All about Policing with a sprinkle of Criminal Justice – written by a Secret Contrarian
The best part of this article are the links to several crime-fighting strategies at the end of the article. Links provide commentary for each strategy.
Statement on FBI’s 2025 Reported Crimes in the Nation – R Street Institute
— Read on www.rstreet.org/commentary/statement-on-fbis-2025-reported-crimes-in-the-nation/
A decade ago , the killings of Sandra Bland and Philando Castile forced people in the United States to reckon with the harms of traffic stops—especially…
— Read on www.vera.org/news/traffic-stops-were-already-harmful-ice-is-making-them-worse
This ACLU research report, Agents of Chaos and Cruelty, documents widespread civil rights violations carried out by immigration agents during the first year of President Trump’s second term. The report examines immigration enforcement incidents in eight states – representing a cross-section of the country and reflecting varying degrees of federal law enforcement presence and personnel surges – and found that over 400 of the more than 1,200 immigration enforcement incidents examined involved misconduct by immigration agents. The report ends with detailed recommendations urging policymakers to call for transformative change to our immigration system, in recognition that it is broken and dangerous to human rights.
— Read on www.aclu.org/publications/agents-of-chaos-and-cruelty-how-the-trump-administrations-national-deportation-policing-force-has-attacked-american-communities
Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, and business professionals.
— Read on www.nber.org/papers/w35540
Harrisburg, PA – As part of the Shapiro Administration’s commitment to transparency and fair policing, the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) today announced the release of an independent analysis of data collected from all trooper-initiated traffic stops conducted in 2025. The report was conducted by a research team based at the University of Cincinnati and led by Dr. Robin Engel, Senior Research Scientist at The Ohio State University’s John Glenn College of Public Affairs and one of the nation’s leading policing researchers. The report represents the latest findings from PSP’s traffic stop data collection initiative, which is designed to strengthen public trust, enhance trooper and motorist safety, and inform policy and training.
— Read on www.pa.gov/agencies/psp/newsroom/psp-traffic-stop-data-analysis-reflects-impartial–evidence-base
Get a .PDF of the report HERE
Key Takeaways
Cameras and gunshot sensors, alone or together, did not improve case clearance for fatal or nonfatal shootings in Chicago. A 15-year, matched quasi-experimental study of 6,068 fatal and 64,884 nonfatal shootings (2005 to 2019) found null results across every treatment condition tested.
Shootings exposed to gunshot detection technology (GDT) were actually cleared at lower rates than matched control incidents (25.9% vs. 39.2% for fatal shootings; 25.1% vs. 30.6% for nonfatal shootings), though once the researchers controlled for other factors, the difference wasn’t statistically significant.
Camera coverage (CCTV) showed essentially no relationship to clearance for gun violence, consistent with prior research showing CCTV’s investigative benefits concentrate in theft and disorder cases, not shootings.
The one bright spot: Chicago’s Strategic Decision Support Centers (SDSCs), district-level hubs that combine technology with dedicated staff and crime analysts, were linked to 19% to 24% higher odds of clearance in nonfatal shooting cases.
— Read on policeresearchhub.com/why-shotspotter-case-clearance-depends-on-more-than-tech/
Camden, New Jersey’s homicide rate in 2025 was four times the national average – still high, but a marked change from when it was 18 times the national average in 2012.
— Read on theconversation.com/how-community-groups-activists-and-local-media-turned-camden-new-jersey-into-a-model-of-police-reform-282835
Open-source investigation documents many incidents of misuse and injuries across 16 U.S.
— Read on vcresearch.berkeley.edu/news/widespread-misuse-crowd-control-weapons-law-enforcement
A repository of studies, surveys, and reports on the disparate ways white, Black, and Latino people are treated by police, prosecutors, courts, and prisons
— Read on radleybalko.substack.com/p/a-guide-to-racism-in-the-criminal
Executive summary
The police leadership commission has undertaken the most comprehensive examination of police leadership in England and Wales in a generation. The independent commission was set up by the College of Policing with the support of the Home Office in October 2025.Bringing together expertise from across policing, the private sector, academia, the military and politics, we have heard from thousands of officers, staff and members of the public through our force visits, call for evidence, survey work, roundtables and focus groups. Our work has covered the entirety of the policing workforce, including officers, staff and volunteers working at all levels.
We have seen outstanding examples of leadership and delivery across policing, often in the most challenging circumstances.
— Read on www.college.police.uk/police-leadership-commission/police-leadership-commission-report
Get the full PDF report HERE
All about Policing with a sprinkle of Criminal Justice - written by a Secret Contrarian
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