Vera Institute of Justice

Emerging Issues in American Policing is a quarterly digest intended for police-practitioners and community members that presents innovations in the field of policing from the leading academic journals and research publications. Please forward any questions or suggestions to EmergingIssuesPolicing@vera.org.

An initial evaluation of Albany Police Department’s Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program shows that officers make discretionary decisions about whether or not to refer an individual to LEAD.

Albany, NY became the third city—following Seattle, WA in 2011 and Santa Fe, NM in 2014—to implement a Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program. The program allows police officers to use their discretion and divert individuals in at-risk populations (e.g. those who are homeless, those with mental illness, or those who struggle with substance use) from being charged with low-grade offenses. Instead of experiencing criminal prosecution, individuals are referred to public health and social support services designed to improve their living conditions.

To provide a greater understanding of the effectiveness and functioning of pre-arrest and pre-booking diversion programs, researchers at the John F. Finn Institute for Public Safety and theUniversity of Albany conducted an evaluation of LEAD-eligible cases with the Albany Police Department (APD).^[]1Robert E. Worden and Sarah J. McLean, “Discretion and Diversion in Albany's LEAD Program,” Criminal Justice Policy Review 29, no. 6-7 (2018), 584–610. The authors monitored how offense type, demographics of potential participants, and officer opinions may influence officers’ discretionary decisions to divert individuals. To do this, the researchers analyzed APD’s arrest and diversion records from April 2016 through March 2017, in addition to conducting a survey of 182 officers and in-depth interviews with 50 officers.

Results showed that only 43 out of 543 LEAD-eligible cases—or less than 8 percent—were diverted by APD officers to public health and social support services. The researchers note that diversions may be contingent upon how much a suspect cooperates with the police, whether the complainant wishes to see the person prosecuted, and officers’ attitudes about diversion and the LEAD program. Notably, the researchers found that two-thirds of the surveyed APD officers held less favorable attitudes towards LEAD. These attitudes were primarily related to the belief that LEAD creates additional work for officers beyond the scope of policing, along with skepticism around the program’s ability to successfully treat drug addiction and abuse. The findings from this study suggest that without officer buy-in, the benefits of programs such as LEAD may be limited. As such, agencies may benefit from providing training on the benefits of diversion and when diversion is appropriate and necessary.^[]For a brief overview of how police officers can benefit from diversion, see Erin Dostal Kuller, “How Police Benefit from Diversion Strategies,” Think Justice Blog, July 21, 2016, https://www.vera.org/blog/it-t...

A study by researchers at George Mason University revealed that misdemeanor arrests may be driven by “broken-windows” policing instead of common crime rate indicators.

Broken windows policing is a technique that some police departments implement to combat high crime rates. According to the theory, an increase in misdemeanor arrests will prevent serious violent crimes from occurring because of the notion that public disorder and nuisances attract more serious crime.^[]1Cynthia Lum and Heather Vovak, “Variability in the Use of Misdemeanor Arrests by Police Agencies from 1990 to 2013: An Application of Group-Based Trajectory Modeling,” Criminal Justice Policy Review 29, no. 6-7 (2018), 536-560. Broken windows policing, however, may result in over-policing of local communities through aggressive arrest practices for low-level violations. 

Researchers from George Mason University examined police agencies’ arrest trends from 1990 to 2013 in order to determine if the jurisdiction’s social, economic, or crime-related characteristics (i.e. high crime rates for serious offenses, poverty, ethnic and racial composition, population density, and percentage of the population that is foreign-born) drove arrests for nonviolent offenses and the likelihood of police departments adopting the “broken windows” approach. Using the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Database, the researchers analyzed misdemeanor arrest rates across 105 police departments that have at least 500 sworn officers. They selected large agencies because bigger police departments are more likely to have higher numbers of both serious crime and misdemeanor arrests.

