Dr. Jeremy Wilson's Profile

Professor Jeremy M. Wilson
538 Baker Hall
jwilson [at] msu [dot] edu
517.353.9474
Curriculum Vita

 

Jeremy M. Wilson is the Associate Director for Research and an Associate Professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University (MSU). He recently founded and directs the MSU Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Protection Program (A-CAPPP). Prior to joining MSU, Jeremy was a Behavioral Scientist at the RAND Corporation, where, in addition to directing many local, national, and international law enforcement and violence prevention projects, he led the development of several successful initiatives, including the Center on Quality Policing and the Police Recruitment and Retention Clearinghouse. He is a visiting scholar in the Australian Resource Council’s Centre of Excellence in Policing and Security at Griffith University, and he recently held the Willett Chair in Public Safety in the Center for Public Safety at Northwestern University and was an adjunct professor of public policy at Carnegie Mellon University. Jeremy has collaborated with police agencies, communities, task forces, and governments throughout the U.S. and the world on many of the most salient public safety problems. His research and commentary have also been featured in numerous professional journals and in various forms of national and international media. Jeremy received his M.A. in Criminal Justice from Indiana University and his Ph.D. in Public Administration from The Ohio State University.

Peer-Reviewed Monographs, Books and Nationally Disseminated Scholarly Reports

 BOLO Newsbrief: Police Consolidation, Regionalization, and Shared Devices. To facilitate the sharing of research and experience-based lessons on regionalization, consolidation, and shared police services, the Michigan State University (MSU) School of Criminal Justice, through its Police Executive Development Series, hosted more than 75 national and Michigan police leaders at a 3 day event. The event, occurring on September 27–29, 2011, included an overview of sharing public safety services and consolidation, presentations on similar initiatives elsewhere, and discussion of these issues in Michigan. This report summarizes the key discussions, conclusions, and lessons of the symposium.

Police Recruitment and Retention for the New Millennium: The State of Knowledge. Washington DC: US Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2011.  Click here for the research brief.    
The supply of and demand for qualified police officers are changing in a time of increasing attrition, expanding law-enforcement responsibilities, and decreasing resources. These contribute to the difficulties that many agencies report in creating a workforce that represents community demographics, is committed to providing its employees the opportunity for long-term police careers, and effectively implements community policing. This book summarizes lessons on recruiting and retaining effective workforces.

Recruiting and Retaining America’s Finest: Evidence-Based Lessons for Police Workforce Planning.Santa Monica, RAND, MG-960-NIJ, 2010.
Personnel management is a critical but oft neglected function of police organizations. While much attention is given to recruiting and retention, these are only tools for accomplishing a larger goal: achieving and maintaining the profile of officers by experience and rank that satisfies agency needs and officer career aspirations. Police agencies often have little ability to assess their organization and environment, and they receive little guidance on how best to build and maintain their workforces. In this monograph, the authors seek to fill the gap of information available to police agencies through a survey on their recruitment and retention practices. The survey, sent to every U.S. police agency with at least 300 sworn officers, sought to document such characteristics as authorized and actual strength by rank, officer work and qualifications, compensation, and recruiting efforts. The authors used these data to provide an overview of current recruitment and retention practices, to describe how they affected police recruitment and personnel profiles, and to identify future research needs. Findings include that police compensation, city size, and crime rates had statistically significant effects on police recruiting. Advertising and recruiting incentives had little effect on the number of recruits. Cohort sizes and structures highlighted current and future personnel management challenges. To facilitate comparative and longitudinal analyses of police staffing, the authors recommend ongoing national data collection.

