#96 (Shane Johnson)

For the 100th episode of Reducing Crime, Jerry Ratcliffe switches sides of the microphone to answer listener questions. He reflects on changes in policing, evidence-based policing, crime science, leadership, CompStat, and communicating research to practitioners. He argues for greater curiosity, testing what police do, and replacing short-term responses with sustained problem solving, while hoping evidence-based decision-making eventually becomes routine rather than exceptional in policing.

Rachel Tobler is the Redlands police chief and has served with the department for 28 years. She is also a former National Institute of Justice LEADS scholar, having been an early participant in their Law Enforcement Advancing Data and Science Program, as well as a Policing Fellow with the National Policing Institute. Her contributions to policing outside of Redlands include being a member of the Research Advisory Committee for the IACP, sitting on the steering committee for 30 by 30, and she is a founding board member and current Emeritus Board member for the American Society of Evidence-Based Policing. As a result of her contributions, she was awarded the Gary P. Hayes Award from the Police Executive Research Forum in 2025. One of the founding members of the American Society of Evidence-Based Policing, she talks to Jerry Ratcliffe about the growth of evidence-based policing from a chief's perspective, and why new police leaders should get on board the EBP train.

Rafael Mangual is the Nick Ohnell Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a contributing editor of City Journal, and author of Criminal (In)Justice. He talks with Jerry Ratcliffe about intellectual diversity in criminology, the limits of progressive criminal justice reform, New York’s crime decline, public order, mental health, and why he believes policing and social control remain essential.

Professor Mike Scott is a former police chief and director of the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing at Arizona State University, and is a foundational name in the history of problem-oriented policing around the world. He chats with host, Jerry Ratcliffe, about that history, and the challenges of getting problem-oriented work established in police departments.

Shane Johnson is the Dawes Professor of Future Crime at University College London. In this episode, he argues that emerging technologies—AI, internet-connected devices, autonomous vehicles, and future computing systems—are creating new crime opportunities by reducing offenders’ effort, increasing potential rewards, and exposing people through data collection, spoofing, deepfakes, and cybersecurity vulnerabilities.est work with police departments.

Jerry Ratcliffe speaks with University of Cincinnati policing scholar Jesse Huff about her research on police effectiveness, fairness, and evidence-based reform. Huff recounts her path from aspiring military police officer to academic researcher, shaped by graduate work at the University of Nevada, Reno and Arizona State University, where partnerships with police agencies informed her practice-oriented approach. Huff discusses a randomized controlled trial of body-worn cameras in the Phoenix Police Department conducted after Ferguson. The study found cameras altered some policing behaviors but did not reduce use of force, while arrest patterns shifted differently across Black and Hispanic neighborhoods. She argues that successful police–research partnerships depend on feasible study designs, clear communication, timely findings, and mutual understanding between practitioners and researchers. The conversation examines challenges in policing research, including organizational resistance, the complexity of implementing randomized trials, and the importance of process evaluations and logic models. Huff also describes her work evaluating crime gun intelligence centers and NIBIN technologies, including Phoenix’s crime gun liaison program, which improved ballistic evidence collection but showed less consistent effects on arrests, case clearance, and crime reduction. Ratcliffe and Huff further discuss Huff’s evaluation of a Brazilian jiu-jitsu–based response-to-resistance program developed with the St. Paul Police Department. The training aims to improve officer control tactics while reducing higher levels of force, with especially positive outcomes for women officers. The episode concludes with Huff’s ongoing research into police retention strategies in Ohio, emphasizing organizational culture, supervision, and job satisfaction. Throughout the discussion, both stress the importance of building trust between agencies and researchers and aligning policing innovations with outcomes communities value.

Host Jerry Ratcliffe and Bohdan Denysenko discussing Ukraine’s policing during wartime. Bogdan Denysenko is a former Ukrainian police officer and now civilian security sector reform and organised crime expert with over 20 years of experience in Ukrainian law enforcement and international advisory work, supporting the Government and Parliament of Ukraine through the European Union Advisory Mission in Ukraine, based in Kyiv. They chat about Soviet-era legacies, EU-led reforms, and challenges from the Russian invasion, including staffing shortages and rising threats. The focus is on intelligence-led policing, improved analytics, integrated IT systems, and preparing for post-war organized crime risks.

Mike Pooley is the first Native American to lead a municipal police department in Arizona and currently serves as the Apache Junction Police Department's chief. He chats with Jerry Ratcliffe about his upbringing on the Navajo Nation Reservation, his transition to the Phoenix area for better educational opportunities, and his journey into law enforcement, where he spent over 20 years with the Tempe Police Department before becoming the police chief at Apache Junction. Pooley shares insights into the challenges of municipal versus tribal policing, highlighting jurisdictional complexities and the socio-economic disparities between city and reservation areas. The episode also touches on personal stories, including the impact of policing on Pooley's family, including the tragic loss of his sister, a former police officer, to alcoholism, underscoring the toll that the profession can take on individuals and families.

This episode features a conversation between host Jerry Ratcliffe and Police Chief Rich Johnston of the Barrie Police Service in Canada. Chief Johnston, a proponent of evidence-based policing, discusses how this approach has influenced his career and the importance of future police chiefs adopting it. Johnston, who has been a police officer since 1997, has served in various roles within the Barrie Police Service and is recognized for his leadership and contributions to evidence-based policing. He holds a bachelor's degree in philosophy and two master's degrees, including one from the University of Cambridge. The conversation touches on the differences between Canadian and US policing, with Johnston noting that Canadian policing tends to have a broader public safety focus compared to the more law enforcement-centric approach in the US. Johnston also shares insights on the challenges and benefits of implementing evidence-based practices within his department, emphasizing the importance of curiosity and critical thinking in policing. The episode concludes with a discussion on the significance of visibility in policing and the impact of evidence-based strategies on community trust and safety.

Peter Moskos is a Professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, a former Baltimore City Police Officer, and current director of John Jay College’s NYPD Executive Master’s Leadership Program. He talks to host Jerry Ratcliffe about Compstat, Bratton and colleagues, the crime drop in 1990s New York City, his new book “Back From The Brink”, and the current state of policing research.