NIJ LEADS Program Overview — Empowering Agencies to Integrate Research into Practice

Transcript

GEOFFERY ALPERT: Well, LEADS is a National Institute of Justice NIJ program that stands for law enforcement advancing data and science, and it really is a program that is going to improve policies and practices based on evidence.

GARY CORDNER: NIJ had already created several years ago a LEADS Scholars Program which {is for} career law enforcement officers who have an aptitude for using data and analysis or a strong interest in that.

WENDY STIVER: Anytime I have even have just a routine operational question, I can reach out and get in touch with basically the people who are writing the books on the subject.

SHON BARNES: The NIJ LEADS Scholars Program has helped me tremendously. I’ve evolved as a police manager, as a critical thinker. I’ve evolved as a leader.

DANIEL STEWART: And so when you are surrounded with people who are in the LEADS program and that support the LEADS Program, you’re reassured and you gain confidence through that to pursue research on your own.

GARY CORDNER: After a few years of experience with that program, NIJ saw the need also to support agencies and their use of data and analysis. It’s a way to try to help law enforcement agencies understand evidence-based policing and figure out how to use it in their own way, in a very practical way.

GEOFFERY ALPERT: Well, the LEADS Agencies Program will hopefully marry up with the LEADS Scholars Program, so it becomes kind of an integrated process where the LEADS scholars are helping LEADS agencies and LEADS agencies are the ones that talk about the issues they’re having and so they can help each other, and I think it’s a really positive move towards evidence-based policing.