased to alarming levels. Through funding by the United State Agency for International Development (USAID), PERF is currently engaged with the Jamaican Constabulary Force (JCF) to develop a comprehensive, broad-based anti-violence initiative. Working with the Jamaican Government, the JCF, and the private sector, PERF is entering its second year of this three-year project, which includes police and community training components and the creation of a model police station in the Grants Pen area of Kingston. With a focus to enhanced community policing and strengthening the police-community relationship, PERF has placed a full-time representative on the ground in Kingston to ensure the project’s momentum.
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Assessing the Fit Between U.S. Sponsored Training and the Needs
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This project, funded by the International Center of the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), reviewed and assessed training and technical assistance provided by the United States to Ukrainian law enforcement agencies. The project documented this training, examined the extent to which it complemented existing training, and assessed its impact on the agencies that received it. Data were collected in the United States and abroad. The final report, submitted to NIJ, contains a comprehensive set of recommendations for improving current and future training initiatives.
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Assessment Center Process For Officer Selection and Promotions
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The “assessment center method” is the name given to the formal assessment process pioneered by AT&T in the 1950s. It has been used in law enforcement for about 30 years, primarily for personnel selection, development and promotion. An assessment center involves a standardized testing procedure that evaluates the ability of selected individuals to perform specific job-related skills and to demonstrate expected behaviors of successful job incumbents. The Management Services Division can provide a uniquely focused assessment process for your agency. Beginning with a task analysis of the targeted position—utilizing current job descriptions and interviews with the political leadership, organizational supervisors, subordinates, community stakeholders and the incumbents—a selection/promotion process can be tailored to the specific needs of your agency. After PERF completes the task analysis, Management Services staff will identify and confirm the four to six specific behavioral dimensions that are critical to effective performance in the targeted position. A variety of exercises will then be developed to provide information on how each candidate rates on the identified dimensions. PERF staff will conduct any necessary training for assessors, according to agreed upon criteria. Even if assessors have prior experience, PERF staff will conduct an orientation on the selected exercises and their application to the specific process.
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Assessment of Police Chief Experience in Budgetary Arena
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With funding from the National Institute of Justice, PERF is conducting a national study to determine how successful police chiefs achieve their strategic objectives through the budgetary process. Although budgetary practices and local resources vary significantly from one jurisdiction to another, the study will aid in developing guidelines for police agencies to adopt the most effective strategies under varying conditions to achieve specific objectives. The study consists of a national mail survey of police chiefs, a focus group with chiefs successful in the budgetary arena, and descriptive case studies of budgetary practices.
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Collaborative Leadership Project: Phase 1 - Minneapolis
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PERF is partnering with the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) and two local community groups to develop effective responses to biased policing. This project, funded through a COPS Office initiative, goes beyond the traditional focus on racially biased policing to explore all biases. The partners are working with a wide variety of Minneapolis residents. Using a series of engagements held at the neighborhood level, the four project partners are (1) developing and refine a partnership for resolving police–community issues, (2) identifying effective methods for addressing biased policing in collaboration with citizens, and (3) measuring the impact utilizing MPD’s crime mapping model, CODEFOR.
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Collaborative Leadership Project: Phase 2
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PERF has received funding from the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services to further expand the original Minneapolis Collaborative Leadership project to two other jurisdictions. PERF will continue its work in Minneapolis, and will also develop a Collaborative Leadership (CL)curriculum that builds upon the Community Engagement model and focuses on issues of bias and perceptions of bias. Police and community members come together three times over a ten-week period to develop trust, relationships, and problem solving skills. The first session establishes trust between partners, demonstrate the use of the SARA model, and identifies community problems. The second session is dedicated to developing action plans to address issues. The final session assesses the process and develop plans continuing collaborations into the future. CL projects are ongoing in Cambridge, MA and Lakewood, CO.
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Community Policing Consortium
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The Community Policing Consortium is a partnership of five of the leading police organizations in the United States: PERF, The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE), the National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA) and the Police Foundation. The Consortium is administered and funded by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), U.S. Department of Justice. Its primary mission is to advance community policing strategies that allow citizens and a wide range of community stakeholders to work as full and equal partners with law enforcement and other public and private organizations in the efforts to enhance quality of life. For its part, PERF delivers technical assistance in the form of Executive Blueprint Symposiums to examine key functional areas in policing and Community Engagements to build and foster trust and problem-solving efforts with the community.
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Community Policing Implementation Self-Assessment Tool
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Caliber Associates and the Police Executive Research Forum have been awarded a contract from the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) to produce an operationalized definition of community policing and create a tool that would allow agencies to self-assess their progress in implementing community policing. The assessment tool will include modules to measure the organizational changes instituted in support of community policing, as well as an agency’s progress toward building community partnerships and using problem solving techniques. An accompanying guidebook will include technical information about how to implement the tool, as well as references to other resources on specific topics covered by the assessment.
