Background
Ph.D. Nova Southeastern University
M.S. Florida Atlantic University
B.S. Barry University
Dr. Santos joined the faculty in 2016. He is Co-Director of the Center for Police Practice, Policy and Research.
Interests
Dr. Santos is a retired police commander from a large police agency in Florida where
after 22 years worked in, supervised, and commanded every division within the agency.
As such, his interests lie in policing. He assists police agencies and conducts evidence-based
and practice-based research to translate research to practice and vice versa. Dr.
Santos focuses on areas of crime reduction approaches and strategies, crime and place,
crime science, police use-of-force, police training, criminal investigations, organizational
change and leadership, police and community partnerships, crime analysis, and experimental
research methodology.
Recent Professional Activities
Dr. Santos co-created a crime reduction approach, called Stratified Policing, that
provides the means for a police organization to systematize and sustain proactive
crime reduction practices taking “what works” and “making it work” within the police
organization. His book entitled, Stratified Policing: An Organizational Model for
Proactive Crime Reduction and Accountability is currently available from Roman & Littlefield. He is active in assisting police agencies around the U.S. and internationally in
organizational change, evaluation, and sustainability processes for institutionalizing
proactive crime reduction strategies, problem solving, and accountability. In addition,
he has conducted a quasi-experiment and random controlled trial (RCT) testing police
response in, what he has coined as, “micro-time hot spots.” This work has resulted
in recent grant funding, several peer-reviewed journal articles, and several guidebooks
published by the Office of Community-Oriented Policing Services. Dr. Santos was inducted
into George Mason University’s Evidence-Based Policing Hall of Fame for leading rigorous
research and the implementation of evidence-based practices into day-to-day police
operations.
