IRJ Project List Project Title Boston Civilian Review Process Boston Police Department Diversity Committee Charles E. Shannon Community Safety Initiative Project Description The United States Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, granted funding to the Boston Police Department for them to hire an evaluator, (IRJ), to help them better understand and improve citizen oversight and involvement in their complaint review process. IRJ submitted a series of recommendations to the Commissioner of the Boston Police Department, offering strategies to improve citizen involvement with BPD s complaint process and in the review of excessive force incidents in December 2005. In the fall of 2006 the City of Boston released its model for a civilian oversight process, which adopted 80% of the recommendations included within IRJ s report. IRJ and its community advisory board partners have played a continuous role in assisting the city by offering suggestions to improve the model and increase citizen awareness and trust in the process. At the request of Boston Police Commissioner Davis, IRJ has agreed to assist the BPD with putting together and chairing a Diversity Committee for the BPD. The purpose of this Committee is to look at how to improve diversity within the workforce of the Boston Police Department, and eventually to assist the Commissioner with addressing a broader set of issues around diversity, as they arise throughout the city. Since 2006, IRJ has served as the Statewide Youth Violence Research Partner for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts funded Shannon Community Safety Initiative (Shannon CSI). The Shannon CSI is a multi-million dollar grant program funding communities to implement comprehensive and collaborative anti-gang efforts. Grantee communities are required to follow the Comprehensive Gang Model, a strategy supported as a best practice by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention in the U.S. Department of Justice. The CGM is based on extensive research showing that robust prevention and intervention efforts as well as suppression or enforcement activities are necessary to reduce gang and youth violence. In its capacity as the statewide research partner, IRJ provides research and technical assistance to the
Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS). Identifying Challenges to Improve the Investigation and Prosecution of State and Local Human Trafficking Cases Legal Representation in China National Police Research Platform Since the passage of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Prevention Act (TVPA) in 2000, federal prosecutions of human trafficking cases have risen substantially, but state and local trafficking prosecutions continue to lag despite the fact that forty-two states have criminalized human trafficking. Working in partnership with the Urban Institute, this project utilizes a multimethod approach to understand the challenges faced by local, county and state officials investigating and prosecuting human trafficking cases. Through a series of systematic case reviews and in-depth qualitative studies of the experiences of police, prosecutors, judges, other court officials and service providers, this study will provide a glimpse into the challenges faced by a targeted sample of twelve counties across the United States. Funded by a two-year grant from the MacArthur foundation, the basis of this project was the creation of a collaborative partnership between a major Chinese academic institution and Northeastern University in an effort to study the current state of the Chinese legal system, particularly legal representation of individuals. Due to the efforts of the principal investigators, Professor Phil He and Associate Dean Jack McDevitt, an agreement was made to work alongside faculty from Xiamen University (located in Fujian Provice, China) to (1) develop a ten page pilot survey for legal professionals that could be distributed throughout Fujian province, and (2) begin the process of collecting data on actual criminal court proceedings through direct observation inside the court room. During the course of the pilot study, over 640 surveys were completed by various actors within the legal system; law students, law school faculty, prosecuting attorneys, defense attorneys, people's assessors, and even judges. In addition, over 300 criminal case observation forms were completed by researchers on the ground in China. The National Police Research Platform is a long-term project designed to collect systematic data about individual police officers, supervisors, and organizations over time and to establish benchmarks for excellence in American policing. The Platform is expected to advance scientific knowledge and lead to improvements in police organizations that will directly benefit law enforcement personnel and the communities they serve.
