Every day, across the United States, police officers respond to a variety of issues related to homelessness. Common public complaints can include camping, mental health episodes, disorderly conduct, or drug use. Unfortunately, many of these police responses often occur without coordination with other municipal agencies and service providers, or within a formal prevention-based framework. We…

On August 5, 2026, the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) released the National Standards for Law Enforcement De-escalation Training and opened a training certification process built upon them. This release establishes a federally-vetted benchmark against which the quality of de-escalation and crisis response curricula can be measured, a no-cost certification process open…

U.S. policing agencies face three converging pressures on staffing levels: fewer applicants, departures to other fields, and increasing numbers of officers reaching retirement age (Police Executive Research Forum, 2019). Efforts to address these issues typically focus on piecemeal approaches such as recruitment or retention, with little systematic analysis of the demand for police services which…

In recent years, law enforcement agencies across the United States have increasingly recognized the importance of strengthening community trust, improving community relations, and building sustainable partnerships with the community members they serve. Traditional community policing and community-oriented policing services (COP) have long been the primary frameworks for these efforts, and research has shown that COP…

Over the past decade, high-profile use of force incidents in the U.S., particularly those involving unarmed individuals or those armed with non-firearm weapons, have intensified public scrutiny of law enforcement officers and reshaped expectations for how officers engage with the communities they serve. Today, officers are expected to have the tactical skills, communication skills, and…

Now more than ever, officer safety and wellness are critical issues in law enforcement. Annually, law enforcement officers are lost due to felonious assaults, officer-involved collisions, and struck-by incidents at alarming rates. Law enforcement will never be risk-free, but can you reduce the risks through better decision-making about risk-taking? Organizational Culture and Influence Organizational culture…

Eyewitness identification remains one of the most powerful—and most scrutinized—forms of evidence in the criminal justice system. From photo arrays to live showups, identification procedures play a pivotal role in investigations, prosecutions, and court outcomes. Yet despite decades of scientific research, law enforcement policies and field practices, and courts have not always been aligned with…

In recent years, ghost guns (also known as privately made or unserialized firearms) have become a significant concern to law enforcement and public safety. The term “ghost gun” encompasses a variety of firearms produced from components that are not currently regulated by federal firearm laws. Most commonly, ghost guns are produced from components purchased (generally…

Law enforcement agencies across the United States are more and more involved in responding to homelessness. Calls for service involving people who are unhoused, especially those who are chronically homeless, take up a great deal of officer time and agency resources. But being homeless is not a crime. This fact means homelessness is not, at…

Why reducing organizational stress—and limiting its harm—takes action at every level Stress is widely recognized as inherent in law enforcement work. Traditionally, the dangers and traumatic exposures associated with policing have been viewed as the primary threats to officer health and performance. However, a growing body of research demonstrates that chronic organizational stressors often exert…