Law Enforcement: Better Performance Measures Needed to Assess Results of Justice's Office of Science and Technology
Abstract
The mission of the Office of Science and Technology (OST), within the Department of Justices National Institute of Justice (NIJ), is to improve the safety and effectiveness of technology used by federal, state, and local law enforcement and other public safety agencies. Through NIJ, OST funds programs in forensic sciences, crime prevention, and standards and testing. To support these programs, Congress increased funding for OST from $13.2 million in 1995 to $204.2 million in 2003 (in constant 2002 dollars). GAO reviewed (1) the growth in OST's budgetary resources and the changes in OST's program responsibilities, (2) the types of products OST delivers and the methods used for delivering them; and (3) how well OST's efforts to measure the success of its programs in achieving intended results meet applicable requirements. GAO recommends that the Director of NIJ reassess the measures used to evaluate OST's progress toward achieving its goals and to better focus on outcome measures to assess results where possible. In those cases where measuring outcomes is, after careful consideration, deemed infeasible, we recommend developing appropriate intermediate measures that will help to discern program effectiveness.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 14, 2003
- Accession Number
- AD1179883
Entities
People
- Debra L Picozzi
- Denise M. Fantone
- Elizabeth H. Curda
- Geoffrey R Hamilton
- Katherine M Davis
- Kristeen Mclain
- Laurie E. Ekstrand
- Leo M Barbour
- Rebecka Derr
- Richard Hung
- Samuel L. Hinojosa
- Thomas M. Beall
- Weldon Mcphail
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office