The Prevalence and Characteristics of Police Practitioner–Researcher Partnerships

Abstract

Consistent with the current models of governance in public sector organizations, there have been an increasing number of advocates within the law enforcement community calling for agencies to participate in partnerships with researchers. Despite this support, little is known about the prevalence of police practitionerresearcher partnerships, nor has there been any examination into which agencies participate in partnerships with researchers or the reasons why agencies do not participate. The present study addresses these gaps in knowledge by reporting on findings from a national survey of law enforcement agencies on research partnership participation. The results reveal nearly one third of responding agencies reported they had participated in a research partnership within the last 5 years. The most common reason provided for not participating in these relationships was a lack of funding resources. Discussion on the future expansion of police practitioner-researcher partnerships in light of these findings is provided

American Policing and the Danger Imperative

“…Sunshine City is the largest of the three sites at approximately 500,000, and is located in the arid Southwest. The selection of these sites was, in part, practically driven, access to each department aided by pre-existing relationships with law enforcement officials that allowed for entrée to institutions that are traditionally distrustful of outsiders (Leo 1995;Rojek, Smith, and Alpert 2012). More strategically, the collection of data across multiple departments allows me to make stronger claims about the danger imperative as a cultural frame that transcends an individual department or city.…”

Gun crime incident reviews as a strategy for enhancing problem solving and information sharing

“…And, while all three sites implementing the reviews had initiated the reviews prior to the actual project period, grant funding supplemented the review process, made detailed data collection possible at all four sites, as well as funded research team involvement. It is impossible to ignore the role external funding plays in the development of multi-agency efforts like crime incident reviews and more broadly, police practitioner researcher partnerships (see, for example, Bales et al 2014, Grieco, Vovak, and Lum 2014, Rojek, Smith, and Alpert 2012. This is not to say that incident reviews cannot be implemented without external or additional funding, rather, it makes it all the more important that the necessary organizational elements are in place for successful implementation and long-term sustainability (McGarrell and Hipple 2014).…”

“…New participants may want to 'sit back and watch' for a few meetings before sharing information. Simple awareness of potential trust issues (see, for example, Rojek, Smith, and Alpert 2012, Rojek, Martin, and Alpert 2015, Braga and Hinkle 2010 as well as careful selection (or uninviting) of meeting participants is essential.…”

Research partners in criminal justice: notes from Syracuse

“…Differences in occupational orientations and incentive systems continue to hamper the formation and maintenance of constructive working relationships between practitioners and researchers, despite efforts at federal and state levels to encourage and sometimes fund research partnerships (Rojek et al, 2012). Several existing or recent partnerships are notable for their apparent success, but they seem to be exceptions to an unfortunate rule.…”

“…Many such partnerships, of varying scope and duration, have been formed over the past 20 years (Rojek, Smith, & Alpert, 2012). Federal support, through both programmatic and research grants, has fostered many of these relationships.…”