Episode: 00243 Released on December 2, 2024 Description: In the debut episode of the Research Remix series, Jason Elder and Jamie Roush delve into the intersection of evidence-based policing and the role of analysts. Jamie introduces the concept of "Research Receptivity" by examining groundbreaking studies from Dr. Cody Taleb on police engagement with research in 2012 and 2017. The duo discusses the importance of analysts as conduits for integrating research findings into organizational practices, barriers to adoption, and actionable strategies for fostering a research-informed culture within law enforcement.
Listeners will gain insights into how education, organizational roles, and accessibility to research can influence evidence-based decision-making. Whether you're a patrol officer, supervisor, or analyst, this episode offers practical takeaways for leveraging research to improve outcomes. Tune in for thoughtful discussion and resources to bring back to your agency. [Note: Description produced by ChatGPT.]
Get to know more about Jamie by listening to his episode on Analyst Talk With Jason Elder: https://www.leapodcasts.com/e/atwje-jamie-roush-the-aha-moment-analyst/
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*** Episode 6 of Cocktails & Crime Analysis - IACA Conference Preview - Presenters Edition https://youtu.be/FS6qqCQfcJI ***
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Related Links:
2012 Study: "Receptivity to Research in Policing"
- Authors: Cynthia Lum, Christopher S. Koper, Cody W. Telep, and Julie Grieco
- Published in Justice Research and Policy, Volume 14, Issue 1, 2012
- Access the study here
2017 Study: "Police Officer Receptivity to Research and Evidence-Based Policing: Examining Variability Within and Across Agencies"
Open Secrets with Jan Mondale https://www.leapodcasts.com/e/open-secrets-hidden-resources-and-timeless-techniques/
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Vendor(s) Mentioned:
Contact: jamielroush@gmail.com, https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-roush-5b399967/
Transcript: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/afv8krpmady7vkgk/ResearchRemixEp01_Transcripts.pdf
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Welcome to Alice Talk with Jason Elder. It's like coffee with an analyst, or it could be whiskey with an analyst reading a spreadsheet, linking crime events, identifying a series, and getting the latest scoop on association news and training. So please don't beat that analyst and join us as we define the law enforcement analysis profession one episode at a time. How we doing, Alice? Jason Elder here to introduce a new LEA podcast, Deep Dive. Research Remix with Jamie Roush is going to be a series based on evidence-based policing and the role of the analyst. And with me, of course, just like the title says, is Jamie Roush. Jamie, how are we doing? Doing great, Jason. Thanks so much for having me today. It's always great to talk to you. Things are going well with you. Yeah, absolutely. Always fun. All right, we're going to do a little bit of an introduction to the series and then we're going to get into some particular research. Sounds great. All right, so go ahead, give people an understanding about what this series is and what you hope to get out of it. Yeah, so the last time that we talked, you know, we talked a lot about evidence-based policing and what it is and why it's important in the police professions today. And I thought it was really important to kind of come back and create this research remix series to really talk about some of the most influential research that's out there that is contributing to evidence-based policing. So, honestly, as a recap, evidence-based policing is the use of the best available research on the outcomes of police work. So what we know about what works in policing and it's really designed to implement guidelines and evaluate agencies and units and officers and it really puts the research into practice. And so the important part of that is that research and the adaptation and use of research in police agencies is still relatively new and analysts play a really unique role in being able to bring that research to their organization. And to be able to introduce how the best available outcomes that we know from the research that often come from analytical work and processes and the outcomes that analysts produce can be used by their organizations to address their crime and disorder problem. So the series is really going to be that kind of quick brief about kind of what this research says it's going to be your reader's digest or cliff notes version about a particular type of research. Maybe how the analysts played a role in that research or what the outcomes were that were e-takeaways and then it allows you something that essentially as analysts can go back and share with your organization. And I would just add that analysts products that it doesn't have to go very far I think most times if there's researchers involved and they're looking for certain information, most likely that the analysts is going to supply them that additional information. Absolutely, they're going to help make that connection essentially between what's going on out there. What other agencies are doing that are successful and obviously how their agency can implement it and affect the crime and disorder that they're dealing with in their communities. Okay, so I think that the first research project that we're going to review is actually very appropriate. Let's just dive right into that. So the first thing that we're going to talk about today is do police pay attention to research. So this particular research was done both in 2012 and 2017 by Dr Cody tell up of Arizona State University. One of the four most pieces of kind of what we call receptivity