By Peter Neyroud and David Weisburd In recent years, science has become an important tool for police agencies. But how should police departments evaluate and assess these tools? For instance, it is conceivable for every police officer patrolling a favela in Brazil to record his every move with a wearable camera. But how should this technology be adopted, and would it … [Read more...] about Fix the divide between science and policing
Police
How Scotland beat the knives
This is the second post on how Scotland used the public health model to curb violence. The first post was published on Nov. 7 By John Carnochan In six years ending 2013, we cut the homicide rate in Scotland by half, and we used the public health model to do it. In the first post I laid out some of the general principles underpinning this model as it relates to crime … [Read more...] about How Scotland beat the knives
Whither Rio de Janeiro’s Police Pacification Units?
By Robson Rodrigues Rio de Janeiro’s Pacification Police Units (UPP) are celebrating their fifth year in 2013. They do so with generally positive approval ratings from the media and society as a whole. A recent study by Instituto Data Favela indicates that 75% of favelas inhabitants approve of the UPPs. Notwithstanding major crises and criticism, the UPP constitute the … [Read more...] about Whither Rio de Janeiro’s Police Pacification Units?
Four steps to use the public health model to curb crime
By John Carnochan The first of two blog posts In 2004-2005, we had 132 homicides in Scotland and violence, by Western European standards, was high. What did we do? In 2004 we established the Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), a police unit that uses the public health model to develop and apply effective violence reduction tactics, working with education, health, government, … [Read more...] about Four steps to use the public health model to curb crime
Lessons from New York and Tel Aviv: policing hotspots
By David Weisburd Perhaps more than any other part of the criminal justice system, evidence based policy has taken hold in policing, and the police are looking to researchers to help them define what policies and practices they should adopt. A central area of evidence about what the police should do has come from studies of crime hot spots. What is the evidence? A … [Read more...] about Lessons from New York and Tel Aviv: policing hotspots