John S. Hollywood

A Toolkit for Avoiding Mass Shootings

RAND has developed an online educational toolkit to provide practical strategies and guidance on deterring, mitigating, and responding to mass attacks. Research highlights three top ways to mitigate and/or respond to mass attacks right now: through proactive prevention, relentless follow-up, and diligent preparation and training.

Police Officers: This Article Will Make You Better at Combatting Misinformation

By deliberately addressing misinformation, police officers can promote safe and healthy behaviors among those in their communities. The actions they take to combat misinformation and improve protections in their communities are a critical part of the collective campaign to end the pandemic and help people return to their normal lives.

How to Transform Policing

The killing of George Floyd and other abuses of power have brought about growing calls to alter how we conduct public safety and, more broadly, criminal justice in America. Evidence shows there is substantial room for improvement.

Protests and Police Reform: Q&A with RAND Experts

After the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis and subsequent nationwide protests, the United States is seeing urgent action to reform policing. Here are insights from four RAND researchers who work on policing and community safety issues.

No Need to Wait for Congress to Address Mass Shootings

After three mass shootings in the span of a week left 53 wounded and 34 dead, pressure is mounting on Congress to respond with legislation to restrict access to guns and ammunition. But there is no need to wait for new laws. There are steps that can be taken immediately that evidence suggests could help prevent attacks or reduce the death toll from them.

Suppressing Motivation, Legitimacy Can Help Avoid Political Violence

The threat of political violence is real and growing, but there are concrete things that can be done to reduce the risks. Solutions might include repeated statements from leaders that fear of people because of their ethnicity, religion, party, or social grouping is wrong and that violence against them is illegitimate and against American values.

CPD's 'Heat List' and the Dilemma of Predictive Policing

Predictive policing — the use of computer models to identify areas or people at greater risk of being involved in a serious crime — is yielding results for police. How authorities plan to respond to the data is key.

Predictive Policing: An Effective Tool, but Not a Crystal Ball

Predictive policing is not an end-all solution, but rather a tool that must be used in concert with other policing resources as part of a broader anti-crime effort. Used properly, predictive policing can predict the risk of future events, but not the events themselves.

Can You Help Stop Terror Plots?

Of the plots foiled in the last 10 years on U.S. soil, the would-be terrorists came from many different ethnic groups. We know of no cases where ethnic profiling helped stop a terrorist plot, write John Hollywood and Kevin J. Strom.

Alert Public and Cops Foiled the Most Terrorism Schemes

The recent foiled plot by a naturalized citizen to bomb Washington-area metro stations has national counterterrorism officials warning that the U.S. faces not only risks from abroad, but also homegrown terrorism, write John S. Hollywood and Kevin J. Strom.

Report

Independent Assessment of the ICE Body-Worn Camera Pilot Program

This report summarizes the findings from a mixed-methods analysis of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement pilot program of body-worn cameras for personnel assigned to Homeland Security Investigations and Enforcement and Removal Operations.

Report

Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Needs for Law Enforcement

As cryptocurrency is increasingly used for both legitimate business transactions and illegal activities, law enforcement must adapt. In this report, researchers describe cryptocurrency-related research and development needs for law enforcement.

Report

Broadband Communications Prioritization and Interoperability Guidance for Law Enforcement: Critical Considerations in the Transition to the Public Safety Broadband Network

In this report, RAND researchers present practical knowledge to inform law enforcement agencies about available broadband options and opportunities, governance issues, funding options, costs, and barriers to implementation.

Tool

Mass Attacks Defense Toolkit

RAND researchers created this tool to advance efforts to prevent and reduce intentional, interpersonal firearm violence and public mass attacks in the United States.

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Fostering Innovation Across the U.S. Criminal Justice System: Identifying Opportunities to Improve Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Fairness

In this report, the authors draw on panel discussions from the five-year Priority Criminal Justice Needs Initiative and focus on needs that apply to law enforcement, the courts, and corrections agencies.

Tool

A Database of Criminal Justice Needs for Innovation: Requirements for Developers and Funders: User Guide

Since 2015, the Priority Criminal Justice Needs Initiative has published more than 20 reports identifying and prioritizing criminal justice needs for innovation. This product provides a database of all of the needs generated during the Initiative.

Journal Article

Effective Game-Based Training for Police Officer Decision-Making: Linking Missions, Skills, and Virtual Content

This paper reports the result of a two-year pilot study that developed a framework for implementing low-cost, game-based, virtual reality technology for training police officers to improve their decision-making under stress.

Report

Real-Time Crime Centers in Chicago: Evaluation of the Chicago Police Department's Strategic Decision Support Centers

The Chicago Police Department's Strategic Decision Support Centers (SDSCs) serve as command, control, and communications hubs. In this report, the authors evaluate the processes, organizational structures, and technologies employed in the SDSCs.

