Thursday, March 20, 2008
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
COPS(Police) Publications
Acquaintance Rape of College Students
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), August 2003. This guide describes the problem of acquaintance rape of college students, addressing its scope, causes, and contributing factors; methods for analyzing it on a particular campus; tested responses; and measures for assessing response effectiveness. With this information, police and public safety officers can more effectively prevent the problem.
Assaults in and Around Bars
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), January 2004. This guide outlines the link between alcohol and violence according to physiological, social, and situational effects intending to assist law enforcement in preventing and improving the overall response to assaults in and around bars.
Because Things Happen Every Day: Responding to Teenage Victims of Crime (Video)
National Center for Victims of Crime (NCVC) and Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), 2005. Meant for anyone who works with teenagers and who might be in a position to identify and support teen victims, the 20-minute video illustrates the importance of a collaborative community response to teenage victims of crime. It will foster a greater understanding of the impact of crime and violence on teens and the obstacles they face in seeking help. The video features two innovative programs that have been effective in reaching and responding to teen victims and includes voices of teens describing their experiences with crime and how they recovered their confidence and hope. A companion discussion guide is available.
Because Things Happen Every Day: Responding to Teenage Victims of Crime (Discussion Guide)
National Center for Victims of Crime (NCVC) and Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), 2005. Companion discussion guide for the 20-minute video. The video illustrates the importance of a collaborative community response to teenage victims of crime. It will foster a greater understanding of the impact of crime and violence on teens and the obstacles they face in seeking help. The video features two innovative programs that have been effective in reaching and responding to teen victims and includes voices of teens describing their experiences with crime and how they recovered their confidence and hope.
Check & Card Fraud
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), August 2004. The guide covers fraud involving all types of checks and plastic cards, including debit, charge, credit, and "smart" cards. Each can involve a different payment method. It then identifies a series of questions to help agencies analyze their local problem. Finally, it reviews responses to the problem, and what is known about them from evaluative research and police practice.
Clandestine Drug Labs
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), April 2002. This guide addresses the problem of clandestine drug labs. Offenders manufacture a variety of illicit drugs in such labs, including methamphetamine, amphetamines, MDMA (ecstasy), methcathinone, PCP, LSD, and fentanyl, although methamphetamine accounts for 80 to 90 percent of the labs´ total drug production. Accordingly, the problem of clandestine drug labs is closely tied with the problems associated with methamphetamine abuse.
Closing Streets and Alleys to Reduce Crime: Should You Go Down This Road
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), September 2004. This POP Response Guide will assist readers with determining whether closing streets and alleys is an appropriate response to problems being confronted in their local neighborhood or community. The guide discusses why street closings might help to reduce crime and disorder, summarizes the literature on their effectiveness, and discusses the arguments for and against their use. The guide also provides lists of questions that should be asked and steps that should be followed when implementing street closures.
Creating an Effective Stalking Protocol
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), September 2002. This monograph is designed to help law enforcement agencies improve their responses to stalking. It focuses on the need to establish collaborative partnerships with the community and to develop protocols to help law enforcement address stalking more effectively. The COPS Office funded the National Center for Victims of Crime to develop and field test a Model Stalking Protocol. The Protocol was tested by the Philadelphia Police Department. This publication addresses how law enforcement agencies can implement a Model Stalking Protocol for early intervention, preventive action, and proactive problem-solving in stalking cases.
Cruising
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), January 2005. This guide provides a general discussion of the problem of cruising and reviews the factors that contribute to it. The guide also identifies questions to ask when dealing with a cruising problem, proposes numerous responses to the problem, and identifies ways to measure the effectiveness of responses to the problem.
Disorderly Youth in Public Places
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), June 2002. This guide provides a general discussion of the problem of disorderly youth in public places and reviews the factors that contribute to it. The guide also identifies questions to ask when dealing with a disorderly youth problem, proposes numerous responses to the problem, and identifies ways to measure the effectiveness of responses to the problem.
Drug Dealing in Open Air Markets
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), January 2005. Open-air markets represent the lowest level of the drug distribution network. Low-level markets need to be tackled effectively to reduce the harms that illicit drug use can inflict on the local community. This guide describes the problem and reviews the factors that increase the risks of drug dealing in open-air markets. The guide then identifies a series of questions that might assist agencies in analyzing their local problem and reviews responses to the problem and what is known about these from evaluative research and police practice.
Drug Dealing in Privately Owned Apartment Complexes
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), September 2003. This guide focuses on drug dealing in privately owned apartment complexes. The guide makes a clear distinction between open- and closed-drug markets, provides information on what is known about each market type, and provides questions to ask when analyzing each market. It also proposes various responses designed to closed-drug markets and provides a full range of problem-specific measures to determine the effectiveness of those responses.
Drunk Driving
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), January 2006. Alcohol impairment is the primary factor in traffic fatalities and in the United States and drunk driving is among the most common types of arrest made by police. This problem-specific guide for police begins by describing this problem of drunk driving and reviews the factors that increase its risks. It then identifies a series of questions that can help law enforcement analyze their local drunk driving problems. Finally, it provides an overview of responses to the problem of drunk driving and examines what is known about the effectiveness of these responses from research and police practice.
Identity Theft
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), June 2004. This guide describes the problem of identity theft and reviews factors that increase the risks of it. The guide also identifies a series of questions that might assist agencies in analyzing their local problem. Finally, it reviews responses to the problem and what is known about these from evaluative research and police practice.
Illicit Sexual Activity in Public Places
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), April 2005. This guide describes the problem of illicit public sexual activity and the factors that contribute to it, including participants, locations, motivations, and transactions. The guide also poses a number of questions to help understand the problem, proposes numerous responses to the problem, and identifies ways to measure the effectiveness of responses to the problem.
Loud Car Stereos
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), May 2002. This guide addresses the problem of loud car stereos, one of the most common sources of noise complaints in many jurisdictions. It begins by describing the problem and reviewing factors that contribute to it. The guide also identifies a series of questions that might assist agencies analyze their local problem. Finally, it reviews responses to the problem and what is known about these from evaluative research and police practice.
Panhandling
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), September 2003. This guide addresses the problem of panhandling. It also covers nearly equivalent conduct in which, in exchange for donations, people perform nominal labor such as cleaning the windshields of cars stopped in traffic, holding car doors open, saving parking spaces, guarding parked cars, buying subway tokens, and carrying luggage or groceries.
Rave Parties
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), August 2004. This guide addresses the problems associated with rave parties. Rave parties – or, more simply, raves – are dance parties that feature fast-paced, repetitive electronic music and accompanying light shows. Raves are the focus of rave culture, a youth-oriented subculture that blends music, art, and social ideals (e.g., peace, love, unity, respect, tolerance, happiness). Rave culture also entails the use of a range of licit and illicit drugs. Drug use is intended to enhance ravers´ sensations and boost their energy so they can dance for long periods.
Robbery at ATMs
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), June 2002. This guide addresses the robberies of people using automated teller machines (ATM) and night cash depositories. It includes a description of the problem and reviews factors that increase the risks of ATM robbery. The guide also includes a series of questions designed to help analyze any local ATM robbery problem. Finally, it reviews responses to the problem and what evaluative research and police practices have shown about them.
School Vandalism & Break-Ins
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), August 2005. This guide addresses describes the problem and reviewing the risk factors of school vandalism and break-ins. It also discusses the associated problems of school burglaries and arson. The guide then identifies a series of questions to help agencies analyze their local problem. Finally, it reviews responses to the problem, and what is known about them from evaluative research and police practice.
Stalking
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), March 2006. This guide reviews the problem of stalking and the factors that contribute to it. It identifies a series of questions to help agencies analyze their local problem. Finally, it reviews responses to the problem of stalking and what is known about them from evaluative research and police practice.
Theft of and from Cars in Parking Facilities
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), January 2002. This guide summarizes information on risk factors and evaluates published literature on dealing with such thefts in parking facilities. It also identifies information police should collect to understand and respond effectively to their local problem. The guide covers both thefts of and thefts from cars in parking facilities. Each category of theft covers a wide range of offenses committed by different groups of offenders with different motivations.
Underage Drinking
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), September 2004. Addressing the problem of underage drinking, the guide begins by describing the problem and reviewing factors that increase the risks of it. The guide also identifies a series of questions that might assist agencies in analyzing their local problem. Finally, it reviews responses to the problem and what is known about these from evaluative research and police practice
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), August 2003. This guide describes the problem of acquaintance rape of college students, addressing its scope, causes, and contributing factors; methods for analyzing it on a particular campus; tested responses; and measures for assessing response effectiveness. With this information, police and public safety officers can more effectively prevent the problem.
