Welcome to the RAND Center for Quality Policing

The RAND Center for Quality Policing (CQP) provides research and analysis to improve the practices, policies, and technologies used in policing. Our findings are of interest to police at all levels, law enforcement technology developers, law enforcement policymakers and funders, and the general public. CQP is part of the Justice Policy Program within RAND Social and Economic Well-Being.

COVID-19 and Policing

• 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.
• An increasing number of police officers and deputies have been exposed or tested positive for the coronavirus. Instead of relying on existing resources, gaps in personnel coverage could be filled by easing restrictions on the hiring of retired police officers.
• From closed courts to increased risk for first responders, the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced new challenges for the justice system. RAND research provides insights that may be helpful as decisionmakers try and address some of these issues.

Bulletins For Practitioners

• For officers to perform their duties effectively, it is imperative that police chiefs prioritize personnel safety and well-being. This means preventing suicide among law enforcement. Science suggests that there are five components that define what such an approach looks like.
• To reduce assaults on police officers and other violent escalations, officers with body-worn cameras need to notify persons they are being recorded as soon as contacts begin. Otherwise, notifications may escalate rather than de-escalate situations.
• We found promising practices to reduce violence in sporting and other major events.
• Using ambulance and other medical emergency data can substantially improve awareness of where violence is occurring, improving how anti-violence resources are assigned. We have published a guide to getting and using this data.
• We analyzed evidence on policing strategies and created guides to implementing the most promising strategies for reducing crime, holding offenders accountable, and improving community trust and legitimacy. We have also identified what not to do.

Bulletins For Technology Developers and Acquisition Personnel

• We have created a framework for identifying and addressing systemic biases during the acquisition of machine learning decision-support tools, like predictive policing systems.
• New research identifies high-priority needs for law enforcement interactions with autonomous vehicles in the next five years.
• In support of the US National Institute of Justice, we have top needs for innovation for the law enforcement field.
• We have detailed concepts of operations, specifications, protections, and contracting items needed for police agencies to use the following technologies efficiently and effectively: video analytics and sensor fusion, social media and social networking analysis, information sharing, next-generation broadband networks, and Internet of Things devices.
• We have a searchable database of over 1,000 needs for innovation from over two dozen studies.

Bulletins For Budgeters and Planners

• We created a calculator that predicts changes in crime levels based on changes in department size, using a finding that increasing police by 1% marginally reduces crime (on average, with much variation), by about 0.5%. The calculator also estimates changes in the economic costs of these crimes to society.
• We estimated how much responding to crimes costs police. We found that responding to a Part I violent crime costs, on average, about $11,000, and responding to a Part I property crime costs, on average, about $1,300.