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Community Policing in a Security Conscious World
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PERF has received funding from the COPS Office to examine the role of local law enforcement in homeland security and “counter-terrorism” policing. The overarching goals of this initiative are to: 1) evaluate how September 11 has so far affected local law enforcement; 2) assist community policing agencies as they work to improve their terrorism response capabilities; and 3) examine contentious issues and potential initiatives that could impede the continued evolution of community policing. PERF will accomplish these goals through a national survey of law enforcement leaders, a series of executive sessions, follow-up fieldwork to identify model programs, and a comprehensive written manual for police agencies. This project will be one of the first national efforts to provide law enforcement chief executives and government policymakers with practical recommendations for addressing the key issues facing local law enforcement in the fight against terrorism.
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Community Policing Partnerships for Domestic Violence
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The goal of this project, funded by the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office, is to document and assess the array of different partnerships formed between police agencies and the community to address the problem of domestic violence. The project will identify effective elements of partnership arrangements and explore strategies for overcoming obstacles. Data have been collected from approximately 350 agencies across the country funded by the COPS Office to develop partnerships in this area. Site visits to document particularly promising partnerships were completed in 2003. Grant products will include a literature review and summary of survey findings, and a monograph on best practices and lessons learned.
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Comprehensive Homicide Investigative Training Program
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In 1995, BJA created a special emphasis initiative, the Homicide Investigation Enhancement Program, to build a model comprehensive homicide investigation. Much of that project, which has focused on providing technical assistance to BJA project sites, has involved organizing and managing homicide investigative units. In the new BJA homicide training initiative, PERF is developing a comprehensive 80-hour death investigation and homicide investigative training program, drawing on curricula and instructional materials from departments and academies across the country. The curriculum is being developed in modular form, with the foundation devoted to building core skills such as interviewing, report writing, testifying and crime scene techniques. To ensure that the curriculum and supporting resource material are responsive to homicide investigative needs, the course will be piloted and conducted for the benefit of investigators in a homicide unit to be selected. Based on evaluative comments, the curriculum and materials will be revised and prepared as a curriculum package, and distributed to other departments.
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Conducted Energy Devices; Use in a Custodial Setting
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PERF recently received an award from BJA to conduct a nine-month project. PERF and the National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA) will conduct a national Sheriff’s survey to examine issues concerning conducted energy devices (CEDs) and other electrical apparatus in a custodial environment. This project responds to the U.S. Department of Justice’s call for action regarding the need for Sheriffs’ Offices to acquire a greater understanding about CEDs, and other electronic apparatus such as stun belts, and to aid in the development of policy guidelines in custodial environments such as: Jails, holding facilities, cellblocks, courtrooms, and prisoner vehicle conveyances. PERF and NSA will conduct a literature review of available information and convene an expert group of Sheriffs and subject matter specialists in order to identify and prioritize issues. Based on the results of that activity, PERF and NSA staff will develop a survey instrument to disseminate to randomly chosen sheriffs’ offices across the country. The survey data will be analyzed to create a document for Sheriffs’ Offices identifying promising practices and policy guidelines for CED/Taser and electrical apparatus in a custodial environment. Throughout this process, PERF and NSA will share information and participate in activities with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Less Lethal Technology Working Group.
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Cop Crunch: Identifying Strategies for Dealing w/ Hiring Crisis
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The difficulties in recruiting and hiring quality personnel have emerged as a critical problem for law enforcement agencies nationwide. With funding from NIJ, PERF conducted a national study to examine the nature and extent of the recruit shortage. Through the use of a national survey and in-depth telephone interviews, the project identified department-level policies and practices that facilitate the recruiting and hiring of quality personnel, with a particular focus on successful strategies to recruit women and minorities. PERF produced a report for law enforcement agencies that summarized the issues and factors associated with recruitment and hiring. In addition, the report included policy implications for agencies at the state and local levels, as well as potential national strategies for helping law enforcement respond to the shortage. This report is currently being reviewed by NIJ. We expect it will be available for public release in early 2006
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Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project
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People with mental illnesses are increasingly coming into contact with police and the criminal justice system due, in part, to a lack of community resources. However, the criminal justice system often is ill-equipped to meet their needs, resulting in repeat calls for service. Accordingly, police and mental health providers are challenged to respond to this population and prevent unnecessary and inappropriate contacts with the criminal justice system. With assistance from federal agencies and private foundations, the Council of State Governments (CSG) coordinated a national effort to produce a comprehensive set of components or features of model programs that improve system responses to people with mental illnesses. PERF coordinated the law enforcement track of this project and collected data from departments around the country engaged in effective practices to develop its recommendations. The "Consensus Project" report was released in June 2002 and is available on line at www.consensusproject.org. The proposed recommendations have been reviewed by key criminal justice and mental health constituencies. Now in its dissemination phase, the project encourages criminal justice and mental health professionals to translate the comprehensive recommendations into legislation, model programs or policies.
