Laura A. Wyckoff, Ph.D., Program Manager

Dr. Laura Wyckoff has experience supervising research and working with practitioners in policing, juvenile justice, and prosecution. She specializes in the application of crime analysis, crime mapping, crime-at-place, police practices, and research methods. Dr. Wyckoff’s work is both theoretical and applied, focusing on agencies here in Maryland and across the country. She completed her Ph.D. at the University of Maryland at College Park, working with Dr. David Weisburd performing research in the realms of police practice and place-based criminology. At UMD, she also served as the field project director for a number of projects including UM's Maryland Project Safe Neighborhoods Research Partner and the Prince George's County State's Attorney's Office Cease-Fire Initiative. Dr. Wyckoff formerly served as the Deputy Chief Operating Officer at the Police Foundation where she gained a wealth of experience working on experiments and quasi-experiments in Police Departments across the country, specializing in crime-at-place research. Presently, Dr. Wyckoff serves as a Senior Faculty Researcher at IGSR and the Program Manager for the CompStat initiative, where she applies the knowledge she has accumulated working with researchers and practitioners across the country.

Rachel Boba Santos, Ph.D., Police Research Specialist

Dr. Rachel Santos is an Associate Professor at Florida Atlantic University in Jupiter, Fl and has been working with police for over 18 years. Before moving to Florida, she was a Senior Research Associate and Director of the Crime Mapping Laboratory at the Police Foundation in Washington, D.C. where she carried out large-level grant-funded research projects that focused on crime mapping, crime analysis, and problem-oriented policing. Her current publications and research focus on institutionalizing crime reduction strategies into the daily routine of police agencies through the implementation of crime analysis and accountability (i.e., through the development and implementation of the Stratified Model of Problem Solving, Analysis, and Accountability). She has worked closely with the Port St. Lucie (Florida) Police Department over the past nine years, and together they have won two prestigious policing awards for their work in this area: Finalist for the Herman Goldstein Award for Excellence in Problem-Oriented Policing (2006) and the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Excellence in Law Enforcement Research Award (2008). In addition, she has assisted many more agencies in implementing the Stratified Model and has trained agencies throughout the U.S. and worldwide. Two of her recent books include one sole-authored, Crime Analysis with Crime Mapping, 3rd Edition (2012), and the other co-authored with Professor Marcus Felson, Crime and Everyday Life, 4th Edition (2009). She earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in Sociology from Arizona State University.

Roberto Santos, M.S., Policing Specialist

Detective Lieutenant Roberto Santos has been with the Port St. Lucie (Florida) Police Department for over 18 years. Currently, he oversees the daily operations of the criminal investigations division which includes persons, property, and financial crime, the crime scene investigators, as well as the crime and intelligence analysis unit. Det. Lt. Santos has been the catalyst for creating a department-wide system for institutionalizing crime reduction strategies, crime analysis, and accountability in his agency (i.e., the implementation of the Stratified Model of Problem Solving, Analysis, and Accountability). His agency has won two prestigious policing awards for this work: Finalist for the Herman Goldstein Award for Excellence in Problem-Oriented Policing (2006) and the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Excellence in Law Enforcement Research Award (2008). He has assisted law enforcement agencies and trained police personnel around the U.S. in institutionalizing crime reduction strategies, crime analysis, and the Stratified Model and has published several articles and guidebooks on this topic. He is a graduate of the FBI’s National Academy, earned his Masters in Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida Atlantic University (FAU), has been an adjunct professor teaching criminology and criminal justice courses, and is currently a PhD candidate in Criminal Justice at Nova Southeastern University.

Jeanne Bilanin, Ph.D., Program Advisor

Dr. Jeanne Bilanin is a specialist in quantitative analytical methods whose research has focused on police services. Since joining IGSR in 1989, Dr. Bilanin has conducted numerous projects for Maryland local governments and state agencies, including evaluations of public safety needs in Calvert and Caroline Counties and the towns of La Plata and New Carrollton; analysis of response to calls for service in Bel Air, a review of proactive community supervision by the Maryland Division of Parole and Probation, and examination of prosecution approaches to reducing gun violence in two Maryland counties. She is currently working with the Maryland Judiciary Research Consortium on evaluations of mental health courts and truancy courts. Dr. Bilanin has also conducted numerous fiscal impact analyses to estimate the effects of new development on municipal revenues and expenditures. Her most recent work in this area, performed for the City of Aberdeen, considered the impact of development associated with the Base Realignment and Closing (BRAC) on city facilities and services, including police. In the 1990s, she conducted a study for Aberdeen, Bel Air, and Havre de Grace of the tax rebate for police services provided to these municipalities by Harford County. Dr. Bilanin has a M.S. in Urban and Public Affairs from Carnegie Mellon University and a Ph.D. in Public Policy from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Megan McCloskey, B.A., Program Assistant

Ms. Megan McCloskey serves as a Faculty Research Assistant at IGSR. She assists with various project tasks including training administration, project organization, and collecting and analyzing project data. While earning her B.A. in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Maryland at College Park, Megan worked as an Undergraduate Research Assistant at IGSR, working on projects in juvenile justice, problem-oriented policing, courts and sentencing, and community policing. Additionally, Ms. McCloskey worked as an Intern Investigator with the Public Defender Service of the District of Columbia, where she assisted in the investigation of felony-level crimes. Ms. McCloskey is currently working on a M.A. at UMD's School of Education.