Technology and Criminal Justice Summit

The Technology and Criminal Justice Summit, which will focus on sharing information between research and practice on various aspects of technology and the criminal and juvenile justice system.  The event will bring experts from across different fields to present their work on issues ranging from Artificial Intelligence and body worn cameras to digital evidence collection and analysis.

The summit is approved for 8 hours of credit with MCOLES for practitioners. 

Reserve your seat for the Summit!

Agenda:

8:00AM - 9:00AM: Breakfast, Registration, and Networking

9:00AM - 9:10AM: Welcome and Introductory Remarks

9:10AM - 10:00AM: What have we learned at the Intersection of Artificial Intelligence and Body-Worn Cameras?

Speaker: Dr. Ian T. Adams

10:00AM - 10:50AM: Approaches to Integrating Body-Worn Camera Footage into Training

Speakers: Mr. Clarence Mejia and Dr. Jeff Rojek

11:00AM - 11:50AM: From Evidence to Intelligence: Putting NIBIN to Work

Speaker: Dr. Alaina De Biasi

12:00AM - 1:00PM: Lunch Buffett, Networking Break

1:00PM - 1:50PM: The Investigative Value of Forensic Hand Imagery in Child Sexual Abuse Material

Speakers: Dr. Kate Seigfried-Spellar and DFA Aaron Roberts

2:00PM - 2:50PM: Technology and Criminal Justice Applications

Speakers: Dr. Ed McGarrell, Dr. Steven Wu-Chaves, and Dr. Chris Melde

3:00PM - 3:50PM: Examining the Use of Monitoring of Juveniles In Online Spaces in Michigan

Speakers: Dr. Julie Krupa, Dr. Thomas J. Holt, and Mr. Thom Lattig

4:00PM - 4:50PM: Mind the Gap: From Cybercrime Reporting to Digital Investigations

Speakers: Dr. Rachel McNealey and Dr. Cooper Maher

Breakfast, lunch, beverages, and snacks provided throughout the conference in the atrium area.

Download the agenda

Speakers:

Ian T. Adams

What Have We Learned at the Intersection of Artificial Intelligence and Body‐Worn Cameras? Evidence from a connected program of randomized trials

The body-worn camera adoption wave began in policing in 2015 in the US, and gave way beginning in 2023 to the artificial intelligence (AI) adoption wave. In many ways, the two technologies are connected. AI now writes police reports and reviews officer conduct using body-worn camera recordings. This talk brings together randomized trials, blinded expert evaluations, and public assessments to examine what these applications deliver. AI-assisted report writing produced no measurable gains in writing speed or report quality, and expert reviewers could not reliably distinguish AI-assisted reports from conventional reports. Automated review of camera footage showed modest improvements in measured officer professionalism, although validation and replication findings qualify that promise. Together, these studies suggest that AI may offer more value by extending the reach of supervision than by taking over report writing. The talk considers what police agencies should demand from the evidence and what researchers still need to test.

Bio: Ian T. Adams, PhD is an Associate Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of South Carolina. His research focuses on policing technology, policy, and practice, with recent work examining artificial intelligence applications in law enforcement. He brings over twenty years of experience as a policing practitioner and researcher. His scholarship appears in leading journals across criminology and public policy. He has received early career awards from the American Society of Criminology's Division of Policing (2024), the Division of Experimental Criminology (2025), and the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences' Policing Section (2026). Adams serves on the Council on Criminal Justice's Taskforce for Artificial Intelligence and the International Association of Chiefs of Police Research Advisory Council. He regularly lectures on policing behavior, technology, and policy to both practitioner and academic audiences, and provides expert consultation to law enforcement agencies in the United States and abroad.

Alaina De Biasi

From Evidence to Intelligence: Putting NIBIN to Work: The Role of the Crime Gun Intelligence Center in Maximizing the Tactical and Strategic Value of NIBIN

The National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) provides law enforcement with a powerful tool for connecting firearm evidence across incidents and generating leads that can advance shooting investigations. But the value of NIBIN does not end with the investigative lead. Ballistic intelligence can also be leveraged strategically to better understand patterns of firearm violence and inform responses to them. When integrated within a Crime Gun Intelligence Center (CGIC), NIBIN becomes part of a broader intelligence process that serves as a force multiplier.  This presentation introduces NIBIN and the CGIC model and explores their value at two levels: the tactical and strategic. Drawing on research and examples from Detroit, the presentation illustrates both applications, including evidence on the relationship between CGIC integration and shooting case outcomes, the role of gunshot detection technology in generating downstream crime gun intelligence, and the identification of near-repeat patterns in shootings.

