SPOKANE, Wash. — The U.S. Department of Justice has granted a fellowship of more than $157,000 to Washington State University Spokane faculty member Kelsey Gray to study how law enforcement agencies evolve as they implement community policing.
Gray is an organizational development specialist for WSU Cooperative Extension and the Western Regional Institute for Community Oriented Public Safety based at WSU Spokane and a professor in the Department of Rural Sociology at WSU. In her work with WRICOPS, Gray has developed an on-site organizational assessment process for law enforcement agencies. The process is designed to involve law enforcement, local government and citizens in developing recommendations for managing organizational change. Recent sites include the Post Falls Police Department in Idaho, the Douglas County Office of the Sheriff in Washington and the Laramie, Wyo., Police Department.
Gray will spend her fellowship year replicating the organizational assessment process she codeveloped for WRICOPS for other regional community-policing institutes in the country. WRICOPS was the first such institute; its success prompted Congress to fund 29 other RCPIs around the country to support law enforcement agencies in expanding the community-policing philosophy.
Gray is a member of the U.S. Department of Justice National Advisory Board for Community Oriented Policing. Additionally, she serves as a peer review consultant to the National Institute of Justice, the justice department’s research and development branch. Her work with the NIJ includes providing technical advice on grant applications, feasibility studies, and reports. She holds a doctorate in educational leadership from Gonzaga University.