Long-Term Effects of Law Enforcement’s Post-9/11 Focus on Counterterrorism and Homeland Security. Santa Monica, RAND, MG-1031-NIJ, 2010. Click here for the press release.
Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the need for increased counterterrorism (CT) and homeland security (HS) efforts at the federal, state, and local levels has taken the spotlight in public safety efforts. In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, many law enforcement agencies (LEAs) shifted more resources toward developing CT and HS capabilities, and the federal government continues to support these efforts with grants provided through the Department of Homeland Security. This monograph examines the long-term adjustments that large urban LEAs have made to accommodate the focus on CT and HS, as well as the advantages and challenges associated with it. The study relies primarily on in-depth case studies of five large urban LEAs, as well as a review of federal HS grant programs and a quantitative analysis of the potential costs associated with shifting law enforcement personnel from traditional policing to focus on HS and CT functions. Major trends among the five case study LEAs include the creation of specialized departments and units, as well as an increased emphasis on information-sharing, which, nationwide, has led to the creation of fusion centers that serve as formal hubs for regional information-sharing networks. LEAs' HS and CT efforts are also greatly influenced by the restrictions and requirements associated with federal HS grant funding. Finally, using cost-of-crime estimates, it is possible to partially quantify the costs associated with LEAs' shifting of personnel away from traditional crime prevention toward CT and HS — there are also clear benefits associated with law enforcement's focus on CT and HS, but they are difficult to quantify, and this is posing a challenge for LEAs as the economic downturn puts pressure on public budgets.

Community-Based Violence Prevention, An Asssesment of Pittsburgh's One Vision One Life Program, Santa Monica, RAND, MG-947-1-NIJ/OJP/DOJ/Mellon, 2011. 
In 2006, more than 6 million individuals were victimized by violent crimes. Although violence is below levels of the early 1990s, it remains high. The extent of violence and its impact highlight a critical need to develop and implement effective programs to reduce violence and victimization. Communities have initiated a wide range of such programs, and scholars have conducted numerous evaluations of varying quality of them. Reviews have found certain types of strategies and specific programs to be promising, but additional critical evaluations are needed to plan violence-reduction programs. This monograph assesses the implementation and impact of the One Vision One Life violence-prevention strategy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 2003, Pittsburgh witnessed a 49-percent increase in homicides, prompting a "grassroots" creation and implementation of the One Vision One Life antiviolence strategy. This initiative used a problem-solving, data-driven model, including street-level intelligence, to intervene in escalating disputes, and seeks to place youth in appropriate social programs. Analysis of the program, which is modeled on similar efforts elsewhere, can help inform other efforts to address urban violence.

Recruitment and Retention: Lessons for the New Orleans Police Department. Santa Monica, CA: RAND, MG-585-RC, 2007. Click here for a research brief. Since Hurricane Katrina, resignations from the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) have increased, and the department went more than a year without recruiting enough candidates to justify a police academy training course. This study presents practical recommendations for change that could help the NOPD improve recruiting and retention. Issues addressed include the lack of affordable post-Katrina housing, the fact that the families of many police officers no longer live in the New Orleans area, the destroyed departmental infrastructure, and a budget that does not provide enough resources to meet basic needs. The study focuses on compensation, including housing; the promotion process and the career management system; recruiting; the mix of officers and civilians; and ways to improve the morale of the NOPD. The recommendations, which are specifically tailored to the unique circumstances of the NOPD, include (1) using civilian employees, where appropriate, for jobs currently being performed by uniformed officers; (2) developing a proactive recruiting program; (3) offering some of the city’s housing stock in-kind to police officers or selling the property and using the proceeds to improve compensation; (4) increasing the frequency of promotion examinations; (5) eliminating the backlog of promotions to higher levels in the department; (6) restructuring compensation to attract recruits and retain serving officers; (7) establishing a first-responders charter school; and (8) rebuilding the police infrastructure to improve morale.

Human Trafficking in OhioHuman Trafficking in Ohio: Markets, Responses, and Considerations. Santa Monica, RAND, MG-689-OACP, 2007. Click here for the press release.
Human trafficking has garnered a significant and growing amount of attention from the U.S. government since the 1990s, culminating in the passage of the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act in 2000. There is also a growing body of research on human trafficking, but most of it has focused on trying to show that human trafficking is a problem. Wilson and Dalton explore the extent and characteristics of concrete cases of human trafficking in Columbus and Toledo, Ohio, as well as the awareness of and response to the problem by the justice systems and social service provider communities in the two cities. The authors summarize their content analysis of newspaper accounts as well as key respondent interviews that they conducted with criminal justice officials and social service providers in each site. These identified several cases of juvenile sex trafficking and forced prostitution in Toledo, as well as a smaller trafficking market centered on the forced labor of noncitizens in Columbus. Wilson and Dalton compare the two cities’ considerably different responses to human trafficking, and conclude with suggestions on how to raise awareness about human trafficking and improve the responses of the criminal justice system, the juvenile justice system, and social services to the problem.

