Thank Me With TEA!

Lecture 1

Important

  • Standardization of evidence-based practice – The systematic application of research evidence to decision-making, adapted from medicine, ensuring police interventions are grounded in empirical testing rather than unverified assumptions.
  • Tracking police outputs – The rigorous recording and measurement of specific police actions to establish whether implemented strategies directly produce desired outcomes, preventing the confusion of work volume with actual success.
  • Crime severity and harm index – A measurement approach that evaluates criminal incidents based on the harm and severity they cause rather than simple occurrence volume, allowing high-harm offenses to be prioritized over low-harm property crimes.
  • Limitations of calls for service – Data representing public reporting frequency and officer visibility rather than a true or complete measure of underlying crime prevalence.
  • Temporal crime trends – The analysis of daily and hourly patterns in police calls and occurrences, essential for strategically deploying officers during peak activity periods.

Core concepts

  • Applied Police Research Briefs: A knowledge-mobilization initiative co-founded by Dr. Craig Bennell and Dr. Kurt Luther that translates lengthy academic studies into concise, two-page practical summaries for law enforcement practitioners.
  • Evidence-Based Policing (EBP): An operational paradigm that uses the best available scientific research to guide police tactics, policy formulation, and organizational decision-making.
  • Triple-T Strategy (Targeting, Testing, Tracking): A framework for evidence-based policing focused on identifying micro-place crime problems (Targeting), deploying proven interventions under controlled conditions (Testing), and measuring implementation fidelity and operational outputs (Tracking).
  • Toxic Drug Crisis and Open Drug Markets: A public health emergency driven by illicit synthetic opioids (fentanyl) that manifests as concentrated public safety challenges—such as violence, theft, and public disorder—in urban micro-places.
  • Hotspot & Micro-Place Policing: The practice of concentrating police presence and problem-solving efforts on small, specific geographic areas (e.g., street corners or 250-metre hexagons) where crime is disproportionately concentrated.
  • Cross-System Multi-Agency Coalitions: Collaborative governance structures that bring together distinct public silos (police, public health, social services, municipal departments) to address complex, horizontal social and health issues.
  • Gamification of Police Patrols: An operational approach using mobile geofenced mapping software (e.g., Versaterm) to track 15-minute officer foot patrols, visually shifting hot zones from red to green to encourage officer compliance with required patrol dosages.

Theories and Frameworks

  • SARA Model (Scanning, Analysis, Response, Assessment): A four-stage problem-oriented policing framework used to identify specific issues, analyze environmental root causes, execute targeted responses, and evaluate results.
  • Pareto Principle / Law of Crime Concentration: A criminological rule stating that a very small proportion of micro-geographic places accounts for a vast majority of total crime and disorder.
  • Crime Triangle (Routine Activity Theory): A framework holding that a crime occurs when a motivated offender, a suitable target or victim, and a place come together in the absence of a capable guardian.
  • Koper Curve (15-Minute Patrol Rule): An empirical model showing that police presence in a hotspot generates optimal deterrence when maintained for approximately 15 minutes, after which additional time yields diminishing returns.
  • Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED): An environmental framework utilizing structural modifications—such as enhanced lighting, natural sightlines, access management, and territorial reinforcement—to reduce crime opportunities.
  • Deming / PDCA Cycle (Plan, Do, Study, Act): A continuous process-improvement model adapted from manufacturing that uses iterative testing, evaluation, and operational refinement.
  • Peel’s Nine Principles of Policing: A foundational framework for democratic policing holding that the ultimate test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, operated through public consent and the rule of law.

Notable Individuals

  • Dr. Craig Bennell: Forensics researcher and co-founder of Applied Police Research Briefs who created a journal platform for condensing academic literature for police practitioners.
  • Dr. Kurt Luther: Researcher and co-founder of Applied Police Research Briefs involved in knowledge mobilization for law enforcement.
  • Dr. Guy Lacroix: Chair of the Psychology Department at Carleton University who instituted a standardized department-wide 72-hour assignment extension policy.
  • Chief Eric Stubbs: Chief of the Ottawa Police Service who commissioned the development of the Community Outreach Response Engagement (CORE) strategy for downtown Ottawa.
  • Claudia Gross Shader: Seattle research director and author of key practical implementation guides on place-based problem solving and micro-place safety interventions.
  • Dr. David Weisburd: Renowned criminologist at George Mason University who formulated the law of crime concentration in micro-places.
  • Dr. Charlotte Gill: Deputy Director at George Mason University who researches local government place-based crime interventions and multi-agency responses.
  • Dr. Cynthia Lum: Criminologist and professor at George Mason University specializing in evidence-based policing translation and operational practice.
  • Herman Goldstein: Criminologist who developed the Problem-Oriented Policing (POP) framework in the early 1980s.
  • Dr. Joel Caplan: Rutgers University professor who pioneered Risk Terrain Modeling and studied the environmental features of micro-places.
  • Dr. Christopher Koper: Criminologist who established the 15-minute optimal patrol duration principle known as the Koper curve.
  • Dr. Richard Johnson: Police researcher who conducted empirical studies on high-visibility Battenberg vehicle designs and officer appearance.

