The National Law Enforcement Knowledge Lab is a national resource hub designed to expand access to reliable information and expertise on effective, constitutionally-based, and evidence-informed promising police practices. Agencies and communities can implement these strategies to reduce crime and violence, strengthen public trust, and promote safer communities.

With over 18,000 police agencies throughout the United States, it is difficult to learn about effective programs, policies, and procedures that may help a jurisdiction address crime in a manner that reflects the ideals and requirements of the Constitution, adapt to changes in the law or improve the capabilities of an organization. The Knowledge Lab is an effort to collect and make available the many ideas and innovations that could help agencies seeking to improve their ability to protect and serve their communities in adherence to the requirements and ideals of the Constitution.

Local, state, tribal and territorial police and law enforcement agencies, community partners, and stakeholders seek to learn about and implement effective police practices to reduce crime and violence that are Constitutionally sound, strengthen public trust, and build safer communities.

The Knowledge Lab works collaboratively with police agencies, interest group associations, legal experts, researchers, community groups, practitioners, and the private sector to identify effective police and community practices--including policies, procedures, programs, training, research, and initiatives--to reduce crime and protect communities from harm, consistent with constitutional ideals and community expectations. The Knowledge Lab collects this information, provides summaries and links to the materials, and provides the technical assistance and expertise to help implement selected practices.

Examples of our technical assistance areas of expertise include implementing evidence-based programs and federal intervention recommendations, improving practice and transparency through data collection, and identifying funding opportunities related to federal interventions. For more information, click here.

You can request assistance here. Or, you can contact leknowledgelab@policinginstitute.org

We identify and publicly disseminate fair and effective policing practices, training, and technical assistance at no cost to the field. This project is funded by Grant No. 15PBJA-21-GK-04011-JAGT through the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.

Yes! Any agency or community may engage with the Knowledge Lab to access information and expert assistance about implementing effective, evidence-informed, and constitutionally-based law enforcement approaches that reduce crime, strengthen public trust, and support equal access to justice.

You can search our interactive resource index to find resources. Or, you can check out research briefs published by the Knowledge Lab. If you still can’t find what you are looking for, contact the Knowledge Lab team.