The city of Tulsa has selected CNA Corporation, a nonprofit research and analysis consulting firm, to help improve the city’s community policing practices.
The consulting firm will collaborate with city leaders and citizens to research and analyze the city’s community policing efforts. CNA will also evaluate the progress made on the 77 recommendations made by the Tulsa Commission on Community Policing in 2017.
“It involves citizens as co-researchers from the very beginning to the end of the project; to be able to understand what people’s experiences have been and what their expectations are of their interactions with the Tulsa Police Department,” said Captain Shellie Seibert of the TPD.
The firm will then makes suggestions on improving community policing – a strategy which focuses on building relationships and working closely with the community, as opposed to reactive policing.
“You are collaborating with others with the community to build your plan, because what someone may need in West Tulsa for a police response or engagement is not what they need in East Tulsa,” added Seibert. “I think the solution is we are all in this together. It is not an ‘us or them,’ it is going to have to happen together.”
The contract work is scheduled to begin in the fall.
Based in Washington, DC, CNA’s 700 scientists, analysts, and consultants deliver actionable solutions to complex problems for clients in the Navy, criminal justice, homeland security, energy security, water resources, and education areas. CNA analysts pioneered the field of operations research in the 1940s when they worked on combating the German U-boat threat in WW2.
The nonprofit company’s Center for Justice Research works with justice-related and community-based agencies and organizations to make system-wide and organizational improvements in the administration of justice. CNA works with law enforcement to create and implement training and technical assistance based on evidence and best practices, and helps drive organizational transformation through data-driven and collaborative assessments and evaluations.
CNA also researches and evaluates the impact of technology on the justice system, such as body-worn cameras.