Intelligence Analysis within U.S. Law Enforcement Agencies: Empirical Insights from a National Sample

Abstract

There is currently a lack of empirical insights which explore the activities related to state and local law enforcement’s analytic function. This research is intended to remedy this shortcoming. Drawing on a national sample of 345 state and local law enforcement agencies, this research provides an empirical description of the types of analytic activities, sources of information, and analyst performance evaluation within police agencies in the United States. Results indicate that agencies are primarily engaged in crime analysis activities, access more information via databases than is received from outside agencies, and that few responding agencies have identified factors critical to the evaluation of intelligence analysts. Context for these findings and implications for practice are discussed.