Police-Researcher Partnerships: Building the Infrastructure for Effective Program Evaluation

PROJECT SUMMARY FOR 96-IJ-CX-0006 JRSA and IACP propose to facilitate the development of formal ì partnerships between police and researchers by linking local ì police departments with researchers at local or regional ì universities and State Statistical Analysis Centers (SACs). Such ì partnerships will help create an environment for opportunistic, ì locally-initiated research that will help capture and assess ì innovative efforts in policing strategies. JRSA and IACP are ì proposing to develop formal police-researcher partnerships in six ì sites across the nation: Baltimore County, MD; New Orleans, LA; ì Charleston, WV; Lansing, MI; Lakeland, FL; and ì Charlotte-Mecklenberg, NC. JRSA and IACP will facilitate a ì process for developing police-research partnerships that: (1) ì determine the programatic and research strengths and weaknesses ì of the six proposed police-researcher partnerships; (2) create ì trust-building activities for each partnership to strengthen ì support for the team from other academic and police personnel; ì (3) identify and prioritize research topics; and (4) promote the ì development of at least one realistic methodology to ì research/evaluate the top selected police issue.