High-Visibility Enforcement: Assessing Change and Identifying Opportunities
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Summary
This study, conducted under the National Cooperative Research and Evaluation Program (NCREP) and sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), investigates changes in law enforcement participation in High-Visibility Enforcement (HVE) activities over the past decade. HVE combines traffic enforcement with media publicity to deter risky behaviors. The research was motivated by anecdotal evidence suggesting declining support for HVE among law enforcement agencies (LEAs) and low participation rates in specific enforcement tactics, such as sobriety checkpoints. The study aimed to assess whether State Highway Safety Office (SHSO) officials perceived a decline in HVE support and to identify innovative strategies used by states and LEAs to increase participation. The methodology involved two sets of qualitative interviews conducted in 2019. First, nine "perception interviews" were conducted with SHSO officials from diverse states (selected based on geography, population, and traffic safety statistics) to gauge their views on changes in HVE participation and support. Second, six "case study interviews" were conducted with SHSO and LEA officials to profile specific innovative strategies designed to boost HVE engagement. Interviews were conducted via telephone or in person, and responses were coded and synthesized to identify common themes, challenges, and solutions. The perception interviews revealed that eight of the nine SHSO officials believed there had been a decrease in law enforcement participation in and support for grant-funded HVE activities over the last ten years. Common challenges cited included manpower shortages, competition from easier overtime details, concerns about public perception of law enforcement, generational differences among officers, and lack of leadership buy-in. Despite these challenges, officials reported positive safety impacts from HVE, particularly in reducing impaired-driving and unbelted fatalities. The case study interviews identified several strategies addressing these barriers, such as Delaware’s paperwork reduction and pay equity measures, Maryland’s training programs and operational spreadsheets, and Iowa’s "High Five" program and operational plans. Most case study participants reported increased HVE participation following the implementation of these strategies, supported by data on grant liquidation, crash rates, and officer hours. The study concludes that while challenges to HVE participation are significant, targeted strategies can mitigate them. Key attributes for successful strategies include data-informed decision-making, the use of technology, employment of law enforcement liaisons, and officer recognition. The findings suggest that maintaining HVE energy requires addressing staffing constraints, improving training, and fostering strong relationships between SHSOs and LEA leadership. The report provides a framework for matching specific challenges with proven solutions, offering guidance for future efforts to sustain effective traffic safety enforcement.
Key finding
State Highway Safety Office officials generally perceive a decline in law enforcement participation in high-visibility enforcement, but innovative strategies like reducing administrative burdens and offering compensatory time can effectively increase participation.
Methodology
mixed_methods
Sample size: 15
Provenance
The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed. Discovered via bulk_ingest_rosap on 2026-05-23 (6 acquisition events logged).
| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | rosap | — | — | 2 | 2026-05-23 |
| archive | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
| clean | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| chunk | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| embed | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-02 |
| enrich | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 3 | 2026-06-10 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 19 | 2026-06-11 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.
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- Applied Guidance: countermeasure evaluation, policy recommendations
- Empirical Findings: observational prevalence