Rhode Island Highway Safety Traffic Stop Date Collection Analysis and Reporting Project Train the Trainer Curriculum on Biased based Policing and Policing in a Diverse Society Understanding Trends in Hate Crimes against Immigrants and Hispanic Americans This project will continue the work of the Institute on Race and Justice in the area of allegations of racial profiling by police. This project will look at all the traffic stops from all law enforcement agencies in Rhode Island and will work with the R I division of Highway Safety and Ledge Light Technologies to determine if and racial or ethnic disparities exist in the traffic enforcement practices. IRJ researchers will also work with law enforcement agencies to help institutionalize these types of analyses into the normal practices of each agency. The Institute on Race and Justice developed a curriculum for the Municipal Police Institute to deliver to officers who are interested in becoming a trainer on: Biased Based Policing and Policing in a Diverse Society. This is a train the trainer curriculum which seeks to develop an array of local trainers across Massachusetts law enforcement agencies who can conduct biased based policing training for officers in their own department and in nearby agencies. The training is designed to provide participants with techniques on how to train other officers on issues of biased based policing, which will include: 1) The Problem of Racial Profiling and Perceptions of Biased Based Policing (2) Unconscious Bias (3) The Importance & Advantages of Engaging your local Community to address issues and concerns of race and policing and (4) Using Traffic Enforcement Data as a Management Tool. This project funded by the National Institute of Justice and being conducted in partnership with Abt Associates in Cambridge Ma. seeks to identify if hate crimes against Hispanics and Immigrants have increased during this time of increasing anti-immigrant rhetoric. The project will focus on five states (Arizona, California, Michigan, New Jersey and Texas) and look it the issue using both quantitative and qualitative approaches.
IRJ Higlights (2011- Present) Boston Civilian Review Process IRJ and its community advisory board partners continue to play a role in assisting the city with this process and on October 25 th 2011 the board hosted a meeting with members of the newly appointed COOP, Community Ombudsman Oversight Panel, which include: Damon Hart, Attorney for Ogletree Deakins in Boston; Rich Kelliher, Former Town Administrator of Brookline; and Natashia Tidwell, Professor at New England School of Law. The purpose of the meeting was to provide a forum for the COOP to meet the members of our advisory board and to discuss ways that our board can continue to assist the COOP in their efforts, specifically with raising public awareness about the process within the community. Train the Trainer Curriculum on Biased Based Policing IRJ was hired by the Municipal Police Institute to develop a two year Train the Trainer Program which focused on providing police professionals throughout Massachusetts with the training materials and skills to conduct biased based policing training within their own departments and nearby agencies. The curriculum was designed to educate trainers on issues of racial profiling and broader issues of bias and policing, including 1) The Problem of Racial Profiling and Perceptions of Biased Based Policing (2) Unconscious Bias (3) The Importance & Advantages of Engaging your local Community to address issues and concerns of race and policing and (4) Using Traffic Enforcement Data as a Management Tool. A total 45 Police Professionals registered and participated in some parts of the training which resulted in 27 police professionals and 18 Departments throughout the state completing the requirements to train other departments and officers on these issues. Connecticut Racial Profiling Project The Institute on Race and Justice was approached by the Municipal & Regional Policy Institute at Central Connecticut State University to join efforts on a project funded by the Department of Transportation to provide expertise and technical assistance with methodology, data analysis, training and implementing a public education process for a racial profiling study for the state of Connecticut. As part of this initiative, IRJ presented information at a legislative forum which was held on March 24 th 2012 and consisted of police chief s, community leaders, and members of the advisory board which will monitor and assist with the analysis process. Understanding the Organization, Operation and Victimization of Labor Trafficking in the United States The Institute on Race and Justice (IRJ) has subcontracted with Urban Institute (UI) on a project funded by the Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice (NIJ) that is designed to study
forced and exploitative labor and how labor traffickers victimize workers. Partnering with the Freedom Network, a coalition of non-governmental organizations providing services to trafficking victims across the country, UI and IRJ are conducting an in-depth case studies in four sites in different parts of the country to analyze the stages and components of labor trafficking. IRJ Community Advisory Board Collaboration with Boston Police Academy The Institute on Race and Justice and its Community Advisory Board are working in collaboration with the Head of Boston Police Training Academy and its Instructors to review and revise training curriculum to include training in the areas of youth and adolescent cognitive and social development as it relates to youth aggression and responses to authority; and to include topics on broader issues of improving relationships and trust between law enforcement and urban communities.