Dr. Stacy Sechrist (NC Network for Safe Communities) received new funding from the City of Winston-Salem Police Department for the project “Strategies for Policing Innovation Grant.” John Weil is co-principal investigator on the project.
The North Carolina Network for Safe Communities (NSCNSC) at UNCG led by Weil and Sechrist will participate as the research/evaluation partner for the grant project (evaluation/analysis of WSPD’s Real Time Crime Center). Specifically, Mr. Weil and Dr. Sechrist will provide and/or supervise the following activities: Attending project/team meetings to inform crime center design and processes/procedures to ensure proper documentation; developing evaluation design to measure and evaluate project outcomes; develop and disseminating a community surveys to be used in the evaluation; assist with data collection related to outcomes of interest; data analysis and reporting of outcomes; preparing a final report to include both process and outcomes evaluations; and assist with presentations of data as requested by WSPD.
As research partner, the NCNSC will complete the stated deliverable in the RFP which is a final analysis of the project’s implementation and outcomes. As part of the implementation evaluation, NCNSC researchers will interview WSPD personnel at the beginning of the grant period (Phase 1 of the timeline), which will assist with formulating the action plan deliverable. Interviews at the conclusion of the grant period will provide qualitative insights on how the new strategies in policing have affected decision-making and partnerships. NCNSC will meet regularly with WSPD staff (including members of the Real Time Crime Center Team) to review crime data and discuss challenges and successes in real-time to assist with data-driven project adaptations as needed. Specific short- and mid- to long-term outcomes are included in the attached Project Logic Model. Data about number of crimes, response times, clearance rates, and outputs associated with the crime center will be obtained from WSPD for analysis. Data about community perceptions of safety will be obtained via surveys with residents and business owners who agree to have their cameras connected to the WSPD portal or who live or work in areas where LPRs are installed.
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