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Data Systems for Policing in the 21st Century
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With funding from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, project staff is using various mechanisms to identify strategies that can facilitate the implementation by law enforcement agencies of data systems that are compatible with the FBI's Reporting requirements for the National Incident-Based Reporting System. A two-day national symposium on incident-based data systems was held and a resource guide to assist department in making the transition is being developed.
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Documentation and Assessment of BJA-Funded Firearms Projects
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In response to the nation's gun violence epidemic, the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) funded a series of model initiatives to combat gun violence and firearms trafficking. These programs track compliance with licensing requirements, develop investigative task force approaches and initiate other innovative plans. In all, eight sites were funded. BJA awarded PERF a grant to assess and document these initiatives and report on their work in three formats: a BJA fact sheet, a BJA monograph and a training video. The fact sheet contains brief project descriptions and contact information. The monograph addresses promising practices—developed by the funded sites—to reduce firearms trafficking, and the lessons they learned during their partnerships with ATF. The training video follows the format of our Guns First training curriculum to support consistent delivery of training information. The fact sheet and monograph are available through BJA.
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Dual Arrest for Intimate Partner Assault
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PERF is partnering with the University of Massachusetts at Lowell on this NIJ-funded project to examine the police response to intimate partner violence and the extent to which police arrest both parties in a domestic disturbance, called a “dual arrest.” In the first stage of the project, we will analyze year 2000 police records in approximately 3,100 police departments across the nation using National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) data. We will investigate the circumstances associated with single, dual and no arrest situations in both intimate partner and non-intimate partner assaults. We will then select six police departments in each of four states for more intensive examination of intimate partner violence cases. Our data collection process will allow us to investigate the impact of different police actions on subsequent re-offending. The project will also assess the effect of different police agency policies on the response to intimate partner violence and make recommendations.
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Early Intervention Systems
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PERF, together with Dr. Sam Walker, is developing two key guides on supervision and intervention strategies for early warning systems (EIS): one that outlines policies and practices relating to supervision and intervention for an EIS, and another guide for first-line supervisors that will provide direction for how to intervene and follow-up with an officer who has been identifies by an EIS. Through this project, PERF will assess current EOS intervention and supervision practices, identify innovative practices for EIS intervention and supervision processes, and produce and disseminate policy-relevant products. Information will be gathered through in-depth telephone interviews and site visits with agencies already using EIS. Two expert panels will be convened one of which will be comprised of EIS experts within the field of law enforcement and a second panel will be comprised of supervision/leadership experts outside of law enforcement.
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Extending the Findings of Repeat Victimization: Understanding th
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This project extends the findings from PERF’s initial study on repeat victimization. The intent of this project is to better inform police practitioners of the repeat victimization phenomenon. To do so, PERF has completed a cross-sectional study of repeat victimization for residential burglary, commercial burglary, commercial robbery, and street robbery through analysis of police offense reports. This involves the standardization of definitions, time frames and analytical approaches across diverse jurisdictions. This extension focuses both on developing information on the incidence, scope and time course from jurisdictions across different types of crimes and on expanding police application of repeat victimization analysis as a mechanism to focus police resources. A final report will be submitted to the funding agency, the National Institute of Justice, in 2004.
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Good to Great
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What are the distinguishing characteristics that move a company from the ranks of “good” to the ranks of “great”? This is the question that led Jim Collins to write “Good to Great” (Harper Business, 2001), a best seller in the U.S. Collins and his research team operationalized “great” and then identified companies that attained this desirable status and sustained it for over 15 years. The Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) conducted an executive session in March 2005, and is currently working on a publication that will focus on how to develop “great” law enforcement agencies by incorporating proven practices from the business community with community policing practices. The purpose of the project is to convey to current and future police leaders how to apply state-of-the-art principles regarding business success to the law enforcement arena. The ultimate goal is to help law enforcement agencies across the country become more effective and efficient in meeting the needs of the residents they serve.
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Gun Buyback Evaluation
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For the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), PERF is collecting information regarding HUD-funded gun buy-backs held around the country. PERF is documenting how the gun buyback programs were implemented; documenting the number, type and quality of firearms collected; and identifying "best practices" associated with the programs. PERF will also use interrupted time series analysis to assess the impact of the gun buybacks on various types of gun violence within the areas where the programs were held.
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Implementing the Model Police Training Officer (PTO) Program
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PERF assisted the Reno, Nevada, Police Department, in a COPS-funded project to develop and implement a model program that fully integrates community policing and problem-solving concepts and skills into post-academy “field” training. Utilizing the knowledge and experience of a number of police departments, and education and training experts from around the country, project staff developed the "Reno" model as a state-of-the-art Police Training Officer (PTO) program for new police officers. The PTO curriculum and a train-the-trainers curriculum, developed in Phase I of the project, was implemented during Phase II in five test. The curriculum, other resources, and information on training are availble under "documents" on this PERF web site.