Assaults in and Around Bars
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), January 2004. This guide outlines the link between alcohol and violence according to physiological, social, and situational effects intending to assist law enforcement in preventing and improving the overall response to assaults in and around bars.
Because Things Happen Every Day: Responding to Teenage Victims of Crime (Video)
National Center for Victims of Crime (NCVC) and Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), 2005. Meant for anyone who works with teenagers and who might be in a position to identify and support teen victims, the 20-minute video illustrates the importance of a collaborative community response to teenage victims of crime. It will foster a greater understanding of the impact of crime and violence on teens and the obstacles they face in seeking help. The video features two innovative programs that have been effective in reaching and responding to teen victims and includes voices of teens describing their experiences with crime and how they recovered their confidence and hope. A companion discussion guide is available.
Because Things Happen Every Day: Responding to Teenage Victims of Crime (Discussion Guide)
National Center for Victims of Crime (NCVC) and Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), 2005. Companion discussion guide for the 20-minute video. The video illustrates the importance of a collaborative community response to teenage victims of crime. It will foster a greater understanding of the impact of crime and violence on teens and the obstacles they face in seeking help. The video features two innovative programs that have been effective in reaching and responding to teen victims and includes voices of teens describing their experiences with crime and how they recovered their confidence and hope.
Check & Card Fraud
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), August 2004. The guide covers fraud involving all types of checks and plastic cards, including debit, charge, credit, and "smart" cards. Each can involve a different payment method. It then identifies a series of questions to help agencies analyze their local problem. Finally, it reviews responses to the problem, and what is known about them from evaluative research and police practice.
Clandestine Drug Labs
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), April 2002. This guide addresses the problem of clandestine drug labs. Offenders manufacture a variety of illicit drugs in such labs, including methamphetamine, amphetamines, MDMA (ecstasy), methcathinone, PCP, LSD, and fentanyl, although methamphetamine accounts for 80 to 90 percent of the labs´ total drug production. Accordingly, the problem of clandestine drug labs is closely tied with the problems associated with methamphetamine abuse.
Closing Streets and Alleys to Reduce Crime: Should You Go Down This Road
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), September 2004. This POP Response Guide will assist readers with determining whether closing streets and alleys is an appropriate response to problems being confronted in their local neighborhood or community. The guide discusses why street closings might help to reduce crime and disorder, summarizes the literature on their effectiveness, and discusses the arguments for and against their use. The guide also provides lists of questions that should be asked and steps that should be followed when implementing street closures.
Creating an Effective Stalking Protocol
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), September 2002. This monograph is designed to help law enforcement agencies improve their responses to stalking. It focuses on the need to establish collaborative partnerships with the community and to develop protocols to help law enforcement address stalking more effectively. The COPS Office funded the National Center for Victims of Crime to develop and field test a Model Stalking Protocol. The Protocol was tested by the Philadelphia Police Department. This publication addresses how law enforcement agencies can implement a Model Stalking Protocol for early intervention, preventive action, and proactive problem-solving in stalking cases.
Cruising
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), January 2005. This guide provides a general discussion of the problem of cruising and reviews the factors that contribute to it. The guide also identifies questions to ask when dealing with a cruising problem, proposes numerous responses to the problem, and identifies ways to measure the effectiveness of responses to the problem.
Disorderly Youth in Public Places
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), June 2002. This guide provides a general discussion of the problem of disorderly youth in public places and reviews the factors that contribute to it. The guide also identifies questions to ask when dealing with a disorderly youth problem, proposes numerous responses to the problem, and identifies ways to measure the effectiveness of responses to the problem.
Drug Dealing in Open Air Markets
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), January 2005. Open-air markets represent the lowest level of the drug distribution network. Low-level markets need to be tackled effectively to reduce the harms that illicit drug use can inflict on the local community. This guide describes the problem and reviews the factors that increase the risks of drug dealing in open-air markets. The guide then identifies a series of questions that might assist agencies in analyzing their local problem and reviews responses to the problem and what is known about these from evaluative research and police practice.
Drug Dealing in Privately Owned Apartment Complexes
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), September 2003. This guide focuses on drug dealing in privately owned apartment complexes. The guide makes a clear distinction between open- and closed-drug markets, provides information on what is known about each market type, and provides questions to ask when analyzing each market. It also proposes various responses designed to closed-drug markets and provides a full range of problem-specific measures to determine the effectiveness of those responses.
Drunk Driving
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), January 2006. Alcohol impairment is the primary factor in traffic fatalities and in the United States and drunk driving is among the most common types of arrest made by police. This problem-specific guide for police begins by describing this problem of drunk driving and reviews the factors that increase its risks. It then identifies a series of questions that can help law enforcement analyze their local drunk driving problems. Finally, it provides an overview of responses to the problem of drunk driving and examines what is known about the effectiveness of these responses from research and police practice.
Identity Theft
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), June 2004. This guide describes the problem of identity theft and reviews factors that increase the risks of it. The guide also identifies a series of questions that might assist agencies in analyzing their local problem. Finally, it reviews responses to the problem and what is known about these from evaluative research and police practice.
Illicit Sexual Activity in Public Places
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), April 2005. This guide describes the problem of illicit public sexual activity and the factors that contribute to it, including participants, locations, motivations, and transactions. The guide also poses a number of questions to help understand the problem, proposes numerous responses to the problem, and identifies ways to measure the effectiveness of responses to the problem.
Loud Car Stereos
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), May 2002. This guide addresses the problem of loud car stereos, one of the most common sources of noise complaints in many jurisdictions. It begins by describing the problem and reviewing factors that contribute to it. The guide also identifies a series of questions that might assist agencies analyze their local problem. Finally, it reviews responses to the problem and what is known about these from evaluative research and police practice.
Panhandling
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), September 2003. This guide addresses the problem of panhandling. It also covers nearly equivalent conduct in which, in exchange for donations, people perform nominal labor such as cleaning the windshields of cars stopped in traffic, holding car doors open, saving parking spaces, guarding parked cars, buying subway tokens, and carrying luggage or groceries.
Rave Parties
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), August 2004. This guide addresses the problems associated with rave parties. Rave parties – or, more simply, raves – are dance parties that feature fast-paced, repetitive electronic music and accompanying light shows. Raves are the focus of rave culture, a youth-oriented subculture that blends music, art, and social ideals (e.g., peace, love, unity, respect, tolerance, happiness). Rave culture also entails the use of a range of licit and illicit drugs. Drug use is intended to enhance ravers´ sensations and boost their energy so they can dance for long periods.
Robbery at ATMs
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), June 2002. This guide addresses the robberies of people using automated teller machines (ATM) and night cash depositories. It includes a description of the problem and reviews factors that increase the risks of ATM robbery. The guide also includes a series of questions designed to help analyze any local ATM robbery problem. Finally, it reviews responses to the problem and what evaluative research and police practices have shown about them.
School Vandalism & Break-Ins
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), August 2005. This guide addresses describes the problem and reviewing the risk factors of school vandalism and break-ins. It also discusses the associated problems of school burglaries and arson. The guide then identifies a series of questions to help agencies analyze their local problem. Finally, it reviews responses to the problem, and what is known about them from evaluative research and police practice.
Stalking
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), March 2006. This guide reviews the problem of stalking and the factors that contribute to it. It identifies a series of questions to help agencies analyze their local problem. Finally, it reviews responses to the problem of stalking and what is known about them from evaluative research and police practice.
Theft of and from Cars in Parking Facilities
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), January 2002. This guide summarizes information on risk factors and evaluates published literature on dealing with such thefts in parking facilities. It also identifies information police should collect to understand and respond effectively to their local problem. The guide covers both thefts of and thefts from cars in parking facilities. Each category of theft covers a wide range of offenses committed by different groups of offenders with different motivations.
Underage Drinking
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), September 2004. Addressing the problem of underage drinking, the guide begins by describing the problem and reviewing factors that increase the risks of it. The guide also identifies a series of questions that might assist agencies in analyzing their local problem. Finally, it reviews responses to the problem and what is known about these from evaluative research and police practice
GET COPY OF BOOKS ON COMMUNITY POLICING
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THE ABUSE OF POLICE AUTHORITY: A NATIONAL STUDY OF POLICE OFFICERS' ATTITUDES (2001). David Weisburd, Rosann Greenspan, Edwin E. Hamilton, Kellie A. Bryant, Hubert Williams. $24.95 (197 pages/41 tables/figures) ISBN 1-884614-17-5.