to research. And one of the reasons why this is really important obviously is understanding what we know about the police use of research. And obviously as analysts when you bring this research to your organization, what is the possibility that your organization is going to adopt it as well. So prior research on police use of research has really focused on just kind of multiple levels of police organizations. They've always been anecdotal. It was never a full scale kind of research assessment or a systematic process of understanding how police use research and so this first set of research was designed to really determine how individual officers view and engage with research. And part of the project as I mentioned was in 2012, and it was a project developed at the Center for evidence based crime policy at George Mason University. But as the subsequent view was done, it was sent to different agencies of different sizes. And the survey really asked officers to identify if they had ever heard of the term evidence face policing, to what extent they found research useful or helpful in their job. They believe that the different policing research strategies are there's 14 of them in reducing crime. How often officers should use research and personal experience in their data decision making, and how willing they are to evaluate the effectiveness of the strategies that their departments are currently using. So I feel like that last question because obviously effectiveness is something that typically comes from data and analysis that analysts in the organization do. I often say this is the one area that we struggle the most with in policing and without analysts and the work they do typically effectiveness is always about what people think, and kind of what their anecdotal responses. Those were the first kind of five questions that were set up for the receptivity and as you started to kind of dive into the actual research and really kind of found what the outcomes were, was that the respondents, the officers who had gone back and had looked at different types of publications, those who had have their master's degree, were more likely to have heard of evidence based policing. So this is a kind of the first takeaway here is obviously as an analyst and you're providing that conduit for your organization is just sharing basic research briefs or publications. Quick snippets about research that's out there like this one and others that we'll talk about in this series with more people in your organization. Just sharing that content will give the opportunity that more people will understand what evidence based policing is, and obviously that people will think about using research as well. Now today, saying the study whether the officers were looking for promotion or not, because I'm thinking those that are looking to get promoted are probably more likely to get into research be part of that whole process of knowing what else is out there how to improve the department. Yeah, so they didn't look specifically at those who were working towards promotion, but they did do a correlation associated with education and educational background and that's what led to that first outcome that typically those who had higher levels of education and had more exposure to research and their formal education were likely to value research and they were also likely to use it in their day to day decision making. Did they differentiate between whether the officer was patrol or middle management or chief. They did actually and the majority of the respondents were patrol officers they also had a group that were supervisors as well. There was a higher rate in this research of supervisors using research and valuing research more than patrol officers. And part of the reason obviously for that is is that people at supervisory level and organizations tend to be able to be exposed to more research right as even small organizations partnering with their local colleges and universities. Typically hear about research and that typically happens at mid level management or higher up in the organization rarely does it actually happen patrol officer level. Yes, what else did the research conclude. Yeah, so one of the things that it also really talked about was that essentially patrol officers that are less likely to be receptive of research that has a very strong practical implication to whether or not they even believe in those 14 different policing strategies that are out there. And so of those 14 strategies, some of the ones were obviously commonly familiar with like hotspot problem oriented policing. These types of strategies really require a lot of buy in from your street level officers and your patrol officers, but yet there is less likely to be exposed to research and therefore less likely to buy into these strategies and to implement them as well. So one of the things that I find that's unique about that, especially from the analyst perspective is that most of the organizations from the top will say we're going to do problem minor policing or hotspot policing and certainly data analysis and analysts play a very pivotal role in those strategies that are often have a seat at the table and helping to design those strategies as well. And so it's important that in the conversation analysts are also to share that in fact, if you don't share these strategies and the research behind these strategies at the patrol officer level, that it will affect buy in that it's not just about from the top of the organization we're going to problem or in policing or we're going to hotspot policing and thinking everybody's going to do it. The fact that they've not been exposed to this research or even the behind the scenes of these particular strategies will affect whether or not those types of strategies can become successful