A Comparison of Pressure-less Silver Sintering Materials with Conventional Electronic Die Attach Practices

This thesis contains information on an experiment which validates silver sintering paste manufacturer’s die attach processes and examines feasibility for use in commercial products. Four silver pastes were used in constructing die attach samples, which were then void and shear tested. The silver sintering materials that are investigated in this work are compared with manufacturer data and also with data from conventional attaches such as conductive epoxy and solder. In addition, materials demonstrating the highest shear strength were down-selected and processed to compare thermal characteristics with solder and conductive epoxy. Under theoretical analysis, the characteristics of silver provide the most optimal solution as a die attach material for extreme conditions. Additionally, silver sintering paste technology has been significantly increasing over the last decade, leading to the potential for silver sintering pastes to be the next standard in power electronic die attaches, specifically in high temperature and rugged designs [1]

Fox in the Henhouse: A Study of Police Officers Arrested for Crimes Associated with Domestic and/or Family Violence

The problem of violence within police families has been increasingly recognized as an important socio-legal issue, but there is a lack of empirical data on what has commonly been referred to as officer-involved domestic violence (OIDV). There are no comprehensive statistics available on OIDV and no government entity collects data on the criminal conviction of police officers for crimes associated with domestic and/or family violence. Prior self-report officer surveys are limited by the tendency to conceal instances of family violence and the interests of officers to maintain a code of silence to protect their careers. The purpose of the current study is to provide empirical data on OIDV cases. The study identifies and describes cases in which police were arrested for criminal offenses associated with an incident of family and/or domestic violence through a content analysis of published newspaper articles. Data on these cases is presented in terms of the arrested officer, employing agency, victim, charged offense(s), and criminal case dispositions. The paper includes a discussion regarding OIDV police crime and policy implications

Research Brief One-Sheet No.4: Officer-Involved Domestic Violence

Officer-Involved Domestic Violence (OIDV) refers to instances of domestic and/or family violence that occur within police families. OIDV has been recognized as an important issue for both police scholars and practitioners. The movement to recognize OIDV gained momentum through the last two decades, beginning with exploratory research that linked police stress and family violence (Johnson, 1991). The movement also involved enactment of the Violence Against Women Act (1994) and the Lautenberg Amendment to the federal Gun Control Act that prohibits individuals—including police officers—from owning or using a firearm if they are convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence. The International Association of Police Chiefs (IACP) promulgated a model policy on OIDV in 1999 and issued a revised policy on OIDV in 2003. The purpose of the research is to provide empirical data on violence within police families. Our research identifies and describes incidents in which police were arrested for criminal offenses associated with an incident of family and/or domestic violence. Our primary goal is to provide information on actual OIDV cases to inform policies and further initiatives designed to mitigate the problem

Research Brief One-Sheet No.7: Police Integrity Lost: Introducing a Study of Law Enforcement Officers Arrested

There are no comprehensive statistics available on problems with police integrity, and no government entity collects data on all criminal arrests of law enforcement officers in the United States. Police crimes are those crimes committed by sworn law enforcement officers with the general powers of arrest. These crimes can occur while the officer is either on‐ or off‐duty and include offenses committed by officers employed by state and local law enforcement agencies. This study provides a wealth of data on a phenomena that relates directly to police integrity—data that previously did not exist in any useable format

Bad Cops at Home: An Exploratory Study of Officer-Involved Domestic Violence

Officer-involved domestic violence is a problem that should concern researchers, policymakers, the policing community, and the general public. Yet there is very little research in the area and no official data is available to discern the nature and prevalence of domestic violence in police families. Victims are reluctant to report officer-involved domestic violence and often feel helpless in the criminal justice system where the abuser is employed. This is complicated by provisions of the Lautenberg Amendment of 1996 which prohibit anyone convicted of a crime of domestic violence from carrying a firearm. This study explores 324 cases of state and local police officers from agencies across the United States arrested during 2005-2007 for crimes involving family violence. The analysis includes an examination of preferential charging decisions in cases of officer-involved domestic violence, as well as other factors including case and employment outcomes

Research Brief One-Sheet No.1: Late-Stage Police Crime: Is it an Exit Strategy?

The study focuses on crimes committed by experienced police officers who are approaching retirement. Police scholars have traditionally been interested in the formative experiences that occur near the beginning of an officer\u27s career, wherein the expectations of rookie cops clash with on-the-job realities to promote cynicism, personal anomia, and potential attachment to delinquent police subcultures. The literature suggests that officers will tend to get into trouble earlier in their career rather than later; but, the occurrence of late-stage misconduct committed by experienced police officers presents a challenge to existing assumptions regarding the relationship between experience and various forms of police misconduct and also provides an opportunity to examine a stage of the police career that has not been the subject of much research

Police Crime in Rural Areas Across the United States

Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, Las Vegas, NV, on March 18, 2022

Using Google Alerts to Study Police Crime

Presentation from the annual meeting of the Criminology Consortium on October 18, 2021

Lorain Police Department: A Study to Improve Patrol Deployment

The Lorain (OH) Police Department requested research assistance from the Ohio Consortium of Crime Science (OCCS) for the purpose of evaluating and revising the current patrol districts and the allocation of resources within the districts. The OCCS is an association of researchers from universities and state agencies working together to provide evidence-based solutions to the real-world problems faced by local criminal justice agencies. The goal of the project was to evaluate and revise the current police districts and the allocation of resources within those districts. The first objective in support of the project goal was to assess calls for service, officers’ workload, hotspots, and violent crimes within the existing police districts. The second objective in support of the project goal was to develop new police districts based on the findings of the first objective and to predict future calls for service, officers’ workload, hotspots, and violent crimes within those proposed districts. Calls for service data (N = 56,423) from the Lorain Police Department’s computer-aideddispatch (CAD) system were analyzed for the year 2013. Findings indicate that there is disparity in allocation of patrol resources and calls for service workload across the five current police districts within the city of Lorain. The CHAID algorithm was employed to group 93 existing geographic section tracts within the city into twelve statistically similar groups. Geospatial patterns readily emerged and the five police districts were reconfigured into four new patrol beats. Four recommendations are presented: (1) the proposed new police beats should be implemented; (2) section tracts within the new beats should be used as crime analysis targets; (3) patrol resources should be specifically assigned to each of the new beats on all shifts; and, (4) patrol operations should be fully integrated within the new CAD system scheduled for implementation in early 2015