Blog

👋 Welcome to the VIPR Blog! On this page, members and affiliates will occasionally post about ongoing/forthcoming research and current events.

Officer Diversity May Reduce Black Americans’ Fear of the Police (Re-Blog)

Would police racial and gender diversification reduce Black Americans' fear of the police? The theory of representative bureaucracy indicates that it might. We tested the effects of officer diversity in two experiments embedded in a national survey …

Dr. Huff: Wrapping up my first year as an AC/DC instructor

Over the past year, I’ve been a founding instructor for the American Society of Evidence-Based Policing (ASEBP) Applied Criminology & Data Management Course (AC/DC), funded by the National Institute of Justice.

We had a great time in Philadelphia at the 2023 ASC Meeting!

We were a busy group at ASC this year, but we remembered to snap a few pictures at our second annual VIPR Lab Panel. First up, Natalie shared some preliminary results from our DHS-funded survey about screening practices:

Drs. Nix & Huff: When police pull back: Neighborhood-level effects of de-policing on violent and property crime (Re-Blog)

Many U.S. cities witnessed both de-policing and increased crime in 2020, yet it remains unclear whether the former contributed to the latter. Indeed, much of what is known about the effects of proactive policing on crime comes from studies that …

Drs. Kearns and Nix: How Generalizable are Findings from Police Surveys? (Re-Blog)

Policing scholars frequently use surveys to understand officer attitudes and behavioral intentions. Yet, it is difficult to gain access to one – let alone multiple – agencies. Thus, officer surveys often reflect views in a single department, making …

Introducing the VIPR Lab Grad Students!

[A fun night of candlestick bowling!] Brenna Dunlap I am a first year Ph.D. student working as a research assistant under Dr. Jessie Huff. Currently, we are evaluating a restorative justice program at a local police department and working on an in-depth assessment of neighborhood influences on police use of force.

Dr. Hashimi: Officer Networks and Firearm Behaviors: Assessing the Social Transmission of Weapon-Use

Background It is no secret that policing is group work – officers are assigned to beats/units, workgroups, and partnerships based on districts or specialized skills. Working in close contact, officers form tight bonds where they depend on one another for their safety and turn to one another for guidance and advice.

Dr. Huff: Can body-worn cameras eliminate differences in arrest and use of force in minority neighborhoods?

As an MA student in 2014, I watched protesters advocate for police reform to address racial/ethnic disparities after the death of Michael Brown at the hands of the police in Ferguson, Missouri.