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“Real public safety begins when we care enough to see harm before it happens — and accept that preventing it belongs to all of us.” This quote reflects much of what I have come to believe through my experience, education, and real-world view of public safety. Too often, when people hear “public safety,” they immediately think of law enforcement. And make no mistake, law enforcement plays an incredibly important and necessary role. Police officers respond to danger, protect vi

By Inv./Sgt. Michael S. Burgess, M.S.S. (ret.) Toxicity inside a police agency rarely starts as an official policy problem. More often, it starts in the places leadership does not always see: the squad room, the report room, the parking lot, text threads, ride-alongs, social circles, side conversations, and the quiet moments between calls. It can come from a senior officer who has become cynical. It can come from an FTO who teaches new officers to distrust every initiative be

Why evidence-based and problem-oriented policing must be translated into practical, everyday police work Law enforcement has always changed. Sometimes that change happens gradually through leadership, training, experience, and research. Other times, it happens suddenly after a major incident, public pressure, or civil unrest. Either way, the profession has never stayed the same. That does not make change easy. Cops work in a difficult profession. They face danger, uncertainty

Officer wellness is not talked about enough. When we talk about proactive crime prevention, we often focus on safer communities, fewer victims, reduced repeat calls, smarter use of resources, and better outcomes for the people we serve. Those things are all important. But there is another part of this conversation that deserves more attention. Every problem prevented is one less crisis someone has to respond to. Every victimization prevented is one less trauma for a victim, a

Have you ever wished there was a simpler way to understand the SARA model and quickly assess whether a planned response is realistic, practical, and workable in the real world? That is the purpose of this simple SARA + R.E.A.L. visual reference. The SARA model provides a step-by-step problem-solving process: Scan — What is the problem? Analyze — Why is it happening? Where is it happening? When is it happening? Who is involved or affected? Respond — What should we do to addres

A practical, proactive approach for law enforcement and key partners If you have worked patrol, investigations, supervision, dispatch, crime analysis, prosecution, victim advocacy, or any other role connected to domestic violence response, you know the pattern. The address comes out over the radio and you recognize it before the dispatcher finishes the update. Same house. Same people. Same situation. The responding officers already have a sense of what they may be walking int

No one wants to live in a place where they feel on edge, where they second‑guess a walk to the car, or worry about the people they love just getting through the day. We all want the same basic things: to see our kids grow up, to come home from work, to enjoy our neighborhoods without constantly looking over our shoulder. That feeling of safety is not about statistics or headlines; it is about what it’s like to live everyday life on your street, in your building, in your town.

Practical, evidence‑informed steps for law enforcement and partners The frustration is real. The same youth keep showing up. The same places keep generating problems. The same stolen cars, the same masks, the same group behavior, the same repeat calls. In some communities, it is youth violence. In others, it is robberies, stolen vehicles, assaults, weapons, or ongoing group conflicts. In many places, it is not just one incident or one “bad kid.” It is a repeating pattern invo

Practical, Realistic Uses of AI to Support Proactive Crime Prevention Artificial intelligence is a growing part of modern policing and public safety operations. As its role expands, it must be governed, tested, monitored, and used in ways that protect both public safety and public trust. Current guidance from IACP, NIST, NIJ, and the Council on Criminal Justice reflects that same basic idea: AI may offer real value, but it should be introduced carefully, evaluated honestly, a

Do you a college or university near your jurisdiction? If so, you may have one of the most overlooked partners in proactive crime prevention sitting just down the road. When people think about key partners in crime prevention, they often think of other justice-system partners, community organizations, schools, service providers, or local government. All of those matter. But colleges and universities can also play an important role, and too often, they are overlooked. Th

Violent crime grants should fund more than “stuff.” They should fund clear, focused strategies that agencies can actually run in the real world. This article shares a simple way to move from “we have a violence problem” to a concrete problem picture, a SARA based playbook, and a plan that uses technology and partners realistically. Whether you’re writing grants or leading strategy, I hope this mindset is helpful.

For years, law enforcement has been told to “be proactive.” The problem is that the phrase is often used without enough clarity behind it. Sometimes it gets interpreted as making more stops, writing more tickets, making more arrests, or simply doing more visible enforcement. Other times, it is used as a general expectation without any real explanation of what proactive policing is supposed to look like in practice. Officers hear it. Supervisors repeat it. Agencies talk ab

When people hear the phrase proactive crime prevention , they often think of police officers, investigators, supervisors, and crime reduction units. That makes sense. Law enforcement plays a primary and highly visible role in responding to crime, investigating offenses, enforcing the law, and helping protect the community. But if we are being honest about what it really takes to address, deter, and prevent recurring crime problems , law enforcement cannot do it alone. In fact

I’m excited to share that my newest book, The Comprehensive Field Guide to Proactive Crime Prevention , is now available on Amazon in print and e-book. This is not a typical academic book. It is a practical, real-world field guide designed to help law enforcement and public safety professionals think through recurring crime and community problems in a way that is realistic, proactive, and easy to understand. The goal of this book is to help readers move beyond simply reacting

“Great moments are born from great opportunity.” — Herb Brooks, Miracle That line may have been delivered in the context of hockey, but it speaks just as powerfully to the future of policing. Law enforcement has a great opportunity right now. An opportunity to move beyond simply answering call after call, taking report after report, and repeating the same cycle without ever getting ahead of the problem. An opportunity to think differently. To ask better questions: Who is invo

“Be proactive” is one of the most common phrases in policing — and one of the most misunderstood. In too many agencies, proactive becomes shorthand for more stops, more tickets, more arrests, and higher activity counts. The problem is: activity isn’t the same as impact. You can stay busy all shift and still return tomorrow to the same addresses, the same people, and the same problems. That’s why I wrote my recent Police1 article — to help put proactive policing into plain lan

Police can enforce the law — but communities can help prevent the next incident. I believe in community policing — when it’s done right. When officers genuinely care about the communities they serve, when they show up consistently, follow through, and have a stake in what happens beyond the call for service, relationships form. Rapport builds. Trust grows. And prevention becomes possible. But there’s an uncomfortable reality many officers have experienced firsthand: W

In many conversations about crime prevention, prosecutors are viewed primarily as the next step in the criminal justice process — the place cases go after arrests are made and investigations are complete. From a proactive crime-prevention perspective, that framing overlooks something critical. If prevention is about deterring harm, reducing repeat victimization, and disrupting escalation before it occurs, then prosecutors are not just downstream decision-makers. They are es

Over the past several decades, law enforcement has increasingly been asked to do more — often far more than what officers were originally trained, staffed, or resourced to handle alone. Today’s officers are routinely expected to act as counselors, mental health responders, substance use specialists, social workers, crisis mediators, problem solvers, protectors, investigators, and crime fighters — often within the same shift, and sometimes within the same call. Mental hea

Evidence-based and problem-oriented approaches to crime prevention are often framed as police-centric — but the reality is that these mindsets apply across the entire public-safety and criminal-justice system. From patrol officers and correctional staff, to probation and parole, analysts, prosecutors, service providers, and policy makers, proactive prevention only works when each role understands how problems develop, why they repeat, and how their actions influence risk for