Video: NIJ's Law Enforcement Advancing Data and Science (LEADS) Program - Ongoing Class

• NCJ Number: 250966
• Author(s): Josh Young; Obed Magny; Nicole Powell; Tarrick McGuire
• Date Published: June 2017
• Length: 2 pages
• Agencies: NIJ
• Publication Type: Technical Assistance; Program/Project Description

Annotation

In this video and accompanying transcript, law enforcement officers discuss how the National Institute of Justice's (NIJ's) Law Enforcement Advancing Data and Science (LEADS) scholar program benefits professional development and fosters research collaboration between law enforcement and researchers.

Abstract

One officer notes that a benefit of the LEADS Scholar Program is networking with other officers who have integrated science into their police departments. Two of the officer scholars on the panel co-founded the American Society of Evidence-Based Policing, which emphasizes bridging the gap between academics, researchers, community members, and everyone who has a vested interest in policing. The intent is to improve communication between researchers who have studied policing issues and the frontline officer, so that the methods and findings of researchers are integrated into policing policies, attitudes, and behaviors. Another officer indicates the LEADS Scholars Program has helped him to understand the importance of evidence-based research and the partnership between a local police department and a university. She mentions a collaboration between the New Orleans Police Department and Loyola University in studying homicide clearance rates in New Orleans, so as to develop new measures and new strategies to increase homicide clearance rates. A fourth LEADS scholar discusses work with a mentoring program for minority youth and how the lessons learned from one local program can be shared with law enforcement officers nationally.