Welcome to the RAND Center on Quality Policing
Research for Action
The RAND Center on Quality Policing (CQP) provides research and analysis on contemporary police practice and policy. By determining what practices are most cost-effective and results-oriented, the Center's work helps law enforcement agencies across the United States make better operational decisions and consistently perform at their best.
Today's police forces confront tough issues, including:
- identifying the best ways to spend policing dollars
- recruiting and retaining a skilled workforce
- defining what it means to police effectively and then evaluating performance
- improving police-community relations, such as through community policing
- preventing racial profiling
- reducing community violence
- sharing intelligence within and across agencies
- choosing the safest non-lethal weapons
Research done at the Center focuses on four interrelated areas-best practices, performance measurement, use of technology, and force planning-to deliver results that help departments solve these and other problems.
The Center is part of the Safety and Justice Program within RAND Justice, Infrastructure, and Environment.
RAND Benchmark is an online, subscription-based application that enables police departments, sheriffs' offices, and other law enforcement agencies to measure officer performance, identify outliers in particular dimensions of performance, and mitigate legal risk.
Police Recruitment and Retention Clearinghouse
Recruitment and retention of officers is an increasing challenge for police agencies. Overwhelmed by day-to-day operations, police agencies typically do not have the time, resources, or expertise to find resources that could improve their recruitment and retention efforts. The Center for Quality Policing's Police Recruitment and Retention Clearinghouse is a searchable database of information that departments can use to meet their staffing needs.
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Lessons from the Military Leadership Diversity Commission can inform civilian police department hiring and personnel management towards diversity. This report focuses on steps that law enforcement agencies can take to foster a racially and ethnically diverse workforce.
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.
Many police departments around the United States have faced budget cuts recently. Ultimately, say Paul Heaton and Brian Jackson, for police services, as with most other things, you get what you pay for.
Law enforcement agencies can use barrier analysis, a method of assessment aimed at identifying potential obstacles to obtaining resources or participating in a program, to better understand and address the challenge of creating diversity among their personnel.
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.
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