Present but not prevalent: identifying the organizational correlates of researcher-practitioner partnerships in U.S. Law Enforcement

ABSTRACT

Federal funding streams, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and policing executives and scholars alike have advocated for more researcher-practitioner partnerships in American law enforcement. While a few studies have explored the growth and prevalence of research partnerships in policing, less attention has been placed on the organizational correlates of such collaborative relationships. Using a nationally representative sample of US law enforcement agencies, the current study investigated participation in what we term ‘rigorous partnerships’ – more formal, long-term relationships between researchers and practitioners with increased opportunity for interactive knowledge exchange. Policy implications and directions for future research are discussed, with a specific focus on the barriers and impediments that both parties face for successful collaborative efforts and research translation.

KEYWORDS:

• Police
• partnerships
• translational criminology

Acknowledgments

This research is supported by grant 2009-IJ-CX-0204 from the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Justice Programs, and the US Department of Justice. Points of view are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the US Department of Justice.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. A review of the literature on organizational theories, particularly those related to law enforcement agencies (e.g., contingency theory, resources dependency theory, and institutional theory) was beyond the scope of this article. However, readers interested in more detail on the aforementioned organizational theories should consult King (2009) and Maguire (2014).

2. The review provided here only focuses on the history of police practitioner-researcher partnerships. For a more in-depth overview of the evolution of policing research – including the innovative efforts of August Vollmer, the 1967 President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice, the establishment of the National Institute of Justice, the growth in research on related topics that was spurred by funding from the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office – see Rojek et al. (2012b).

3. Therefore, the dummy variable ‘rigorous research partnership’ (1 = yes) compares these agencies to all other departments that reported no partnerships and partnerships characterized as ‘cooperation’ or ‘coordination’.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jeff Rojek

Jeff Rojek is the Director of the Center Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Protection at Michigan State University and an Associate Professor of Criminal Justice. His research largely focuses on police organizations, officer behavior, officer safety, and training. He is also a former police officer.

John A. Shjarback

John A. Shjarback is an assistant professor in the Department of Law and Justice Studies at Rowan University. He earned his PhD in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Arizona State University. His research interests center on policing, specifically environmental and organizational influences on discretionary officer behavior, and current issues and trends.

John Andrew Hansen

John Andrew Hansen is an assistant professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Western Carolina University. He earned his PhD in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of South Carolina. His current research is focused on policing and conservation.

Geoffrey P. Alpert

Geoffrey P. Alpert is a Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of South Carolina and holds an appointment at Griffith University. He is also a Chief Research Advisor for the United States Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice. He has taught at the FBI National Academy, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center and The Senior Management Institute for Police and is currently a Federal Monitor for the New Orleans Police Department and on the compliance team for the Portland, Oregon Police Bureau. He testified to the President’s Task Force on 21^st Century Policing, and is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police Research Advisory Committee and Policy Center Advisory Group. For the past thirty years, his research interests have included police use of force, emergency driving and the linkages between researchers and practitioners.