Current Projects

Automated Vehicle Locator (AVL) Technology in Policing

This study is examining the reliability and utility of the use of AVL technology to quantify police presence.  If the data are reliable, the study would next examine the impact of police presence on crime in specific geographic areas in Dallas, Texas and, more important, test whether AVL can be an effective tool for deploying officers. The results of our study would provide police agencies with the capacity for using AVL technology to assess and adapt deployment patterns.  This approach would advance information-led policing nationwide by providing a technology-based strategy for crime prevention and reduction.

CopBook

CopBook is a secure data, knowledge, and information-sharing platform currently being piloted by the Redlands Police Department. CopBook is being used in a number of ways. It serves as a central destination for electronic documents such as policy manuals, wanted posters, and crime analytics. 

Cost-Reduction Strategies Used by Police Agencies

This project consists of a review, survey, and site visits to assess strategies for reducing agency costs while maintaining service delivery. The survey will be used to review the approaches currently adopted by police agencies that reduce organizational and operational costs and will provide information about how these strategies have been implemented and evaluated. The survey allows for the identification of agencies that have undertaken extensive changes in programs to maintain their service delivery levels or to increase service efficiency and effectiveness while facing budget constraints.

Eyewitness Identification Field Studies

The significant role that mistaken eyewitness identifications (EWID) have played in convictions of the innocent has led to a strong interest in finding ways to reduce eyewitness identification errors. The AJS report, A Test of Simultaneous vs. Sequential Lineup Methods: An Initial Report of the AJS National Eyewitness Identification Field Studies, released in September 2011, found that double-blind sequential lineups produce fewer mistaken identifications than lineup procedures that present all suspect photographs at once or simultaneously. The Police Foundation is currently leading the second phase, which has two purposes: (1) to validate the Phase I EWID study by assessing judicial outcomes and case strength ratings; and (2) to experimentally examine the extent to which knowledge of a positive ID, ID of a “filler” in a lineup, or failure to identify a suspect in a lineup influences evaluation of other evidence in a case.

Training for the Liberia National Police

The target objectives of the Mobile Training Team (MTT) project are: (1) to increase the stability of the Government of Liberia in preparation for the United Nations peacekeeping forces withdrawal from Liberia; (2) to enhance the ability of the Liberia National Police (LNP) to field professional, well-trained police personnel who can manage crime and security threats across Liberia; and (3) to assist the LNP as it works to manage its own institutional development.

Near Repeat Burglary Intervention

This project aims to correct the deficiency of actionable crime prevention strategies for police agencies by using the knowledge surrounding near repeat burglary to develop a crime prevention strategy. Broadly speaking, our research seeks to determine if knowledge about near repeat patterns of burglary can actually be used for crime prevention purposes. Within this framework, we are attempting to determine if raising awareness about crime issues and crime prevention techniques with the residents near burglary locations can reduce further burglary in the area. 

Promoting Officer Integrity

This project involves the experimental evaluation of a training program aimed at promoting the use of procedural justice by officers in the Seattle Police Department. The innovation of the proposed training program is twofold. The research approach will allow us to: (1) develop an EIS system that draws from recent criminological insights about behavioral hot spots, and is likely to identify officers before problematic behaviors emerge; (2) test the effectiveness of a practical strategy that departments can use to promote the use of procedural justice; (3) measure the effect of procedural justice on policing using quantifiable field outcomes, rather than inherently subjective self reports by the officer; and (4) foster further partnership between researchers and police professionals.

Civilian Policing in Emerging Democracies

This study examines the role played by local police forces in international peacekeeping missions during periods of great civil unrest and instability. Through the examination of twenty-three United Nations and European Union peacekeeping missions, which took place between 1999 and 2007, this study develops responsive operational tools and policies that will support the effective use of deployed police in their delivery of service and in developing the capacity of local police.

The Shift Length Experiment

This report presents the results of the first known comprehensive randomized experiment of CWWs in law enforcement. The Police Foundation experiment was designed to test the impacts of three shift lengths (8-, 10-, and 12-hour) on performance, health, safety, quality of life, sleep, fatigue, alertness, off-duty employment, and overtime among police. The experiment was conducted in the Detroit (MI) and Arlington (TX) Police Departments between January 2007 and June 2009. The study found some distinct advantages of 10-hour shifts and identified some disadvantages associated with 12-hour shifts that are concerning.

Smartphones in Policing

Smartphones and tablets have begun to emerge as useful tools to law enforcement personnel. The Police Foundation has worked closely with the Redlands Police Department to deploy applications that will be useful to officers in the field. Two of the latest applications currently being used by the Redlands Police Department include the Field Interview and NearMe applications.