A Behavior Analysts’ Journey into the World of Data Science in Law Enforcement: A Call to Action
Presented by Dr. Sarah Casella-Jones, BCBA-D, LBA (MD & VA)
Recorded on Saturday, August 12, 2023
Access provided upon registration on “My Courses” page
Take a journey with Dr. Sarah Casella-Jones as she explores her interaction with Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) and how her focus has changed throughout her career from Behavior-Based Safety (BBS) on an airport tarmac and autism therapists to working with law enforcement to increase their data entry for future law predictive analysis. Here’s a sample of her manuscript:
A limited number of research articles in behavioral sciences have examined the use of data science techniques amongst behavioral science literature, but more specifically with law enforcement and crime analysis. For this review, the author analyzed eight behavior science peer-reviewed journals for the presence and relevance of specific keywords to identify data science usage in law enforcement articles. Overall, the author found an underwhelming amount of data science techniques being used in the field in general and more specifically from a law enforcement lens. Finally, the author intends to discuss these results and suggest a greater attention be paid to increasing the use of data science applications in behavioral science research overall and in law enforcement research.
Access provided upon registration on “My Courses” page
This program, when attended in its entirety, offers 1.5 BACB CEUs for Board Certified Behavior Analysts
Take a journey with Dr. Sarah Casella-Jones as she explores her interaction with Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) and how her focus has changed throughout her career from Behavior-Based Safety (BBS) on an airport tarmac and autism therapists to working with law enforcement to increase their data entry for future law predictive analysis. Here’s a sample of her manuscript:
A limited number of research articles in behavioral sciences have examined the use of data science techniques amongst behavioral science literature, but more specifically with law enforcement and crime analysis. For this review, the author analyzed eight behavior science peer-reviewed journals for the presence and relevance of specific keywords to identify data science usage in law enforcement articles. Overall, the author found an underwhelming amount of data science techniques being used in the field in general and more specifically from a law enforcement lens. Finally, the author intends to discuss these results and suggest a greater attention be paid to increasing the use of data science applications in behavioral science research overall and in law enforcement research.
- Students will identify the usage of behavioral science in law enforcement.
- Students will examine the importance of the use of data science methodologies within behavioral science in law enforcement.
- Students will formulate future research topics in the area of data science in behavioral science in other environments.
Dr. Sarah Casella-Jones, BCBA-D, LBA (MD & VA)
Dr. Sarah Casella-Jones earned a B.S. from Florida State University in Psychology, a M.S. in Organizational Behavior Management from Florida Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in Behavioral Sciences from WMU where her interest in law enforcement and big data began. She is a Board Certified Behavior Analysist – Doctoral and is a Licensed Behavior Analyst in the States of Maryland and Virginia.
As a civilian Data Scientist for the Department of Defense (DOD) and an Adjunct Professor of Behavioral Science at The Chicago School for Professional Psychology – Washington D.C. and at the National Intelligence University (NIU), Dr. Casella-Jones helped DOD and the Department of Justice (DOJ) Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) realize the potential of behavioral science by influencing more than 200 analysts and senior government officials to appreciate basic concepts of human behavior across multiple Intelligence Community mission areas and academia. She has taught individuals to better understand a target’s tactics, techniques, and procedures in conjunction with their behaviors to provide a more comprehensive and nuanced approach that enables a greater discovery of unknowns. Introduced the value of behavioral patterns into the data science arsenal by enlightening DOD and the Intelligence Community (IC) user base to produce better intelligence and outcomes. Prior to her civilian position, Dr. Casella-Jones worked as a government contractor for a few government agencies (i.e., Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization or JIEDDO; Pentagon, Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Intelligence & Analysis (I&A) Branch) all while employing behavioral sciences from her academic background. Dr. Casella-Jones has presented at numerous behavioral and IC conferences about the topics of behavioral and data science in various environments and topics.
Dr. Casella-Jones and her husband, Zach, enjoy spending time with their two dogs, Truman and Hula, going to breweries and wineries while playing chess, and watching various TV shows and movies. In her free time, she enjoys running, yoga, hiking, and reading various books.
Casella, S. (2012). A behavioral approach to modus operandi: Incident form completion and its effect on predictive analysis (Publication No. 4-2012) [Doctoral Dissertation, Western Michigan University]. Scholar Works. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1025&context=dissertations
Christens, B., & Speer, P. W. (2005). Predicting violent crime using urban and suburban densities. Behavior and Social Issues, 14(2), 113-127. https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.5210/bsi.v14i2.334.pdf
Lanovaz, M. J. (2022). Some characteristics and arguments in favor of a science of machine behavior analysis. Perspectives on Behavior Science, 45, 399–419. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40614-022-00332-3
Schnelle, J. F., Kirchner Jr, R. E., Casey, J. D., Uselton Jr, P. H., & McNees, M. P. (1977). Patrol evaluation research: A multiple-baseline analysis of saturation police patrolling during day and night hours. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 10(1), 33–40. https://doi.org/10.1901/jaba.1977.10-33
This program is presented free of charge,
Synchronous, 90 minutes = 1.5 BACB CEUs
Target Audience: BCBA Applied Behavior Analysts
Applied Behavior Analysis. Course meets the qualifications for 1.5 CEUs for Board Cerified Behavior Analysts. The Chicago School of Professional Psychology is approved by BACB as an Approved ACE provider, Provider Number OP-08-0178.
If participants have special needs, we will attempt to accommodate them. Please address questions, concerns and any complaints to [email protected]. There is no commercial support for this program nor are there any relationships between the CE Sponsor, presenting organization, presenter, program content, research, grants, or other funding that could reasonably be construed as conflicts of interest.