or have the intended outcome at once and how it addresses crime towards the community. No, was there any recommendations that came out of this study. Yeah, so some of the key takeaways obviously was the fact that you have to give more research to organizations right so it means that you have to share research among the organization, it has to be done in a very short, quick way. You departments obviously as educational requirements are changing in the profession, those that continue to support the use of advanced degrees or obtaining advanced education will make it will allow for those officers to have research kind of as the backbone of what they're doing. It will help to kind of facilitate that buy in that's necessary to obviously employ those evidence based policing strategies that are most effective. And then also it talked about the fact that as supervisors are continuing to be oriented to research right that that has to continue all the way up the organization and that the supervisors have to continue to share it among the organization as well. The research kind of takeaway really talks about kind of two of the most important components here which is the education will give people the kind of foundation to understanding why research is important at a very kind of formal level. But the introduction of research to wider audiences in the department even in a brief quick way will help facilitate that buy in as well. Was this just the 2012 study or was this also the 2017 study. So this was primarily the 2017 study the 2012 was either the foundational study and then the 2017 one was the one that came out with these recommendations specifically. Hmm, I just had to be interested to see what comes out today. I would hope that there's improvement and that there's more people that would know what the term evidence based policing. Yeah, it's interesting you say that's actually so the center for evidence based crime policy is actually working on considering a new research receptivity survey and study and potentially doing more in this area to understand kind of what are those other variables that are really important. This particular study was a little bit limited in its scope which the author talks about but there is a lot more discussion about trying to revisit a study like this and trying to get it out. So that we can understand one of those things that really help, not just do more people know about evidence based policing but also how does activity to research and this understanding research. How does it lend itself to organizations become more institutionalized with evidence based policing as well. And from the police department, everybody has their own strategy, not their own strategy but everybody has a current strategy. Right. And, and so you get maybe these new research comment out and then you got to make the decision like okay do we stay course or do we change based on what the research is telling us. Absolutely. So one of the organizations that I'm currently working with coming out of this particular study and talking about how we more effectively implement evidence based practices. What we chose to do was take these very simple research briefs and they're actually shared as part of the operations command staff meetings now some more commanders are educated on kind of like the day to day or the most recent research that's coming out. So we do it in a way to make sure that that they don't have to go read the 20 page article or go find the journal or go try find a way behind the paywall right but we try and give them just brief things overall, just to get more people thinking about it and being able to use it in their, in their decision making or even considering right what does the evidence say about this topic. Yeah, it also gets me thinking what a study would look like if it was for law enforcement analysts. Absolutely. And if you look at the educational background of analysts across the country now a lot more positions are requiring advanced degrees, obviously having much more formal understanding of research, many analysts through their degree have been involved in research right as part of getting their degrees and so I think you would find typically that receptivity to research would be very, very high just because of the nature of having research as part of their backgrounds. But I think I would be most interested to see what analysts say about whether or not research that they put forward in their organizations is used or what their organization feels about research as well I think that would be a really interesting perspective to the conversation. Yeah, certainly I could see those that are in strategic planning, those that are in to problem solving are more likely to be invested in research as opposed to maybe tactical or supporting patrol. It would really be interesting because I can I could see maybe younger people in the beginning you don't know what you don't know so maybe you get into research and once you get comfortable in the role three or five years into your position and your position. Exactly what your positions asking for, maybe you're not into research as much anymore because you know what you're you know what you're doing and you don't rely on research anymore. So there's, there's a lot of interesting factors I even think for analysts on whether they are into research and I'm just thinking back to them with my time as an analyst I mean I didn't. I know I didn't read a lot of research papers but there's, there was times when we were on a problem solving project that that that was when I, I could think of reading that type of, of articles on research. Yeah, and I think it has to do with the topic as well right to your point about what roles analysts support and what topics they would go out and look at research that there's a