Results indicated that the decision to use “broken windows” tactics differed largely by police department. Overall, more than one-third of the agencies did not experience any uptick in misdemeanor arrests whatsoever, while the remaining agencies did so at varying levels. Common indicators of criminal activity also failed to explain whether or not the police department enforced “zero-tolerance” policies, and the findings from this study suggest that the choice to implement broken windows tactics is made by individual agencies. Given research demonstrating that broken windows tactics are no better than other approaches at reducing crime and are more likely to reduce civilian trust and satisfaction with the police, the researchers recommend that tailored, location-based approaches which focus on crime deterrence, strengthening community relations, and conducting long-term problem-solving are promising alternatives to “broken windows” arrests.^[]Anthony A. Braga, Brandon C. Welsh, and Cory Schnell. "Can Policing Disorder Reduce Crime? A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis." Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 52, no. 4 (2015): 567-588; Jeffrey Fagan and Garth Davies. "Street Stops and Broken Windows: Terry, Race, and Disorder in New York City." Fordham Urban Law Journal 28 (2000): 457-504.

A recent study finds that an individual’s perceptions of prior police contact may influence whether they decide to report a personal or household crime^[]Examples of personal crime include injury and use of weapon and examples of household crime include domestic violence and infanticide. in the future.

Research has underscored the importance of the public’s role in promoting public safety through crime reporting.^[]Wesley G. Skogan, “Citizen Reporting of Crime: Some National Panel Data.” Criminology 13, no. 4 (1976): 535-549.; Barbara D. Warner. “The Reporting of Crime: A Missing Link in Conflict Theory.” Social Threat and Social Control (1992): 71-87. Given that importance, researchers have tried to understand factors that influence people’s decision to report crime.^[]Patrick J. Carr, Laura Napolitano, and Jessica Keating. "We Never Call the Cops and here is Why: A Qualitative Examination of Legal Cynicism in Three Philadelphia Neighborhoods." Criminology 45, no. 2 (2007): 445-480. Toward that end, a researcher at the University of Missouri utilized 2002, 2008, and 2011 Police Contact Surveys and 2002-2014 National Crime Victimization Surveys to determine if prior in-person police encounters affect whether a victim will later report a personal or household crime.^[]Lee Ann Slocum, "The Effect of Prior Police Contact on Victimization Reporting: Results from the Police–Public Contact and National Crime Victimization Surveys," Journal of Quantitative Criminology 34, no. 2 (2018), 535-589. The author also considered the nature of the previous encounter (e.g. traffic stops, civilian-initiated contact) and the person’s perception of the police contact.

The researcher found that victims of personal crimes who experienced invasive police contact, such as stop-and-frisk, or handcuffing, were less likely than other contact groups to notify police about personal crimes. The reporting of household crimes, however, varied depending on the type of prior face-to-face police interaction and whether civilians viewed this contact as fair. Households that experienced positive in-person interactions with police officers were 34 percent more likely than households with no prior police contact to report a crime. On the contrary, households with perceptions that prior police encounters were unjust were 50 percent less likely than households with no prior police contact to report a crime.

Results show that police tactics and the nature of a civilian encounter can significantly influence a victim’s decision to cooperate with police in the future. Importantly, the research suggests that community members are more inclined to notify police officers of victimization and cooperate in an investigation if they viewed prior interactions as just. Given evidence that order-maintenance strategies—which target physical and social disorder using community problem solving—are effective in reducing crime, it is important for police agencies to consider using these strategies to foster positive civilian-police encounters.^[]Anthony A. Braga, “Crime and Policing, Revisited. New Perspectives in Policing Bulletin,” US Department of Justice, 2015 Community involvement in policing can assist in promoting perceptions of trust and legitimacy, which, in turn, can increase community-police cooperation.

Results from an evaluation of the Co-Responder Hot Spot Outreach Team (CHSOT) highlight the importance of collaborative efforts in implementing mental health interventions while policing hot spots.

Despite frequently encountering individuals with mental health illnesses, some police officers lack proper tools and training necessary to react accordingly. In response to this issue, researchers at the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy developed and piloted a program called the Co-Responder Hot Spot Outreach Team (CHSOT) in 2015.^[]Clair White and David Weisburd, “A Co-Responder Model for Policing Mental Health Problems at Crime Hot Spots: Findings From a Pilot Project,” Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice 12, no. 2 (2018), 194-209. CHSOT paired officers from Baltimore City Police Department (BCPD) with mental health clinicians to determine if police officers and mental health officials could work together at four local hot spots—or areas with high concentrations of crime.

