Special issue of Criminology & Public Policy examines policing practice and policy

The last two decades have been fraught for the policing profession, with police facing internal and external challenges to their public safety and legitimacy mandates. Much more research, analysis, and insights into policing are needed to inform policy, practice, and reforms in law enforcement and to achieve evidence-based policing. To move toward these goals, the current Editors-In-Chief of Criminology & Public Policy have published a second special issue on policing practice and policy, following their first special issue in 2020. This issue features thought-provoking and timely studies from leading researchers in the field on a variety of challenges facing policing today.

Criminology & Public Policy, the flagship policy and practice journal of the American Society of Criminology, is edited by Professors Cynthia Lum (George Mason University) and Christopher S. Koper (George Mason University).

“Without rigorous scientific knowledge to understand crime and policing, both police and communities will resort to guessing the best ways to improve the profession and its activities,” says Lum, who also directs the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy at George Mason University. “Research in Criminology & Public Policy is not only rigorous and cutting-edge, but also well-informed and intended to directly guide policy and practice so it is aligned more closely with knowledge from research.”

The 10 articles in the special issue address pressing topics in policing, including:

• “The Effect of Formal De-Policing on Police Traffic Stop Behavior and Crime: Early Evidence from LAPD’s Policy to Restrict Discretionary Traffic Stops,” in which Boehme and Mourtgos examined racial differences in police traffic stops as a result of recent policy changes. While the number of stops, arrests, and contraband seizures during stops decreased, the percentage of non-White civilians who were stopped declined very little, suggesting that policies intended to restrict stops may not have the intended effect on racial disparities.
• “Attempting to Reduce Traffic Stop Racial Disparities: An Experimental Evaluation of an Internal Dashboard Intervention,” in which Carter and co-authors studied a dashboard system used by the Michigan State Police to determine its effectiveness in reducing racial disparities in traffic stops. The dashboard system had no impact on disparities, highlighting the challenges of implementing similar programs.
• “Informing the Recruitment Crisis in Policing: Evaluating Which Incentives Can Entice the Best Candidates Among College Students,” in which Santos and co-authors surveyed undergraduates to explore predictors of student interest in a policing career. They also identified the effect of work incentives on students’ willingness to apply to be officers after graduation. Students were generally uninterested in becoming police officers, particularly when their GPA was high. Starting salary was the most important incentive in attracting candidates, as was some lawsuit protection.
• “Police Reform in Public Housing Contexts: Body Worn Cameras, Surveillance, and Harm Reduction in New York City Housing Authority Developments,” in which Braga and co-authors examined the impact of body-worn camera (BWC) programs on selected outcomes between 2015 and 2019 and estimated the impact of BWCs on the lawfulness of officer stop reports randomly selected for audit between 2017 and 2019 following a 2013 mandate that officers wear cameras. Use of BWCs in public housing reduced excessive enforcement, citizen complaints, and use of force by New York Police Department housing officers, suggesting that problematic police activities in public housing contexts can be reformed using BWCs.
• “Finding the Path of Least Resistance: An Examination of Officer Communication Tactics and their Impact on Suspect Compliance,” in which Foster and co-authors investigated the impact of patrol officers’ communication tactics (e.g., tenor, demeanor, accusations) on suspects’ compliance by coding video recordings from body-worn and dashcam cameras used by two police agencies in Texas—the Dallas Police Department and the Smith County Sheriff’s Office. When officers presented a positive demeanor or used noncoercive verbal tactics, suspects were significantly more likely to comply. Officers’ use of coercive verbal tactics and accusatory language did not affect suspects’ compliance, and suspects’ negative demeanor, impairment, and elevated emotional state negatively affected compliance.
• “Neck-Restraint Bans, Law Enforcement Officer Unions, and Police Killings,” in which Beck and co-authors studied whether use-of-force policies prohibiting neck restraints were related to fewer police killings. The study found that police killings were lower in places that adopted neck-restraint bans, and the bans were associated with less crime and fewer assaults on officers.
• “Speaking of Reform: Experimental Insights into Influencing Police Executives’ Perspectives on Civilian Oversight,” in which Mourtgos and co-authors investigated how information about public opinion and peer practices influences police executives’ views on civil review boards. They found that although these individuals were generally aligned in their views, they demonstrated a readiness to update their beliefs when presented with cohesive local public opinion and information about peer practices in policing.
• “Can Increasing Preventive Patrol in Large Geographic Areas Reduce Crime?: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis,” in which Weisburd and co-authors reviewed 17 studies to determine whether boosting preventive patrol in large areas reduces crime. Patrols had small benefits in preventing crime, more so for property and violent crime than for drug and disorder offenses. They concluded that the more such patrols can be targeted at specific places and specific times, the greater the crime control benefits.
• “Disorder Policing to Reduce Crime: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis,” in which Braga and co-authors discuss broken windows theory, which suggests that police can prevent serious crime by addressing social and physical disorder in neighborhoods. In a review of 56 studies, they found policing disorder strategies were associated with reductions in crime that spilled over into surrounding areas, while strategies focused on aggressively maintaining order did not lower crime.
• “Diverting 911 Calls: Lessons From Early-Adopting Urban Jurisdictions,” in which Midgette and Reuter evaluated programs in Albuquerque, Atlanta, and Houston that divert some emergency calls from police to civilian first responders. Each city’s unique experiences informed program design; in all cities, risk aversion among call takers, dispatchers, and public safety officials led to low diversion rates and slower-than-expected expansion of the program. Training and collaboration may help resolve these problems.