Faculty:

Christopher Koper, PhD.

How I got into policing research:
I began studying policing issues as an undergraduate at the University of Maryland, where I spent my senior year as a research assistant looking at danger to police in handling domestic violence incidents. This led to my first coauthored publication and a job at the Police Foundation, a non-profit think tank, where I studied innovative community policing efforts in places like Houston and Madison, Wisconsin. Later, during my graduate studies at the University of Maryland, I worked with policing scholar Lawrence Sherman and had the opportunity to analyze data from the landmark Minneapolis hot spots patrol study that he conducted with David Weisburd. My work with those data suggested that police can maximize the effectiveness of patrol by making periodic 10-15 minute stops at hot spots. Often referred to by my colleagues as the “Koper curve” finding (a phrase coined by Sherman to describe a key graph in my article), that paper has been one of my most important works and has been used by many police agencies here and abroad.

Recent and current projects:
One current project that I am conducting with professors Lum and Willis for the National Institute of Justice is a multi-site study of the uses and impacts of selected technologies (notably, information, communications, analytical, and surveillance technologies) in police agencies. The Matrix Demonstration Project, which I am conducting with Professor Lum and other GMU students for the Bureau of Justice Assistance, involves working with several police agencies to demonstrate ways that research findings can be institutionalized into police practice. This project also builds on the Evidence-Based Policing Matrix, which Professor Lum and I developed with Ph.D. candidate Cody Telep to visualize, summarize, and translate findings on police and crime prevention. My other current and recent policing projects include studies of hot spots policing, license plate recognition technology, strategies to reduce gun crime, and local immigration enforcement.

Cynthia Lum, PhD.

How I got into policing research:
I first learned about policing from Robert Reiner and Paul Rock at the London School of Economics as a master’s student in criminology. When I attended the University of Maryland for my doctoral studies, I worked for Professor Lawrence Sherman, who introduced me to evidence-based policing and criminal justice evaluation. He gave me a policing partnership project to work on in Prince George’s County (MD), which was my introduction into the world of crime analysis and crime prevention. That experience taught me that police agencies and researchers could work together to accomplish both organizational change and crime prevention solutions. Interestingly, that project made me more inspired about the professional rather than the research side of policing. So, I decided to leave the program and became a police officer (and later a detective) with the Baltimore City (MD) Police Department. There I learned about the realities of policing, and the organizational difficulties of implementing innovations and change. While an officer, I returned to UMD to continue my studies, where I became David Weisburd’s student. It was from him that I learned about the important role that places and proactivity play in policing. Since then, I think my education in policing has been a fortunate and wonderful mix of knowledge from many police practitioners I have worked with over the years, as well as mentorship from Sherman, Weisburd, (Peter) Manning and (Stephen) Mastrofski.

Recent and current projects:
I am involved in the Matrix Demonstration Project with Drs. Christopher Koper, Julie Hibdon, and Cody Telep, and Julie Grieco, a project which tries to find ways to institutionalize the use of research ideas into existing systems of police organizations. The foundation of this project is the Evidence-Based Policing Matrix, a tool that organizes one type of police research – evaluations of the crime prevention effects of interventions – into a web-based system that is easily accessible to police and other researchers. With Drs. Christopher Koper and James Willis, I am studying the impact that technology has on police practices and organization through intensive case studies of four law enforcement agencies. And finally, I am conducting a project assessing airport security measures of the Transportation Security Administration.

Stephen Mastrofski, PhD.

How I got into policing research:
I was introduced to police research in the 1970s when working as a graduate assistant on the Police Services Study, headed by Elinor Ostrom, Roger Parks, and Gordon Whitaker. I interviewed and observed police and sheriffs throughout the South. It was quite an education to walk into both small and large departments without any prior introduction and persuade administrators and officers that they should offer up details on their organization and practices. Police are now less anxious about working with researchers, but back then police were more reluctant. One Alabama sheriff even suspected that I was conducting an FBI investigation and required considerable effort to convince otherwise. Three things learned from these experiences attracted me to a career studying the police: the great diversity of outlooks and practices that exist among police, the skill required to deal with the wide range of human problems cast before them, and the need to conduct high-quality field work to gain a meaningful understanding of the causes and consequences of policing practices.

