Background
Ph.D. Arizona State University
M.A. Arizona State University
B.A. California Lutheran University
Dr. Santos joined the faculty in 2016. She is currently the Co-Director for the Center for Police Practice, Policy and Research.
Interests
Dr. Santos interests include conducting practice-based research which is implementing
and evaluating evidence-based practices in the “real world” of criminal justice. In
particular, she seeks to improve crime prevention and crime reduction efforts by police
in areas such as crime analysis, crime mapping, problem solving, evaluation and accountability.
She and Dr. Roberto Santos co-created Stratified Policing which is business model
for systemizing proactive crime reduction and community engagement strategies in police
departments. Other areas of research include police/researcher partnerships, police/community
collaboration, hot spot and problem-oriented policing, crime science, crime and place,
police/crime data and technology, experimental research methodology, and program evaluation.
Recent professional activities
Dr. Santos’ recent professional activity includes serving as co-principal investigator
for several state (Virginia) and Federal grants (COPS Office, Bureau of Justice Assistance).
Recent projects include providing training and assistance to crime analysts in the
Western District of Virginia, evaluating Danville, VA Police Departments implementation
of Stratified Policing and community engagement, serving as research partner for Delaware
State Police offender-focused strategies and technology grant, and develop a framework
for institutionalizing community policing by rank. She is working with police departments
in Virginia, Florida, Missouri, New Mexico, Wisconsin and Washington as well as in
Ontario, Canada to assist with their community collaboration efforts and implementation
of Stratified Policing. She has completed two experiments partnering with a police
agency to test the effectiveness of systematic police response in both short-term
and long-term property crime hot spots and works with the Police Executive Research
Forum as a crime analysis subject matter expert. She regularly conducts presentations
at state and international police and crime analysis conferences, publishes peer-reviewed
journal articles and guidebooks for police, as well as writes and administers grant
funded research and technical assistance. She has recently co-authored the book, Stratified
Policing: An Organizational Model for Proactive Crime Reduction and Accountability.