Securing America’s Passenger Rail Systems. Santa Monica, RAND, MG-705-NIJ, 2007. Click here for a research brief. Click here for the press release.
U.S. communities depend on reliable, safe, and secure rail systems. Each weekday, more than 12 million passengers take to U.S. railways. Recent attacks on passenger-rail systems around the world highlight the vulnerability of rail travel and the importance of rail security for these passengers. The use of passenger rail and the frequency with which terrorists target it call for a commitment to analyzing and improving rail security in the United States. This book explains a framework for security planners and policymakers to use to guide cost-effective rail-security planning, specifically for the risk of terrorism. Risk is a function of threat (presence of terrorists with intent, weapons, and capability to attack), vulnerability (likelihood of damage at a target, given an attack), and consequences (nature and scale of damages if an attack succeeds). While effective security solutions may address all three components of risk, this book focuses on addressing vulnerabilities and limiting consequences, since these are the two components of risk most within the realm of rail-security personnel. The analysis is based on a notional rail system that characterizes rail systems typically found in the United States. The methodology presented is useful for planning rail-security options.

Community Policing in AmericaCommunity Policing in America. NY: Routledge, 2006. For a review of this book, see Jones, Matthew (2007). Police Quarterly, Vol. 10. (2): 342-343.
Although law enforcement officials have long recognized the need to cooperate with the communities they serve, recent efforts to enhance performance and maximize resources have resulted in a more strategic approach to collaboration among police, local governments, and community members. The goal of these so-called "community policing" initiatives is to prevent neighborhood crime, reduce the fear of crime, and enhance the quality of life in communities. Despite the growing national interest in and support for community policing, the factors that influence an effective implementation have been largely unexplored. Drawing on data from nearly every major U.S. municipal police force, Community Policing in America is the first comprehensive study to examine how the organizational context and structure of police organizations impact the implementation of community policing. Jeremy Wilson’s book offers a unique theoretical framework within which to consider community policing, and identifies key internal and external factors that can facilitate or impede this process, including community characteristics, geographical region, police chief turnover, and structural complexity and control. It also provides a simple tool that practitioners, policymakers, and researchers can use to measure community policing in specific police organizations.

Establishing Law and Order after ConflictEstablishing Law and Order After Conflict. Santa Monica: RAND, MG-374-RC, 2005. Click here for a research brief. Click here for the press release
In a nation-building operation, outside states invest much of their resources in establishing and maintaining the host country’s police, internal security forces, and justice system. Strengthening all these elements is crucial for achieving sustainable law and order. This book examines in detail the post-Cold War reconstruction efforts of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo, three major cases in which the United States and its allies have attempted to reconstruct security institutions. It then compares them with similar but smaller projects in Panama, El Salvador, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, and East Timor. In doing so, the authors make three main arguments. First, establishing security during the “golden hour” — the period immediately following major combat operations — should be the most significant concern of policymakers. Second, building a functioning justice system is a critical and often overlooked task of rebuilding security. Third, the authors provide rough guidelines for successfully reconstructing security after a major combat operation, including recommended force-to-population ratios, financial assistance, and duration of reconstruction. For future policy recommendations, the authors encourage decisionmakers to consider such principal elements as negotiating formal peace treaties or surrenders, establishing of comprehensive post-conflict doctrine, and using outcome-based metrics to measure success.

State and Local Intelligence in the War On TerrorismState and Local Intelligence in the War on Terrorism. Santa Monica, CA: RAND, MG-394-RC, 2005.
One aspect of combating terrorism that is often discussed but seldom examined in detail concerns the overlap of intelligence and law enforcement and the role of state and local law enforcement agencies as the ultimate “eyes and ears” in the war on terrorism. This report helps fill that gap by examining how state and local law enforcement agencies conducted and supported counterterrorism intelligence activities after 9/11. It analyzes data from a 2002 survey of law enforcement preparedness in the context of intelligence and reports the results of case studies showing how eight local law enforcement agencies handle intelligence operations. Finally, it suggests ways that the job of gathering and analyzing intelligence might best be shared among federal, state, and local agencies.

