Community Policing and Problem Solving

Kenneth J. Peak, Ph.D., is professor and former chairman of the criminal justice department at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), where he was named "Teacher of the Year" by the UNR Honor Society for 1984-85 and served as acting director of public safety in 1989. He recently authored Policing America: Methods, Issues, and Challenges (3d ed., 2000) and Justice Administration: Police, Courts, and Corrections Management (3d ed., 2001) and has published 50 journal articles and additional book chapters on a wide range of justice-related subjects. He has served as chairman of the Police Section, Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, and is deputy editor of Police Quarterly, and is past president of the Western and Pacific Association of Criminal Justice Educators. Dr. Peak entered municipal policing in Kansas in 1970 and subsequently held positions as criminal justice planner for southeast Kansas; director of the Four-State Technical Assistance Institute, Law Enforcement Assistance Administration; director of university police, Pittsburgh State University; and assistant professor at Wichita State University. He received two gubernatorial appointments to statewide criminal justice committees while in Kansas and holds a doctorate from the University of Kansas.

Ronald W. Glensor, Ph.D., is a deputy chief of the Reno, Nevada, Police Department (RPD). He has more than 25 years of police experience and has commanded the department's patrol, administration, and detective divisions. In addition to being active in the development of and training for the RPD's community oriented policing and problem solving (COPPS) initiative since 1987, he has provided COPPS training for more than 250 police agencies throughout the United States and in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Dr. Glensor was the 1997 recipient of the prestigious Gary P Hayes Award conferred by the Police Executive Research Forum, recognizing his contributions and leadership in the policing field. He has also spoken at numerous national conferences on the implementation of COPPS and the utilization of citizen surveys. He served a six-month fellowship as problem oriented policing coordinator with the Police Executive Research Forum in Washington, D.C., and received an Atlantic Fellowship in public policy, studying repeat vicitimization at the Home Office in London. He is co-author of Police Supervision (with K. Peak and L. K. Games) and is co-editor of Policing Communities: Understanding Crime and Solving Problems (with M. Correia and K. Peak); he has also published in several journals and trade magazines. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Nevada, Reno (in the CJ department's bachelor of arts degree in COPPS) and instructs at area police academies and criminal justice programs. His education includes a doctorate in political science and a master's of public administration from the University of Nevada, Reno.