The results of the first truly representative national survey of how America's rank-and-file police officers and their supervisors view critical issues of abuse of police authority. Officer responses are also analyzed according to rank, race, region of the U.S., and size of department. The survey instrument with responses is included. Presented are officers' views on:
Whether abuse of police authority is a necessary byproduct of efforts to reduce and control crime;
What types of abuse and attitudes toward abuse are observed in their departments, including the code of silence, whistle blowing, and the extent to which a citizen's race, demeanor, and class affect the way police officers treat them;
What strategies or tactics-including first-line supervision, community policing, citizen review boards, and training-do police officers consider to be effective means of preventing police abuse of authority.
THE CINCINNATI TEAM POLICING EXPERIMENT: A SUMMARY REPORT (1977). Alfred I. Schwartz and Sumner N. Clarren. $10.00 (63 pages)
Concludes that neighborhood team policing is hard to maintain but is a potentially useful alternative to traditional police patrol methods.
vCOMMUNITY POLICING IN MADISON: QUALITY FROM THE INSIDE, OUT. TECHNICAL REPORT (1993). Mary Ann Wycoff and Wesley G. Skogan.$15.00 (139 pages)
This report is the evaluation of the effort by the Madison, Wisconsin, Police Department to create a new organizational design—structural and managerial—to support community-oriented and problem-oriented policing. The report describes the effort to bring about change in policing from "the inside, out." Internal changes would be followed by external changes.
vCOMMUNITY POLICING STRATEGIES: DRAFT FINAL REPORT (1994). Mary Ann Wycoff.$20.00 (274 pages)
This report summarizes the findings from a national survey conducted in 1993 to determine the number of departments in the U.S. that were implementing community policing or were planning to do so. The survey also sought to determine how community policing is defined operationally by the departments that espouse it and how it differs from more traditional forms of policing.
COMPSTAT AND ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE IN THE LOWELL POLICE DEPARTMENT: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES (10.2MB). (2004). James J. Willis, Stephen D. Mastrofski, David Weisburd, Rosann Greenspan. (96 pages). $15.00 ISBN 1-884614-19-1
This report examines the special challenges and opportunities that arise when small departments try to institute a program of organizational change that originated in much larger agencies. The report serves three purposes: (1) to provide a detailed description of Lowell’s Compstat program that should interest police chiefs and other police personnel who are curious about Compstat; (2) to explain the benefits and challenges of implementing the various key elements of Compstat; and (3) to use our knowledge of Lowell to provide some insights into Compstat’s future in law enforcement.
COMPSTAT IN PRACTICE: AN IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF THREE CITIES (2004). James J. Willis, Stephen D. Mastrofski, and David Weisburd. (96 pages/705 kb) (available online only).
This report explores the relationship between the theory and practice of Compstat in three police departments of different size, organizational structure, and crime environment. It shows how police managers and officers adapted their routine tasks and activities to Compstat’s focus on accountability, innovative problem solving, and crime fighting. The challenges they faced in doing so reflected the culture of the individual department, the availability of resources for personnel, the sophistication of technology, and management’s commitment to the program. The distinct experiences of the three departments—Lowell, MA; Minneapolis, MN; and Newark, NJ—reveal Compstat’s complexities, highlight its contributions, and provide some insights into the direction it is leading U.S. policing.
vEVALUATING PATROL OFFICER PERFORMANCE UNDER COMMUNITY POLICING: THE HOUSTON EXPERIENCE. TECHNICAL REPORT (1993). Mary Ann Wycoff and Timothy N. Oettmeier. $15.00 (147 pages)
The Police Foundation and the Houston Police Department worked to develop and test a new personnel evaluation process in support of neighborhood-oriented policing in Houston. The study concluded that a performance measurement process designed to reinforce officer functions can provide structural support for a philosophy of policing and for structural change.
THE GROWTH OF COMPSTAT IN AMERICAN POLICING. A Police Foundation Report (April 2004)(211 KB) (available online only) by David Weisburd, Stephen D. Mastrofski, Rosann Greenspan, and James J. Willis
This research-in-brief describes the national survey that assessed the number of U.S. police agencies using Compstat and measured the degree to which the elements of Compstat were part of their routine and structure. This is the second report in a series of three that resulted from the larger, NIJ-funded project, Compstat and Organizational Change: Findings from a National Survey.
NEWARK FOOT PATROL EXPERIMENT (1981). George L. Kelling, Antony Pate, Amy Ferrara, Mary Utne, and Charles E. Brown.$15.00 (137 pages)
The results of this experiment suggest that while foot patrol may not reduce crime, it reduces citizen fear of crime. Residents see their communities as safer and better places to live, and are more satisfied with police services.
PROBLEM ANALYSIS IN POLICING(621 KB)March 2003. by Rachel Boba. (64 pages) ISBN 1-884614-18-3(Click on the above link for the PDF version or click here to order printed version.)
This report introduces and defines problem analysis and provides guidance on how problem analysis can be integrated and institutionalized into modern policing practices. This report is not a “how to” guide on conducting problem analysis, but is a summary of ideas and recommendations about what problem analysis is, what skills and knowledge are necessary to conduct it, and how it can be advanced by the police community, academia, the federal government, and other institutions. The ideas and recommendations in this report come primarily from a two-day forum conducted in February 2002 by the Police Foundation and the US Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office), in which a group of academics, practitioners, and policy makers came together to discuss problem analysis and make recommendations for its progress. This report is a culmination of the concepts and ideas that were discussed in the forum and includes specific, relevant statements made by participants.
REDUCING FEAR OF CRIME IN HOUSTON AND NEWARK: A SUMMARY REPORT (1986). Antony M. Pate, Mary Ann Wycoff, Wesley G. Skogan, and Lawrence W. Sherman.$15.00 (47 pages)
The research summarized here demonstrates that there are strategies police can use to reduce levels of perceived crime and disorder, reduce attendant fear, heighten satisfaction with police services and neighborhoods, and, in some cases, reduce crime itself.
vFEAR REDUCTION REPORTS (1985).Executive Summary - $10.00 eachTechnical Reports - $25.00 each
Reports of various aspects of community policing in Houston and Newark. An Executive Summary and Technical Report were produced for each study.
Citizen Contact Patrol: The Houston Field Test
The Houston Victim Recontact Experiment
Police Community Stations: The Houston Field Test
Police as Community Organizers: The Houston Field Test
Neighborhood Police Newsletters: Experiments in Newark and Houston
Coordinated Community Policing: The Newark Experience
Reducing the "Signs of Crime": The Newark experience (Technical Report not available)
INNER-CITY CRIME CONTROL. CAN COMMUNITY INSTITUTIONS CONTRIBUTE? (1990). Anne Thomas Sulton.$10.00 (123 pages)
Chronicles community crime reduction programs across the country, discussing strategies and techniques that should be considered in shaping urban crime control policy and research. The 18 model programs discussed are sponsored by an array of community institutions, including schools, churches, businesses, civic groups, and juvenile and criminal justice agencies.
SAN DIEGO COMMUNITY PROFILE: FINAL REPORT (1975). John E. Boydstun and Michael E. Sherry.$10.50 (136 pages)
An evaluation by System Development Corporation of the San Diego Community Profile Development Project, designed to increase—through greater community involvement—patrol officers' ability to deal with the problems for the citizens on their beats.
TEAM POLICING: SEVEN CASE STUDIES (1973). Lawrence W. Sherman, Catherine H. Milton, and Thomas V. Kelly.$10.00 (108 pages)
Examines, on a case-by-case basis, team policing as it existed in several cities in the early 1970s.
THE ABUSE OF POLICE AUTHORITY: A NATIONAL STUDY OF POLICE OFFICERS' ATTITUDES (2001). David Weisburd, Rosann Greenspan, Edwin E. Hamilton, Kellie A. Bryant, Hubert Williams. $24.95 (197 pages/41 tables/figures) ISBN 1-884614-17-5.
