While law enforcement rightfully plays a central role in ensuring public safety, including responding to incidents of crime, they should not be expected to address the root causes of violence. Ultimately, violence prevention requires a truly comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach, like the one implemented in Mobile, Alabama, where local leaders...
In collaboration with local police, non-law enforcement organizations such as offices of violence prevention, schools, and city and county public health departments could receive gunfire data and analytics about where and when gun violence occurs, ensuring that appropriate community resources can be deployed to offer immediate and lasting support while...
What is CompStat? At its time, Compstat policing was a notable shift from a more reactive type of policing (that is, primarily responding to crimes already committed), to a more proactive type of policing focused on identifying trends and crime prevention. With a focus on information-sharing, accountability, and improving effectiveness,...
ShotSpotter’s Director Community Engagement Dr. Gerard Tate was joined by Reverend Damita Davis-Howard from Ceasefire Oakland, John Bush from the City of Savannah’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (ONSE), and Wayne Rawlins, President of Ummah Futures International. During the ninety-minute conversation, they discussed the importance of data-driven, community interventions...
This is largely due to the increase in using data to identify problems and direct preventative efforts. Introducing science in the form of evidence-based policing has proven more effective at reducing crime and improving community safety than traditional methods. While significant progress has been made, we still have a ways...
Twelve major U.S. cities set homicide records in 2021. As yet another summer surge storms into fall, a national debate continues on how communities and police can work together to enhance public safety for all. This debate has not always been productive. Loud voices on social and mainstream media are...
And high-visibility police patrols are a proven crime deterrent. But tight budgets and staffing challenges have increasingly made staffing patrol operations difficult. In this post, we’ll discuss problem-oriented policing, an innovative approach designed to bring policing to where it’s needed most. What is Problem-Oriented Policing and Why is it Important?...
While their employment makes them an obvious representative of government authority, enforcement, and power, police are also human beings. Over years of service, they are asked to not only enforce the law but make an endless number of judgment calls in volatile, pressure-filled situations by assessing risk and confronting trauma....
During the illuminating hour-long conversation, we covered a lot of ground, particularly around the critically important topic of stopping the cycle of youth gun violence. I left the conference thinking about several important takeaways that I’d like to unpack in this blog. When working to decrease violence and promote public...
This negative rhetoric has grown so loud it can be difficult for police to share success stories, as they are oftentimes unjustly criticized by anti-policing groups in board meetings and other key community gatherings. In a previous post, I talked about the challenges police face with managing the large amounts...