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Kansas City Together
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Kansas City-Together: A Community Police Partnership. PERF began working with the Kansas City Police Department in July 2001 to help foster the department’s goal of improving minority relations both within the department and between the department and the community. This eighteen-month long project, funded by the Kauffman Foundation and the Hall Family Foundation, was designed to build effective working relationships in an environment of mutual trust. The project has two components, the first focuses on identifying specific issues that influence the levels of respect and trust between the police and the community, and the second addresses communication within the KCPD on race relations. For each component, PERF hosted a series of discussion forums that include a wide range of stakeholders to promote open and honest dialogue about these issues. In August 2003, PERF published a monograph describing the efforts of the department. Contacts: Chuck Wexler or Melissa Reuland.
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Local Law Enforcement & the Terrorist Threat:
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An Executive Session and a Research Agenda. The National Institute of Justice funded PERF to convene a team of nationally known researchers and experts to help them develop a research agenda for law enforcement on terrorism responses. These researchers will attend the COPS-funded series of executive session, identify gaps in our current knowledge based on the discussions they observe, and derive relevant research questions and methodologies. NIJ also funded PERF to convene an additional executive session addressing critical incident responses. White paper forthcoming in Fall 2005.
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Measuring What Matters
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PERF, with funding from the National Institute of Justice, developed an agency-level performance measurement system, which encompassed existing quality performance measures together with newly developed measured based on work conducted for this project. PERF worked with the Lowell (MA) Police Department as a pilot site. They implemented a new agency-level performance measurement system that was customized to their needs. Their needs were identified using an inductive process that included interviewing key internal and external stakeholders about the major outcomes they would like to see the LPD achieve. While the system was piloted with the LPD, the results of this project will provide guidance to other police departments across the nation seeking to implement an agency-level performance system.
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Middle East Project
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With support of major foundations, corporations and private citizens, PERF is involved in a significant initiative involving Israeli and Palestinian police and American police departments in a joint executive development program with American counterparts.
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Minneapolis Violent Crime Project
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In 2005 PERF was asked by the General Mills Foundation to return to Minneapolis and help lead another effort to develop a homicide reduction strategy for the city. Working with the Minneapolis Police Department and numerous community and business groups, PERF revived its highly successful 1996 program known as Minnesota Heals, which resulted in a 40 percent decline in homicides in Minneapolis. Like the earlier effort, the current project involved a comprehensive study of recent homicides and the development of a problem-oriented strategy for reducing violent crime. Chuck Wexler serves as the project's director.
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Model Homicide Investigative Units and Procedures
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The Bureau of Justice Assistance has funded PERF to develop a homicide investigative model and provide technical assistance to police departments in New Orleans; Aurora, Illinois; and additional sites. PERF has been working with current and former staff from the Washington Metropolitan Police Department to capture how its homicide division was reorganized between 1994 and 1996, and how the department brought about the resulting rise in arrest and clearance rates during that period. The model resulting from this study will be made available to BJA demonstration sites, and PERF will assist them in implementing their own version of the model. An expansion of the project provides technical assistance services to several other departments, including Camden, New Jersey, and Richmond, Virginia.
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Model Witness Protection Program
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Police and prosecutors face serious problems when victims and other key witnesses refuse to cooperate because of the real or perceived threat of retaliation. Well-funded and staffed federal witness protection and relocation programs provide leadership in many high-profile gang, drug and organized crime cases. Unfortunately, there is little funding and fewer overall resources at the state and local levels-but the gang and other violent crime problems handled under state law have continued to grow. BJA funded four demonstration sites to develop and enhance local initiatives to deal with witness intimidation issues, and to draw on the experience of federal programs in areas where the lessons are transferable. PERF worked with the four sites to provide technical assistance and developed general resource and reference material emphasizing low-cost initiatives for use by other police and prosecutive agencies. Staff have prepared a prescriptive report that identifies federal HUD and National Guard resources to assist in the protection and short-term relocation of witnesses at risk.
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Models for Law Enforcement Diversion of People w. Mental Illness
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With funding from the TAPA Center for Jail Diversion, PERF is surveying police agencies engaged in providing specialized responses to people with mental illness. Interview data with approximately 35 identified agencies wereused to prepare a monograph for other agencies interested in developing and implementing such programs. This monograph will be published in the Winter of 2004.