The results of the first truly representative national survey of how America's rank-and-file police officers and their supervisors view critical issues of abuse of police authority. Officer responses are also analyzed according to rank, race, region of the U.S., and size of department. The survey instrument with responses is included. Presented are officers' views on:
Whether abuse of police authority is a necessary byproduct of efforts to reduce and control crime;
What types of abuse and attitudes toward abuse are observed in their departments, including the code of silence, whistle blowing, and the extent to which a citizen's race, demeanor, and class affect the way police officers treat them;
What strategies or tactics-including first-line supervision, community policing, citizen review boards, and training-do police officers consider to be effective means of preventing police abuse of authority.
THE CINCINNATI TEAM POLICING EXPERIMENT: A SUMMARY REPORT (1977). Alfred I. Schwartz and Sumner N. Clarren. $10.00 (63 pages)
Concludes that neighborhood team policing is hard to maintain but is a potentially useful alternative to traditional police patrol methods.
vCOMMUNITY POLICING IN MADISON: QUALITY FROM THE INSIDE, OUT. TECHNICAL REPORT (1993). Mary Ann Wycoff and Wesley G. Skogan.$15.00 (139 pages)
This report is the evaluation of the effort by the Madison, Wisconsin, Police Department to create a new organizational design—structural and managerial—to support community-oriented and problem-oriented policing. The report describes the effort to bring about change in policing from "the inside, out." Internal changes would be followed by external changes.
vCOMMUNITY POLICING STRATEGIES: DRAFT FINAL REPORT (1994). Mary Ann Wycoff.$20.00 (274 pages)
This report summarizes the findings from a national survey conducted in 1993 to determine the number of departments in the U.S. that were implementing community policing or were planning to do so. The survey also sought to determine how community policing is defined operationally by the departments that espouse it and how it differs from more traditional forms of policing.
COMPSTAT AND ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE IN THE LOWELL POLICE DEPARTMENT: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES (10.2MB). (2004). James J. Willis, Stephen D. Mastrofski, David Weisburd, Rosann Greenspan. (96 pages). $15.00 ISBN 1-884614-19-1
This report examines the special challenges and opportunities that arise when small departments try to institute a program of organizational change that originated in much larger agencies. The report serves three purposes: (1) to provide a detailed description of Lowell’s Compstat program that should interest police chiefs and other police personnel who are curious about Compstat; (2) to explain the benefits and challenges of implementing the various key elements of Compstat; and (3) to use our knowledge of Lowell to provide some insights into Compstat’s future in law enforcement.
COMPSTAT IN PRACTICE: AN IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF THREE CITIES (2004). James J. Willis, Stephen D. Mastrofski, and David Weisburd. (96 pages/705 kb) (available online only).
This report explores the relationship between the theory and practice of Compstat in three police departments of different size, organizational structure, and crime environment. It shows how police managers and officers adapted their routine tasks and activities to Compstat’s focus on accountability, innovative problem solving, and crime fighting. The challenges they faced in doing so reflected the culture of the individual department, the availability of resources for personnel, the sophistication of technology, and management’s commitment to the program. The distinct experiences of the three departments—Lowell, MA; Minneapolis, MN; and Newark, NJ—reveal Compstat’s complexities, highlight its contributions, and provide some insights into the direction it is leading U.S. policing.
vEVALUATING PATROL OFFICER PERFORMANCE UNDER COMMUNITY POLICING: THE HOUSTON EXPERIENCE. TECHNICAL REPORT (1993). Mary Ann Wycoff and Timothy N. Oettmeier. $15.00 (147 pages)
The Police Foundation and the Houston Police Department worked to develop and test a new personnel evaluation process in support of neighborhood-oriented policing in Houston. The study concluded that a performance measurement process designed to reinforce officer functions can provide structural support for a philosophy of policing and for structural change.
THE GROWTH OF COMPSTAT IN AMERICAN POLICING. A Police Foundation Report (April 2004)(211 KB) (available online only) by David Weisburd, Stephen D. Mastrofski, Rosann Greenspan, and James J. Willis
This research-in-brief describes the national survey that assessed the number of U.S. police agencies using Compstat and measured the degree to which the elements of Compstat were part of their routine and structure. This is the second report in a series of three that resulted from the larger, NIJ-funded project, Compstat and Organizational Change: Findings from a National Survey.
NEWARK FOOT PATROL EXPERIMENT (1981). George L. Kelling, Antony Pate, Amy Ferrara, Mary Utne, and Charles E. Brown.$15.00 (137 pages)
The results of this experiment suggest that while foot patrol may not reduce crime, it reduces citizen fear of crime. Residents see their communities as safer and better places to live, and are more satisfied with police services.
PROBLEM ANALYSIS IN POLICING(621 KB)March 2003. by Rachel Boba. (64 pages) ISBN 1-884614-18-3(Click on the above link for the PDF version or click here to order printed version.)
This report introduces and defines problem analysis and provides guidance on how problem analysis can be integrated and institutionalized into modern policing practices. This report is not a “how to” guide on conducting problem analysis, but is a summary of ideas and recommendations about what problem analysis is, what skills and knowledge are necessary to conduct it, and how it can be advanced by the police community, academia, the federal government, and other institutions. The ideas and recommendations in this report come primarily from a two-day forum conducted in February 2002 by the Police Foundation and the US Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office), in which a group of academics, practitioners, and policy makers came together to discuss problem analysis and make recommendations for its progress. This report is a culmination of the concepts and ideas that were discussed in the forum and includes specific, relevant statements made by participants.
REDUCING FEAR OF CRIME IN HOUSTON AND NEWARK: A SUMMARY REPORT (1986). Antony M. Pate, Mary Ann Wycoff, Wesley G. Skogan, and Lawrence W. Sherman.$15.00 (47 pages)
The research summarized here demonstrates that there are strategies police can use to reduce levels of perceived crime and disorder, reduce attendant fear, heighten satisfaction with police services and neighborhoods, and, in some cases, reduce crime itself.
vFEAR REDUCTION REPORTS (1985).Executive Summary - $10.00 eachTechnical Reports - $25.00 each
Reports of various aspects of community policing in Houston and Newark. An Executive Summary and Technical Report were produced for each study.
Citizen Contact Patrol: The Houston Field Test
The Houston Victim Recontact Experiment
Police Community Stations: The Houston Field Test
Police as Community Organizers: The Houston Field Test
Neighborhood Police Newsletters: Experiments in Newark and Houston
Coordinated Community Policing: The Newark Experience
Reducing the "Signs of Crime": The Newark experience (Technical Report not available)
INNER-CITY CRIME CONTROL. CAN COMMUNITY INSTITUTIONS CONTRIBUTE? (1990). Anne Thomas Sulton.$10.00 (123 pages)
Chronicles community crime reduction programs across the country, discussing strategies and techniques that should be considered in shaping urban crime control policy and research. The 18 model programs discussed are sponsored by an array of community institutions, including schools, churches, businesses, civic groups, and juvenile and criminal justice agencies.
SAN DIEGO COMMUNITY PROFILE: FINAL REPORT (1975). John E. Boydstun and Michael E. Sherry.$10.50 (136 pages)
An evaluation by System Development Corporation of the San Diego Community Profile Development Project, designed to increase—through greater community involvement—patrol officers' ability to deal with the problems for the citizens on their beats.
TEAM POLICING: SEVEN CASE STUDIES (1973). Lawrence W. Sherman, Catherine H. Milton, and Thomas V. Kelly.$10.00 (108 pages)
Examines, on a case-by-case basis, team policing as it existed in several cities in the early 1970s.
SOURCES OF SUPPORT AT HIGH LEVEL
When The Ford Foundation established the Police Foundation in 1970, it did so with a $30 million fund to "assist a limited number of police departments in experiments and demonstrations aimed at improving operations, and to support special education and training projects." The fund, which would support projects for a five-year period, would join with Federal, state, and local agencies in order to increase its impact. But at the end of that five-year period, Ford decided to continue its support of the Police Foundation because it had strongly established itself as a catalyst for change in policing and it was clear that much work remained to be done. Between 1970 and 1993, The Ford Foundation continued to generously support the Police Foundation’s work.
To ensure that the foundation would become a permanent institution and continue its work as an independent and nonpartisan advocate for innovation and improvement in policing, The Ford Foundation in 1993 provided a generous grant to The Third Decade Fund for Improving Public Safety, the Police Foundation’s endowment fund.
Many individuals, corporations, and foundations have funded or contributed to projects and to general support of the foundation’s work, and specific projects have been supported by Federal, state, and local government grants and contracts.
To ensure that the foundation would become a permanent institution and continue its work as an independent and nonpartisan advocate for innovation and improvement in policing, The Ford Foundation in 1993 provided a generous grant to The Third Decade Fund for Improving Public Safety, the Police Foundation’s endowment fund.
