Police Chief Magazine|Columns|Research in Brief
Research in Brief: Motor Vehicle Safety for Law Enforcement Officers–Still a Priority

Between 2013 and 2014, the number of officers who died in the line of duty increased by 24 percent. In 2014, 50 officers were killed in firearm incidents, and 49 died due to motor vehicle events.1 In the last decade, one officer a week, on average, has been killed on U.S. roads (2005–2014 = 61.9 deaths annually).2

Even though motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of job-related deaths among law enforcement officers, data on motor vehicle injury and crash trends are scant. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) embarked on a comprehensive statewide study of motor vehicle safety among law enforcement officers to better understand these issues. The study was conducted in one state (Iowa); however, the results and recommendations are useful to law enforcement leaders across the United States.

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Research in Brief: U.S. Co-Responder Snapshot

Co-responder models for responding to people in mental distress have become increasingly used in policing in the United States over the last decade. These approaches involve police officers partnering...
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Research in Brief: All Bark and No Empirical Bite

Recent research has placed one of policing’s most venerable tools—the K9 unit—under fresh empirical scrutiny. The findings of a new study run counter to long-held convictions on both sides of th...
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Research in Brief: Large-Scale Organizational Change

The challenge of bringing about substantial organizational change in policing extends beyond reform. Police chiefs are tasked with guiding their agencies through various dynamics, including shifts in ...
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Research in Brief: Examining the “Contagious Fire” Phenomenon in Police Shootings

Are officers more likely to shoot and to fire more rounds when nearby officers open fire at a suspect? This question directly addresses the “contagious fire” phenomenon, which comes into play in p...
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Research in Brief: The National Wellness Survey for Public Safety Personnel

In the United States, nearly 5 million people currently serve as professional or volunteer first responders, including police officers, emergency communication operators (ECOs), correctional officers ...
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Research in Brief: The Philadelphia Predictive Policing Experiment

A few years ago, predictive policing was all the rage. The term appeared with considerable frequency, companies offered expensive software options to police departments, and related sessions at the IA...
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Research in Brief: The Emergence of Tele-Cops

Police agencies are grappling with a significant reduction in personnel. Across the United States, there has been nearly a 5 percent decrease in sworn staff over the past three years.1 Since May 20...
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Research in Brief: Alternative Response Models and Outcomes

Law enforcement and the communities they serve want many of the same things. They want effective responses to crime and other problems. They want policing that promotes safety and trust....
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Research in Brief: Bicycle Patrols for Drug Market Disruption

In 2016, 33 percent of local law enforcement agencies used bicycle patrols on an as-needed basis, with 6 percent utilizing them regularly. This marked a slight increase from 2007 when around 27 per...
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Research in Brief: Charting a Path toward Racial and Gender Diversity among Police Leaders

Calls for a police workforce that is diverse with respect to race, ethnicity, and gender date back many years, and the benefits of diversity are now well supported by empirical research.1 Yet, achi...
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