Under the direction of Professor George Kelling, the Police Institute is a collaboration between the state of New Jersey and Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, that was created in May 2001 in response to the issue of racial profiling. The basic mission of the Police Institute is to integrate research, teaching, and criminal justice practice. The institute is dedicated to enhancing public safety and the quality of life through problem-oriented research, analysis, and practice; through educating high-level criminal justice researchers, practitioners, and policymakers; and by serving as a "neutral convener" of public and private sector resources to analyze problems and craft solutions.
The Police Institute currently directs several projects, including (1) the Greater Newark Safer Cities Initiative and Camden Safer Streets Initiative-partnerships among academics, governmental agencies, community leaders, social service providers, the clergy, and private business designed to address violence in the Newark and Camden areas; (2) the Executive Development Program-a training initiative that provides an advanced curriculum for upper-level management in the New Jersey State Police and other regional law enforcement agencies; (3) the Auto-Theft Task Force-a collaboration that brings together academics, police and criminal justice officials, and private industry (including investigators from insurance and car rental agencies) for the purposes of expanding the understanding of auto theft and crafting interventions to prevent it; (4) the North Jersey Gang Task Force-a collaborative effort among law enforcement agencies and community organizations that has the aim of addressing the growing gang problem in northeastern New Jersey; and (5) the Multi-State Regional Terrorism Initiative-a project in support of local initiatives to prevent acts of terrorism through the systematic exchange of information among police agencies in the Northeast corridor.