For 14 weeks, police officers and mental health clinicians visited Baltimore’s local hot spots two times a week to practice problem-solving hotspot policing techniques and community policing. Visits included identifying any risks on the street, interacting with the local community by explaining the pilot program and offering information about mental health services. To evaluate the program’s success, the researchers conducted observations, ride-alongs, and interviews with the officers and clinicians, as well as community members who encountered the program teams throughout the program’s course.

Responses to the pilot program were mostly positive, and officers and clinicians expressed that most of the contacted community members were responsive and happy to engage with the teams, often disclosing struggles they were having with drug use and mental health. At the conclusion of the program, community feedback suggests the program has the potential to prevent crises, though future quantitative assessments of crime or crisis prevention outcomes are still necessary. Overall, these findings highlight the value of partnerships between local police agencies and clinicians and the capacity of these collaborations to inform a proactive approach to dealing with mental health problems in a community.

The implementation of body-worn cameras (BWCs) in the Las Vegas Police Department has resulted in fewer civilian complaints and use of force reports.

Many U.S. police departments have started incorporating the use of body-worn cameras (BWCs) as a strategy to help improve community-police relations and interactions. However, because little evidence in this area exists, researchers conducted a study to examine the effects of BWCs on various measures of police performance.^[]Anthony A. Braga, William H. Sousa, James R. Coldren Jr., and Denise Rodriguez, "The Effects of Body-Worn Cameras on Police Activity and Police-Citizen Encounters: A Randomized Controlled Trial," Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 108, no. 3 (2018), 511.

In the study, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) and an external research group partnered to evaluate the effects of BWCs on police behaviors (e.g., use of force). Four hundred and sixteen officers (approximately 16 percent of the department’s sworn personnel) were placed into a randomized control trial (RCT—a research design where participants are chosen at random and separated by treatment and control groups; treatment in this case was the assignment to wear a body camera). Prior to the evaluation period, officers were required to complete a training on BWC logistics and functions. For the duration of one year, 218 officers wore BWCs while patrolling, while 198 officers did not.

The LVMPD provided the evaluation team with data on civilian complaints, police use-of-force incidents, and the police activities of both BWC-wearing and non-BWC-wearing officers. Findings from before and after the intervention show that civilian complaints for BWC-officers were resolved faster because of the availability of video footage. Additionally, officers with BWCs had fewer use-of-force reports and complaints compared to officers without BWCs. This study suggests that the use of BWCs in police departments can be helpful in de-escalating aggression and reducing the use of forceful tactics, a finding that is consistent with BWC research reported in prior digests demonstrating that BWC implementation was related to a reduction in use of force and complaints against officers. As such, BWCs can also assist in promoting trust between local community and police departments.

A review of studies on pre-court interventions involving police officers suggests that diversion programs reduce future delinquent behavior of low-risk youth compared to traditional court processing.

Because police officers serve as gatekeepers—ultimately deciding who enters the criminal justice system—it is important for officers to employ policing tactics that reduce harm and minimize future justice involvement for all civilians, but especially for young people. Given that early justice involvement has been found to be predictive of future offending, one way to improve youth justice outcomes is by employing pre-court interventions, which allow young people to avoid a criminal record by providing alternative interventions beyond formal juvenile justice processing.^[]Lesley McAra and Susan McVie. “Youth Justice? The Impact of System Contact on Patterns of Desistance from Offending." European Journal of Criminology 4, no. 3 (2007): 315-345.; Edmund F. McGarrell. Restorative Justice Conferences as an Early Response to Young Offenders. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2001. Despite the potential benefits of police diversion for juveniles, there is limited research comparing how diversionary processing differs from traditional processing. 

To understand the effects of pre-court interventions by police officers, authors at the Campbell Collaboration^[]The Campbell Collaboration is an organization dedicated to the advancement of positive social change through systematic reviews of research to promote evidence-based policy and practice. conducted a systematic review of 19 studies of police diversion involving young people aged 12 to 17, who had little to no prior involvement with the criminal justice system.^[]David B. Wilson, Iain Brennan, Ajima Olaghere, and Catherine S. Kimbrell, “Police Initiated Diversion for Youth to Prevent Future Delinquent Behavior: A Systematic Review,” The Campbell Collaboration (2018). The authors examined three different types of pre-court interventions: traditional cautioning (e.g., a police officer formally reprimands a young person by explaining the consequences of their behavior), restorative cautioning (e.g., a guided discussion between the young person, affected parties, and victim), and final warning/reprimand programs (e.g., a referral to an agency and placement in a treatment program), all of which results in a young person avoiding a criminal record. The researchers found—that compared to traditional processing—young people who were diverted, regardless of the type of pre-court intervention, had a modest but significantly lower reoffending rate. Importantly, the results from this systematic review suggest that officer diversion tactics have positive effects on reducing the chance that a young person will reoffend. Thus, police departments, courts, and other criminal justice entities should strongly consider employing pre-court interventions to address youth crime, especially given the minimal effort and cost associated with a number of the interventions (e.g., cautioning efforts).