Reading Summaries

1. Jose et al. (2025)

  • Title & Authors: “The cognitive paradox of AI in education: between enhancement and erosion” by Binny Jose, Jaya Cherian, Alie Molly Verghis, Sony Mary Varghise, Mumthas S, and Sibichan Joseph (published in Frontiers in Psychology).
  • Core Topic: Examines the dual impact of artificial intelligence tools in educational settings, exploring the tension between cognitive enhancement and cognitive erosion.
  • Key Findings:
    • Analyzes the concept of cognitive offloading, where learners rely on external AI tools to complete intellectual tasks.
    • Warns that while AI tools increase efficiency, over-reliance reduces opportunities for active recall, memory retention, and critical problem-solving skills required for long-term cognitive development.

2. Klose (2024)

  • Title & Author: “Re-defining evidence-based policing” by Stephan Klose (published in Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice).
  • Core Definition: Re-defines evidence-based policing (EBP) as a decision-making process that integrates three core components: the best available evidence, professional judgement, and community values, preferences, and circumstances.
  • Key Arguments:
    • Framework positions EBP as a research-informed, practitioner-centred, and community-oriented approach.
    • Connects EBP with established frameworks in related fields—such as evidence-based medicine—to resolve interdisciplinary misunderstandings.
    • Advocates combining diverse research methodologies (including mixed-methods research and non-experimental evidence synthesis like the EMMIE framework) rather than strictly relying on randomized controlled trials.

3. Inquest into the Death of Abdirahman Abdi

  • Background: Ontario Coroner’s Inquest verdict received on December 17, 2024 (presided over by Dr. David Eden) regarding the July 2016 death of 38-year-old Abdirahman Abdi following a struggle during a police response (cause of death: post-cardiac arrest encephalopathy following blunt trauma; means: homicide).
  • Key Recommendations:
    • Mental Health Advisory Council: Recommends that the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) establish an enduring advisory council with executive leadership and members from peer-run organizations representing persons with lived experience.
    • Anti-Black Racism & Training: Calls on OPS to consult the Community Equity Council (CEC) to overhaul mandatory training on anti-Black racism, implicit bias awareness, and cultural competency, incorporating scenario-based testing and evaluation.
    • Use of Force & Accountability: Directs OPS to report historical use-of-force racial disparities, expand body-worn camera (BWC) reviews for officer evaluation, and update defensive tactics manuals regarding the severe risks of head strikes.
    • Duty of Care & De-escalation: Demands mandatory training on avoiding positional asphyxia, managing prone restraint, prioritizing non-application of force, and fulfilling medical duty-of-care obligations (including CPR/first aid for unconscious individuals).
    • Community Response Models: Recommends funding and expanding 24/7 community-based, peer-led crisis response initiatives (such as ANCHOR) across Ottawa.

4. RCMP Commissioner’s Mandate Letter

  • Context: Updated mandate letter sent by Minister of Public Safety Marco Mendicino to RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki (dated May 27, 2022).
  • Overarching Objectives: Prioritizes comprehensive policing reform, addressing systemic racism, eliminating workplace harassment and discrimination, and building a culture of accountability and inclusion.
  • Specific Reform Directives:
    • Governance & Oversight: Enhancing the oversight role of the Management Advisory Board and establishing the Independent Centre for Harassment Resolution (ICHR) as a fully external body.
    • Use of Force Restrictions: Prohibiting the use of neck restraints under any circumstance, banning tear gas and rubber bullets for crowd control, and creating national standards for use of force and crisis intervention.
    • Reconciliation & Inclusion: Advancing Indigenous reconciliation (including support for Residential School truth-seeking and MMIWG2S+ actions), ensuring 2SLGBTQI+ inclusion, and modernizing recruitment to increase representation of Indigenous and Black members.
    • Intimate Partner Violence & Firearms: Instructing immediate coordination with Chief Firearms Officers to respond without delay to intimate partner violence (IPV) safety concerns involving firearms and supporting handgun buyback programs.

5. Mass Casualty Commission (2023) – Police Recommendations (p.34-68)

  • Context: Excerpted Volume 5 (“Policing”) recommendations from the Final Report of the Mass Casualty Commission investigating the April 2020 Nova Scotia mass casualty.
  • Major Recommendation Clusters:
    • Critical Incident Response (P.1–P.9, P.13–P.15): Sets out five core principles for emergency preparation, mandates on-scene NCO supervision, requires immediate assignment of accredited Critical Incident Commanders, and enforces an “ethic of care” for 911 callers.
    • Public Communication & Warning Systems (P.17–P.21, P.26, P.28): Requires immediate public threat alerts, addresses myths regarding community panic, embeds public communications staff directly into command posts, and sets strict policies on timely media disclosure.
    • Independent Oversight & SiRT (P.23–P.25, P.28–P.35): Mandates operational debriefs, annual public reports on institutional learning, arm’s-length after-action reviews within 90 days, and grants the Serious Incident Response Team (SiRT) exclusive, independent authority over police-involved crime scenes and investigations.
    • Institutional Restructuring & Training Modernization (P.37–P.50, P.56, P.57): Recommends an institutional policy of admitting mistakes, publishing ministerial directives in the Canada Gazette, commissioning an independent external review of the RCMP, phasing out the Depot training model by 2032 in favour of a three-year degree-based police education model, and replacing existing use-of-force policies with principles from the Finnish Police Act.
    • Accountability & Implementation (P.75): Calls for establishing a jointly funded Implementation and Mutual Accountability Body comprising affected family members, Indigenous representatives, gender-based violence advocates, and police leadership to monitor progress quarterly.