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Fostering Innovation to Respond to Top Challenges in Law Enforcement: Proceedings of the National Institute of Justice's 2018 Chiefs' Panel on Priority Law Enforcement Issues and Needs

An expert panel of law enforcement leaders identified challenges facing law enforcement today, and their priorities are presented in this report. Panel members discussed needs for innovation that, if pursued, might help resolve those challenges.

Report

Using Video Analytics and Sensor Fusion in Law Enforcement: Building a Research Agenda That Includes Business Cases, Privacy and Civil Rights Protections, and Needs for Innovation

Video technology is changing the ways that law enforcement works and interacts with the public. In this report, the authors explore some of the challenges posed and innovation needs in this emerging area.

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Better Policing Toolkit

This pilot project is intended to provide law enforcement agencies with guidance on new strategies. Its objectives are to synthesize and disseminate information on policing strategies and provide assistance on implementing novel strategies.

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Using Social Media and Social Network Analysis in Law Enforcement: Creating a Research Agenda, Including Business Cases, Protections, and Technology Needs

This report describes the proceedings of an April 2017 expert workshop on the use of social media and social network analysis in law enforcement.

Research Brief

Emerging Technology Trends and Their Impact on Criminal Justice

The Criminal Justice Technology Forecasting Group discussed near-term effects that major societal trends could have on criminal justice and identified potential responses. This brief summarizes a report of the results of the group's meetings.

Report

Addressing Emerging Trends to Support the Future of Criminal Justice: Findings of the Criminal Justice Technology Forecasting Group

The Criminal Justice Technology Forecasting Group deliberated on the effects that major societal trends could have on criminal justice in the near future and identified potential responses. This report captures the results of the group's meetings.

Journal Article

Managing Officer Behavioural Risk Using Early Intervention Systems: Addressing System Design Challenges for Law Enforcement and Corrections Environments

The goal of EIS is to provide the opportunity to identify and intervene for officers that are showing signs of problematic behaviour or performance. In the project described here, we demonstrated expansion of the EIS concept to a corrections context.

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Fostering Innovation in U.S. Law Enforcement: Identifying High-Priority Technology and Other Needs for Improving Law Enforcement Operations and Outcomes

Presents the results a 2016 workshop in which a panel of law enforcement experts identifies high-priority needs for innovation in law enforcement, covering advances in technology, policy, and practice.

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The Justice Innovation Center: Identifying the Needs and Challenges of Criminal Justice Agencies in Small, Rural, Tribal, and Border Areas

The Justice Innovation Center provides information on technology needs, priorities, and solutions for small, rural, tribal, and border criminal justice agencies. This report summarizes the center's first year of efforts.

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Using Future Broadband Communications Technologies to Strengthen Law Enforcement

This report describes the finding of an expert panel convened in September 2015 to discuss how law enforcement can best leverage future communications capabilities anticipated to be fielded over the next 10 to 15 years.

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Fostering Innovation in the U.S. Court System: Identifying High-Priority Technology and Other Needs for Improving Court Operations and Outcomes

The U.S. courts sector is challenged by high caseloads, resource constraints, and other trends, and this report seeks to frame an innovation agenda by identifying and prioritizing potential improvements in technology, policy, and practice.

Draft

Terrorist Plots Against the United States: What We Have Really Faced, and How We Might Best Defend Against It

Describes the results of an analysis of 150 completed and foiled terrorist plots against the United States from 1995 to 2012 to better understand the true nature of the terrorist threat faced by the United States.

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Uncertainty-Sensitive Heterogeneous Information Fusion: Assessing Threat with Soft, Uncertain, and Conflicting Evidence

Presents research on methods for heterogeneous information fusion -- combining data that are qualitative, subjective, fuzzy, ambiguous, contradictory, and even deceptive, in order to form a realistic assessment of threat in a counterterrorism context.

Journal Article

Predictions Put Into Practice: A Quasi-Experimental Evaluation of Chicago's Predictive Policing Pilot

In order to better understand the effects of an individual-focused predictive policing program in the field, this study analyzes a pilot program implemented in Chicago in 2013 aimed at reducing gun violence. 

Journal Article

Using Causal Models in Heterogeneous Information Fusion to Detect Terrorists

We describe basic research that uses a causal, uncertainty-sensitive computational model rooted in qualitative social science to fuse disparate pieces of threat information.

Draft

Causal Models and Exploratory Analysis in Heterogeneous Information Fusion for Detecting Potential Terrorists

Describes research fusing heterogeneous information in an effort eventually to detect terrorists, reduce false alarms, and exonerate those falsely identified.

Report

Improving Information-Sharing Across Law Enforcement: Why Can't We Know?

This report addresses ways to increase information-sharing among law enforcement's records management systems, computer-aided dispatch systems, and other key regional, state, and federal information repositories.

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Using Future Internet Technologies to Strengthen Criminal Justice

This report discusses the technologies, needs, and overarching themes that were discussed during a RAND-conducted expert panel on the criminal justice community's need to take advantage of (and mitigate threats from) emerging web technologies.