Current projects:
My research has focused on police discretion, police organizations and their reform, and systematic field observation methods in criminology. I am currently working with colleagues on an analysis of the implementation of democratic police reform in Trinidad and Tobago. I am also working with a team of faculty and graduate students on a study of police officers’ views and practices on what constitutes high quality policing. I am engaged with colleagues in a meta analysis of the impact of race on the police use of force. And I am part of a consortium of researchers on a multi-site pilot project to develop a longitudinal data system that tracks the characteristics, culture, practices, and performance of a large sample of American police agencies.

David Weisburd, PhD.

How I got into policing research:
When I was finishing my PhD I needed to get a job and support my family. Stan Wheeler, one of my dissertation advisors, made a contact at the Vera Institute in New York City. They were looking for someone to help them evaluate the new Community Policing Pilot Program in the 72nd Precinct. Though my background was highly quantitative, Vera had me walk the street with the officers three days a week. It was great fun, and a wonderful experience. Indeed, it was to set the stage for a life long interest in policing, and for the research that would eventually lead to my receipt of the Stockholm Prize. Walking the street with COPS I realized that most crime and most policing was concentrated at just a few locations. There were not bad neighborhoods, there were bad places. It is funny because some academic colleagues advised against me getting my “feet wet” in the field. They were absolutely wrong!

Recent and current projects:
I have just finished with two students of mine (Elizabeth Groff and Sue-Ming Yang) a major work on the criminal careers of places, examining 16 years of crime data in Seattle and linking that data to characteristics of places. The work is described in a book published by Oxford University Press, titled The Criminology of Place: Street Segments and Our Understanding of the Crime Problem. The data set is now available and I hope other students will use it. Based on this study we have been recommended for funding for a large National Institutes of Health study which will examine hot spots of drug and violent crime over a five year period. A number of Mason students will be working on this study. This will be the first prospective longitudinal study of crime hot spots, and will collect not only environmental and archival data, but will track 4,500 households over the five years.

James Willis, PhD.

How I got into policing research:
When I was an undergraduate student at Penn State University in the late 80s, I took an introductory course in Administration of Justice. The instructor, Professor Stephen Mastrofski, encouraged me to write an honors thesis which ended up being an analysis of police discretion in domestic violence cases for which I conducted in-depth interviews with patrol officers. My early curiosity in how patrol officers exercise their judgment in difficult situations has stayed with me, and my interests have since developed to include the promises and pitfalls of police reform and police organizational change.

Recent and current projects:
Along with some colleagues I have recently completed a COPS-funded project examining how Compstat and community policing, two recent and highly-touted reforms, work together when implemented in the same police department. I am currently working on two research projects, again with colleagues: one examines the effects of technology (such as information technology) on different aspects of police organization and practice and the other asks patrol officers to define the elements of “good” police work. One of the goals of examining policing as a craft is to come up with a means of assessing the quality of patrol officer performance rather than its quantity.

---

Students:

Breanne Cave, ABD

How I got into policing research:
I became interested in policing while I was working on my master’s. At the time, I was an active duty Marine preparing for deployment to one of the major air bases in Iraq, and my unit was performing many security and policing tasks on base. During my deployment I was able to plan a couple of small research projects that would be useful for determining the effectiveness of many of the practices that we were performing on a day to day basis. My interests in this type of applied research led me to George Mason University after completing my degree and leaving active duty. The large community of police researchers at Mason has allowed me to continue to pursue my research interests in policing and security, and I have since been able to participate in a number of different types of evaluations of policing tactics and technology.

Recent and current projects:
I’m now helping with an evaluation of security measures used by Transportation Security Administration. Recently, I assisted with a projected assessing the effectiveness of Automated Vehicle Locator technology (AVL) in dispatching police patrol resources to crime hot spots. In the future, I look forward to working on a a large National Institutes of Health study which will examine hot spots of drug and violent crime over a five year period.

Julie Grieco, M.A.

How I got into policing research:
At some level I have always had a  fascination with the criminal justice system, possibly due to the amount of Law & Order I watched as a child. Understanding policing has always been of high interest to me, with interests ranging from culture, to the health of officers,  to attitudes toward science and the use of evidence-based tactics, to organizational-level issues. My time at CEBCP and GMU in general, working with students and faculty engaged in policing research, has helped to broaden my interests, and I look forward to continuing onto this field in my future endeavors.

