PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive literature review of prior empirical studies that have examined early intervention (EI) systems or programs in policing.Design/methodology/approachA systematic literature search of various government and academic databases (e.g. Emerald, Google Scholar, National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS), Sage, Taylor & Francis and Wiley) was conducted.FindingsThis systematic review identified eight EI studies that matched the selection criteria. Of these, two are multiagency studies and six are individual agency studies. Findings across studies are generally positive but overall relatively inconsistent with regard to EI systems' effectiveness.Practical implicationsPolice agencies benefit in identifying and addressing at-risk officers to ensure police accountability and officer safety, health and wellness. This research is invaluable for optimizing how EI systems can use agency data for such predictions.Originality/valueThis state-of-the-art review on EI systems in policing is the first of its kind. EI systems have been implemented by many police agencies, yet a limited number of empirical studies have been conducted. This systematic review will be useful for researchers who wish to further explore how EI systems are utilized and whether EI systems are successful/effective.

Increasing transparency and accountability in policing is a top priority for police administrators, community groups, academics, and many others. The internal affairs process is an accountability tool designed to hold officers and agencies accountable to the citizens they serve, yet very little is known about the effect of internal investigative units on such outcomes as subsequent complaints and temporal distances between complaints. This current study examines two critical aspects of the internal affairs process, the likelihood of subsequent complaints and temporal distance between the first and a subsequent complaint of misconduct. Officers’ complaint data were collected from the internal affairs unit of a large, metropolitan police agency in the southwestern United States. Results indicate that a longer time to initial complaint and regional patrol assignment were related to a reduced likelihood of receiving future complaints. Moreover, of those officers who received a subsequent complaint after their initial complaint, more than half did so within the first year, and 94% did so within the first three years of receiving their initial complaint. Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings on policy and training opportunities, supervision, mentoring, accountability, and Early Intervention (EI) systems.

Police force, though rare, has profound implications for citizens and officers involved and the community-at-large. It is vital for police agencies to review officer use of force, identify potential misconduct, and reduce repeated officer misconduct. Yet, little is known about what predicts subsequent uses of force and temporal distance between uses of force. The current study employs use of force data from a large, metropolitan police agency in the southwestern United States to examine the likelihood and timing between repeated uses of force. Results indicate officers may be affected by police-citizen encounters, as the likelihood of a subsequent use of force was reduced when their initial use of force occurred in neighborhoods with higher minority composition and the time to a subsequent use of force increased when their initial use of force resulted in citizen injury. For officers with a subsequent use of force, more than half had their next use of force within 3 months of their initial use of force, and 93% did so within a year of their initial use of force. Policy implications include enhanced supervision for new officers and accountability tools such as internal affairs and early intervention (EI) systems.

Prior research on crime hot spots has been mostly concerned with the analyses of cross-sectional data or short-term aggregations. Less research, however, has conducted longitudinal analyses on homicide hot spots and their dynamic behavior over time. The current study assessed 5 years of Chicago homicides (2016–2020) by police beats to explore how hot spots of homicides behave, with specific attention to durability. We find that Chicago homicides spatially and temporally cluster, with analysis suggesting the emergence of seasonal, short term, and long term “durable” hotspots in Chicago. Policy implications such as police interventions and community policing and problem-solving opportunities are discussed.

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