How proactive policing can move forward: An evidence-based roadmap

May 14, 2025·47 min·4 clips

Why do police officers need a wider toolkit beyond just traffic stops for effective proactive policing?

Jim Dudley frames the episode around the question of how proactive policing can move forward. He places that question against the post-2020 malaise he sees in policing. The guest is Dr. Cynthia Lum. She is introduced as a former Baltimore officer, a professor at George Mason University, and a leading voice in evidence-based crime policy. Dudley treats her as someone who can bridge scholarship and street reality. Lum argues that agencies are often good at recording crime and calls for service. She says they are much worse at recording proactive policing. Her example is plain but sharp: CAD systems can have many categories for crimes and calls, while proactive work often gets pushed into vague labels like patrol check, follow-up, or other. She says that gap matters because officers need infrastructure if leaders want them to be proactive. Without that support, a vague order to go be more proactive just sends people back to what they already know. Lum says that usually means traffic stops and generalized patrol. She adds that in earlier eras it could mean zero-tolerance stop-and-frisk policing. Dudley keeps pressing on what agencies can practically do. Lum answers that tools alone are not enough. She warns that a tool-only approach can create resentment and confusion. If nobody recognizes the work, it also disappears from the reward structure. If it is not recorded, it is easy to pretend it never happened. She also points to inconsistency across the ranks. Some supervisors support the kind of proactive policing she describes, while others higher up do not. The episode ends on a collegial note, with Dudley praising Lum’s work and emphasizing safer cops, better knowledge, and better tools.

As heard by us

Proactive policing only sticks when agencies build the records, rewards, and supervision to support it.

The episode treats proactive policing as a systems issue, not a matter of telling officers to work harder. Jim Dudley and Dr. Cynthia Lum focus on what evidence based policing would have to change in patrol practice, especially how agencies record proactive work and how…

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You want a practical roadmap for turning proactive policing into something officers can actually do today.

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