Recent and current projects:
I am currently involved with the Matrix Demonstration Project, working with several police agencies to develop and document illustrations and free tools that police and researchers can use to translate and institutionalize research findings into practice. My doctoral dissertation focuses on changes occurring in police academies at the individual and group levels.

DeAngela Milligan, M.P.P. Candidate

How I got into policing research:
I have been interested in police research for a number of years. I am particularly interested in police training and preparation programs, police department hiring practices, pre-employment assessments, on the job stress and how police officers interact with children and youth. I have had the opportunity to engage in technical assistance (research-to-practice) projects that address some of the issues related to police officers that interact with youthful offenders and police officers in the school systems. I look forward to participating in the PRG and continuing my research interest.

Recent projects:
I have served as a technical assistance specialist for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention State Training and Technical Assistance Center which provides proactive and reactive assistance grounded in research and evidenced-based approaches to all U.S. States and some of the territories in complying with the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act. I also served as a research associate for the National Evaluation and Technical Assistance Center for the Education of Children and Youth Who Are Neglected, Delinquent, or At Risk which focuses on correctional education.

Heather Vovak, M.A.

How I got into policing research:
I first became interested in policing as an undergraduate when I attended the Washington Semester at American University in Washington, DC. In this program I was exposed to law enforcement at the local, state, and federal level. I also held an internship at the U.S. Marshals Service while at American University. I was able to ride along with officers and gain insight into their daily activities. I am currently a graduate research assistant at the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy at George Mason University. This has increased my interest of developing research into practice.

Recent and current projects:
I am currently involved on a project that evaluates the security methods of the Transportation Security Administration. I am further interested in evidence-based policing and translating research into practice.

---

Affiliates:

Stephen Fender, M.A.
International Association of Chiefs of Police

How I got into policing research:
I have been interested in policing since a local police officer visited my elementary school for career day many years ago. I obtained my undergraduate degree in criminal justice and spent a number of years as a police practitioner. Over time I became increasingly interested in fostering change in police agencies and exploring new ways that I could improve the field. After being accepted to the Master’s program at George Mason University I began working as a research assistant in the Criminology department. I was given a chance to work with a number of Professors at GMU and became directly involved in conducting research in police agencies that I continue today at the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

Recent and current projects:
I am currently working on a number of research projects at IACP. I am working to finish the first year of a multi-site evaluation of police officer injures funded by BJA that examines officer injuries in depth at 18 different agencies. I also work on a long term effort in the Center for Violence Against the Police also funded by BJA. This is an officer safety project that examines issues related to violence against the police that include officer complacency, felonious assaults, among others and examines existing data on officer safety to generate policy relevant results. A new project starting next year that I will be working on will examine police ambushes and will be funded by the COPS office.

Brian Lawton, Ph.D.

How I got into policing research:
When entering my undergraduate program I was confident that I would be applying to local police departments upon graduate, however, during my time in school I was exposed to a number of scholars whose work I found particularly interesting. For that reason, I applied to and attended Temple University to work with Dr. James Fyfe, who was engaged in research on police use of force.

Recent and current projects:
My dissertation examined the level of police use of force employed by Philadelphia Police Officers, by looking at official Internal Affairs Department records. Currently, I am examining data on the Stop, Question and Frisks reported by NYPD over a five year period.

Cody Telep, Ph.D.
Arizona State University

How I got into policing research:
My freshman year of college I did a ride-along with the Atlanta Police Department during an ethnography class and I found the experience fascinating and knew I wanted to better understand police work. I originally thought I wanted to go into law enforcement, but after spending more time researching the police in classes throughout college, I realized I’d much rather spend my time studying the police. I’ve been working with Professor Weisburd on policing projects for six years now, first at the University of Maryland and now at George Mason. My first policing project was the Campbell Colaboration systematic review on the effectiveness of problem-oriented policing in reducing crime and disorder.

Recent and current projects:
I’ve recently been working with Professor Weisburd on two reviews of the policing literature to better assess what police should and should not be doing to best address crime. With Renee Mitchell of the Sacramento Police Department and Professor Weisburd, I recently completed an evaluation of the Sacramento Police Department’s hot spots intervention. I am also working with Professors Lum, Koper, and Hibdon and Julie Grieco on the Matrix Demonstration Project and efforts to better understand how to best translate police research into practice. The Demonstration Project builds on the work I did with Professors Lum and Koper on the Evidence-Based Policing Matrix.