Many individuals, corporations, and foundations have funded or contributed to projects and to general support of the foundation’s work, and specific projects have been supported by Federal, state, and local government grants and contracts.
SPECIAL PROJECT
The foundation has encouraged the creation of new forums for the debate and dissemination of ideas to improve nigerian policing. For example the foundation has helped to create independent organizations dedicated to the advancement of policing. These organizations include the Police Executive Research Forum, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, and the Police Management Association. The foundation funded POLICE Magazine, which was published from 1978 until 1983.
Although no longer in operation, special sections within the foundation were created throughout the years to address specific needs. In 1976, the foundation created the Police Executive Institute for executive development training of top police managers. The foundation assembled the National Advisory Commission on Higher Education for Police Officers in 1976. In 1979, the National Information and Research Center on Women in Policing was established in response to a growing need for information directly affecting women in law enforcement.
In the late 1980s under a grant from the National Institute of Justice, the foundation produced CRIME FILE, a 22-part criminal justice videotape series. Moderated by former foundation chairman, James Q. Wilson, each CRIME FILE segment focuses on a single subject such as deadly force, domestic violence, and gun control. CRIME FILE has been widely broadcast on public television stations across the country, and has been used as an educational tool in colleges and universities, in local law enforcement training academies, and by the FBI as part of its nationwide police training effort. This series, and a subsequent 10-part one, can be obtained from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service.
COLLABORATION
Without the ideas, dedication, and support of Nigeria’s police departments, none of the foundation’s work would have been possible. It is in their contributions and willingness to experiment that our accomplishments are rooted.
As a member of the board of directors of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, the Police Foundation, along with fourteen other national law enforcement organizations, guided the development of this national monument to honor the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice.
The foundation is a founding member of the Law Enforcement Steering Committee (LESC), a national coalition of labor, management, and research organizations that work together on important national issues that affect the police, such as passage of the Brady Law requiring a national waiting period and background checks on handgun purchases.
In fostering improvement in policing, the foundation has also worked closely with many organizations and institutions. The foundation has sponsored efforts by others, as well as worked jointly with other groups on specific projects. Such partnerships have included the following agencies and organizations:
Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety
Nigerian Bar Association
Nigerian Public Welfare Association
Arizona State University
Drug Strategies
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Harvard University
Howard University
International Association of Chiefs of Police
International City-County Management Association
International Personnel Management Association
Institute for Law and Justice
Massachusetts Civil Service Commission
Mathematica Policy Research
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
National Center for Victims of Crime
National Commission on Productivity and Work Quality
National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives
National Civil Service League
National Crime Prevention Council
National League of Cities
National Sheriffs’ Association
New England Police Consortium
Police Executive Research Forum
Richmond, Virginia, Department of Social Services
United Nations
The Urban Institute
U.S. Conference of Mayors
Vera Institute of Justice
Although no longer in operation, special sections within the foundation were created throughout the years to address specific needs. In 1976, the foundation created the Police Executive Institute for executive development training of top police managers. The foundation assembled the National Advisory Commission on Higher Education for Police Officers in 1976. In 1979, the National Information and Research Center on Women in Policing was established in response to a growing need for information directly affecting women in law enforcement.
In the late 1980s under a grant from the National Institute of Justice, the foundation produced CRIME FILE, a 22-part criminal justice videotape series. Moderated by former foundation chairman, James Q. Wilson, each CRIME FILE segment focuses on a single subject such as deadly force, domestic violence, and gun control. CRIME FILE has been widely broadcast on public television stations across the country, and has been used as an educational tool in colleges and universities, in local law enforcement training academies, and by the FBI as part of its nationwide police training effort. This series, and a subsequent 10-part one, can be obtained from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service.
COLLABORATION
Without the ideas, dedication, and support of Nigeria’s police departments, none of the foundation’s work would have been possible. It is in their contributions and willingness to experiment that our accomplishments are rooted.
As a member of the board of directors of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, the Police Foundation, along with fourteen other national law enforcement organizations, guided the development of this national monument to honor the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice.
The foundation is a founding member of the Law Enforcement Steering Committee (LESC), a national coalition of labor, management, and research organizations that work together on important national issues that affect the police, such as passage of the Brady Law requiring a national waiting period and background checks on handgun purchases.
In fostering improvement in policing, the foundation has also worked closely with many organizations and institutions. The foundation has sponsored efforts by others, as well as worked jointly with other groups on specific projects. Such partnerships have included the following agencies and organizations:
Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety
Nigerian Bar Association
Nigerian Public Welfare Association
Arizona State University
Drug Strategies
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Harvard University
Howard University
International Association of Chiefs of Police
International City-County Management Association
International Personnel Management Association
Institute for Law and Justice
Massachusetts Civil Service Commission
Mathematica Policy Research
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
National Center for Victims of Crime
National Commission on Productivity and Work Quality
National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives
National Civil Service League
National Crime Prevention Council
National League of Cities
National Sheriffs’ Association
New England Police Consortium
Police Executive Research Forum
Richmond, Virginia, Department of Social Services
United Nations
The Urban Institute
U.S. Conference of Mayors
Vera Institute of Justice
POLICE CONDUCT
From its inception, the foundation has worked to ensure that the nature of force used by police is the minimum amount necessary to properly discharge their responsibilities under the law. In 1977, the foundation conducted a seven-city study of shooting incidents by police. The report of that study noted:
The lack of systematic, centralized data collection in many departments inhibits the rational development of new policies, training programs, and enforcement procedures. A reliable, national-level source of information about police-civilian shooting incidents is necessary so that states, cities, and police departments can review and objectively evaluate their laws, policies, and procedures affecting police use of deadly force.
In the late 1970s, the foundation published a pioneering volume examining police use of deadly force and followed up this effort with further research and a project with the NAACP.
Foundation research on police use of force was cited at length in a landmark 1985 U.S. Supreme court decision, Tennessee v. Garner. The court ruled that the police may use deadly force only against persons whose actions constitute a threat to life.
In 1986, the foundation launched the Police Liability Program to reduce the exposure of local governments to the costs of defending inadequate and wrongful conduct suits stemming from police actions at the operational and administrative levels. The program conducted seminars and workshops for police administrators, legal officers, mayors and city managers, state and county executives, and other government officials.
Law enforcement professionals across the country have benefited from the foundation's research and technical assistance in such areas as domestic violence, the use of deadly force, and relations between police officers and the communities they serve.
Franklin A. Thomas
Former President
The Ford Foundation
Real or perceived use of excessive force by police has contributed to most of the country’s urban riots. While it is clear that the police alone cannot create the social change needed to defuse the potential for civil disorders, there are constructive, effective approaches that the police can employ to prevent them, prepare for them, and contain them if they do occur. Consistent with its history of helping law enforcement acquire the knowledge and tools to improve operational and administrative practices, the foundation established the National Center for the Study of Police and Civil Disorder in 1992.
In 1993, the foundation published the first nationwide survey of law enforcement agencies regarding: (1) the extent to which police use force; (2) the policies and procedures governing the use of force; (3) the rates and dispositions of citizen complaints; (4) the characteristics of officers and citizens involved in those complaints; and (5) civil suits and criminal charges stemming from alleged excessive force. The study, published as a 360-page report, Police Use of Force: Official Reports, Citizen Complaints, and Legal Consequences, provides a baseline for future analyses of these important issues.
In 1997, with funding from the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services of the US Department of Justice, the foundation conducted a representative national survey that would reveal the attitudes of police about sensitive questions of police abuse of authority. The survey sought as well to determine whether community policing impacts on police officer attitudes toward abuse of authority and the rule of law. Officers were questioned about their views on the use of force, the "code of silence", the role of extra-legal factors, methods of controlling abuse of authority, the impact of community policing, and the importance of race, rank, and gender. The foundation has published The Abuse of Police Authority: A National Study of Police Officers' Attitudes, the 197-page report of this study.
Recently, amid growing national concern over police practices that disproportionately target minority citizens, the Police Foundation has recommitted its efforts to ensure that tough, effective law enforcement is possible without sacrificing democratic principles and constitutional safeguards.
The foundation has developed two state-of-the art technologies to enable police agencies to systematically collect and analyze a wide range of performance-related data. The RAMS™II (The Risk Analysis Management System™) is an early-warning device that helps agencies manage and minimize risk through intervention before a crisis occurs in order to preserve lives, careers, and community confidence.
