Dr. Yan Zhang and Dr. Jason Ingram, from the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology have been funded almost $450,000 to serve as research partners on the Southern District of Texas’ Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN) for a second year. Through research, data analysis, and the examination of police activity, Dr. Zhang and Dr. Ingram help evaluate PSN efforts in troubled neighborhoods in the Houston area through the PSN project.
Project Safe
Neighborhood works nationwide and brings together law enforcement officials
from all levels to help prevent violent crime and gang crimes in communities.
Dr. Ingram and Dr. Zhang look to build upon existing strategies to enhance law
enforcements’ approach to violent crime and gang issues in PSN’s Southern
District of Texas. PSN programs have been implemented across the United States
for over 20 years in an effort to bring together practitioners and researchers
to enhance local responses to violent crime.
Dr. Zhang enjoys this aspect of working with the PSN
Project, stating, “we are very happy that we can help practitioners. We should
be able to help with policy and help them identify other places that need more
effort.”
In their second year of funding, Dr. Zhang and Dr. Ingram are
analyzing how COVID-19 has impacted their current strategies. They are also
looking into different factors that may contribute to the rise of violent crime
in certain areas. Dr. Ingram and Dr. Zhang, who are both professors in the
Criminal Justice and Criminology department, are constructing a crime index to analyze
the distribution of crimes in communities through the PSN Project. Their
dedication to research and strategy implementation will lead to better law
enforcement practices and will create safer neighborhoods in Texas.
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