Bio: Dr. Alaina De Biasi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Wayne State University. Her research interests include understanding the causes and consequences of firearm violence, leveraging law enforcement data systems to advance crime gun intelligence, evaluating the effectiveness of violence prevention initiatives, conducting community-engaged research, and exploring the geography of crime. Through her work, she seeks to develop new and better policies and practices aimed at violence prevention.

Julie Krupa, Thomas J. Holt, and Thom Lattig

Examining the Use of Monitoring of Juveniles In Online Spaces in Michigan

Probation has consistently been the most common disposition for youth referred to juvenile court in the United States (U.S.) and remains a frequent outcome for non-adjudicated youth. Probation allows youth to remain in the community and be connected to constructive or therapeutic activities. At the same time, probation can function as a gateway to confinement if youth fail to comply with the conditions of supervision. The increasing role of technology in youths’ lives has significant implications for the supervision of justice-involved youth. Juvenile probation officers are responsible for monitoring youths’ compliance with probation conditions, which may include direct restrictions on online activities or indirectly encompass online behavior. Little research has explored how probation staff approach the monitoring of youth’s online behavior. Understanding these practices is a critical precursor to identifying best practices and ensuring that supervision aligns with principles of positive youth development. This study examines how organizational factors shape juvenile probation officers’ knowledge of and responses to cyber-related behaviors among justice-involved youth. Drawing on survey data from U.S. juvenile justice professionals, the current study assesses the extent to which agency-level characteristics (e.g., policy, training, supervisor support) impact staff perceptions of cyber risk, self-reported knowledge, and the use of online monitoring strategies. Findings aim to identify organizational conditions that support technologically informed supervision practices for justice-involved youth.

Bio: Julie Krupa is an Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the School of Criminal Justice and a core member of the Youth Equity Project. Broadly, her research focuses on health and social disparities among justice-involved youth and young adults. She applies a community-engaged, action research approach to examine local issues of violence and disparities in the juvenile justice system. She is particularly interested in the intersection between public health and juvenile justice, unmet health needs among marginalized youth and young adults, and program evaluation. Dr. Krupa and her colleagues are currently working with criminal justice and community-based agencies in and outside of Michigan, to better understand and inform system responses to violence and delinquency.  Dr. Krupa's research has been funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, National Institute on Drug Abuse, City of Detroit, and Michigan Public Health Institute. Her research has appeared in a number of journals including, Criminal Justice and Behavior, Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, Justice Quarterly, Crime and Delinquency, and Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse.

Dr. Thomas J. Holt is a professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University and the Director of the Center For Cybercrime Investigation and Training focusing on providing training for criminal and juvenile justice professionals across the state of Michigan.  His work focuses on cybercrime and cybersecurity issues and the policy response to these challenges.

Mr. Thom Lattig is the Juvenile Court Director for Ottawa County, Michigan, and was the MAFCA President from 2020-2023, and again in 2025. He has been a tireless worker and leader for the MAFCA organization through both COVID and Michigan’s Juvenile Justice Reform, and he has succeeded in developing lasting relationships with stakeholders, including partner organizations such as NMJOA, JJAM, and MJDA. He has continued to work hard as a member of the legislative workgroup committee that is tasked with addressing both the detention and residential crisis and ongoing concerns with child welfare in Michigan. Thom is solution-focused, collaborative, and measured in his approach to problems. He also sets an excellent example for others by setting high standards for himself, and by always being willing to lend a hand to fellow court professionals and friends.

Ed McGarrell

Technological Innovation and Violence Prevention and Control

Rapid technological innovation is affecting policing and community crime prevention strategies. This presentation focuses on some of the key technological developments that have become part of strategies to prevent and reduce violent crime. To date, the research evidence on the impact of many of these technologies is limited, though some promising findings have emerged. A key takeaway is that the impact of technology on violent crime reduction is most likely to be found when technology is integrated in more comprehensive violent crime reduction strategies.

Bio: Dr. Ed McGarrell’s primary research interest is in communities and crime and the development of evidence-based strategies for violence reduction. Much of this work involves research to understand local violent crime patterns, the translation of research to practice, and the evaluation of the impact of violence prevention and control strategies.  McGarrell has had the good fortune to work collaboratively with a number of policing agencies including the Spokane Police Department, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, and with the Detroit, Flint, and Lansing Police Departments, as well as with the Michigan State Police. 

