Understanding Crime Clearances: A Research Program to Improve Police Performance

• In Event: Identifying Effective Police Investigative Practices: A National Study Using Trajectory Analysis

Abstract

Research on the ability of police to clear serious crimes is limited. What has been done has been primarily focused on homicide. That work has identified elements of police investigation that appear to be strongly related to crime clearance. In this presentation, we describe a multi-year research effort funded by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation to extend this research to include a wider range of crimes, years, agencies, and methods. The research follows four stages, two of which are discussed in other papers on this panel. These include trajectory modeling of clearance rates, dual modeling of crime and clearance, agency level analysis of clearance trajectory groups and agency characteristics, and in-depth analysis of investigative strategies and practices of high and low performing agencies. We close with a discussion of why clearance is important to law enforcement and the public.

Authors

• Charles F. Wellford, University of Maryland

• Cynthia Lum, George Mason University