Institute Researchers Receive Academic Awards

Albany, NY, April 27, 2019 – Today the Finn Institute’s Danielle Reynolds and Hannah Cochran were recognized at an awards ceremony by the School of Criminal Justice of the University at Albany. Ms. Reynolds, a Senior Research Analyst with the Institute and doctoral student at the University, was awarded the Walter M. Francis Award for Distinction in the Study of Policing. Ms. Cochran, a Research Analyst with the Institute who is completing a master’s degree at the University, was awarded the Walter M. Francis Award for Excellence in Master’s Study.

Ms. Reynolds’ award was presented by Rob Worden, the Institute’s Director and an Associate Professor at the University.  Dr. Worden highlighted Ms. Reynolds’ extensive involvement in police research.  “Danielle has studied the police from many angles using several methods,” he said, including “semi-structured interviews with patrol officers, patrol supervisors, and community leaders; surveys of officers, supervisors, and people who had contacts with the police as victims, complainants, and suspects; systematic social observation of police-citizen encounters; and administrative records of police outputs.”  Ms. Reynolds is the manager for the Institute’s project, “Supervisory Coaching, Body Worn Cameras, and Police Performance,” and as Rob remarked, “Danielle is poised to establish herself as the country’s leading expert on the topic of police supervision.”

Ms. Cochran’s award was presented by Dana Peterson, the School’s Director of Graduate Studies.  Professor Peterson noted Ms. Cochran’s accomplishments at the Institute, including her coauthorship of technical reports on several projects, her presentations of research at the American Society of Criminology conference and New York State’s Data-Driven Decision Making symposium, and her coauthorship of a book, The Power to Arrest: Lessons from Research.  Sarah McLean, the Institute’s Associate Director, commented, “All of us at the Institute are happy to see Hannah’s well-deserved recognition and look forward to celebrating this and her future achievements.”

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