Tamara Herold

Senior Advisor, National Institute of Justice and Professor of Criminal Justice, University of Nevada at Las Vegas (UNLV)

Areas of Expertise

  • Crowd dynamics
  • Crowd management
  • Place management
  • Crime prevention

Key Findings

  • Most students who attend gatherings that result in riots are not destructive. MORE
  • Only 5% of students that attend large gatherings reported their main reason for attending is to get drunk. MORE
  • One percent of students reported destroying property and only 1.4% reported confrontation with the police. MORE
  • Males are most likely to act aggressively than females. MORE
  • Ticket prices and types of event will impact spectator violence. MORE
  • The external circumstances that impact spectator violence are venue characteristics (noise level, stadium location, etc.), event characteristics (crowd demographics, alcohol availability, etc.) and staff characteristics (training, experience, etc.). MORE
  • Effective control of spectator violence involves managing the external circumstances that impact spectator violence and development of a comprehensive response strategy. MORE

Biography

Tamara D. Herold, Senior Advisor at the National Institute of Justice and Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas (UNLV), is an expert in problem-oriented policing, the impact of the design and management of places, crime prevention and crowd dynamics that lead to violence.

Herold is the director of the Crowd Management Research Council. She consults with major sports leagues, venue managers, police agencies and private security industries. Herold was selected as a finalist for the National Society of Collegiate Scholars – Inspire Integrity Award and has received several awards from organizations, including the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs and the Consolidated Students of the University of Nevada (CSUN) at UNLV. She is an instructor with the Silver State Law Enforcement Academy and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s Leadership Ascendency Program. She also serves as a subject matter expert for the International Association of Crime Analysts.

She has been published in numerous academic journals and co-authored the book, Preventing Crowd Violence.

Herold received her Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from the University of Cincinnati and M.A. and B.A. in Criminal Justice from California State University, San Bernardino.