Tammy Rinehart Kochel

Professor of Criminology & Criminal Justice, Southern Illinois University

Areas of Expertise

  • Procedural justice
  • Community policing
  • Policing strategies
  • Police legitimacy
  • Race and policing

Key Findings

  • Citizens’ past victimization by crime did not increase their chances of reporting crime. MORE
  • A sense of civic duty and trust in police fairness appears to be what compels individuals to do the right thing and report crime to the police. MORE
  • Directed patrol policing, a form of hot spots policing where officers patrol the streets proactively, was found to decrease community trust in police legitimacy immediately after implementation. MORE
  • Citizens in both the directed patrol and collaborative problem-solving policing groups were more willing to cooperate with police in the long-term compared to the standard policing group. MORE
  • Residents living in diverse residential locations are more willing to cooperate with police and have higher levels of police legitimacy and procedural justice. MORE
  • Education level, age, and gender had an effect on citizens willingness to cooperate with police and report crime. MORE
  • Black officers reported experiencing double marginality due to their identities of being Black and police officers. MORE
  • Black officers were victim to more negative treatment during the Ferguson protest than their White counterparts. MORE

Biography

Tammy Rinehart Kochel, Professor of Criminology & Criminal Justice at Southern Illinois University, is an expert on police legitimacy and procedural justice, evidence-based policing strategies, hot spot policing, focused deterrence, police-community relations, and neighborhood ecology.

Kochel has consulted with the Department of Justice, police officers in Trinidad and Tobago, and with for-profit consulting firms and agencies to conduct research on her areas of expertise. Most recently, she worked with the Springfield Police Department in Illinois on gun violence research; a National Institute of Justice-funded experiment on hot spot policing with the St. Louis County Police Department; and a Ferguson impact study funded by the Charles Koch Foundation.

She has been published in numerous Journals including, “Criminology”, “Justice Quarterly”, and “the Journal of Experimental Criminology.”

Kochel Received her Ph.D. in Justice, Law and Crime Policy from George Mason University, her M.A. in Administration of Justice from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, and her B.A. in Sociology from James Madison University.