An infographic presents findings from RAND's Cost of Crime Calculator — the new tool, by quantifying the tangible and intangible costs of crime, can help cities decide how best to invest their crime-control dollars.
Police agencies have historically measured their performance against a restricted set of crime-focused indicators, but law enforcement duties are changing. Well-developed performance measurement approaches can capture the complexity of modern policing and identify best practices.
Police workforce readiness requires careful and consistent personnel development to ensure that needed skills and knowledge are recognized, appropriately utilized, and fostered. A RAND methodology developed for the U.S. Air Force may be applicable to law enforcement agencies, too.
The Dallas Police Department received a $5 million grant in 2006 to install laptops and video recorders in patrol cars and thus modernize its operations. RAND evaluated the initiative and found it to be generally successful, despite some implementation problems.
A $10 million grant in 2006 enabled the Dallas Police Department to establish the Caruth Police Institute to provide staff development and leadership training to officers at all stages of their careers. RAND evaluated the CPI's first course and found it to be largely successful, with some caveats.
Public defenders assigned to indigent Philadelphia murder defendants are vastly more effective than court-appointed private attorneys at reducing conviction rates, the likelihood of a life sentence, and overall prison time, raising important questions about the adequacy and fairness of the criminal justice system.
The high cost of crime to society suggests that adding police officers may give large cities a sizable return on their investments, write Greg Ridgeway and Paul Heaton.
In this Google Tech Talk, Greg Ridgeway, director of the RAND Center on Quality Policing, discusses the CQP's work with U.S. police departments on assessing whether their officers are practicing racially biased policing and what can be done to address it.
In spite of persistently high unemployment rates, police departments across the U.S. face immediate staffing challenges. Although police agencies can do little to limit the demand for officers, certain practices might help retain the supply of officers and thus contribute toward building stable, long-term workforces.
This comparative analysis of English and U.S. forensic DNA databases and profiling attempted to confirm what many senior U.S. law enforcement officials believe: that the English criminal justice system has capitalized more fully on the crime-fighting potential of DNA evidence.
Cost-of-crime and police effectiveness research can be used to measure how changing the size of police departments will affect overall crime costs to society.
Law enforcement agencies in areas where terrorist threats are considered to be high have expanded their focus beyond traditional crime prevention and investigation to include counterterrorism and homeland security operations.
The results of a nationwide survey show how understanding modern recruits can help police and sheriff's departments refine their recruitment practices and develop a workforce well suited to community-oriented policing.
Lessons on recruitment and retention can help police departments create a workforce that represents community demographics, is committed to providing its employees long-term police careers, and effectively implements community policing.
A survey sent to U.S. police agencies on recruitment and retention practices found that compensation, city size, and crime rates affected recruiting while advertising and incentives had little effect.
The additional cost of providing body armor to all law enforcement officers in the United States is more than justified compared to the savings that would be created by fewer serious injuries and officer deaths.
Encouraging state and local law enforcement agencies to help enforce federal immigration laws could help identify out-of-status immigrants eligible for deportation, but these efforts come with concerns about the potential for racial profiling, strained community relations, and improper resource allocation.
Existing high-quality research on the costs of crime and the effectiveness of police—often buried in journals targeted to academics rather than policymakers—demonstrates that public investment in police can generate substantial social returns.
Police department data from 1987 to 2003 shows that while increases in information technology are not associated with increased productivity, IT investments can improve productivity when they are complemented with particular organizational and management practices.
Los Angeles Police Chief Bill Bratton and RAND Safety and Justice Director Greg Ridgeway discussed the future of the Los Angeles Police Department after Bratton's departure, and the implications on public safety in Los Angeles.
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