How Policy Changes Can Improve Community Policing
Robin Engel, Senior Research Scientist
Engel and colleagues at the University of Cincinnati’s Center for Police Research and Policy, where she worked before joining the Glenn College, evaluated the impact of the Integrating Communications, Assessment and Tactics de-escalation training developed by the Police Executive Research Forum. The study, “Assessing the Impact of De-Escalation Training on Police Behavior: Reducing Police Use of Force in the Louisville, KY Metro Police Department,” was published in Criminology & Public Policy. It found significant reductions in use of force incidents, citizen injuries and officer injuries in the post-training period. The findings suggest that agencies should continue to implement and evaluate de-escalation trainings and adopt other resiliency-based approaches to police training. The researchers recommend a holistic approach that supports training tenets with complementary policies, supervisory oversight, managerial support and community involvement in reform efforts. In addition, researchers must continue to support police executives willing to open their agencies for evaluation and oversight.
Engel and former University of Cincinnati Center for Police Research and Policy colleagues published “Moving Beyond ‘Best Practice’: Experiences in Police Reform and a Call for Evidence to Reduce Officer-Involved Shootings,” in ANNALS of American Academy of Political & Social Sciences. Guided by the available research on police use of force and evidence-based practices and informed by Engel’s experience in implementing police department reforms when she served as vice president for safety and reform at the University of Cincinnati, this article highlights promising strategies, along with the remaining gaps in knowledge and opportunities to build the evidence base for effective use-of-force reform. It calls upon police executives to engage in evidence-based policing by scientifically testing interventions and on academics to engage in rapid research responses for critical issues in policing.
Tasha Perdue, Assistant Professor
Funded by the Addiction Innovation Initiative at Ohio State, this research project, “Exploring Stigma in the Overdose-Justice Nexus: A Mixed-Methods Study of Good Samaritan Laws in Two Overdose Epicenters,” focuses on the impact of discretion on decision-making for drug-related policies and examines how stigma, implicit bias and the notion of deservingness influence their implementation. To achieve this, an interdisciplinary research team, which includes Perdue, Assistant Professor Sydney Silverstein of Wright State University and Glenn College Professor Russell Hassan, the Ambassador Milton A. and Roslyn Z. Wolf Chair in Public and International Affairs, employs mixed-methods research approaches with law enforcement and people who use drugs in two metropolitan areas of Ohio. The researchers have presented their research findings at public health and policy and criminology conferences nationally and internationally.
Victor St. John, Assistant Professor
This research, “The Impact of Police Station Design on Police-Community Relationships,” investigates how police station design influences police-community relationships and public perceptions. Using a survey experiment, St. John and his collaborators, Assistant Professor Kwan-Lamar Blount-Hill, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Arizona State University, and Assistant Professor Andrea Headley, McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University, examined the effects of welcoming versus hostile police station designs, considering individuals’ previous encounters with police officers. Findings show that welcoming police station designs positively affect emotions and behaviorally relevant perceptions, particularly for individuals with past arrest experiences. Conversely, those without a criminal history react less favorably to welcoming designs. The study also reveals significant variations across racial and ethnic groups: Black and Latino respondents report greater positive emotional responses to hostile designs compared to welcoming ones. These results highlight the potential of police station architecture to shape community relations and public perceptions of policing. The work, funded by Time-Sharing Experiments for the Social Sciences, a National Science Foundation grant, has been published in Policing and Society and the Journal of Criminal Justice.
Adversity affects all individuals and societies, but access to resources needed for effective coping varies, potentially undermining both physical and mental well-being. This study, “Fortifying Physical and Psychological Wellbeing: Leveraging Capital for Resilience Against Adversity,” which St. John is conducting with Assistant Professor Donya Nemati at Ohio State’s College of Nursing, explores the impact of adverse police interactions, among other forms of adversity (i.e., death, racism, indirect adversity), on health outcomes and the role of capital in building resilience. Specifically, they explore the impact of adversity on health outcomes, including sleep quality, body mass index, illness frequency, health perceptions, self-worth, hopelessness, perseverance and sadness. They then assess how economic, spiritual and social capital can mitigate these effects, with notable variations across racial groups. Findings are still pending but may underscore the importance of capital in resilience building and offer insights into addressing health disparities related to policing adversity. This work is funded by a SPARK Grant from Ohio State's Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity.