PERF Bookstore

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This is the first and only publication that discusses the consequences of abortion- related conflict from the perspective of law enforcement. Two thirds of all jurisdictions in the United States with at least one known abortion provider have experienced actual abortion-related incidents - ranging from protests and demonstrations to murder - in the five years preceding publication. But few police departments train their officers or establish guidelines for officers to use when responding to abortion-related conflicts or violence. This project was funded with the support of the Henry J. Kaiser Foundation.

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Police are expected to not only control crime, but also reduce fear, maintain order and manage social crises. Beyond Command and Control is a first step toward establishing a new police management orthodoxy - one that moves away from the traditional military command bureaucracy and toward a structure that fosters change and innovation. This new management philosophy borrows corporate strategies from the private sector to help define the goals of policing.

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As crime affects the economic vitality of cities throughout the United States, the ability of cities to fight and control crime must be improved. With just that in mind, Motorola and PERF engaged in a bold experiment to see how one private sector, quality improvement tool, called "process-mapping", could streamline internal operations in police departments. A Challenge to Change describes how eight police departments participated in the experiment, and the surprising results that came to the fore.

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Chief Concerns: Exploring the Challenges of Police Use of Force addresses many of the core issues surrounding police use of force and addresses the pressing topics of the day. The book offers readers a wealth of perspectives on current use-of-force issues, such as use-of-force policies and training tools, including firearms and less-lethal devices and handling the aftermath of an incident, including communicating with the public, building relationships with the media, investigating police use of force, and officer aftercare. Also included in the book, which was generously supported by Motorola Inc., are several compelling commentaries and articles that provide a variety of practitioner and other expert perspectives. They include matters related to leadership, agency culture, policy, tactics, training, less-lethal weapons, consent decrees, dealing with controversy, building trust, post-shooting trauma, and international perspectives.

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As more and more jurisdictions, large and small, establish review committees of community members in an effort to hold the police accountable for their actions, it is crucial that police leaders and policymakers be familiar with the policies and procedures in place across the country. In the Citizen Review Resource Manual, author Samuel Walker provides an overview of the state of citizen review, including a section of ordinances and statutes, executive and department orders, and other documents collected from more than 30 police departments nationwide.

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Citizen review of the police has steadily increased in the United States. In Citizen Review of the Police, 1994, authors Walker and Wright examine citizen review in the United States, addressing both its prevalence among cities and jurisdictions of various sizes and types of citizen review procedures.

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Command Performance: Career Guide for Police Executives is the culmination of a three-year project to bring you the most comprehensive and practical information on successfully competing for police executive positions and understanding the selection process. If you are interested in establishing or maintaining your position as a progressive leader in policing, you will not want to miss this opportunity. Written by a city manager, employment specialist and police researcher, the book provides useful resources, helpful advice and substantive briefings on issues related to career development as a police executive.

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This is the first and only publication that discusses the consequences of abortion-related conflict from the perspective of law enforcement. Two thirds of all jurisdictions in the United States with at least one known abortion provider have experienced actual abortion-related incidents - ranging from protests and demonstrations to murder - in the five years preceding publication. But few police departments train their officers or establish guidelines for officers to use when responding to abortion-related conflicts or violence. This project was funded with the support of the Henry J. Kaiser Foundation.

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Crime Analysis Through Computer Mapping offers a comprehensive view of spatial crime analysis as it is being applied in law enforcement agencies across he country. Published in conjunction with the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA), Crime Analysis Through Computer Mapping consists of 25 essays written by practitioners and scholars for a 1993 computer mapping workshop organized by ICJIA and the sociology department of Loyola University of Chicago. It offers practical advice for both police professionals interested in implementing computer mapping in their agencies and students of spatial analysis interested in learning the detailed applications of this technology. It remains a classic among those interested in computer mapping.

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PERF and the National Institute of Justice Crime Mapping Research Center (CMRC) collaborated in this volume to highlight various criminal justice agencies' successes with applying mapping to their problem-solving, prevention and enforcement efforts. The book encourages agencies' use of crime mapping and offers ideas on various ways to apply geographic information systems (GIS) and mapping. Readers have the opportunity to form their own opinions about the efficacy and applicability of these efforts to their own jurisdictions.

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This second PERF-CMRC volume of crime mapping case studies meets increasing demands for practical information on how crime mapping technologies can be applied to community and police agency problems. It highlights such issues as gun violence, drug crackdowns, neighborhood watch efficacy, identifying serial suspects, sex offender registrant compliance, gang suppression, police agency redistricting/staffing, and many more. Written by practitioners, this volume is a must-read for students, police professionals, policymakers and others interested in accurate information that supports crime control and community policing aids in suspect apprehension and prosecution and improves law enforcement operations.

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More metal detectors, school security personnel and other target-hardening approaches alone fail to make our schools safer. Crime in the Schools provides a student-oriented response that builds on the success of police problem-solving efforts. The authors outline a tested curriculum that empowers students to make creative uses of school, student, faculty and police resources to combat the fear and disorder problems many experience during the school day. The School Safety Program applies the police problem-solving model, used successfully in community policing efforts nationwide, to school situations.

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Violent Crime and the Economic Crisis: Police Chiefs Face a New Challenge, Part I describes the earliest research on the impact of the economic crisis of 2008 on police departments. In the spring and summer of that year, it was becoming clear that the U.S. economy was undergoing severe stress. So in July, PERF conducted a survey of police agencies, and found that nearly 40 percent of those surveyed had already experienced a cut in their operating budgets. In October 2008, PERF presented those findings to a Summit of police executives, who provided in-depth analysis of how the economic crisis was affecting their departments. For example, Minneapolis officials warned that sharp increases in home foreclosures would cause problems for police, because vacant homes contribute to a sense of blight and increased crime. This report also describes a number of anti-crime programs that police departments were undertaking to ensure that violent crime would remain on a downward trend.

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Violent Crime and the Economic Crisis: Police Chiefs Face a New Challenge, Part II, released in May 2009, reflects the growing concern among local police and sheriffs’ departments about the impact of the recession on policing. PERF conducted a survey of law enforcement agencies in December 2008 and found that nearly two-thirds of all respondents were planning an overall cut in their total funding for the upcoming fiscal year. And many had already cut funding in critical areas for example, 62 percent had cut overtime spending. Because the large majority of spending in most police departments goes to personnel costs, nearly one-third of the departments were planning cuts in sworn personnel—even though there was broad agreement that sworn personnel should be the last thing cut in a police budget. Because there was strong interest in this issue nationwide, this PERF report received coverage by dozens of newspapers and television news outlets, starting with USA Today and ABC News.

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Violent Crime in America: What We Know About Hot Spots Enforcement, released in May 2008, came at a time when police departments across the United States were achieving success in driving down violent crime rates, following increases in violence in 2005 and 2006. It was evident that “hot spots” enforcement (which involves focusing police resources on the particular locations that generate large numbers of calls for service or crime reports) played a key role in those crime reductions. This report provides details of what hot-spots enforcement meant in various cities. For example, in Los Angeles, 55 percent of homicides were gang-related, so police focused on gang enforcement, such as intense intervention following a gang shooting in order to prevent retaliatory shootings. Police chiefs from other cities described tactics such as increased use of traffic stops to deal with crime hot spots, or street closures to shut down open-air drug markets.

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By absorbing the lessons learned by national and international policing partners, the work of bomb squads and specialists, and the progressive actions of a number of departments, PERF hopes to provide information to initiate the development of training and policy as well as to foster further discussion on this complex and sensitive topic.

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This book is the fourth in the ongoing Critical Issues in Policing series supported by Motorola and focuses on building community trust around issues of force, including the management of high-profile incidents managing police use of force while interacting with people with mental illness, emphasizing specialized approaches and promising training examining less-lethal technology both currently available and future devices as well as discussing how technology relates to less-lethal force decision-making and presenting a glossary of terms on conducted energy devices and proposed national guidelines for their use.

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This report summarizes what we learned last year from our members and other policing experts about trends in gang activity and police strategies to reduce the harmful impact of gangs in our cities. PERF conducted a survey of police agencies and convened a Summit in Chicago last May to explore these issues, and this report aims to capture our findings. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of our members who completed our survey. As you will see, police departments across the country are tracking changes in the gangs they are dealing with, such as the emergence of many local, unorganized gangs, and increased use of guns by gang members. The police chiefs quoted in this report also describe the strategies they are finding most effective, such as targeting gang leaders for federal prosecution. There was strong agreement that police need to work with other agencies and develop comprehensive approaches that combine enforcement with gang prevention and social intervention measures.

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Guns and Crime: Breaking New Ground by Focusing on the Local Impact, released in May 2010, describes an ambitious project by PERF designed to break new ground on the question of what local police can do to reduce gun crime. With the federal government deadlocked on gun enforcement issues, PERF focused on what state and local law enforcement agencies have been doing to prevent and investigate crimes committed with guns.   This report describes the findings from a PERF Summit that included not only local police executives and ATF officials, but also representatives of gun control and gun industry groups. Police chiefs clashed with the gun industry officials over the question of gun “microstamping” technology, but consensus was reached on one point: All agreed that mandatory minimum sentences for illegal “straw purchases” of firearms would help ensure that persons who buy guns on behalf of criminals receive appropriate criminal penalties.

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Police Chiefs and Sheriffs Speak Out on Local Immigration Enforcement, released in early 2008, was one of the earliest reports to provide detailed information about the growing concern of police chiefs across the nation about the illegal immigration issue. Specifically, the key question is the extent to which local police and sheriffs’ agencies should be involved in enforcing federal immigration laws. This report provides the results of a survey that PERF conducted on this issue, as well as the views of local police executives who participated in a PERF Summit. The Summit produced consensus among the chiefs on several points, including the view that it is appropriate to check suspects’ immigration status at the time of arrest and booking for serious offenses. Chiefs expressed several concerns about increased local enforcement, particularly that they lack sufficient personnel to take on the task, and that enforcement can undermine the trust between police and immigrant community members.

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Today's police are called upon to handle an increasingly diverse array of community problems, some of which they lack the authority or expertise to resolve. Consequently, some law enforcement agencies have turned to dispute resolution as a means for working with professionals from other fields to develop new problem-solving strategies.

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This book is based on interviews with 25 experienced police chiefs regarding the lessons they have learned about performing the job of police chief. The book consists almost entirely of chiefs¿ quotations about the real-world pitfalls they have encountered, the sources of job satisfaction they have found, and the ways they deal with the stresses of the job. Topics include: preparing for the job of police chief how to decide whether a chief¿s position in a particular city is a good ¿fit¿ for you the challenges involved in applying for a chief¿s position making the transition to chief developing and empowering your command team working well with your mayor and other ¿bosses,¿ the community, and your employees the elements of an effective news media strategy stepping up to racial issues the challenges faced by female police chiefs and measures of success.

A chief's tenure is relatively short in comparison with other professions. Yet, to make significant improvements in any department, a police chief must survive long enough to see new programs through. Drawing on the experiences and observations of some of the nation's most respected police administrators, Managing for Success guides new chiefs through the application process, the first few weeks on the job and the honeymoon period. Although it focuses on the initial stages of the job changing process, the book will also be of value to established law enforcement executives who want to know how they can survive the pressures of conflicting demands yet remain effective. The book includes an insert that offers advice to police chiefs who have been fired.

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Today law enforcement officials are challenged with balancing the daily responsibilities of maintaining public order and safety with the need for emergency preparedness¿often with fewer resources than they have had in the past. As law enforcement executives spend more time thinking about increases in violent crime, the threat of terrorism, and other issues, the threat of an influenza pandemic may not be high on the list of planning priorities. However, a pandemic flu has the potential to cause more death, illness, and social and economic disruption than most other threats faced by law enforcement. This document describes the efforts of four very different police departments¿in London, England Toronto, Ontario Fairfax County, Va. and Overland Park, Kansas¿to develop plans for dealing with a flu pandemic. All four departments recognize that the challenge has two basic parts: responding to the increased demand for services that a pandemic would cause and doing so with a reduced workforce, as some of their own officers become ill or need to stay home to attend to sick family members. Two chapters (¿Summary of Findings¿ and ¿Lessons from the Field¿) contain practical tips that readers can apply to public health emergency planning strategies in their own departments.

BUY ALL THREE POP BOOKS FOR: Member: $65 and Nonmember: $75 The second in the problem-solving series, this book focuses on practical problem-solving efforts that resolve long-term issues in addressing community problems. It focuses on such issues as domestic violence, repeat burglaries, the role of investigators in community policing, crime mapping and other concerns of police professionals and community problem solvers. It is an excellent reader for classroom and training forums.

BUY ALL THREE POP BOOKS FOR: Member: $65 and Nonmember: $75 The third in the problem-solving series, this book focuses on emerging issues in addressing community problems. It focuses on such issues as hate crimes, stalking, crime in public housing, public disorder and other issues of concern to police problem solvers.

BUY ALL THREE POP BOOKS FOR: Member: $65 and Nonmember: $75 The second in the problem-solving series, this book focuses on practical problem-solving efforts that resolve long-term issues in addressing community problems. It focuses on such issues as domestic violence, repeat burglaries, the role of investigators in community policing, crime mapping and other concerns of police professionals and community problem solvers. It is an excellent reader for classroom and training forums.

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