McGarrell leads the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Project Safe Neighborhoods and Smart Suite training and technical assistance programs that involve the translation of research to practice through researcher-practitioner partnerships. This research and collaboration was recognized with the Excellence in the Field of Criminal Justice Award, Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice (2024).

McGarrell is the 2024 recipient of the College of Social Science Lifetime Achievement Award for Teaching, Research, and Service as well as a 2017 recipient of the William J. Beal Outstanding Faculty Award, Michigan State University. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Experimental Criminology, the recipient of the Distinguished Scholar Award, Division of Policing, American Society of Criminology, and the O.W. Wilson award for contributions to policing research, Police Section, Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences.  He received the Jerry Lee Lifetime Achievement Award from the Division of Experimental Criminology (ASC), the Distinguished Achievement Award in Evidence-Based Crime Policy from the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy, George Mason University, and the Mentor Award of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences.

Rachel McNealey and Cooper A. Maher

Mind the Gap: From Cybercrime Reporting to Digital Investigations

Cybercrime presents unique challenges for local law enforcement, but gaps in response may also reinforce the conditions that make these crimes difficult to address. This presentation considers how agencies can help disrupt this cycle through accessible, practical strategies such as community awareness, documenting cybercrime complaints, and strengthening investigative capabilities. Particular attention is given to low-cost open-source intelligence (OSINT) tools that can support digital investigations across cybercrime and traditional offenses, helping agencies better respond to crime in an increasingly digital environment.

Bio: Dr. Rachel McNealey is an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice with her Ph.D. in criminology from Penn State University. Her research focuses on cybervictimization events and cyberoffending behavior, with the goal of tying new forms of crime to traditional theories of crime. Her work has been published in the Journal of Crime and Justice, the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, and the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency. Her non-academic experience includes working in the digital forensics lab at the Joint Electronic Crimes Task Force in Tuscaloosa, Alabama as well as their Network Intrusion Lab and security group Project Halo. As an early career scholar, her work aims to investigate emerging forms of crime with established methods and theories to produce actionable, practice-oriented findings.

Cooper A. Maher (Ph.D., School of Criminal Justice, University of Cincinnati) is an Assistant Professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University. His research interests center upon understanding victimization risk factors, consequences, and victimization decision making within the context of fraud, identity theft, and online victimization more generally. His research has been published in various criminological journals, including the American Journal of Criminal Justice, Criminal Justice and Behavior, and the Journal of Criminal Justice.

Clarence Mejia and Jeff Rojek

Approaches to Integrating Body-Worn Camera Footage into Training

This session will discuss the presenters’ work with law enforcement agencies to integrate body-worn camera (BWC) footage into training. Attention will be given to in-person and online training formats, strategies for addressing different instructional objectives, and approaches to effective facilitation.

Bio: Clarence Mejia, Los Angeles Police Department (Ret.)

Jeff Rojek, Associate Professor, Michigan State University
Professor Rojek’s primary research focus is on law enforcement organizational and officer performance. He has led three studies funded by the National Institute of Justice that incorporate the use of body-worn camera footage in training. He is currently part of a team funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance to provide technical assistance to law enforcement agencies receiving grant funding for BWCs through the Body-Worn Camera Policy and Implementation Program or the Small, Rural, and Tribal Body-Worn Camera Grant Program.

Kate Seigfried-Spellar and Aaron Roberts

The Investigative Value of Forensic Hand Imagery in Child Sexual Abuse Material

Digital evidence is estimated to be a factor in about 90% of criminal cases, and mobile phones are the most seized devices. The popularity of smartphones has also increased the ease of sharing high-quality multimedia via social media and native texting. In CSEA criminal cases, images and videos can serve as important forms of digital evidence – whether it is a “sext” sent from the offender to the victim, or child sex abuse material created by the offender. Although the offenders conceal their faces, other biometric features are present, including the dorsal side of the hand, and research has shown that knuckles and fingernail beds are valid forms of unique biometrics for identification. This presentation will discuss the research and development of the Suspect Hand Biometrics Tool – a digital forensics tool that automatically processes images and videos to extract knuckle and fingernail bed biometrics. In addition, cases will be presented that outline the process for conducting and presenting forensic hand comparisons in court as evidence. Finally, we will include recommendations for collecting comparison and exemplar imagery for law enforcement investigations requiring forensic hand comparisons.