Police Recruitment and Retention in the Contemporary Urban Environment: Personnel Experiences and Promising Practices from the Front Lines. Santa Monica, CA: RAND, CFP-261-DOJ, 2009. Click here for associated briefings.
Recruitment and retention of officers is an increasing challenge for police agencies in a time of increasing crime and homeland security demands and of decreasing resources in American cities. Many urban police agencies report particular difficulty in recruiting minority and female officers. To help address these challenges, the RAND Center on Quality Policing convened a National Summit on Police Recruitment and Retention in the Contemporary Urban Environment in June 2008. Speakers discussed changing police workforce issues, strategies being employed, lessons that could be learned from other organizations such as the military, and in-depth analyses of police recruiting and retention in selected cities. This report summarizes the presentations, discussions, and opinions offered by panelists at the summit. The discussions about current experiences represent the situation the law enforcement agencies found themselves in as of June 2008. The downturn in the economy in late 2008 and early 2009 has had a profound impact on the budgets of many local agencies, causing cuts deep enough to impede their ability to maintain their current workforces, let alone grow them. Nevertheless, the lessons provided in this report are still of value, because most of the challenges discussed at the summit remain and will likely become more important over time, irrespective of fluctuations in the economy.

Community Policing and Crime: The Process and Impact of Problem-solving in Oakland. Santa Monica, CA: RAND, TR-635-BPA, 2008.
In response to rising crime and violence in the early 2000s, Oakland, California, voters passed the Violence Prevention and Public Safety Act of 2004. Commonly referred to as Measure Y, it is a 10-year, nearly $20 million annual investment aimed at reducing violence through community-policing, violence-prevention, and other programs. Building on the first-year assessment of the program's implementation, this report examines the progress and effectiveness of the Measure Y–funded problem-solving officer (PSO) program, which adds 63 new officers to the force and deploys PSOs to community-policing beats. The assessment relied on a Web-based survey of current PSOs, PSO deployment data, official statistics on violent and property crime in each beat, and semistructured interviews and focus groups with Oakland Police Department staff. The results show that, although there has been much progress in implementing the program since the first-year evaluation, the statistical evidence does not support an association between the PSO program and a reduction in property and violent crime. Although it is possible that the program is not effective, it could be that positive outcomes of the program could not be captured by the evaluation, that the program encourages the reporting of crimes that would otherwise go unreported, or that implementation challenges preclude the program's ability to be effective. Of note, there appears to be somewhat limited interaction between PSOs and the other community violence-prevention programs created by Measure Y.

Community Policing and Violence Prevention in Oakland: Measure Y in Action. Santa Monica, CA: RAND, TR-546-BPA, 2007.
In response to rising crime and violence, Oakland voters passed Measure Y, the Violence Prevention and Public Safety Act of 2004, a 10-year initiative designed to facilitate community policing, foster violence prevention, and improve fire and paramedic service. This report assesses the progress of the community-policing and violence-prevention components of Measure Y. Not enough time has passed since the implementation of Measure Y to comprehensively assess its impact, so the report focuses primarily on the process of implementation. Subsequent evaluations will focus on the impact of Measure Y, community policing in Oakland, and the violence prevention programs funded by Measure Y. The early evidence on the implementation of the Measure Y community-policing program is not altogether positive. Deployment of problem-solving officers, which is the cornerstone of the community-policing initiative, has been delayed because of a lack of available officers, and community participation has been inadequate. The violence-prevention programs have generally been implemented according to plan, albeit in some cases with expected start-up delays. For the most part, those programs appear to be providing the services they are intended to provide. Based on these early findings and analyses, recommendations are made for improving the Measure Y programs and the city’s oversight of them.

