#95 (Jessie Huff)

Jerry Ratcliffe speaks with University of Cincinnati policing scholar Jesse Huff about her research on police effectiveness, fairness, and evidence-based reform. Huff recounts her path from aspiring military police officer to academic researcher, shaped by graduate work at the University of Nevada, Reno and Arizona State University, where partnerships with police agencies informed her practice-oriented approach. Huff discusses a randomized controlled trial of body-worn cameras in the Phoenix Police Department conducted after Ferguson. The study found cameras altered some policing behaviors but did not reduce use of force, while arrest patterns shifted differently across Black and Hispanic neighborhoods. She argues that successful police–research partnerships depend on feasible study designs, clear communication, timely findings, and mutual understanding between practitioners and researchers. The conversation examines challenges in policing research, including organizational resistance, the complexity of implementing randomized trials, and the importance of process evaluations and logic models. Huff also describes her work evaluating crime gun intelligence centers and NIBIN technologies, including Phoenix’s crime gun liaison program, which improved ballistic evidence collection but showed less consistent effects on arrests, case clearance, and crime reduction. Ratcliffe and Huff further discuss Huff’s evaluation of a Brazilian jiu-jitsu–based response-to-resistance program developed with the St. Paul Police Department. The training aims to improve officer control tactics while reducing higher levels of force, with especially positive outcomes for women officers. The episode concludes with Huff’s ongoing research into police retention strategies in Ohio, emphasizing organizational culture, supervision, and job satisfaction. Throughout the discussion, both stress the importance of building trust between agencies and researchers and aligning policing innovations with outcomes communities value.