Articles

Technology has advanced to the point that automatic or autonomous vehicles – self-driving cars – are a meaningful possibility for the near future. Rather than waiting until a significant number of vehicles are operating without direct human control to assess the public safety implications of such a circumstance, this publication discusses the potential benefits and drawbacks of the increasing use of this type of technology and outlines the anticipated differences in the ways law enforcement will be called upon to…

Missing persons cases can consume a lot of police and other resources – more than is commonly realized. Moreover, in high-profile cases, police executives can feel a great deal of pressure to authorize those resources to maximize the chances of locating the person and to be seen as doing all that they can. Missing Persons (part of the Problem-Oriented Guides for Police series) describes the problem of missing persons, reviews risk factors and poses a series of questions to help…

An FBI database established in 2021 to help prevent law enforcement suicides and increase awareness and understanding of the occurrences is now online. The Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection (LESDC) was recently added to the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer platform, a dynamic online clearinghouse of FBI statistics and research. The collection displays the most current information about suicides and suicide attempts from participating law enforcement agencies. Data includes circumstances surrounding law enforcement suicides and suicide attempts, general locations, demographics, occupations, and the methods used….

Forensic data often remains archived in state and local labs which is only used to solve and prosecute individual crimes. Using a forensic intelligence approach instead, agencies can use datasets to link and track crime patterns, helping to solve, disrupt and prevent crime.   The NIJ Forensic Intelligence Framework provides guidance for state and local law enforcement agencies and their forensic laboratories to develop or enhance a forensic intelligence program.   The benefits of forensic intelligence practices include:  Early identification and elimination…

Bloodstain pattern analysis is a forensic science discipline which reconstructs a blood shedding event and can provide crucial evidence in some legal cases.   Several reports have questioned the validity of bloodstain pattern analysis, including a 2009 National Research Council report and one in 2016 by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. These reports called for more objective methods in forensic science and a better understanding of the error rates of current practices.   In response, the…

The Bureau of Justice Statistics has recently released, “State and Local Law Enforcement Training Academies and Recruits, 2022 – Statistical Tables.” The report describes the number and types of law enforcement training academies in the United States in 2022 and it presents findings on the characteristics of recruits and training outcomes. Findings in the report are based primarily on the 2022 Census of Law Enforcement Training Academies (CLETA), the fifth iteration of the data collection. Conducted periodically since 2002, CLETA collects…