Our Mission
The National Policing Institute is a nonpartisan and independent nonprofit organization dedicated to creating excellence in policing through the development, translation, and application of research.
Our Vision
At the National Policing Institute, we envision safe, professional, effective policing for everyone, every time.
Our Services
At the National Policing Institute (NPI), formerly known as the National Police Foundation, we are dedicated to advancing the impact and delivery of police services through change and reform. NPIÂ provides services in three main areas: research and evaluation, training and technical assistance, and organizational assessments and after-action reviews (AARs).
Our services are rooted in evidence-based practice and designed to assist law enforcement agencies across the country in making strategic and operational decisions based on the latest research and innovation. We leverage scientific research and technology to guide our engagements, working directly with agencies and communities, nationwide and abroad, through collaborative approaches that engage scholars, practitioners, law enforcement agencies, and community stakeholders at the international, national, state, and local level. NPI aims to serve as a model for the systematic examination of real-world challenges faced by law enforcement agencies. To learn more about our service areas, please visit the following pages:
Years In Service
Ongoing Projects
Publications
Our Strategic Priorities
We seek to positively impact policing by focusing our work in four strategic priority areas:
- Foster a resilient law enforcement community by supporting personnel’s physical and mental well-being through evidence-informed programs and innovation.
- Improve law enforcement management and supervision through research-driven insights and innovation while fostering excellence and ethical decision-making at all levels.
- Create safe and resilient environments for the community and police by strengthening community-police connections and supporting the co-production of safety.
- Reduce violent crime involving firearms through community engagement, evidence-based interventions, and collaborative law enforcement initiatives.
Our Story
1970
The Police Foundation (PF) was established as a 501(c)3 non-profit on July 22,1970, in Washington, D.C. through a grant from the Ford Foundation.
1972
PF supported and conducted the Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment to test the effects of police patrol on crime.
1976
PF provided support to create the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE). Additionally, PF supported the establishment of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF).
1977
PF studied the effectiveness of one- or two-officer units in patrol staffing, finding that one-officer units increased officer service, were more efficient, and were safer.
1979
PF conducted a landmark study, Women in Policing, and established a Research Center on Women in Policing to encourage greater hiring of women in policing.
1981
PF's groundbreaking Newark Foot Patrol Experiment found that, although foot patrols did not reduce crime, communities felt safer with foot patrols and were more likely to report crime.
1984
PF took national leadership in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to set constitutional limits on the use of force in the pursuit of suspects. Our initiative led many others to file their own Amicus briefs in the case of Tennessee v. Garner—the case remains a key standard today in use of force incidents.
1986
A major PF study, Reducing Fear of Crime, measured the effects of police outreach to reduce residents’ feeling of insecurity in Houston and Newark, finding that regular community interaction by officers could reduce fear of crime.
1992
Following the riots after the beating of Rodney King, we studied and offered recommendations to improve the police response to protests, civil disorder, and mass violence.
1998
Criminologist and Research Director Lawrence Sherman introduces the profession to the concept of evidence-based policing in an Ideas in American Policing report.
2001
PF published a comprehensive review, The Abuse of Police Authority, that highlighted results from a nationwide survey on police attitudes toward abusing police authority.
2011
PF conducted the Shift Length Experiment, the only multi-site randomized experiment, to test the impact of different shift lengths on police patrol officers and agencies.
2014
PF published the first of several after-action reviews of police response to critical incidents throughout the United States, such as the Christopher Dorner manhunt, terror attacks in San Bernardino, CA, and the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, FL.
2015
PF, with support from other national law enforcement organizations, launched the national Law Enforcement Officer Near Miss Reporting System (LEO Near Miss), an online repository of near miss incidents involving officers, to improve officer safety.
2016
PF published Reducing Violent Crime in American Cities: An Opportunity to Lead to provide evidence-based recommendations for strengthening federal and local partnerships while enhancing local control of violent crime strategies. Additionally, NPI released a report entitled, Engaging Communities One Step at a Time, which offered a series of case studies on police use of foot patrols to provide a practical guide for police agencies, officers, and executives on how to effectively implement an evidence-based foot patrol strategy.
2018
PF launched the Center for Mass Violence Response Studies with a mission to prepare public safety, government, schools, businesses, and community leaders to think critically about and respond comprehensively to mass violence events.
2019
Rebranded as the National Police Foundation (NPF), NPF moved its headquarters from Washington, D.C. to Arlington, VA, after spending the first 50 years in the nation's capital.
2020
NPF established the Council on Policing Reforms and Race, an independent, majority African American led non-partisan initiative that will use research and evidence to consider and offer recommendations to resolve some of the most significant and pressing issues with regard to policing reforms and race.
2022
The National Police Foundation changed its name to the National Policing Institute (NPI) to better reflect its mission to improve democratic policing in America.