Officer Support System (OSS)
The Crime Lab partnered with the Chicago Police Department (CPD) to develop the OSS, a next-generation, data-driven early intervention system to promote officers’ long-term mental health and wellness.
Challenge
We have seen a decline in public trust in the police and a simultaneous, and surely not coincidental, decline in morale among front-line police officers. To reduce harmful impacts on residents, improve police-community trust, boost morale among front-line officers, and improve officer wellness more generally, we must figure out how to prevent these tragedies from happening in the first place.
Opportunity
The OSS aims to identify patterns of officer behavior predictive of a future challenge, find officers currently displaying those behaviors, and intervene to provide support.
Project overview
The project, which has been underway since 2016, offers an opportunity for Chicago to develop one of the country’s first data-driven early intervention systems. Our work has shown exciting preliminary results in predicting when officers will have on-duty and off-duty challenges: officers identified by the OSS as needing additional support go on to have adverse outcomes in the following two years at five times the rate of the average CPD officer. By identifying those needing support, the OSS allows CPD to target supervisor time and supportive resources like training and mental health services to those who will benefit most.
Years Active
2016 – present
Topics
Project Leads
Dylan Fitzpatrick
Research Director
Maggie Goodrich
CEO, TacLogix, Inc.
Katie Larsen
Research Manager
Greg Stoddard
Senior Research Director
Webinar- Situational Decision-Making: A New Training to Improve Policing
The Crime Lab hosted a webinar on the findings of our recently released study, A Cognitive View of Policing, which evaluated a pilot of the Situational Decision-Making (Sit-D) police training program.
NCGVR Webinar: Interventions to Improve Police Effectiveness
In a recent webinar hosted by the National Collaborative on Gun Violence Research, Oeindrila Dube presented her findings on the evaluation of Situational Decision-Making, while Philip Cook discussed the evaluation of the Chicago Police Department’s Area Technology Centers.
BFI Research Brief: A Cognitive View of Policing
Read the research brief published by the Becker Friedman Institute (BFI) for Economics at the University of Chicago.
NBER Working Paper: A Cognitive View of Policing
Read the working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research.