Security embodies the single-most powerful tool to combating crime – prevention. And, the first step to creating an impervious web of protection is producing a solid intelligence capability, and it continues with developing well-trained professionals to action cutting-edge strategies.

Twenty-first century law enforcement is currently operating in one of the most complex working environments with criminal adversaries and advanced, persistent threats that are constantly adapting and evolving. The current threat environment has expanded beyond the realm of normal criminality, and has created a platform for nefarious actors to identify and exploit weaknesses within our current response and policing practices. In response, law enforcement must adapt by deploying new tactics, techniques, and procedures to counter multiple threat vectors, which include violent criminal offenders, transnational organized crime, homegrown violent extremists, foreign terrorist organizations, violent gangs, and nefarious cyber actors. As we focus on defining the crime and threat environment, law enforcement agencies nationwide must look to adopt new and innovative strategies to combat a multidimensional environment.

Under the intelligence studies and policing strategies discipline, F1RST partners with organizations and research entities to innovate, evaluate, and promote new methods to assist with impacting crime, enhancing response to manmade and natural disasters, and providing for safer communities.

Through partnerships such as USF’s Social and Psychological Research for Understanding Crime and its Etiology (SPRUCE) lab, Pasco-Hernando State College, Pasco County Schools, the Naval Postgraduate School, and Echo Analytics, F1RST will provide the framework for advancing current methods and discovering new strategies in policing. Collaboration with researchers allows these new techniques, methods, and strategies to be empirically evaluated for effectiveness and efficiency.