Daniel S Lawrence

Shout out to the great team that made this so successful, including Brittany Cunningham, Chip Coldren, Bryce Peterson, Jennifer Lafferty, Keri Richardson from CNA Corporation, with support from Mike White and Danielle S. Rudes.

The NIJ final report on the study: ojp.gov/pdffiles1/ni...

There are also these magazine articles:

American Jails Magazine: americanjailassociation.foleon.com/american-jai...

Corrections Today:
user-3imepyw.cld.bz/Corrections-...

A study on how officer perspectives changed during the study: tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...

A CNA brief on the differences in evidence collection across the body-worn cameras and stational cameras: cna.org/reports/2023...

The awarded study on the cameras’ impact on responses to resistance: tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

A study on the cameras’ impact on resident injuries during responses to resistance: sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Very excited for the team to win ASC's Division of Experimental Criminology's Outstanding Experimental Field Trial award. This work is from our study that conducted the first randomized controlled trial of body-worn cameras in a correctional facility. Full list of pubs in thread:

Decided to update my publications on my website by topical area.

They include:
Body-worn cameras
Diversion Programs
Gunshot Detection Technology
Improving Interactions
Intelligence Centers
Officer Wellness
Agency Assessment
Prosecution
Surveillance

Check them out here: daniel-s-lawrence.com

#APB Spotlight Day 12!
When do officers actually activate body-worn cameras (BWCs)? Research by Ashlin Oglesby-Neal, Bryce Peterson, & @danslawrence.bsky.social explores 1 million+ officer-event records from Milwaukee PD, and finds big variations. 🧵👇(1/4)

#APB Spotlight Day 10!

Law enforcement suicide is a national crisis.

Research by @danslawrence.bsky.social, Jessica Dockstader, & @kepadil.bsky.social breaks down 977 officer deaths by suicide in the U.S. (2016–2022) and shows where, and among whom, the risk is highest. 🧵(1/4)

Having my research be included in a report like PERF about a topic I've devoted my career to is an absolute dream. Thank you Police Executive Research Forum for sharing the work done by @danslawrence.bsky.social Jessica Dockstader, CWP and I!

www.policeforum.org/trending29ma...

Or download the preprint here: assets.pubpub.org/kpmwqxtp/Pet...

The nexus of data and technology: a scoping review of established and emerging law enforcement intelligence centers Many United States law enforcement agencies have integrated their crime intelligence and technological capabilities into various ‘centers,’ including fusion centers, crime gun intelligence centers ...

The article goes into much more detail. Special shoutout to @Bryce Peterson for this one. Grab one of the 50 free eprints while they last: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/9EWYS...

I’ll leave it at that, but the clear lack of rigorous research on all four types of LEICs is concerning. As these centers are increasingly adopted by law enforcement agencies nationwide, the absence of high-quality studies leaves a significant gap in understanding their effectiveness and impact.

We found the research to show that CGIC, RTCCs, and CICs can improve criminal investigations of various types of violent crime, as measured by increased clearance rates. CICs may also prevent crime, though this effect was not consistently observed for RTCCs and CGICs.

Furthermore, the majority of studies (56%) focused on fusion centers, which also tended to be descriptive in nature and based on stakeholder perceptions. On the other hand, most studies of the other three LEICs examined their direct impact on relevant outcomes.

A main takeaway: Studies of LEICs were generally limited in methodological rigor. Only 4 of the 34 studies received a Maryland Scientific Methods Scale score of 3, which is considered the lowest possible score for determining causality of an intervention.

I won’t bore you with the details, but the study conducted a scoping review of the literature, identifying 41 publications across 34 different studies that focused on one of the four types of LEICs.

The article goes into more detail on these definitions, but we hope these definitions can offer clear distinctions of law enforcement intelligence centers for the field moving forward.

First, CIC personnel gather and share intelligence on crimes within smaller areas, like precincts or districts, rather than citywide. Second, CICs produce actionable, localized info for district command staff to guide directed patrols and other proactive policing efforts.

Real-time crime centers (RTCC), which provide real-time information to officers responding to crime incidents and offer retroactive investigative support; and crime information centers (CIC), the newest LEIC, which share some similarities with RTCCs but are distinct in 2 ways:

We identified four types of LEICs, which are all used by law enforcement agencies across the country. They include fusion centers, which focus on counter terrorism efforts; crime gun intelligence centers (CGICs), which focus on firearm investigations and forensics; …

I’m particularly excited for this one, as I feel it’ll help move the field in the right direction. Our NEW study defines and reviews the literature associated with law enforcement intelligence centers (LEICs). The main takeaway: These centers need to be studied more!

And here is the link to the preprint: assets.pubpub.org/upktuq6s/Law...

The article goes into much more detail. Special shoutout the other authors on this, @kepadil.bsky.social and Jessica Dockstader. Here is the link to the version of record: rdcu.be/ecczM

Finally, PTSD increases suicide risk, but good mental health helps mitigate it. Those with better psychological wellbeing face less severe suicidal ideation, highlighting the need for strong mental health support in policing, which can lessen suicide risk even for those with PTSD.

Our law enforcement sample showed PTSD rates over twice that of the general population (18% vs. 8.5%). PTSD in officers is linked to poor mental and physical health, cardiovascular issues, sleep disorders, and harmful behaviors like violence, anger, depression, and substance misuse.

And a total of 3.1% advised having a past suicide attempt, which is well above the national average among adults 18 or older, which was estimated at 0.6% in 2023. Given the likelihood that these admissions are conservative, underreported estimates, they should be taken seriously.

What can we take from these results? First and foremost, while approximately 75% of respondents reported never having had suicidal ideation, 25% reported having contemplated, planned, or attempted suicide in the past.

We then conducted a mediation regression analysis to further investigate the relationships between mental health, PTSD, and suicidal ideation. Results indicate partial mediation, where PTSD leads to lower mental health, which, in turn, results in more severe suicidal ideation.

But only agency size remained a significant factor once the psychological metrics were added. And the leading aspects predicting suicidal ideation were, perhaps not surprisingly, poor mental health and being positive for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Apologies for the big regression table but I wanted to show the full model that sequentially adds domains. Prior to including the psychological metrics, sex, relationship status, agency size, alcohol consumption, and physical health were all factors predicting suicidal ideation.