Mar 2022

Policing and Management

Jens Ludwig Max Kapustin

This National Bureau of Economic Research working paper provides an exploration into how management quality can significantly influence the productivity and effectiveness of policing.

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Video: Creating Safer Communities by Improving Policing
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Video: Creating Safer Communities by Improving Policing

Jan 2025

Griffin Catalyst highlights the Policing Leadership Academy, a new national leadership program that brings together rising police leaders from around the country for five months of advanced, intensive training in management best practices, leveraging data and technology and building community trust—all with the ultimate goal of creating safer, more vibrant communities.

Policing Leadership Academy (PLA) Overview
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Policing Leadership Academy (PLA) Overview

Sep 2024

Read an overview of the Policing Leadership Academy (PLA), a first of-its-kind program launched in May 2023 to train America’s policing leaders working in some of our most violent neighborhoods.

Policing Leadership Academy Graduation Interviews
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Policing Leadership Academy Graduation Interviews

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Hear from a select group of PLA graduates on their experience with the academy.

NBER Working Paper: Predicting Police Misconduct
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NBER Working Paper: Predicting Police Misconduct

May 2024

This paper outlines the results of research on over a decade of Chicago Police Department data that shows it is possible to predict risk of on-duty and off-duty misconduct, allowing police departments to prioritize training and supportive resources.

Latest Updates

A History of Violence
Media Mention
Chicago Magazine
Apr 2025

A History of Violence

Chicago Magazine’s Paula Kamen profiles Crime Lab Pritzker Director Jens Ludwig to discuss his new book, “Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence,” which offers social policy strategies for creating safer communities.

Editorial: A recognition that good policing starts from the top
Op-Ed
Crain's Chicago Business
Apr 2025

Editorial: A recognition that good policing starts from the top

The Crain’s Editorial Board highlights a $15 million gift from the Sue Ling Gin Foundation to support the Crime Lab in adapting its Policing Leadership Academy to provide management training to the Chicago Police Department’s leadership ranks.

Jens Ludwig: The unforgiving origins of Chicago gun violence
Op-Ed
Chicago Tribune
Apr 2025

Jens Ludwig: The unforgiving origins of Chicago gun violence

Regular Tribune Opinion contributor Jens Ludwig, Pritzker director of the University of Chicago Crime Lab, has a new book, “Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence,” to be published April 21 by the University of Chicago Press. In this exclusive, lightly edited extract from Chapter One, Ludwig explores what caused three lives of young Chicagoans to change forever.