How Do We Know It Works? Conducting a Rapid Research Police Experiment To Test the Effectiveness of Flashing Police Lights on Auto Crime

• NCJ Number: 254822
• Journal: LEADS Digest
• Date Published: July 2020
• Author(s): Jason Potts
• Length: 4 pages
• Agencies: NIJ
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Technical Assistance); Report (Study/Research); Program/Project Evaluation; Program/Project Description

Annotation

This article examines the results of a study that employed a quasi-experiment to investigate the effectiveness of utilizing code-2 flashing police lights for reducing crime in a specified shopping area.

Abstract

In partnership with BetaGov, the Vallejo (California) Police Department employed a quasi-experiment to investigate the effectiveness of utilizing code-2 flashing police lights for reducing crime in a specified shopping area. This article examines the results of this study. It will be published in a digest, which will be a collection of entries written by participants of the National Institute of Justice's Law Enforcement Advancing Data and Science (LEADS) Scholars program. Each of the LEADS scholars represented in this digest have identified an issue relevant to their departments from theft and traffic crashes to police recruitment and management practices and examined the issue from an evidence-based perspective. In addition to surveying the scientific literature, some of the authors have proposed and implemented their own experimental trials to test hypotheses, gather data, and move closer to solutions.