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NIJ Research Agenda
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Local law enforcement agencies have always played a role in managing critical incidents, whether they are the result of fires, earthquakes, airplane crashes and other disasters. As the events of September 11, 2001 have made abundantly clear, local law enforcement must now contend with a new type of critical, and even catastrophic, incident – terrorist attacks. One goal of this project is to provide guidance to local law enforcement agencies in the preparation for and response to terrorist attacks. PERF held a two-day session in June 2004, devoted to exploring the role of local law enforcement agencies in preparing for and responding to terrorist incidents. Up to 50 individuals served as speakers and participants, including local law enforcement executives, representatives from federal law enforcement and homeland security agencies, other emergency responders, academicians, and other experts. Currently, PERF is developing a white paper that would discuss the key issues, and provide practical guidance and recommendations for law enforcement agencies.
The second goal of the project is to produce information to guide the development of a research agenda related to terrorism and local law enforcement. To provide information that will help NIJ develop a research agenda on this important topic, PERF has identified five researchers to attend each of the six executive sessions to be held on the topic of terrorism. This includes the session described above and five additional sessions already conducted by PERF with funding from the COPS Office. After each executive session, the researchers identified specific research questions and suggested methodologies. The collective guidance of the researchers is summarized in the session white papers (found on the website at www.policeforum.org) that have been printed and distributed nationally. PERF/NIJ convened a 1.5-day meeting with every researcher who participated in a session. The purpose of the forum was to comprehensively identify and prioritize the research questions related to terrorism. PERF has summarized the notes and submitted them and a report to NIJ.
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OACP Bias-Based Policing
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PERF is working with the Ohio Association of Chief's of Police, Inc. (OACP) on a survey of law enforcement agencies in Ohio. The purpose of the survey is to identify those agencies that have exemplary practices relative to preventing bias-based policing. In conjunction with OACP, PERF will refine the survey instrument and disseminate the survey. PERF will be responsible for collecting the surveys, entering the data and analyzing the results to produce a final report. PERF will make two presentations at an OACP conference on behalf of the project.
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Organizational Problem Solving
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Healthy organizations exude discipline and confidence, and employees of these organizations focus on the work. Morale problems can distract good people from their mission. When we help organizations improve their performance, we frequently find internal issues impede successful program changes. In the early stages of an organizational review, we often find that dysfunctional relationships within the department block progress and frustrate technical solutions. There may be communication difficulties, various kinds of misunderstandings, or other conditions such as community mistrust that may not have been caused by the involved parties. PERF helps identify these fundamental issues and subjects them to a problem solving approach that may remedy or resolve the conflict.
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OVC Elder Abuse
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Elder abuse training curricula and resource materials have been developed by local agencies, state Police Officers Standards and Training (POST) bodies, consultants and training institutes, federal agencies, and others; yet the approach to training is fragmented and the content of training resources varies widely. PERF, in partnership with elder abuse and law enforcement training experts, will develop a specialized curriculum by conducting an updated review of recent literature, and by gathering and assessing curricula, resources and materials currently used to train law enforcement personnel nationwide. PERF will explore how many states offer this training, what curricula are being used, and the experiences and satisfaction of the users. Experts will also be queried to identify information gaps in existing training programs. Once this review is completed, PERF will host a series of advisory panel meetings to determine the sequence and layout of the curriculum topics, review successive drafts, and approve the final draft version for submittal to OVC. Finally, PERF will oversee curriculum pilot testing involving multiple agencies and will develop a detailed plan for disseminating and integrating the curriculum into existing training efforts for law enforcement.
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Police-Medical Collaborations: Phase I
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The initial focus of the police-medical collaborations project was to identify components of effective collaborations between police and emergency medical personnel to help prevent intentional injuries in populations such as infants and small children. Research has shown that intentional injuries often are misclassified as accidental which result in emergency room admissions. Increasingly, these injuries are powerful indicators of future violence leading to more serious injury and death.
After September 11, 2001—and especially the anthrax fatalities that followed-- PERF received permission to refocus this medical collaboration project. While continuing to encourage formal relationships between police and emergency clinical and allied personnel, the project now has an enhanced focus on collaborative relationships between police and the public health sector (e.g., local boards of health, CDC, etc.) This reorientation is in line with the more recent focus of law enforcement and public health on general wellness through prevention and consequence management—especially where bioterrorism may be involved.
PERF is developing a series of guides, resource compendia, and other state of the art materials aimed at law enforcement executives and top managers. The paper, “Quarantine: The Extent of Police Powers” is one example of a project paper designed to help chiefs prepare policies and directives that will lead to the success of this public health intervention.
These publications will focus on pressing issues, such as the police need for information on specific pathogens first responders may encounter, as well as individual guides on how to develop and sustain partnerships with public health officials. Serious natural epidemics like SARS are also covered because of the potential strain on police resources and the possibility of large-scale evasions of legally instituted quarantines. Bioterrorism events will test policies and strategies even further.
