Bridging Perspectives: Critical Conversations between Youth and Police

Professor Stephen Bamford: Steve retired as an Assistant Chief of Police for the City of Manassas, Virginia Police Department.  Steve has more than 26 years of law enforcement experience in a mid-sized municipal police department and served as an assistant chief in all three divisions: Administrative, Operations and Investigations.  Before retiring, Steve served as the assistant chief in charge of the department's Criminal Investigation Division. During his career, Steve served on the department's SWAT Team, was a member of and supervised the department's Crisis Negotiation Team and has extensive experience in criminal investigations where he served as a detective and supervisor for nearly half his career. Steve served as a Special Investigator for the United States Attorney's Office (EDVA), and was a supervisor on a regional narcotics taskforce. Additionally, Steve supervised the Internal Affairs function, Technical Services section, was a field training instructor and a crime scene technician. Steve is a graduate of George Mason University (BS), Virginia Commonwealth University (MS) and the 210th Session of the FBI National Academy. Steve is currently a Term Professor/Instructor in the Criminology, Law and Society Department at George Mason University, teaching Ethics, Criminal Investigations, Introduction to the Criminal Justice System, Policing in America, Bridging Perspectives, and other special topics courses. Steve continues to consult in the public safety environment on a variety of public safety and human resource projects nationwide.  

Janice Iwama is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Justice, Law & Criminology at American University in Washington, D.C. Her research focuses on advancing the study of race/ethnicity, immigration, and crime across different contexts and involving a wide variety of socially defined crimes including hate crimes and gun violence. Using quantitative research methods, her research addresses the following three questions: 1) what is the association between race/ethnicity, immigration, and crime?; 2) how does race/ethnicity, immigration, and crime vary across different contexts?; and 3) how does race/ethnicity, immigration, and crime change over time?  Currently, she is working on a study examining victimization of Latinx youth in the local D.C. Metropolitan area following concerns with anti-Latinx and anti-immigrant rhetoric and sentiment. She has previously developed a resource guide for schools in Massachusetts to provide recommendations on how to address and prevent bias incidents from taking place in schools and communities. She has collaborated on a number of research projects funded by federal and state agencies and local organizations looking at disproportionate minority contact, racial profiling, and gun violence. Additionally, she presented at a Congressional briefing on immigration and crime and she was interviewed by different media sources including the Sinclair Broadcast Group, Univision, The Washington Post, and Slate Magazine. She currently serves as a faculty affiliate with American University's Antiracist Research and Policy Center (ARPC) and an expert on CNA's Project on American Justice team, which produces reports identifying the most pressing issues in the justice system, as well as podcasts and articles based on our research and recommendations. 

Paul Taylor is an Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado Denver. His research focuses on police decision-making, human factors, and system safety in the context of potential use-of-force encounters with an eye toward improving outcomes. Paul also has over 10 years of practical law enforcement experience, including time as an in-service instructor, field-training officer, patrol sergeant and department training manager. He is actively engaged in police research and training across the country and regularly presents to both academic and practitioner audiences. Paul's early research received awards from the American Society of Criminology and the Division of Policing at the American Society of Criminology. His most recent research has been published in Criminology & Public Policy and Police Quarterly. Paul works closely with a number of local, state and federal law enforcement agencies in a wide range of consulting and training roles. 

Elynn Lee is a Project Manager at the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP). She works on various projects involving community-police engagement, officer safety and wellness, and tactical safety. Before her time at the IACP, Ms. Lee served as a Project Coordinator for Migration and Refugee Services Virginia Refugee Student Achievement Project (VRSAP) working with immigrant families and youth. In 2017, she worked on different International Development projects in Honduras to improve community relations, education systems, and health systems to minimize gang activity, substance abuse, and crime. She received a B.A. in Public and Urban Affairs from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg, VA and is currently pursuing a Master's in Business Administration and Health Administration from Mary Baldwin University.