Police-Community Relations in Cincinnati. Santa Monica, CA: RAND, TR-333-CC, 2005.
In 2002, the Cincinnati Police Department (CPD), the Fraternal Order of Police, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) entered into a collaborative agreement. This agreement pledges its signatories (the parties) to collaborate in efforts to resolve social conflict, improve community relations, and avoid litigation. The agreement requires the CPD to implement a variety of changes, most notably the adoption of Community Problem-Oriented Policing (CPOP) as a strategy for addressing crime problems and engaging the community. Other provisions of the agreement require the CPD to establish a civilian complaint review process. The collaborative agreement incorporates a previous agreement between the CPD and the U.S. Department of Justice on use-of-force issues. The agreement specifies the need to evaluate achievement of its goals. In 2004, the parties contracted with RAND to conduct this evaluation. These goals are assessed through a variety of evaluation mechanisms, including surveys of citizens and of CPD officers; analyses of motor vehicle stops and of CPD staffing patterns; periodic observations of structured meetings between citizens and representatives of the CPD; and a review of CPD statistical compilations. The collaborative agreement requires an annual assessment of progress toward the agreement’s goals. This report is the first such annual review.

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
Book Chapters
Research Reports
  • "Product Counterfeiting: Evidence-Based Lessons for the State of Michigan." Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Protection Program Paper Series. Lansing, MI: Michigan State University, 2012.
  • Holt, Thomas J., Heinonen, Justin, & Wilson, Jeremy M. (2011). Examining the Correlates and Reporting of Online Product Counterfeiting Victimization. Arlington, VA: National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center.
  • "Traverse City Police Workload Analysis," Traverse City, MI: City of Traverse City, 2011.
  • “Lansing Police Department Resource Deployment and Organization Study,” Lansing, MI: City of Lansing, 2010.
  • “Africa’s Counterfeit Pharmaceutical Epidemic: The Road Ahead,” Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Protection Program Paper Series. Lansing, MI: Michigan State University, 2009.
  • Wilson, Jeremy M. (2005). Determinants of Community Policing: An Open-Systems Model of Implementation. Santa Monica, CA: RAND, WR-291-NIJ.
  • MacDonald, John M., Wilson, Jeremy M., & Tita, George (2005). Data-Driven Homicide Prevention: An Examination of Five Project Safe Neighborhoods Target Areas. Santa Monica, CA: RAND, WR-284-OJP.
  • Wilson, Jeremy M., Grammich, Clifford, & Tita, George (2005). Homicide in the LASD Century Station Area: Developing Data-Driven Interventions. Santa Monica, CA: RAND, WR-220-OJP.
  • Tita, George, Hiromoto, Scott, Wilson, Jeremy M., Christian, John, & Grammich, Clifford (2004). Gun Violence in the LAPD 77th Street Area: Research Results and Policy Options. Santa Monica, CA: RAND, WR-128-OJP.
  • Wilson, Jeremy M., Hiromoto, Scott, Fain, Terry, Tita, George, & Riley, K. Jack (2004). Homicide in San Diego: A Case Study Analysis. Santa Monica, CA: RAND, WR-142-OJP.
  • Wilson, Jeremy M., MacDonald, John, Grammich, Clifford A., & Riley, K. Jack (2004). Reducing Violence in Hayward, CA: Learning from Homicides. Santa Monica, CA: RAND, WR-188-OJP.
  • Wilson, Jeremy M. & Riley, K. Jack (2004). Violence in East and West Oakland: Description and Intervention. Santa Monica, CA: RAND, WR-129-OJP.
  • Wilson, Jeremy M. (2004). "Agency Factors Influencing Community Policing." State of Crime and Justice in Ohio. Columbus, OH: Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services.
  • Wilson, Jeremy M. & Donnermeyer, Joseph F. (2002). Problem-Solving Teams in the Columbus Division of Police. Columbus, OH: Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services.
  • Wilson, Jeremy M. (1998). Introducing Legalized Gambling to Indiana Communities: An Impact Assessment of the Effects on Crime. Hammond and Rising Sun, Indiana: Hammond and Rising Sun Police Departments.
Research/Policy Briefs and National Commentaries
Professional Associations 
  • Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS)
  • American Society of Criminology (ASC)
  • International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP)
  • Justice Research and Statistics Association (JRSA)
  • Police Executive Research Forum (PERF)
  • White Collar Crime Research Consortium (WCCRC)
  • Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police (MACP)
  • International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition (IACC)