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Police-Medical Collaborations: Phase II
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Phase II of the Police-Medical Collaborations project is a continuation of the previous Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) Police-Medical Collaborations project that will identify components of effective collaborations between police and emergency medical personnel. In Phase II, PERF will use the model protocols developed through the initial project to lay the groundwork for implementing these collaborations. This foundation will be created by developing a series of technical assistance materials and demonstrating the protocols in a few sites, so that participants may learn from the experience, and the lessons learned can be expanded nationwide. The technical assistance materials will consist of a periodic Police-Medical Collaborations Bulletin and Implementation Guide.
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POP & Collaborative Problem Solving Training
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Many police agencies are interested in problem-oriented policing (POP), but need some training to implement POP concepts and strategies. In response to this need, PERF has developed an innovative training program that has been delivered to more than 50 police agencies across the country. The training program draws on the knowledge and experience of PERF staff and members, as well as that of police practitioners who have implemented the approach in their own agencies. Police agencies have retained PERF trainers to teach the principles, methods and skills of problem-oriented policing. PERF has provided POP training to many agencies, including: the British Transport Police; Transport for London; the Worcester, Massachusetts, Police Department; Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Police Department; St. Louis, Missouri, Police Department; Santa Monica, California, Police Department; Greensboro, North Carolina, Police Department; Yonkers, New York, Police Department; Takoma Park, Maryland, Police Department; Boston, Massachusetts, Police Department; Mt. Prospect, Illinois, Police Department; Gretna, Louisiana, Police Department; Coachella, California, Police Department; and the Natick, Massachusetts, Police Department. These programs are customized to meet the specific needs of participating departments. Training can be tailored for command staff, supervisors and line officers. Trainers focus on the development of skills needed to implement a problem-oriented approach.
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Port Security
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America’s 185 deep water seaports are high-risk targets for terrorist attacks – attacks that, if successful, could cripple large parts of American international trade. Protecting these ports from attack is the responsibility of a variety of Federal, State and local law enforcement agencies, as well as private and corporate security firms. To be successful, that array of public and private organizations must build partnerships that support collaboration. Yet, no systematic examination of the extent and nature of public-private partnerships in providing port security exist. Further, no comprehensive research has been conducted concerning how those partnerships operate, what obstacles they encounter, and how they become successful. PERF is conducting a project that will answer these key questions. PERF will conduct descriptive case studies of how 16 ports provide protective services against terrorist attacks, with a particular focus on intergovernmental and public-private partnerships and elements of success of those partnerships. The PERF team will compare and contrast the practices of the 16 ports, highlighting challenges, obstacles, successes (promising practices and lessons learned) and setbacks experienced by the various law enforcement and security organizations. The specific ports to be studied were identified by project staff based on various criteria: total annual tonnage, the nature of vessel calls (container ships, passenger ships, and military ships), geographic location/region, organizational structure of the port, presence/absence of a port authority police department, and willingness to participate. Members of the project’s advisory board also provided input on the selection of sites. We have conducted face-to-face interviews with some or all of the following individuals, or their designees as part of the case studies: Captains of the Port; port authority directors; port security directors; port authority police chiefs; representatives of local, municipal law enforcement agencies with jurisdiction in or near the port; representatives of federal agencies responsible for providing security; and representatives from private security agencies with jurisdiction in or near the port. The visits also include observations of port facilities and security programs/operations in action. The site visit teams also have been reviewing a variety of archival data (e.g., port descriptive materials, port annual reports, and other material relevant to port security).
The project will produce information that will help to maximize the effective security of our nation’s ports. The PERF team will produce and disseminate a monograph to guide law enforcement and security organizations in providing protective services in ports, with a particular focus on intergovernmental and public-private partnerships.
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Problem-Oriented Policing (POP) Conference
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For 14 years, PERF, in conjunction with the San Diego Police Department, has hosted the annual International Problem-Oriented Policing (POP) Conference in San Diego. The conference focused on the wide variety of public safety problems addressed by officers using problem-solving methods. The conference also addresses the policies and practices associated with implementing and expanding problem-oriented policing in today¹s police agencies. The conference allows for interactive discussions led by hands-on practitioners. Organization of the conference is being handled in 2004 by the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing (www.popcenter.org).
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Publications on Community Policing and the Future of Policing
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For the Annie E. Casey Foundation PERF is developing a publication on the Future of Community Oriented Policing. Available early in 2004, this document will include commentaries on the future of community policing by major academic and practitioner experts.
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Racially Biased Policing: A Principled Response
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With funding from the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, PERF used various information collection techniques to identify effective ways for agency executives to respond to the issues encompassed by the term "racial profiling." Specifically—with the assistance of an Advisory Board made up of law enforcement executives, minority group advocates and representatives of civil liberties groups—PERF developed recommendations and other resources for chiefs and sheriffs to help them respond to the problems of racially biased policing and the perceptions of its practice. These recommendations are contained in our on-line publication entitled “Racially Biased Policing: A Principled Response.”