Bio: Dr. Kate Seigfried-Spellar is a Professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University and a Center Associate with the MSU Center for Cybercrime Investigation and Training. Dr. Seigfried-Spellar also has special deputy status with the Ingham County Sheriff’s Office to assist with their child sexual exploitation and abuse investigations involving digital evidence. She received her BA in Psychology and Law & Society from Purdue University, an MA in Forensic Psychology from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and her PhD in Technology with concentrations in digital forensics and psychology from Purdue University. She is a renowned expert in the psychosocial and technological factors associated with cybercriminal behavior, specifically on the criminological characteristics and grooming strategies of online child sex offenders. Her research intersects multiple fields, including the behavioral sciences, social sciences, artificial intelligence, biometrics, natural language processing, and digital forensics. She is a Fellow and Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on Vicarious Trauma and the former Chair of the Digital and Multimedia Sciences section of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. She is a member of the American Psychological Association, the International Association of Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysts, and the International Association for Identification.

Aaron Roberts is currently a Digital Forensic Analyst with the Michigan State Police, specializing in computer forensics since 2018. He has worked in the field since 2015 and received his CFCE (Certified Forensic Computer Examiner) in 2016. Before working for the Michigan State Police, he was a sworn law enforcement officer for just over 20 years, ending his career as a detective, with much of that time spent as an evidence technician. As a digital forensic analyst, he routinely performs comparative analyses of data sets, including creating documents and other demonstrative evidence to assist in determining the attribution of specific individuals to artifacts seized from devices. Mr. Roberts is qualified as an expert witness in computer and mobile forensics in several counties in lower Michigan. He has presented comparative analyses for attribution, including partial hand analysis in court during a trial for CASM and CSC, which helped lead to a successful prosecution. He is currently a member of the International Association of Computer Investigative Specialists and has authored various scripts and tools to assist with forensic analyses.

Steven Wu-Chaves and Chris Melde

Harnessing Python and Artificial Intelligence for Public Safety

Public safety operations routinely engage in data-driven decision-making to produce the most effective and efficient use of resources possible. A number of off-the-shelf software products have made engaging in such practices easier through prepackaged analyses and outputs that can be fully integrated into law enforcement operations. These products, however, can be costly and include features not tailored to specific law enforcement contexts. The advent of flexible computer programming languages and artificial intelligence has created the opportunity to build data and analysis systems that can provide public safety agencies with the capabilities needed to run effectively, without the high costs, restrictive contracts, and data retrieval challenges associated with commercial software. In this presentation, we provide examples of data analysis tools created using the Python programming language and enhanced through artificial intelligence, including flexible hot spot maps, offender record lookup and social network tools, along with risk terrain models that identify potential crime generators and prevention resources in the local environment. We discuss the potential for these tools to be used widely across law enforcement and public safety offices of all sizes.

Bio: Steven Wu-Chaves is a Research Associate in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University. Dr. Wu-Chaves is an economist who specializes in quantitative methods related to spatial econometrics, causal inference and machine learning. From an empirical perspective, he has participated in projects related to international trade and gender and racial bias and he is interested in the evaluation of policy interventions and crime prevention. Currently he is working on the Project Safe Neighborhoods program in Detroit and Jackson and he is also participating in the evaluation in the Gang Resistance Education and Training Program.

Chris Melde is a Professor in the School of Criminal Justice and Faculty Athletics Representative (FAR) in the Office of the President at Michigan State University. His primary research interests include street gangs, gun violence prevention, and individual and community reactions to crime and victimization risk. He is a research associate at the Michigan Justice Statistics Center, the State’s official statistical analysis center. He is on the statewide advisory board for Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services’ Community Violence Intervention Division and was appointed by Governor Gretchen Witmer to serve on Michigan’s Automobile Theft Prevention Authority Board of Directors. He also serves on the Steering Committee for the Henry Ford Health Trauma Recovery Center in the city of Detroit. He serves as a subject matter expert for the National Center for School Safety, focusing on the role of law enforcement in school-based delinquency prevention and comprehensive approaches to school safety. He is currently the principal investigator or co-principal investigator on several funded projects, including a National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and Arnold Ventures funded long-term follow-up of respondents from the second national evaluation of the Gang Resistance Education and Training Program (G.R.E.A.T.) that began in 2006 when participants were in the sixth or seventh grade. He also serves as a research partner for Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) gang and gun violence prevention programs in Detroit, Jackson, and all cities in the Western District of Michigan. Dr. Melde is a Fellow of the Academy of Experimental Criminology and was awarded the 2015 Tory J. Caeti Memorial Award from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Juvenile Justice and Delinquency section for his work on gangs and youth violence prevention.