U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

Standards

Protecting our Protectors: Using Science to Improve Officer Safety and Wellness

June 2012

Each year, 100-200 law enforcement officers die in the line of duty. Last year, 177 lost their lives — a 16-percent increase from 2010. As Attorney General Eric Holder noted, this is a devastating and unacceptable trend. NIJ has developed a robust research portfolio to improve officer safety and wellness and, ultimately, save lives. This panel discussed some of NIJ's most promising work to reduce shooting and traffic-related fatalities — consistently the leading causes of officer line-of-duty deaths — and improve officer wellness, which is inextricably linked with officer safety.

Review the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy

Standards and Testing: Requests for Comment and Information

In an effort to obtain comments from interested parties, NIJ:

  • Makes drafts of equipment standards and guides available to the public for comment. [1]
  • Posts "Requests for Information" to gather technical information from manufacturers, criminal justice agencies and others.
Open and Recently Closed Requests for Comment and Information
Title and Links Comment Period Submission Steps
Open
No documents are open for comment.
Closed
Draft NIJ...

NIJ FY 11 Body Armor Standards Research for Criminal Justice Applications

Closing Date

NIJ is seeking applications for funding research to assist in developing improved methods for testing the performance of body armor. This solicitation specifically seeks proposals for research to support the revision of NIJ Standard-0115.00 Stab Resistance of Personal Body Armor. It also seeks proposals for research to determine the effect of wearing "soft" armor on the core body temperature of the individual wearing it.​

NIJ FY 10 Fundamental Research to Improve Understanding of the Accuracy, Reliability, and Measurement Validity of Forensic Science Disciplines

Closing Date
This NIJ solicitation extends prior NIJ work to improve the understanding of the accuracy, reliability, and measurement validity of forensic science disciplines. NIJ is interested in research that focuses on expanding the scientific basis of forensic methods, as well as the development of quantifiable measures of the reliability and accuracy of forensic analyses. In the past, NIJ has encouraged applicants to propose new approaches to...