long-standing history and research associated to deployment activity. How you should staff your officers, what staffing models we should use there's there's long histories and research in those areas. But we're finding in other areas there's not as much right like very little research out there about the activities of real time crime centers and how they affect the outcomes in police work right. We have a lot of real time crime centers and a lot of really great work being done but very little research has been connected in that area as well so it really depends on your role and what research is out there as well. I also think the other thing is when I look back to my time as an analyst is access to research right I made the comment joke a few minutes ago about being behind the paywall, which is still a major issue for a lot of people who are very practitioners in policing, but access to research today is a lot more widely accepted there is a lot more access out there resources out there. That makes it easier for analysts to go and kind of see something about a particular topic, but I think we have there's a lot of room to grow in that area as well, and having research briefs and quick conversations like this about a particular type of research gives another place for analysts and also others to be able to access research in a quick efficient way that was not the case in the past. No, you definitely got to be well read it is interesting I another new segment that came out is open secrets with Jan Mondale and she's going to be doing deep dives on OSINT and the first episode she talked about going to the library. Yeah, so that's that's obviously applies here to actually going to the library and finding periodicals and finding research, partnering with your local colleges and universities, even with like one professor and say hey I'm interested in this topic where can I research on that right like that's definitely one option. There's also like I said some online sites to kind of aggregate good research and kind of a shortened form as well that make it more available than it's been. I think that the pushback on research comes from it just not applying to the area. It's, it's too complicated or people just write it off as like it doesn't, that's not how it is here. What do you think some of the pushback on research is yeah I think that was exactly what I was going to say right everything's different in city X, this doesn't apply to us because it's different here. And I think a lot of that is that policing is a very kind of historically driven profession, we all have heard the comment it's what we've always done. So it tends to have been how people were promoted in the past as well and so that has led to research not necessarily being as accepted, but I also think that we're at a unique time where policing is having to find its way of doing things more efficiently and more effective than it ever has because of the staffing shortages and kind of the crisis in that regard and so the more effective away to address a particular crime problem that might be found in the research. That's probably probably where organizations are going to go and lean towards the future. So lots of opportunity, but also the importance of getting research in quick, effective ways and in people's hands as well. All right, as we're wrapping up here, anything else you want to add on the topic. This is a really interesting study that really talks about kind of the importance of police using research but also just reminding analysts the importance of being that conduit and being able to get this information and possible on your organization. They may not always adopt it right away, but the importance of kind of sharing it I think and socializing people to it is what ultimately over time will lead to adoption. It is some really good research on a lot of the things that analysts are working on on a day to day basis like policing strategies that can also give you tips and tricks to making the analytical products you create and the way that the data and analysis can be used more effectively, even better. So we'll put in the show notes links to the research projects plus links to other sites for additional information. Jamie, if somebody wants to get a hold of you what's the best way to do so. Yeah, so I am on link to Jamie Roush, I am also on X at JL Roush, and you can also email me at jmailrous@gmail.com. Yeah, and maybe there is even a research project that the listeners heard that you would like to see talked about on the show and if that's the case, send us a message either Jamie and or I, and Jamie just gave her email address. But you can also email the show at LEA podcasts at gmail.com. All right Jamie, thank you so much really looking forward to these discussions as we move forward with research remix. You have a great day and you'll be safe. Great, thanks Jason. Thank you for making it to the end of another episode of Analyze Talk with Jason Elder. You can show your support by sharing this in other episodes found on our website at www.LEAPodcasts.com. If you have a topic you would like us to cover or have a suggestion for our next guest please send us an email at LEAPodcasts@gmail.com. 'Til next time, analysts, keep talking. [MUSIC PLAYING]
In the debut episode of the Research Remix series, Jason Elder and Jamie Roush delve into the intersection of evidence-based policing and the role of analysts. Jamie introduces the concept of ”Research Receptivity” by examining groundbreaking studies from Dr. Cody Taleb on police engagement with research in 2012 and 2017. The duo discusses the importance of analysts as conduits for integrating research findings into organizational practices, barriers to adoption, and actionable strategies for fostering a research-informed culture within law enforcement.
