Center for Public Safety Initiatives

At the Center for Public Safety, we believe that: 

• An individual's compassion and empathy for others obligates one to a commitment to the cause of social justice.
   
• Citizens deserve public institutions that operate efficiently, effectively, and transparently, leveraging best practices in an unyielding effort to improve.
   
• Everyone, regardless of race, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, economic class, or other category, deserves a safe community to live in, and to live free from fear of victimization.
   
• The world is not just, and is not safe, and is not free from victimization, so we must find ways to change those conditions.
   
• If you are an academic, and you care about social justice, you must find ways to engage practitioners to do work that helps them, and that if you are a practitioner, you must seek out ways to improve your organization through research and analysis.
   
• To make these changes, research should be action-oriented, so that it can be applied to practical problems of the real world.
   
• Science can be used for great good, but can also be manipulated, so your work must always be methodologically rigorous and of the highest ethical standard.
   
• You do good work because it is important to you, and you care about it. 
   

• And lastly, but perhaps most importantly, you seek to change the world not only by influencing organizations and systems, but by enlisting people to the cause through teaching and mentorship.

Partnering for Solutions

CPSI provides program evaluation, data analytics, and project management services to area law enforcement, community non-profits, and other criminal justice professionals, and it contributes to general knowledge generation of the nature and causes of crime and violence. 

Additionally, the Center for Public Safety Initiatives administers the Monroe Crime Analysis Center and the North Country Crime Analysis Center as part of an agreement with the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services.

It also actively seeks projects where it can bring to bear its unique partnerships, research skills, and educational commitments.

Educational Goals

Its educational goals include training graduate and undergraduate students in strategic planning, program evaluation, and policy analysis.

Action Research

The foundation of the Center is the practice of action research in which relevant data and analyses are brought to bear on the day-to-day decision-making processes of organizations.

The Center serves the practice of policy development and implementation in real time and is a testing ground for 21st century university engagement, demonstrating how rigorous research and analysis can play a role in improving the lives of society’s most marginalized citizens. Its research primarily focuses on:

• Understanding violence and crime.
• The impact of violence on the broader community.
• Program evaluation of projects to reduce violence and crime.
• Intersections between criminal justice, technology, and society.
• Research examining the administration of justice and the impact of justice processes on society.