To assist agencies in preventing racial profiling, The Quality of Service Indicator™-QSI™-collects and analyzes officer-citizen contacts, including traffic stop data. The QSI™ allows each department to enter its own jurisdictional demographics and to compare performance with agency established standards.
Both The RAMS™II and the QSI™ produce detailed reports to assist police managers in making critical personnel and operational decisions. Racial Profiling: The State of the Law is a summary of legal developments in cities and states around the WORLD
Community Policing
For most of the century, America's urban police departments attempted to maintain social control without sufficiently involving the community...nothing has contributed more to the current trend of community-oriented policing than foundation research.
Patrick V. Murphy
Former Commissioner, NYPD
Police Foundation President, 1973-1985
Community policing is an idea that grew out of foundation research. It was in Kansas City that the foundation learned, in a practical test, that random preventive patrol did not affect the crime rate or citizens’ fear of crime. It was the foundation that was among the first to learn that shortening police response time may have little effect on the chances of a burglar or robber being caught. It was the foundation, working jointly with the police in Houston and Newark, that began to see the advantages of foot patrol and door-to-door surveys as a way of dealing with the public’s fear of crime and disorder. The "broken windows" theory, first advanced in 1982 by James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling, derived from the Police Foundation’s Newark Foot Patrol study.
Many current and recent foundation research projects are directed at examining community- and problem-oriented policing in several contexts. For information about these projects, go to Research. Please go to Foundation Projects for a historical review of foundation community policing projects.
In order to be effective, the police must develop and sustain community trust and cooperation. Despite advances in community- and problem-oriented policing late in the twentieth century, too many communities remain fearful of the police, a fear exacerbated by highly publicized incidents of police misconduct. The RAMS™II/QSI™ software enhances cooperation between the principal parties responsible for crime control and public safety--the police and the public--by helping to prevent and control problems that erode community confidence in the police.
As a partner in the Community Policing Consortium, along with four other leading national law enforcement organizations, the foundation played a principal role in the development of community policing research, training, and technical assistance.
Increasingly, police agencies are relying upon computer crime mapping to identify and distribute information required by the community, police executives, and patrol officers to achieve a successful community policing partnership. Recognizing the importance of these new technologies, the Police Foundation in 1997 established a state-of-the-art Crime Mapping & Problem Analysis Laboratory.
The lack of systematic, centralized data collection in many departments inhibits the rational development of new policies, training programs, and enforcement procedures. A reliable, national-level source of information about police-civilian shooting incidents is necessary so that states, cities, and police departments can review and objectively evaluate their laws, policies, and procedures affecting police use of deadly force.
In the late 1970s, the foundation published a pioneering volume examining police use of deadly force and followed up this effort with further research and a project with the NAACP.
Foundation research on police use of force was cited at length in a landmark 1985 U.S. Supreme court decision, Tennessee v. Garner. The court ruled that the police may use deadly force only against persons whose actions constitute a threat to life.
In 1986, the foundation launched the Police Liability Program to reduce the exposure of local governments to the costs of defending inadequate and wrongful conduct suits stemming from police actions at the operational and administrative levels. The program conducted seminars and workshops for police administrators, legal officers, mayors and city managers, state and county executives, and other government officials.
Law enforcement professionals across the country have benefited from the foundation's research and technical assistance in such areas as domestic violence, the use of deadly force, and relations between police officers and the communities they serve.
Franklin A. Thomas
Former President
The Ford Foundation
Real or perceived use of excessive force by police has contributed to most of the country’s urban riots. While it is clear that the police alone cannot create the social change needed to defuse the potential for civil disorders, there are constructive, effective approaches that the police can employ to prevent them, prepare for them, and contain them if they do occur. Consistent with its history of helping law enforcement acquire the knowledge and tools to improve operational and administrative practices, the foundation established the National Center for the Study of Police and Civil Disorder in 1992.
In 1993, the foundation published the first nationwide survey of law enforcement agencies regarding: (1) the extent to which police use force; (2) the policies and procedures governing the use of force; (3) the rates and dispositions of citizen complaints; (4) the characteristics of officers and citizens involved in those complaints; and (5) civil suits and criminal charges stemming from alleged excessive force. The study, published as a 360-page report, Police Use of Force: Official Reports, Citizen Complaints, and Legal Consequences, provides a baseline for future analyses of these important issues.
In 1997, with funding from the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services of the US Department of Justice, the foundation conducted a representative national survey that would reveal the attitudes of police about sensitive questions of police abuse of authority. The survey sought as well to determine whether community policing impacts on police officer attitudes toward abuse of authority and the rule of law. Officers were questioned about their views on the use of force, the "code of silence", the role of extra-legal factors, methods of controlling abuse of authority, the impact of community policing, and the importance of race, rank, and gender. The foundation has published The Abuse of Police Authority: A National Study of Police Officers' Attitudes, the 197-page report of this study.
Recently, amid growing national concern over police practices that disproportionately target minority citizens, the Police Foundation has recommitted its efforts to ensure that tough, effective law enforcement is possible without sacrificing democratic principles and constitutional safeguards.
The foundation has developed two state-of-the art technologies to enable police agencies to systematically collect and analyze a wide range of performance-related data. The RAMS™II (The Risk Analysis Management System™) is an early-warning device that helps agencies manage and minimize risk through intervention before a crisis occurs in order to preserve lives, careers, and community confidence.
To assist agencies in preventing racial profiling, The Quality of Service Indicator™-QSI™-collects and analyzes officer-citizen contacts, including traffic stop data. The QSI™ allows each department to enter its own jurisdictional demographics and to compare performance with agency established standards.
Both The RAMS™II and the QSI™ produce detailed reports to assist police managers in making critical personnel and operational decisions. Racial Profiling: The State of the Law is a summary of legal developments in cities and states around the WORLD
Community Policing
For most of the century, America's urban police departments attempted to maintain social control without sufficiently involving the community...nothing has contributed more to the current trend of community-oriented policing than foundation research.
Patrick V. Murphy
Former Commissioner, NYPD
Police Foundation President, 1973-1985
Community policing is an idea that grew out of foundation research. It was in Kansas City that the foundation learned, in a practical test, that random preventive patrol did not affect the crime rate or citizens’ fear of crime. It was the foundation that was among the first to learn that shortening police response time may have little effect on the chances of a burglar or robber being caught. It was the foundation, working jointly with the police in Houston and Newark, that began to see the advantages of foot patrol and door-to-door surveys as a way of dealing with the public’s fear of crime and disorder. The "broken windows" theory, first advanced in 1982 by James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling, derived from the Police Foundation’s Newark Foot Patrol study.
Many current and recent foundation research projects are directed at examining community- and problem-oriented policing in several contexts. For information about these projects, go to Research. Please go to Foundation Projects for a historical review of foundation community policing projects.
In order to be effective, the police must develop and sustain community trust and cooperation. Despite advances in community- and problem-oriented policing late in the twentieth century, too many communities remain fearful of the police, a fear exacerbated by highly publicized incidents of police misconduct. The RAMS™II/QSI™ software enhances cooperation between the principal parties responsible for crime control and public safety--the police and the public--by helping to prevent and control problems that erode community confidence in the police.
As a partner in the Community Policing Consortium, along with four other leading national law enforcement organizations, the foundation played a principal role in the development of community policing research, training, and technical assistance.
Increasingly, police agencies are relying upon computer crime mapping to identify and distribute information required by the community, police executives, and patrol officers to achieve a successful community policing partnership. Recognizing the importance of these new technologies, the Police Foundation in 1997 established a state-of-the-art Crime Mapping & Problem Analysis Laboratory.
OUR PLAN TO SETUP POLICE FOUNDATION IN NIGERIA
HISTORY
Every citizen has a stake in the success of American policing. The police are the crucial link in the nation’s system of crime control and the local agency of government on duty 24 hours a day to protect lives, homes, and property. Everywhere in the nation, police can be the catalyst for community crime prevention efforts.
The purpose of the Police Foundation is to help the police be more effective in doing their job, whether it be deterring robberies, intervening in potentially injurious family disputes, or working to improve relationships between the police and the communities they serve. To accomplish our mission, we work closely with police officers and police agencies across the country, and it is in their hard work and contributions that our accomplishments are rooted.