Discretion and Diversion in Albany's LEAD Program

1. Robert E. Worden and Sarah J. McLean, “Discretion and Diversion in Albany's LEAD Program,” Criminal Justice Policy Review 29, no. 6-7 (2018), 584–610.
2. For a brief overview of how police officers can benefit from diversion, see Erin Dostal Kuller, “How Police Benefit from Diversion Strategies,” Think Justice Blog, July 21, 2016, https://www.vera.org/blog/it-t...

Inconsistency in the Use of Misdemeanor Arrests

1. Cynthia Lum and Heather Vovak, “Variability in the Use of Misdemeanor Arrests by Police Agencies from 1990 to 2013: An Application of Group-Based Trajectory Modeling,” Criminal Justice Policy Review 29, no. 6-7 (2018), 536-560.
2. Anthony A. Braga, Brandon C. Welsh, and Cory Schnell. "Can Policing Disorder Reduce Crime? A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis." Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 52, no. 4 (2015): 567-588; Jeffrey Fagan and Garth Davies. "Street Stops and Broken Windows: Terry, Race, and Disorder in New York City." Fordham Urban Law Journal 28 (2000): 457-504.

The Effect of Prior Police Contact on Victimization Reporting

1. Wesley G. Skogan, “Citizen Reporting of Crime: Some National Panel Data.” Criminology 13, no. 4 (1976): 535-549.; Barbara D. Warner. “The Reporting of Crime: A Missing Link in Conflict Theory.” Social Threat and Social Control (1992): 71-87.
2. Patrick J. Carr, Laura Napolitano, and Jessica Keating. "We Never Call the Cops and here is Why: A Qualitative Examination of Legal Cynicism in Three Philadelphia Neighborhoods." Criminology 45, no. 2 (2007): 445-480.
3. Lee Ann Slocum, "The Effect of Prior Police Contact on Victimization Reporting: Results from the Police–Public Contact and National Crime Victimization Surveys," Journal of Quantitative Criminology 34, no. 2 (2018), 535-589.
4. Anthony A. Braga, “Crime and Policing, Revisited. New Perspectives in Policing Bulletin,” US Department of Justice, 2015.

The Co-Responder Model of Policing People with Mental Health Issues

1. Clair White and David Weisburd, “A Co-Responder Model for Policing Mental Health Problems at Crime Hot Spots: Findings From a Pilot Project,” Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice 12, no. 2 (2018), 194-209.
2. Lawrence W. Sherman and David Weisburd, “General Deterrent Effects of Police Patrol in Crime ‘Hot Spots’: A Randomized, Controlled Trial,” Justice Quarterly 12, no. 4 (1995), 625-648.

The Effects of Body-Worn Cameras on Police Activity and Civilian Encounters

1. Anthony A. Braga, William H. Sousa, James R. Coldren Jr., and Denise Rodriguez, "The Effects of Body-Worn Cameras on Police Activity and Police-Citizen Encounters: A Randomized Controlled Trial," Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 108, no. 3 (2018), 511.

Youth Diversion Program to Prevent Delinquent Behavior

1. Lesley McAra and Susan McVie. “Youth Justice? The Impact of System Contact on Patterns of Desistance from Offending." European Journal of Criminology 4, no. 3 (2007): 315-345.; Edmund F. McGarrell. Restorative Justice Conferences as an Early Response to Young Offenders. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2001.
2. David B. Wilson, Iain Brennan, Ajima Olaghere, and Catherine S. Kimbrell, “Police Initiated Diversion for Youth to Prevent Future Delinquent Behavior: A Systematic Review,” The Campbell Collaboration (2018).