Police-Community Relations

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State of the Union 2023: Insights from RAND

In his second State of the Union address, President Joe Biden covered a wide range of issues facing the United States at home and abroad, including police violence, gun policy, Russia's war in Ukraine, and U.S. competition with China.

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Hackathon Focuses on Making Policing More Equitable

Hackathons bring new ideas and perspectives to hard policy problems and introduce college students to the field of policy analysis. The latest hackathon, hosted by Pardee RAND and RAND NextGen, explored ways to make the criminal justice system more equitable and more effective.

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A Way Forward for Police Recruiting

Police recruiting is in a prolonged crisis. Without sufficient numbers of quality recruits, no amount of planning, strategies, or programs will succeed. It is critical to draw from a pool of interested persons who are diverse, technologically adept, and who have a spirit of community service.

Richard H. Donohue, Bob Harrison

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Civic Education, Twitter's Bot Problem, Police Reform: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses civic and citizenship education in America, addressing Twitter’s bot problem, why community engagement is key to police reform, and more.

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Reforming Policing: A Neighborhood-by-Neighborhood Perspective

Disparities in policing outcomes, so often associated with race and ethnicity, have led to divisive discourse on the necessity of police reform in America. So how might we make progress on police reform? Ultimately, the community, in collaboration with local public officials, should determine what it means to serve and protect.

Elicia M. John

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Veterans Health Care, Media Literacy, Sleep Retreats: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on the challenges of VA community care, the importance of improving middle schoolers' media literacy skills, tips to improve sleep, and more.

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Letters and Cards Telling People About Local Police Reduce Crime

Researchers conducted a large field experiment to deliver cards and letters to residents of a community with information about local police officers. They then evaluated how knowing some information about individuals one has never met can manifest in judgments about them and potentially reduce crime.

Elicia M. John, Shawn D. Bushway @BushwayShawn

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Reducing Police Violence: Q&A with Melissa Labriola

A succession of high-profile police killings has prompted some departments and communities to seek change. But data is sparse, and research is thin. Melissa Labriola helped lead a study of police violence and developed a road map for future research that could move the field forward.

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What Support Do Officers Need to Perform at Their Peak?

Police1's second annual survey on “What Cops Want” shows both major strengths and substantial challenges in the profession. Law enforcement leadership can use the findings to better support and engage their officers.

Bob Harrison

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Extremism Online, Russia's Military, Preventing Police Killings: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on the internet's role in stoking extremism and hate, how Russia has failed its military personnel, a research roadmap to help prevent police killings in the United States, and more.

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Prescription Drug Prices, Unemployment Insurance, Anti-Asian Racism: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on lowering prescription drug prices, reforming unemployment insurance, addressing anti-Asian racism, and more.

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Equity in Research, North Korean Instability, Traffic Stops: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on how RAND applies an equity lens to research, instability in North Korea, what police think about traffic stops, and more.

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Stop, Start, or Continue? A National Survey of the Police About Traffic Stops

As research continues to show widespread racial disparities of those stopped by police, it is increasingly seen as a practice that, if ended, would serve the cause of social justice. Should the police continue to conduct traffic stops? Police1 conducted a survey of officers to find out what they think.

Bob Harrison

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Policing in the Post-Floyd Era

Calls to reform, reimagine, or disband the police can be seen as existential threats. But they present opportunities for progressive change that can work to the advantage of law enforcement.

Bob Harrison

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Rethinking How Police Respond to Homelessness

Around one-fifth of people experiencing homelessness have a severe mental health disorder. Almost as many have a substance-use disorder. Police need better policies and community partnerships to help make their response to homelessness safer, more humane, and more effective.

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The Evidence on Kids and COVID-19, China's Use of Big Data, Telemedicine: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on what we know (and what we don't) about kids and COVID-19, how China is using big data, the future of telemedicine, and more.

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Voting in a Pandemic, the U.S. Postal Service, Defunding the Police: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on Americans' views about voting in the age of COVID-19, what makes the U.S. Postal Service so essential, why some in law enforcement may be open to “defunding the police,” and more.

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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.

John S. Hollywood @JohnS_Hollywood, Bob Harrison, et al.

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How to Reform Military Gear Transfers to Police

Police officers equipped like soldiers have appeared on the streets of American cities amid recent protests over George Floyd's killing. How should lawmakers reform a program that makes use of excess equipment and is popular with police departments, but that also raises substantial concerns about the militarization of policing?

K. Jack Riley, Aaron C. Davenport

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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.

John S. Hollywood @JohnS_Hollywood

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Preparing for a COVID Surge, Reducing Police Violence, Media Literacy in Schools: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on helping hospitals prepare for a surge in COVID-19 infections, an approach to reducing police violence, teachers' concerns about students' media literacy, and more.

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From Warrior to Guardian: A Systems Approach to Reduce Police Violence

Personal accountability will always have a role in policing. But the kind of cultural change that is necessary to prevent tragedy is often best tackled by focusing on the system rather than merely blaming the individual officer.

James M. Anderson, Bob Harrison

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Funding—or Defunding—the Police

With calls to reduce spending on police, a question becomes by how much? RAND researchers studied the average amount taxpayers spend for police to respond to a reported crime. These estimates are available in a new tool that makes it easy to visualize police costs per crime by state.

Priscillia Hunt

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Defund the LAPD? Garcetti Budget Proposal Takes a Step in That Direction

Calls to “defund the police” have grown common and urgent in the wake of police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and numerous other Black Americans. Research and community activists agree: Public safety can be improved by investing more public dollars in a social safety net, and less in policing and incarceration, in Los Angeles.