THE BEGINNING
On July 22, 1970, Ford Foundation President McGeorge Bundy held a press conference in New York City to announce the establishment of a Police Development Fund to foster improvement and innovation in American policing. Bundy outlined the reasons for this effort:
The need for reinforcement and change in police work has become more urgent than ever in the last decade because of rising rates of crime, increased resort to violence, and rising tension, in many communities, between disaffected or angry groups and the police.
The 1965 Presidential Commission report, The Challenge of Crime in a Free Society, recommended far-reaching improvements, and later reports from the Commission on Civil Disorders (the Kerner Commission) and the Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence (the Eisenhower Commission) added significant observations on the need for more effective policing. In establishing the Police Development Fund, which was immediately renamed the Police Foundation, the Ford Foundation observed:
We leave to the police many of society’s problems, whether or not they are equipped to handle them. We have neither articulated a precise role for them in combating crime, nor structured their broader role in the community. Nevertheless, whenever the lid blows, we call the police.
Independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit, the Police Foundation works to improve American policing and enhance the capacity of the criminal justice system to function effectively. Motivating all of the foundation’s efforts is the goal of efficient, humane policing that operates within the framework of democratic principles and the highest ideals of the nation.
WHAT WE DO
Research & Evaluation
While its advice is widely sought and its findings widely applied, the foundation is first and foremost an organization that tests new ideas and helps police agencies apply the lessons of that testing. Critical to its success is its reputation among law enforcement executives as an independent, nonpartisan, and professionally skilled ally in the never-ending quest for ways to improve the delivery of police services.
James Q. Wilson
James A. Collins Chair, Professor Emeritus
The Anderson School, UCLA
Police Foundation Board Member, 1970-1993
Board Chairman, 1984-1993
The Ford Foundation was not alone in 1970 in raising questions about the role of the police. Policy makers, academics, the public, and, most importantly, the police themselves, wanted to know: what are we doing? why are we doing it? can we do it better? what works? how do we experiment and measure?
Social experiments are the hardest kind because they deal with people. When the Police Foundation began its work, social experimentation was not a well-established discipline, but rather a developing art. The foundation has established and refined the capacity to define, design, conduct, and evaluate controlled experiments testing ways to improve the delivery of police services. The development of this method, its execution in the real world, and the dissemination of what it has learned constitute a unique contribution to policing and is a central reason for the foundation’s existence.
It was the foundation that first brought researchers into a lasting, constructive partnership with law enforcement. It was the foundation, in cooperation with police departments all across the country, that engendered a questioning of the traditional model of professional law enforcement and the testing of new approaches to policing.
Since it is the spirit of experimentation rather than a specific set of tactics that the foundation seeks to encourage, there can never be an end to the process. What works in one city may not work in another. Policing constantly faces new challenges, so there is an endless process of discovery and testing, trying new ideas in changing circumstances, and testing them by the most rigorous and objective standards in real-world experiments.
Professional Services
Over the Police Foundation’s history, its leadership has insisted that the organization’s work have a practical impact on policing, that the knowledge gained through empirical investigation be such that it could be applied outside the "laboratory," with the end result being improvement in the way that police do their work.
In addition to defining, designing, conducting, and evaluating controlled experiments, the foundation offers a range of professional services, including training, technical assistance, and technology. Training programs are custom designed to meet the needs of the individual law enforcement agency.
The Police Foundation’s Crime Mapping and Problem Analysis Laboratory provides training, technical assistance, and consulting services to law enforcement agencies, promotes the substantive application of problem analysis, crime analysis, and crime mapping, and works to develop the physical and theoretical infrastructure necessary for further innovations in police and criminological theory.
The Houston Police Department has often sought the expertise of the Police Foundation in efforts to improve the quality of police service offered to the community.
Elizabeth M. Watson
Former Chief of Police, Houston, TX
Its comprehensive research on police use of force led the foundation to launch a multi-year research and development effort to create technologies to help police agencies monitor officers whose behavior places departments at risk, erodes public confidence, increases liability, and undermines effectiveness. More than an early-warning system, The RAMS™ (Risk Analysis Management System) offers a comprehensive approach to ensuring proper training, accountability, quality service, and community satisfaction with police services.
As a partner in the Community Policing Consortium, along with four other leading national law enforcement organizations, the foundation plays a principal role in the development of community policing research, training, and technical assistance. Since 1993, the foundation has provided community policing education, training, and technical assistance to more than 1,000 law enforcement agencies and communities.
Communications
Unconstrained by partisan imperatives, the Police Foundation speaks with a unique and objective voice. Its focus and perspective is the whole of American policing, rather than any single facet.
A guiding tenet of the foundation is that to advance, policing–like other public services–deserves the best of thorough, objective study, and the impetus of new ideas that have the widest possible dissemination.
Since its inception in 1970, the foundation has stressed the importance of helping to create a new body of knowledge about policing. The quality and quantity of its research reports have helped make the Police Foundation a catalyst for change in American policing.
By disseminating as widely as possible the publications that result from its work, the foundation seeks to ensure that the knowledge it has gained reaches the broader criminal justice community, including law enforcement practitioners, policy makers, and scholars.
The president of the foundation speaks out on issues important to policing and serves as a source of advice and information to police officers and executives, public officials responsible for the quality of policing, and to members of the news media who cover criminal justice.
Every citizen has a stake in the success of American policing. The police are the crucial link in the nation’s system of crime control and the local agency of government on duty 24 hours a day to protect lives, homes, and property. Everywhere in the nation, police can be the catalyst for community crime prevention efforts.
The purpose of the Police Foundation is to help the police be more effective in doing their job, whether it be deterring robberies, intervening in potentially injurious family disputes, or working to improve relationships between the police and the communities they serve. To accomplish our mission, we work closely with police officers and police agencies across the country, and it is in their hard work and contributions that our accomplishments are rooted.
THE BEGINNING
On July 22, 1970, Ford Foundation President McGeorge Bundy held a press conference in New York City to announce the establishment of a Police Development Fund to foster improvement and innovation in American policing. Bundy outlined the reasons for this effort:
The need for reinforcement and change in police work has become more urgent than ever in the last decade because of rising rates of crime, increased resort to violence, and rising tension, in many communities, between disaffected or angry groups and the police.
The 1965 Presidential Commission report, The Challenge of Crime in a Free Society, recommended far-reaching improvements, and later reports from the Commission on Civil Disorders (the Kerner Commission) and the Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence (the Eisenhower Commission) added significant observations on the need for more effective policing. In establishing the Police Development Fund, which was immediately renamed the Police Foundation, the Ford Foundation observed:
We leave to the police many of society’s problems, whether or not they are equipped to handle them. We have neither articulated a precise role for them in combating crime, nor structured their broader role in the community. Nevertheless, whenever the lid blows, we call the police.
Independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit, the Police Foundation works to improve American policing and enhance the capacity of the criminal justice system to function effectively. Motivating all of the foundation’s efforts is the goal of efficient, humane policing that operates within the framework of democratic principles and the highest ideals of the nation.
WHAT WE DO
Research & Evaluation
While its advice is widely sought and its findings widely applied, the foundation is first and foremost an organization that tests new ideas and helps police agencies apply the lessons of that testing. Critical to its success is its reputation among law enforcement executives as an independent, nonpartisan, and professionally skilled ally in the never-ending quest for ways to improve the delivery of police services.
James Q. Wilson
James A. Collins Chair, Professor Emeritus
The Anderson School, UCLA
Police Foundation Board Member, 1970-1993
Board Chairman, 1984-1993
The Ford Foundation was not alone in 1970 in raising questions about the role of the police. Policy makers, academics, the public, and, most importantly, the police themselves, wanted to know: what are we doing? why are we doing it? can we do it better? what works? how do we experiment and measure?
Social experiments are the hardest kind because they deal with people. When the Police Foundation began its work, social experimentation was not a well-established discipline, but rather a developing art. The foundation has established and refined the capacity to define, design, conduct, and evaluate controlled experiments testing ways to improve the delivery of police services. The development of this method, its execution in the real world, and the dissemination of what it has learned constitute a unique contribution to policing and is a central reason for the foundation’s existence.
It was the foundation that first brought researchers into a lasting, constructive partnership with law enforcement. It was the foundation, in cooperation with police departments all across the country, that engendered a questioning of the traditional model of professional law enforcement and the testing of new approaches to policing.
Since it is the spirit of experimentation rather than a specific set of tactics that the foundation seeks to encourage, there can never be an end to the process. What works in one city may not work in another. Policing constantly faces new challenges, so there is an endless process of discovery and testing, trying new ideas in changing circumstances, and testing them by the most rigorous and objective standards in real-world experiments.