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Visions of Law Enforcement Technology in the Period 2024-2034: Report of the Law Enforcement Futuring Workshop

Describes the results of a July 2014 workshop in which a diverse group of law enforcement practitioners explored future visions of law enforcement and identified and prioritized needs in technology, policy, and practice based on those visions.

Report

High-Priority Information Technology Needs for Law Enforcement

This study reports on strategic planning activities undertaken to support the National Institute of Justice in the area of information technology, collecting and analyzing data on law enforcement needs, and identifying potential solutions.

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Fostering Innovation in Community and Institutional Corrections: Identifying High-Priority Technology and Other Needs for the U.S. Corrections Sector

The U.S. corrections enterprise is challenged by a variety of demographic, societal, and fiscal trends, and this report seeks to frame an innovation agenda by identifying and prioritizing potential improvements in technology, policy, and practice.

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Police Department Investments in Information Technology Systems: Challenges Assessing Their Payoff

As police departments and other public service providers manage reduced budgets, RAND researchers explored the rationale and evidence supporting the idea that IT investments can increase efficiency in policing, and do so cost-effectively.

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Evaluation of the Shreveport Predictive Policing Experiment

This report documents an assessment of a predictive policing effort that was conducted to evaluate the crime reduction effects of policing guided by statistical predictions.

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Evaluation of National Institute of Justice–Funded Geospatial Software Tools: Technical and Utility Assessments to Improve Tool Development, Dissemination, and Usage

A geospatial software tool-evaluation study assessed 14 recent tool developments funded by the National Institute of Justice. The study integrates input from tool developers and tool users with RAND's independent tool assessments.

Research Brief

Predicting Suicide Attacks: Characteristics of Bombings in Israel

This brief describes an assessment of how geospatial and sociocultural characteristics may help predict the timing and targets of terrorist attacks.

Research Brief

Predictive Policing: Forecasting Crime for Law Enforcement

Predictive policing is the use of analytical techniques to prevent crime or solve past crimes. A RAND study assessed some of the most promising technical tools and tactical approaches, offering recommendations for police and developers.

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Predictive Policing: The Role of Crime Forecasting in Law Enforcement Operations

Predictive policing is the use of analytical techniques to help prevent crime, solve past crimes, or identify potential offenders and victims. This guide provides assessments of some of the most promising technical tools and tactical approaches.

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Using EPIC to Find Conflicts, Inconsistencies, and Gaps in Department of Defense Policies

The authors present a framework and methodology to identify both the roles and responsibilities of those implementing Department of Defense policies and potential conflicts, ambiguities, gaps, inconsistencies, and redundancies in those policies.

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Predicting Suicide Attacks: Integrating Spatial, Temporal, and Social Features of Terrorist Attack Targets

Analysis of data on suicide attacks in Israel suggest that assessing sociocultural, political, economic, and demographic factors in addition to the geospatial enhances the ability to predict future suicide attack targets.

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Keeping Law Enforcement Connected: Information Technology Needs from State and Local Agencies

RAND researchers interviewed an extensive sample group to assess criminal justice technology priorities at the state and local levels, as well as the means by which agencies at those levels commonly receive information on technology.

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The Universal Core Information Exchange Framework: Assessing Its Implications for Acquisition Programs

Universal Core (UCore) 2.0 is a DoD and intelligence community information exchange framework. This report reviews UCore pilot programs and identifies issues to be addressed before UCore implementation is mandated for DoD programs.

Journal Article

Building on Clues: Methods to Help State and Local Law Enforcement Detect and Characterize Terrorist Activity (Final Report)

This project considered the collection and use of suspicious activity reports at the state and local level.

Journal Article

Building on Clues: Examining Successes and Failures in Detecting U.S. Terrorist Plots, 1999-2009

This report examines open-source material on 86 foiled and executed terrorist plots against U.S. targets from 1999 to 2009 to determine the types of information and activities that led to (or could have led to) their discovery.

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Navy/OSD Collaborative Review of Acquisition Policy for DoD C3I and Weapon Programs

This briefing reviews current U.S. Department of Defense acquisition and requirement policy for ensuring interoperability and information assurance of command, control, communication, intelligence, and weapon systems.

Report

Networked Forces in Stability Operations: 101st Airborne Division, 3/2 and 1/25 Stryker Brigades in Northern Iraq

Compares three Army units that conducted stability operations in the same area in Iraq's northern provinces between 2003 and 2005: the 101st Airborne Division (ABD), the 3/2 Stryker brigade combat team (SBCT), and the 1/25 SBCT.

Research Brief

"Connecting the Dots" in Intelligence: Detecting Terrorist Threats in the Out-of-the-Ordinary

Report

Network-Centric Operations Case Study: Air-to-Air Combat With and Without Link 16

How much of an increase in mission effectiveness does the Link 16 communications system provide in prosecuting air-to-air combat and how can the observed increase in actual performance be attributed to the advantages of network-centric operations?

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Out of the Ordinary: Finding Hidden Threats by Analyzing Unusual Behavior

Presents a unique approach to selecting and assembling disparate pieces of information to produce a general understanding of a threat.