Alex R. Dopp @alex_dopp_phd, Stephanie Brooks Holliday, et al.

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Protests and Police Reform, Facial Recognition, Gun Policies: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on protests and police reform after the killing of George Floyd, facial recognition bans, gun policies that likely reduce deaths, and more.

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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.

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Bans on Facial Recognition Are Naive. Hold Law Enforcement Accountable for Its Abuse

Broader police reform may be difficult to achieve. But in the long run, it will be more effective than any specific technology ban.

Osonde A. Osoba @OsondeOsoba, Douglas Yeung @DouglasCYeung

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The Great Reset: Policing in 2030

Scenarios of possible futures can help planners envision what the future could be, and plan ways to optimize opportunities or mitigate damage. Trends regarding retail operations, hotels, tax revenues, fines and forfeitures, and autonomous vehicles are all happening today. We've imagined how they might extend into the future.

Bob Harrison

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How Pittsburgh Is Addressing Social and Economic Disparities

Pittsburgh has been taking a hard look at race, wealth, and opportunity. In partnership with RAND, the city has run and published its numbers on subjects ranging from police contacts to business ownership to graduation rates as part of a commitment to do better.

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Terrorists, Policing, Cyberattacks: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on terrorism recruitment trends, helping police find the right strategies, who should investigate cyberattacks, and more.

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Helping Police Find Better Strategies to Fight Crime

Which police interventions work best in certain situations, and which don't? A new RAND resource helps police choose the best strategies—and put them to work.

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Body Cameras: Can Police Have Too Much Discretion?

Research on body cameras has shown mixed results. Complaints against police officers dropped when cameras were used, but rates of assault against them during arrests were higher. How much discretion the officers used in turning cameras on and off was also a factor.

Alex Sutherland

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How Police Body Cameras Can Improve Behavior, Ease Tension

Body cameras alone can't solve America's problems with policing. But used properly, they can help address mistrust between communities and police.

Alex Sutherland, Barak Ariel

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Police Body-Worn Cameras: More to It Than What You See

Billions of dollars are spent worldwide on the rollout of police body cameras. There is an urgent need to understand whether the cameras help police and the public, and under what conditions they work best.

Alex Sutherland

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Election 2016: The Domestic Issues

RAND offers a unique take on the big domestic issues facing America: research that is independent, reliable, and rigorously nonpartisan.

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A Symbolic Purging of the NYPD Radicalization Report

The NYPD's purging of its 2007 report on radicalization may give some satisfaction by symbolically breaking the connection between the current mayoral administration and the NYPD's previous intelligence and investigative efforts. But its significance seems questionable.

Brian Michael Jenkins @BrianMJenkins, Richard Daddario

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Examining Police, Community Relations

The “Strengthening Police-Community Trust” panel held Wednesday at RAND's Pittsburgh offices felt ripped from the headlines, and from the outset the discussion was focused on what the moderator called “the intersection between the community and the police.”

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When It Comes to Police-Community Relations, 'Expect What You Inspect'

As the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing report suggests, local governments should evaluate police on more than crime statistics, and police departments and officers should be held publicly accountable for meeting the community's expectations. Adding new dimensions of performance metrics would help.

Jessica Saunders, Laura Patton

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To Serve and Collect? Police Department Funding, Effectiveness, and Legitimacy

Like so many issues in public policy, one of the factors shaping the complex policing challenges facing America—and a potential lever to help address them—is simple and unsurprising. That factor is money.

Brian A. Jackson

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Want Better Policing? Bring on the Horses

Neighbourhood patrols by mounted police in the UK are associated with comparatively higher levels of public trust and confidence than patrols by police on foot. Members of the public engage with mounted police over six times as much as they engage with police on foot.

Chris Giacomantonio, Ben Bradford

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Progress After Ferguson? Good Ideas Need Good Implementation

President Obama's Task Force on 21st Century Policing has done a great service by providing dozens of sound recommendations—good ideas that could help avoid another Ferguson. Now we need good implementation to go along with them.

Nelson Lim, Greg Ridgeway

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What Research Says About Profiling

When police take action on the basis of race, creed, or ethnicity it is corrosive, unfair, ineffective, and can stoke the flames of police-community tension. But as we have found from a variety of assessments, law enforcement is best served when it bases its activities on risk, not on personal characteristics.

Michael D. Rich @michaeldrich

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Can Big Data Help Build Trust in the Police?

After two controversial grand jury decisions not to indict police in the deaths of unarmed African Americans, a White House task force has 90 days to provide recommendations for promoting accountability among law enforcement agencies to cultivate trust between police and communities. The timeline may seem impossible, but, sadly, these issues are old and the solutions are well known.

Nelson Lim

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In Ferguson's Wake, How a Data-Driven Approach Can Improve Police-Community Relations

Community leaders and police departments have a responsibility to their citizens to address questions about their policing practices, such as: What are the most significant areas of concern? How severe are the problems? What are the most effective solutions?

Keith Henry

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Data Key to Tackling Racial Profiling in Ferguson

Authorities in Ferguson would be wise to consider following Cincinnati's example in dealing with mistrust between police and citizens after the police shooting of a young black man. The city embarked on a thorough examination of racial profiling by its police force and took steps to deal with the perception that bias was influencing the way police officers performed their duties.

K. Jack Riley

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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.

Walter L. Perry, John S. Hollywood @JohnS_Hollywood

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Police Need to Do a Better Job of Explaining Stop-and-Frisk

Good relations between the police and the public are a cornerstone of civil society. Everyday interactions between cops and citizens are at the heart of what defines those relations, write Jack Riley and Greg Ridgeway.

K. Jack Riley, Greg Ridgeway