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Re-Entry Policy Council
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With assistance from federal agencies and private foundations, the Council of State Governments (CSG) coordinated a national effort to assist state government officials grappling with the increasing number of people leaving prisons and jails to return to the communities they left behind. The Re-Entry Policy Council was established in 2001 to develop bipartisan policies and principles for elected officials and other policymakers to consider as they evaluate re-entry issues in their jurisdictions, and to facilitate coordination and information-sharing among organizations implementing re-entry initiatives, researching re-entry trends, communicating about re-entry related issues, or funding re-entry projects. PERF served as one of 10 project partners in the effort and helped guide the work of the Public Safety Advisory Group. The Report of the Re-Entry Police Council, which details policy statements and recommendations, was released in 2005 and is available on line at www.reentrypolicy.org.
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Re-entry Toolkit
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The Council of State Governments (CSG) and the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) have been awarded a contract from the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) to carry out a project to develop an offender re-entry toolkit for the policing community. This will be a practical toolkit that can help a policing executive interested in a concrete approach to re-entry in his or her community. The focus of this resource package will be a tool that law enforcement officials, community leaders, and corrections administrators can use to assess their current practices and policies as they relate to prisoner re-entry and policing, and an accompany handbook. It will encourage the law enforcement community to take a community policing approach to re-entry through partnerships and collaborative problems solving to support re-entry, as well as a handbook on using the toolkit.
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Strengthening Relations Between Police and Minority Communities
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PERF is working with the Chicago Police Department in efforts to strengthen relations between police and minority communities. This will involve a comprehensive effort to involve police and minority residents in all areas of the city to identify issues and effective strategies to balance crime control strategies with proactive interactions with citizens.
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Striking a Balance
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Customers expect the Metro Transit Police Department (MTPD) to enforce the law and sustain order on trains and buses and in stations and parking lots while also maintaining a high level of customer service. However, there is an inherent conflict between what the community expects, the types of laws the officers are required to enforce, and their use of discretion while enforcing those laws (particularly the system-specific laws). To better understand the issues that result in customer/police conflicts, PERF staff will meet with command staff of the MTPD to review recent cases, and determine general trends in this area. The results from this review would be compared to related MTPD policies and training procedures to get a better understanding of how officers are prepared for dealing with conflict situations. Staff will also conduct face-to-face interviews with stakeholders and analyze the results from police and commuter surveys. The results from the interviews and surveys will help set the agendas for three strategic meetings, with the overall goal of balancing the laws of the system while taking into account customers’ expectations and police enforcement and discretion. PERF will moderate the sessions and focus the discussion on problems identified from interviews and other sources. Importantly, PERF will work with MTPD after each session to help craft various strategies in response to the discussion.
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Support for the Interstate Firearms Trafficking Compact
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The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) funded PERF to develop and coordinate 26 train-the-trainer programs focusing on illegal firearms reduction strategies. The training curriculum, "Guns First", informs and educates state and local police officers about existing federal and state firearms statutes, improves their investigation of firearms-related offenses, and sensitizes them to the value of gathering and sharing information that will assist in the interdiction of illicit firearms. PERF, in conjunction with BJA and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), designed the curricula and materials covering these topics and conducted 70 train-the-trainer workshops around the nation. The workshops have been coordinated by the LECCs of the U.S. Attorneys' Office.
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Systematic Review of Police Strategies to Reduce Illegal Gun Carrying
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With support from the National Policing Improvement Agency of the United Kingdom and the Campbell Collaboration, PERF is conducting a systematic review of research on police strategies to reduce illegal possession and carrying of firearms, including directed patrols, monitoring of probationers and parolees, weapon reporting hotlines, and others. The project will entail an extensive search for rigorous experimental and quasi-experimental studies (published and unpublished) of these strategies, collection of detailed data from available studies, and extensive qualitative and/or quantitative syntheses of results. Based on the best available evidence, the study will assess the impacts of these strategies on gun crime and also address issues such as crime displacement, community reaction, and cost effectiveness.
Project director: Christopher Koper
Estimated completion date: June 30, 2010
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Terror at Beslan Seminars
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PERF is partnering with the Oracle Corporation in sponsoring seminars throughout the country on the September 2004, terrorist attack on a school in Beslan, Russia. The seminars involve a presentation of a case study of the Beslan event, and offers perspectives and suggestions to local law enforcement to help them better prepare for any similar incidents in this country.
