Contact: Maridith Geuder
Kent R. Kerley
A criminal justice professor at Mississippi State is the editor of a new book on police programs and their evaluation.
Kent R. Kerley, an assistant professor of sociology, teaches courses in criminology, policing and juvenile delinquency. He joined the university faculty in 2001.
"Policing and Program Evaluation" is part of a Prentice Hall publishing company's series focusing on criminal justice issues. It is among the New Jersey-based publisher's 2005 academic text releases.
Kerley said the 176-page volume brings together the research of leading policing experts around the nation for a discussion of the "nuts and bolts" of evaluating programs. Topics range from community policing to firearm suppression.
"One of my concerns is that policing evaluation often focuses only on the results rather than also explaining the process," he observed. "The 10 chapters in this book detail how studies are set up, the research designs and how police departments are involved."
In addition to serving as editor, Kerley contributes a chapter that reviews various police evaluation literature. He focuses on methods researchers and police agencies have employed in previous studies, providing suggestions for future designs.
Two of Kerley's Mississippi State colleagues, sociologists R. Gregory Dunaway and Peter Wood, contribute a chapter about Mississippi's multi-jurisdictional drug task forces now implemented in 10 counties.
Among other chapter topics are a community policing program in Chicago's 279 police beats and 25 districts, a firearm suppression program developed by the St. Louis Police Department, specialized gang units in Indianapolis and San Diego, and a "HotSpot" communities initiative developed to target Maryland's most troubled neighborhoods.
"Too often, textbooks like this don't provide enough specific examples," Kerley said. "It's something I wanted to address in this analysis and in my own teaching."
He expressed hope that the book will provide a blueprint of "dos and don'ts" for helping the nation's police departments better evaluate the effectiveness of public service programs.
Kerley holds a bachelor's degree from East Tennessee State University. He completed master's and doctoral degrees at the University of Tennessee.
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For more information on the book or Dr. Kerley's research, contact him at (662) 325-7889 or Kent Kerley.