Establishing Police-Led Science in the Wauwatosa, WI Police Department

• In Event: Strengthening Evidence-Based Policing Through Applied Research Partnerships

Abstract

For evidence-based policing (EBP) to reach its full potential, practitioners must consult the scientific research evidence to inform policy and practice. This reflects the knowledge-to-action model in which a “knowledge creation” cycle is followed by an “action” cycle that applies research to practice. Partnerships with outside researchers are often seen as a way to promote EBP. However, competing interests and incentive structure of academia and policing can minimize the impact of such arrangements. In light of this, scholars have recently advocated for a move away from the current paradigm of science-led policing towards a model of police-led science, which empowers police agencies to develop and test research questions and be directly involved in knowledge dissemination. This paper reports on an in-progress action research partnership between Wauwatosa, WI Police Department (WPD) and the Northeastern University Crime Prevention Lab. Project activities include the evaluation of an existing hot spots policing experiment, multiple problem analyses meant to inform a future experiment, community and police officer surveys, and the creation of an EBP working group within WPD, which will be tasked with developing data-driven public safety solutions. The goal of this partnership is the development and institutionalization of police-led science in WPD.

Authors

• David Cefalu, Wauwatosa Police Department

• Eric L. Piza, Northeastern University

• Dominick Ratkowski, Wauwatosa Police Department

• Joseph Zientek, Wauwatosa Police Department