DRU Library Menu

In December 2014, the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing was established. The Task Force resolved to identify best practices and make recommendations on how policing practices can promote effective crime reduction while building public trust. They examined how to foster strong, collaborative relationships between local law enforcement and the communities they serve. Their… (read more)

This guidebook provides police practitioners with a resource for conducting problem analysis. It is not a text on research methods but instead identifies issues and concerns police practitioners face in analyzing problems. This guide does not do the "thinking" for problem-solving practitioners, but instead provides a starting point and tips for effective problem analysis. This guidebook builds on… (read more)

In December 2014, the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing was established to identify best practices and make recommendations on how policing practices can promote effective crime reduction while building public trust. To inform its work, the task force facilitated seven listening sessions, hearing testimony from 140 witnesses and reviewing volumes of written testimony, and submitted… (read more)

The goal of this toolkit is to help law enforcement agencies accomplish the following objectives: strengthen partnerships between law enforcement and the community, further the community's role as a partner in crime reduction efforts, identify and address social issues that diminish the quality of life and threaten public safety in communities, and link those in need to services and resources… (read more)

This publication is designed to provide practical advice on many aspects of the Early Intervention System (EIS), including defining the role of the first-line supervisor, structuring the intervention process for officers who have reached (or are about to reach) a threshold within the system, identifying ways to provide the various programs and services that supplement and reinforce EIS, and… (read more)

Strengthening the Relationship between Law Enforcement and Communities of Color: Developing an Agenda is a summary of a forum the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) hosted with law enforcement officials, civil right activists, academic experts, community leaders, and policy makers at the Ford Foundation in New York City. This meeting focused on identifying what can be… (read more)

The American public has expressed increasing alarm over incidents of multiple casualty violence. While the law enforcement community has progressed in advancing training in the tactical response to incidents, there are significant gaps in strategies aimed at preventing multiple casualty violence. To address this need, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Law Enforcement Training… (read more)

Stalking creates uncertainty, instills fear, and can completely disrupt lives. This guide reviews the problem of stalking and the factors that contribute to it. It identifies a series of questions to help law enforcement analyze their local problem. Finally, it reviews responses to the problem of stalking and what is known about them from evaluative research and police practice.

An Early Intervention System is a system that statistically compares law enforcement employee performance against a range of numerical norms and helps assess which employee may need help with their personal or professional problems. In this guide, the San Diego Police Department documents its experience, along with a useful step-by-step outline, in order to help other organizations build their… (read more)

This publication gives police executives the chance to hear from their own colleagues why engaging in the process of racial reconciliation is not only morally but also functionally and operationally critical. The concepts of police legitimacy, legal cynicism, and informal social control introduced here provide the theoretical underpinning that helps to explain in practical terms how police who… (read more)

This guide is intended as a reference for those who are interested in implementing a problem-solving approach and contains information and insights into the process of reducing crime and disorder through problem-solving partnerships. It takes the reader step by step through solving problems, offers examples of problem-solving from the field, and provides additional resources.

The goal of this guide is to provide law enforcement executives with best practices regarding first responder mental health best practices learned from colleagues unfortunate enough to have experienced a mass casualty event. The National Alliance on Mental Illness brought together chiefs, mental health professionals, and others with first-hand knowledge to provide readers with a concise… (read more)

This guidebook summarizes for police practitioners lessons on recruiting and retaining divers, effective workforces. It provides a means for local officials to identify what has been tried elsewhere and what might be applicable in their own communities. It is a broad analysis of issues confronting many agencies and how these have developed over time. Each agency will face unique circumstances… (read more)

The guidelines report provides a framework to assist local law enforcement in planning and managing security for events that attract large numbers of people. It includes examples of best practices employed by federal agencies with security responsibilities, as well as strategies that have been effective for local law enforcement and private security. The focus is on national and regional events,… (read more)

The purpose of the summit was to ensure the continued safety and security of the nation's colleges and universities. This report outlines the purpose, objectives, anticipated outcomes, and format of the summit. Also included are primary considerations and recommendations from the summit.

This report encompasses a seven-year study conducted from 2010-2016 to analyze 1,016 line-of-duty deaths. Designed to enhance officer safety by providing the most up to date analysis of fatal incidents, the report examines events that involved both dispatched calls for service and self-initiated activities such as traffic stops. Making It Safer uses case studies, analysis of key findings, and… (read more)

As the issue of recruiting and retaining quality law enforcement officers makes national headlines, this report helps fill the void by telling the story of how five sites selected to participate in a COPS-funded project entitled "Hiring in the Spirit of Service," implemented significant change into existing hiring processes to recruit and select law enforcement officers that reflect a more… (read more)

Even as police departments are increasingly adopting body-worn cameras, many questions about this technology have yet to be answered. In an effort to address these questions and produce policy guidance to law enforcement agencies, the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), with support from the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office), conducted… (read more)

In August 2015, law enforcement executives and officers, crime victim advocates, academics, and other subject matter experts convened to discuss a draft of the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) Identifying and Preventing Gender Bias in Law Enforcement Response to Sexual Assault… (read more)