Professional Services
Over the Police Foundation’s history, its leadership has insisted that the organization’s work have a practical impact on policing, that the knowledge gained through empirical investigation be such that it could be applied outside the "laboratory," with the end result being improvement in the way that police do their work.
In addition to defining, designing, conducting, and evaluating controlled experiments, the foundation offers a range of professional services, including training, technical assistance, and technology. Training programs are custom designed to meet the needs of the individual law enforcement agency.
The Police Foundation’s Crime Mapping and Problem Analysis Laboratory provides training, technical assistance, and consulting services to law enforcement agencies, promotes the substantive application of problem analysis, crime analysis, and crime mapping, and works to develop the physical and theoretical infrastructure necessary for further innovations in police and criminological theory.
The Houston Police Department has often sought the expertise of the Police Foundation in efforts to improve the quality of police service offered to the community.
Elizabeth M. Watson
Former Chief of Police, Houston, TX
Its comprehensive research on police use of force led the foundation to launch a multi-year research and development effort to create technologies to help police agencies monitor officers whose behavior places departments at risk, erodes public confidence, increases liability, and undermines effectiveness. More than an early-warning system, The RAMS™ (Risk Analysis Management System) offers a comprehensive approach to ensuring proper training, accountability, quality service, and community satisfaction with police services.
As a partner in the Community Policing Consortium, along with four other leading national law enforcement organizations, the foundation plays a principal role in the development of community policing research, training, and technical assistance. Since 1993, the foundation has provided community policing education, training, and technical assistance to more than 1,000 law enforcement agencies and communities.
Communications
Unconstrained by partisan imperatives, the Police Foundation speaks with a unique and objective voice. Its focus and perspective is the whole of American policing, rather than any single facet.
A guiding tenet of the foundation is that to advance, policing–like other public services–deserves the best of thorough, objective study, and the impetus of new ideas that have the widest possible dissemination.
Since its inception in 1970, the foundation has stressed the importance of helping to create a new body of knowledge about policing. The quality and quantity of its research reports have helped make the Police Foundation a catalyst for change in American policing.
By disseminating as widely as possible the publications that result from its work, the foundation seeks to ensure that the knowledge it has gained reaches the broader criminal justice community, including law enforcement practitioners, policy makers, and scholars.
The president of the foundation speaks out on issues important to policing and serves as a source of advice and information to police officers and executives, public officials responsible for the quality of policing, and to members of the news media who cover criminal justice.
COMMUNITY POLICING INTERNATIONAL
Acceptance of constructive change by police and the community is central to the purpose of the Police Foundation. From its inception, the foundation has understood that to flourish, police innovation requires an atmosphere of trust, a willingness to experiment and exchange ideas both within and outside the police structure, and, perhaps most importantly, a recognition of the common stake of the entire community in better police services.
The Police Foundation has done much of the research that has led to a questioning of the traditional model of professional law enforcement and toward a new view of policing–one emphasizing a community orientation–that is widely embraced today.
It was in Kansas City that the foundation learned, in a practical test, that random preventive patrol may not be the best way to deter crime. It was the foundation that was among the first to learn that shortening police response time may have little effect on the chances of a burglar or robber being caught. It was also the foundation, working jointly with the police in Houston and Newark, that began to see the advantages of foot patrol and door-to-door surveys as a way of dealing with the public’s fear of crime and disorder. It is from the foundation’s Newark Foot Patrol experiment that the "broken windows" theory is derived.
What this, and other, research revealed is that there are strategies–several of them new, some of them used in the past but discarded–that can reduce levels of perceived crime and disorder, reduce fear and concern about crime, improve satisfaction with police service, increase satisfaction with neighborhoods, and, in some cases, reduce crime itself. By staying in close contact with neighborhoods they serve, the police can identify problems at the local level, and, working with residents, respond to them.
The name for the model of policing that has emerged varies: in some places it is called community or community-oriented policing, in other places, problem-oriented policing. However it is labeled, it tends to be based on some commonly shared beliefs:
It is the job of the police to cope with problems, not just respond to incidents.
Among the problems with which the police should be concerned are those involving disorder and incivility as well as those involving serious crime
Reducing crime and disorder requires that the police work cooperatively with people in neighborhoods to (1) identify their concerns, (2) solicit their help, and (3) solve their problems.
As the most visible local agency of government on duty 24-hours a day, the police must be willing to serve as catalysts to mobilize other city agencies and services.
The movement toward community policing has escalated dramatically in recent years, due in large part to the Federal government’s commitment of billions of dollars to hire and train 100,000 community policing officers. With assistance from the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services of the U.S. Department of Justice and the national Community Policing Consortium, thousands of America’s police departments–large, medium, and small–are working to develop organizational philosophies and strategies for the implementation of community policing.
The Police Foundation is one of five leading national law enforcement organizations that joined in an unprecedented cooperative effort through the creation of the national Community Policing Consortium (CPC). Under a cooperative agreement with the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, these five organizations–the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, the National Sheriffs’ Association, the Police Foundation, and the Police Executive Research Forum–played a principal role in the development of community policing research, training, and technical assistance.
Since 1993, the foundation has provided community policing education, training, and technical assistance to more than 1,000 law enforcement agencies and communities on issues such as internal changes and shifting paradigms, partnerships and diversity, strategic planning, ethics, and integrity.
Today the Police Foundation continues to examine community policing in multiple contexts. For information on current and recent foundation projects in community policing, please go to the Research section of this site.
For a historical summary of foundation projects that have helped develop community policing and explore its implications, please see Foundation Projects. For a listing of foundation titles in print that relate to community policing, please see the Publications List.
The Police Foundation has done much of the research that has led to a questioning of the traditional model of professional law enforcement and toward a new view of policing–one emphasizing a community orientation–that is widely embraced today.
It was in Kansas City that the foundation learned, in a practical test, that random preventive patrol may not be the best way to deter crime. It was the foundation that was among the first to learn that shortening police response time may have little effect on the chances of a burglar or robber being caught. It was also the foundation, working jointly with the police in Houston and Newark, that began to see the advantages of foot patrol and door-to-door surveys as a way of dealing with the public’s fear of crime and disorder. It is from the foundation’s Newark Foot Patrol experiment that the "broken windows" theory is derived.
What this, and other, research revealed is that there are strategies–several of them new, some of them used in the past but discarded–that can reduce levels of perceived crime and disorder, reduce fear and concern about crime, improve satisfaction with police service, increase satisfaction with neighborhoods, and, in some cases, reduce crime itself. By staying in close contact with neighborhoods they serve, the police can identify problems at the local level, and, working with residents, respond to them.
The name for the model of policing that has emerged varies: in some places it is called community or community-oriented policing, in other places, problem-oriented policing. However it is labeled, it tends to be based on some commonly shared beliefs:
It is the job of the police to cope with problems, not just respond to incidents.
Among the problems with which the police should be concerned are those involving disorder and incivility as well as those involving serious crime
Reducing crime and disorder requires that the police work cooperatively with people in neighborhoods to (1) identify their concerns, (2) solicit their help, and (3) solve their problems.
As the most visible local agency of government on duty 24-hours a day, the police must be willing to serve as catalysts to mobilize other city agencies and services.
The movement toward community policing has escalated dramatically in recent years, due in large part to the Federal government’s commitment of billions of dollars to hire and train 100,000 community policing officers. With assistance from the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services of the U.S. Department of Justice and the national Community Policing Consortium, thousands of America’s police departments–large, medium, and small–are working to develop organizational philosophies and strategies for the implementation of community policing.
The Police Foundation is one of five leading national law enforcement organizations that joined in an unprecedented cooperative effort through the creation of the national Community Policing Consortium (CPC). Under a cooperative agreement with the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, these five organizations–the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, the National Sheriffs’ Association, the Police Foundation, and the Police Executive Research Forum–played a principal role in the development of community policing research, training, and technical assistance.
Since 1993, the foundation has provided community policing education, training, and technical assistance to more than 1,000 law enforcement agencies and communities on issues such as internal changes and shifting paradigms, partnerships and diversity, strategic planning, ethics, and integrity.
Today the Police Foundation continues to examine community policing in multiple contexts. For information on current and recent foundation projects in community policing, please go to the Research section of this site.
For a historical summary of foundation projects that have helped develop community policing and explore its implications, please see Foundation Projects. For a listing of foundation titles in print that relate to community policing, please see the Publications List.
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