Project CLEARS: Improving Shooting Crime Clearance Rates and Engaging Community Partners

Responding to a need to clear more fatal and nonfatal shootings and improve community partnerships

Over the past few years, many U.S. jurisdictions have experienced substantial increases in fatal and nonfatal shootings. When these violent crimes take place, law enforcement agencies (LEAs) investigate and work to solve as many cases as possible. Despite their efforts, U.S. LEAs clear fewer than half of all reported violent crimes on average. Violent crime clearance rates, including for fatal and nonfatal shooting cases, have remained consistently low for decades and, in the case of homicide, have continued to decline. 

A clearance rate is the proportion of all crimes known to the police that are solved, through either arrest or exceptional means. One critical and common barrier to clearing shooting cases is a lack of victim and witness participation. Research shows that community perceptions of law enforcement legitimacy and trust in law enforcement are associated with voluntary cooperation with the police, including willingness to participate in investigations. Partnerships between LEAs and community-based organizations (CBOs) provide meaningful opportunities to build community ties and increase community perceptions of LEA legitimacy. 

Community–Law Enforcement Alignment to Resolve Shootings (Project CLEARS)

With support from Arnold Ventures, RTI International’s Project CLEARS identifies investigative practices that improve case clearance for fatal and nonfatal shooting cases, defines and operationalizes key measures related to the investigative process, and develops recommendations to improve partnerships between law enforcement and community groups in investigations. Findings will be shared through practitioner-friendly briefs, conference presentations, peer-reviewed journal articles, and summary reports. 

CLEARS sites include high-performing LEAs with fatal and nonfatal shooting crime clearance rates higher than the national average, as well as LEAs from the National Case Closed Project that chose to participate in Project CLEARS. Participating agencies receive actionable recommendations on how to improve community engagement with an emphasis on victim and witness participation, along with an inventory of CBOs working to address gun violence in the local community. For the purposes of this project, our team defines CBOs to include a wide range of community partners, including grassroots organizations, formal nonprofit organizations, and local government offices. Case file data from across the sites will be used to identify investigative factors and attributes that affect case clearance outcomes.   

Community organizations can be key stakeholders for building partnerships. Trust is often transferable, so community members who trust partner organizations may also trust police agencies, creating a foundation of legitimacy that can be leveraged for community cohesion. — International Association of Chiefs of Police

Improved perceptions of legitimacy may increase the likelihood of case closure through increased witness and victim participation in the investigative process. Furthermore, LEAs can leverage trusted CBO partners to assist with messaging after shooting incidents, provide direct outreach, or serve in intermediary roles to facilitate community participation in investigations for purposes of community safety.

Assessment Process for Participating Law Enforcement Agencies

Participating LEAs for Project CLEARS go through an assessment process that includes the following: 

• A case review of a sample of fatal and nonfatal shootings
• A review of policies and training materials related to shooting investigations, key staff positions, and units within the LEA responsible for shooting investigations 
• Interviews with key site personnel, which may include investigators, command staff and supervisors, forensics and crime scene unit staff, crime analysts, victim-witness advocates, prosecutors, and community partners 
• A review of communication strategies and other activities used by the LEA to inform the community about shooting incidents and to encourage their participation in investigations 
• In-depth interviews with leadership of partnering CBOs and focus groups with community residents 

The findings from each assessment will be summarized in a report that will be provided to each participating LEA’s command staff. At the end of the project, findings from each site will be aggregated into a final report highlighting promising investigative practices and recommendations on police-community relationships. 

Learn more about RTI’s work around firearm violence prevention and the National Case Closed Project.