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The Body Armor Safety National Survey
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This is a new one-year project funded by BJA. On August 24, 2005, the U.S DOJ announced that Zylon-containing body armor may not provide sufficient ballistic resistance — thereby seriously compromising officer safety. In response to these findings, and because officer safety is at risk, the DOJ Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) asked PERF to rapidly assemble information regarding the use of Zylon-based and other forms of body armor. Accordingly, PERF developed a two-phase project that consisted of both long- and short-term efforts to aid the profession in gaining a better understanding of the dangers of this particular body armor. PERF developed the national survey for the 100 largest law enforcement agencies, queried them, achieved a 92% response rate, and produced a report on the results within three weeks. The first phase involved conducting a survey focusing on the 100 largest law enforcement organizations, while the second phase will consist of a broader examination and assessment of body armor issues with a greater cross section of law enforcement organizations (all departments serving populations of greater than 100,000 people). PERF staff are now entering the second phase of this project of working with all departments serving 100,000 people or more (about 800 departments)."
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The Comprehensive Regional Information Sharing Survey Project
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PERF will serve as a subcontractor to Mitretek Systems on a six-month NIJ-funded project. Currently, many state and local law enforcement agencies obligate large portions of their yearly operational budgets in support and development of multi-jurisdictional information sharing systems (ISS’s). However to date, no single document or system analysis has been developed that maps or describes how multi-jurisdictional ISS’s work (both functionally and technically), their information and control flow activities, how they are tied to specific policing functions, and ultimately, whether or not the ISS’s provide a true benefit to law enforcement officers on the street. During 2005 and extending into 2006, the Comprehensive Regional Information Sharing Project (CRISP) will begin addressing this need by evaluating and documenting the information exchanges currently operating within ISSs around the country, with respect to their benefit on street-level law enforcement. A number of work products will be developed from this effort; one of these work products, a law enforcement national survey, will be conducted by PERF. PERF will work with Mitretek and NIJ to develop and disseminate a CRISP survey to 200 law enforcement agencies around the United States and possibly its territories. The survey will be designed to capture information pertaining to law enforcement agencies’ information sharing systems.
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The Development of National Guidelines for Conducted Energy Devices
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This project was initiated because police officials indicated a pressing need for a greater understanding of conducted energy devices (CEDs). PERF initiated a comprehensive literature review, and conducted two major national studies surrounding CEDs. The first study produced information on the state of the field of the devices. The second study focused on deaths occurring in proximity to a CED activation. PERF later convened a national summit on CEDs with representatives from more than 50 law enforcement agencies, researchers, and subject matter experts in Houston, Texas. The guidelines were vetted during this national review during the event that was supported by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services and the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The culmination of all of these efforts resulted with the formulation of PERF’s 52 national CED policy guidelines for consideration, as well as a standardized glossary of CED terms to enhance consistency and understanding for policy development. As part of the COPS funding, PERF completed a report that chronicles the formulation of the guidelines and places their development in context. The report is completed, and should be ready for distribution in 2006.
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The Investigative Function in the Community Policing Context
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This project investigated the nature and structure of the investigative function in a community-policing environment. A national survey of police and sheriffs' departments, conducted in 1997, identified departments that have restructured the investigative function to better support a community policing approach. A final report that includes summaries of the changes that have been made in 41 agencies as well as descriptions of integrated models is available by contacting Jason Cheney
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Understanding the “Whys” Behind Juvenile Crime Trends
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With funding from the Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, PERF is collaborating with the University of Pennsylvania on a study of trends in juvenile violence. Project researchers are working on three sets of related activities: a) conducting an extensive review of prior research on the causes and correlates of juvenile crime b) collecting and analyzing data for a series of original research projects intended to fill gaps in current knowledge that could prove important to the prediction of juvenile crime (e.g., studying the impact of changes in police staffing and practices on juvenile crime trends of the 1990s) and c) developing statistical leading indicator models for juvenile crime trends in small areas (e.g., neighborhoods) in a number of selected jurisdictions using data collected routinely by police and other organizations. Findings from all of these activities will be disseminated through an OJJDP book and a series of academic papers and OJJDP bulletins.
Project director: Christopher Koper
Anticipated completion date: June 30, 2010
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Using the Internet as a Supplemental Tool for Crime Analysis
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To aid law enforcement in their efforts to use the Internet as a supplemental information source for assisting crime analysis efforts PERF will develop an Internet based crime analysis information resource website. The Crime Analysis Information Resource Website will define protocols for using the Internet as a supplemental crime analysis information tool, provide access to free online crime analysis software tools, develop a Crime Analysis Information Network, and develop a Crime Analysis Tutorial. This is a one-year project funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance.
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Workplace Violence Reduction
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With funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, PERF is studying the impact of police practices on the rates at which officers are killed or assaulted. Specifically, we are identifying various law enforcement policies, practices, and training programs that reduce the incidence of assaults and murders of on-duty police officers. PERF is collecting these data via a survey sent to 160 law enforcement agencies across the country. We will then use these findings to produce policy-relevant information for law enforcement agencies that can be used to help officers reduce the risk of becoming victimized. To do this, PERF will examine the internal factors (such as training, policies, practices, equipment, etc.) and external factors (such as crime rates and poverty levels) of law enforcement agencies that impact the rate at which officers are assaulted and/or killed.
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