Jerry Ratcliffe
College prof, ex-UK cop, host of the Reducing Crime podcast, scientific advisor to the IACP. In my spare time, I try not to crash planes.
Google Scholar: scholar.google.com/citations?user=BOJI…
ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0730-6761
- Police departments struggle to find research partners, in part because academic criminology has actively worked against policing research for some years now. Source: www.jerryratcliffe.net/_files/ugd/f...
- Crime nerds, I need help. @LessCrime's excellent RSS feed recently posted an article about what I think was a study looking at if people took more cyber crime prevention advice when it was from authorities rather than hackers (if I recall), but now I can't find it. Anyone help? @asiermoneva.com?
- BlueSky filesize limits are a p.i.t.a, but if you want weekly summaries of key crime and policing studies and ideas, please follow reducingcrime_ over at instagram, or Reducing Crime on LinkedIn.
- If you are on Instagram there's a 90 second summary of the Philadelphia Predictive Policing Experiment findings. (BlueSky doesn't let us post 90 second videos because the file size is too large) www.instagram.com/reel/DPjPS_Q...
- This week is the ASC conference, so here’s mentions of “abolish” in recent programs: 2021 1 program, 5 submissions 2022 1 submission 2023 4 programs, 5 subs 2024 5 programs, 3 subs 2025 2 programs (not incl. one about abolishing nuclear weapons) Is this idea's rampant stupidity finally receding?
- The American Society of Criminology conference is next week and this is your annual reminder that most of the presentations will likely be 💩 Here are some ways to be less 💩 www.jerryratcliffe.net/post/i-want-...
- If you aren't following the work of @benbradford.bsky.social then you are missing out on thoughtful insights into policing and public safety. Apple: apple.co/4opeJDD Spotify: bit.ly/3WBBJ6f
- Trust and legitimacy are a resource for police. Out now: Episode #88 with the excellent @benbradford.bsky.social Apple: apple.co/4opeJDD Spotify: bit.ly/3WBBJ6f
- An interesting thought experiment here, and ... if you follow the logic of the thread, raises broader and potentially significant questions about the validity of 'lived experience' as a viable criminological research tool.
- Featuring a little of my chat with @martinkaste.bsky.social on the crime reduction implications of the deployment of National Guard in Washington DC. www.npr.org/2025/10/02/n...
- To contextualize this week’s political commentary, of the 2,647 identified extremist violent offenders in the US since 2000, far-right extremists were more than 7 times more represented in the data than far-left extremists. * No, this isn’t to negate the abhorrent shooting this week.
- A must-read op-ed by Keith Humphreys in the NY Times, covers both how harm reduction advocates abandoned communities (hello Kensington in Philadelphia) and why mandating drug treatment will help many. His @reducingcrime.com podcast ep is a must: apple.co/4ne9Jko www.nytimes.com/2025/09/02/o...
- In the new episode of the @reducingcrime.com podcast, @mattbland.bsky.social - former analyst and now evidence-based policing guru - explains the value he got from socializing with police officers. Apple: apple.co/4g269aC Spotify: bit.ly/4oXiQYc
- Just asked Google how President Trump activated the National Guard. The response was... not optimal.
- Fun chat covering Matt's experiences as an analyst in the National Intelligence Model and where #evidence-based_policing is right now. Tons of great advice for crime analysts working with police departments.
- EPISODE ALERT: #86 with @mattbland.bsky.social, chief operating officer of the @sebp-uk.bsky.social and associate prof in the executive policing programme at @cam.ac.uk. Apple: apple.co/4g269aC Spotify: bit.ly/4oXiQYc SoundCloud: on.soundcloud.com/XTAqMgkSTjNt...
- New Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent training to go from 18 weeks to 8 weeks, and dropping the degree requirement? If the plan is to make the FBI a laughing stock, this is the way to do it. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/21/u...
- With fiscal austerity affecting many police departments, the costs of analytical software can be seen as prohibitive. Here, @mattashby.com is doing a considerable service to the crime analysis community with this new #Rstat package.
- Announcing sfhotspot, an #RStats package to make it as easy as possible to identify and map concentrations of crime (or concentrations of any other points in space). Introduction: lesscrime.info/post/sfhotsp... Package website: pkgs.lesscrime.info/sfhotspot/ 🧵
- If you have civilian staff in your police department, you will want to forward this podcast episode to them. Packed with tips on how to survive as a senior civilian leader in policing, from one of the best.
- EPISODE ALERT: #85 Nola Joyce Nola has had leadership roles with the police departments of Chicago, Washington D.C., and Philadelphia where she held the rank of Deputy Commissioner. She discusses the role of civilian staff in policing. Apple: apple.co/4lMVUJ8 Spotify: bit.ly/4fkPfnd
- Alex Murray from the Society of Evidence-Based Policing kicks off the global societies meeting in Cambridge to a packed room.
- If you are over on instagram, I'm posting sub-90 second snippets about crime and policing.
- US cities are underpoliced. www.instagram.com/reel/DLpeOhk...
- Are US cities underpoliced? Yes, according to two studies by Aaron Chalfin. See the findings in about 60 seconds www.instagram.com/reel/DLpeOhk...
- Want short reels on crime and policing? Look no further… than reducingcrime_ on IG 😉
- New series of short reels over on Instagram at reducingcrime_ Come on over 😉
- This was a fun episode to record. Stacey is smart, insightful about #EBP and fun to hang with, all of which comes across in this episode. Here she talks about the benefits of dedicated RVR officers for domestic violence. Full episode is great fun. Dive in!
- EPISODE ALERT: #84 just released! Stacey Rothwell pioneered the evaluation of #RVR - Rapid Video Response in policing domestic abuse with some spectacular results. Better response times and satisfaction Apple: apple.co/45NRBbv Spotify: spoti.fi/4lhGXys SoundCloud: on.soundcloud.com/ZSdEPso8a1r7...
- Tomorrow on the @reducingcrime.com a primer on police use and benefits of rapid video response, from Stacey Rothwell. Here she explains that even though we have new ways of calling the police, the response types haven't changed. This fun episode from a pub garden drops tomorrow.
- That is probably at a short enough distance that it qualifies as a potentially lethal shot. Sub 20 meters according to some guidelines. She is clearly not a threat.
- LAPD fired rubber bullets at Australian journalist @laurentomasi.bsky.social
- If you have any, and I mean ANY bad news to release, today is the day.
- Though the next quote from an independent researcher not connected with the program, says “There were significant reductions in fatal shootings where they weren’t doing their work" and more data is needed to show that the program was driving the drop in shootings. Violence reduction is challenging.
- 3 sentences epitomize why crime policy is a mess. 1. Violence fluctuates a lot while poverty has remained largely unchanged so this is questionable 2. But not crime scientists who study crime 3. These don't address the root causes in the first two sentences 🤷🙄 abc7chicago.com/post/studies...
