POLICE FOUNDATION

1. Rely on scientific evidence to address some of the most rudimentary and complex issues in the criminal justice system.

2. Explore innovative approaches and tools to develop effective solutions rooted in research.

3. Enlighten scholars and practitioners alike, serving both as a model for systematic examination of real-world challenges and a stimulus for dialogue among the police, policy makers, scholars, the public, and the media.

4. Through research and ongoing dialogue, generate new ideas for research and practice.

Conduct Research:
We are committed to rigorous and unbiased research and evaluation, and in the spirit of evidence-based policing, we are committed to continual learning and improvement of law enforcement practices. We conduct scientific research and experiments to serve as a catalyst for significant changes in policing. Our research stimulates fact-based dialogue among the police, policymakers, scholars, the public, and the media. That ongoing dialogue contributes to new ideas for research, policy, and practice.

Explore Innovation:
We are committed to identifying future needs and technologies that may impact policing and assisting police leaders in making thoughtful decisions about the introduction and use of such technologies to the workforce and the community. Every year, major technological advances are made that provide new opportunities to impact violence and crime. From unmanned aerial systems, machine learning, and body-worn cameras, to artificial intelligence, facial recognition tools and robotics, law enforcement leaders are continuously offered new technologies and promises to have urgently needed impact. We examine how these innovations actually impact police decision-making and communities, and how we can better leverage these advances ethically and responsibly to solve policing problems and community concerns.

Promote Safety:
We are committed to initiatives that reduce officer injuries and fatalities and improve overall officer wellness. With equivalent urgency, we leverage science and data to improve the safety of those in our communities, many of whom live in fear of crime, violence, and victimization.

Emphasize Community Engagement and Involvement:
We consistently promote community engagement and involvement to address the critical challenge of legitimacy and community trust. We identify strategies and approaches to improve police - community communications and trust.

The National Policing Institute is an independent, non-partisan and non-membership organization dedicated to advancing policing through innovation and science. As such, the National Policing Institute can conduct its work and provide services that are independent of partisan, corporate or member views and only influenced by science, facts and data, which makes it unique among most other law enforcement professional organizations and associations.

The National Policing Institute, founded as the Police Foundation, has been in existence for over 50 years, making it the oldest non-membership, nationally-known nonprofit organization solely dedicated to improving policing. Over the last 50 years, the National Policing Institute has supported or conducted numerous scientific studies in policing, many of which are now considered historic or seminal research (e.g., the Kansas City Preventative Patrol Experiment), which not only changed policing as we once knew it, but continue to influence policing today.

The National Policing Institute has also worked with federal funding partners, state governments, cities, counties, and private sector organizations to conduct studies, assessments, training, and technical assistance related to crime and policing. This work has included organizational, operational, technological and administrative analysis and assessments as well as assessments of responses to crime and disorder and the extent to which evidence-based approaches are or could be leveraged.

The Institute’s role as an organization dedicated to examining and encouraging the use of science- or evidence-based and innovative approaches to improve policing allows it to bring a highly-specialized and unique perspective to its work and results and to align recommendations with effective strategies and approaches.

Although the National Policing Institute has enjoyed over 50 years of leadership in our field, its opportunities and impact have grown exponentially over the last seven years. Emphasizing the incorporation of science and innovation in all that we do, we have expanded our reach and impact across the U.S. and internationally. Our critical incident reviews of major acts of mass violence have led to significant changes in how we respond to these tragedies, we are embracing new technologies to explore the positive impacts they may have in policing and to protect communities, and through our reform initiatives, we have worked together with communities, police officers, and police leaders to make positive, sustainable changes towards what has been referred to as “rightful policing.”

We’ve touched and learned from policing in other democratic nations as our international work and interests have expanded. We’ve entered into new areas such as combating violent extremism and the management of jail operations by law enforcement agencies, and continued with our traditions of groundbreaking research as described in this report.

We are engaged at local, state, national, and international levels, working hand-in-hand with some of the most thoughtful and capable law enforcement leaders in the world, and their counterparts and partners in government, communities, academia, and industry. Our leadership has the extraordinary ability to cast a collaborative, innovative, and forward-thinking vision of what “could be” that has served to bring together those who may have differing perspectives but share a common goal – justice, safety, and dignity for all.

Looking ahead we aim to further expand our portfolio to explore and identify ways to continuously advance policing – not only through federally funded initiatives, but through privately funded efforts and partnerships that bring collaborative innovators together. We will continue to be the nation’s preeminent independent and non-partisan research and practice organization supporting the advancement of policing.