EBP Hall of Fame
Michael Reese
Inducted August 2015
Nominated by Professor Kris Henning, Portland State University; Renee Mitchell, Sacramento Police Department; and Greg Stewart, Portland Police Bureau.
Biography:
Chief Michael Reese (Ret.) was named Chief of the Portland Police Bureau in May 2010 and retired January 2015. He joined the Portland Police Bureau on July 1, 1994 after five years in the Multnomah County Sheriff’s office. He received his B.A. in Psychology, and then his M.A. in Public Administration, from Portland State University.
Evidence-Based Research and Practice:
Michael Reese has been a proponent of evidence-based policing for several years. While a precinct commander he supported the Service Coordination Team. This team used a focus-deterrence approach and provided social supports such as housing and drug treatment to address criminally prolific drug offenders. His support of evidence-based approaches continued upon his promotion to Chief, and with a domestic violence project aimed at using actuarial risk scales and the assessment of needs (risk-need-responsivity) to prioritize cases. Since then he has supported the implementation of a hot spots project and an innovative communication course aimed at improving citizen perception of police legitimacy. Chief Reese also championed the use of other evidence-based practices internally and sponsored trainings for officers, supervisors and commanders.
In 2012, Chief Reese requested that the Portland Police Bureau crime analysis unit review the literature on hot spots policing and confer with an outside agency to create a hot spots program. The crime analysis unit worked with researchers from Portland State University and others to design a hot spots study that focused on unanswered research questions.The project was titled Neighborhood Involvement Locations.
Concurrently Chief Reese set out plans to run another randomized control trial looking at the effects of communication training on the public’s perception of police legitimacy. Chief Reese worked closely with his training unit and outside consultants to create a communication course that emphasized non-verbal body language and the theory of procedural justice. This program was funded entirely by the Portland Police Bureau.
Research supported by Chief Reese has led to over a dozen conference papers and posters at academic conference. The most current work on both issues of mental health and policing and race and policing has produced two journal articles under review by peer-reviewed academic journals and several other additional papers are currently being written using data gained as a result of Chief Reese’s commitment to integrating research into policing.
Links:
