Emerging Issues in American Policing is a quarterly digest tailored to practitioners and community members interested in policing. It is designed to elevate new and innovative research on policing practices and strategies by providing readers with succinct summaries of recent literature that highlight key findings and implementation recommendations. This digest equips the field with practical, actionable resources, and provides guidance on policing best practices by disseminating evidence-informed approaches.

The seventh volume—released today—focuses on the timely topics of mental health calls, fines and fees, traffic stops, body worn cameras, youth crisis intervention team training, and agency size. It answers questions such as: Are rural police departments well equipped to address mental health calls? Are traffic stops effective at curtailing serious crime? And do body worn cameras increase procedural justice in police-community member encounters? Research was conducted by leading scholars and research organizations, including but not limited to, the Stanford Computational Policy Lab, Harvard University, and the Rochester Institute of Technology.

In addition to making policing research more publicly accessible, the digest provides readers with information about current science to help examine emerging issues and how they might apply to one’s own police agency and community. We welcome input, questions, and suggestions—especially regarding research topics you’d like to see featured in future volumes—and look forward to your feedback and readership. Please forward any questions, suggestions, or subscription requests to EmergingIssuesPolicing@vera.org.