Tamara Herold

Dr. Herold is an Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), where she also serves as Associate Director of the Center for Crime and Justice Policy. At UNLV, she has received several honors, including the CSUN Faculty Excellence Award, the University Spanos Distinguished Teaching Award, and the College of Urban Affairs Teaching and Community Engagement Awards. She recently served as a Senior Advisor at the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) — the research, development, and technology agency of the U.S. Department of Justice — where she supported “Evidence to Action,” an initiative aimed at translating research into justice policy and practice. 

She previously authored a systematic review of police training methods, commissioned by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and provides crime science and crowd management training to law enforcement agencies globally. Dr. Herold has delivered Public Order Management Training to entities such as the Ontario (Canada) Police College, U.S. Secret Service, Pentagon Police, and numerous local U.S. departments. Her work in this area has influenced public order guidelines in Ohio and informed the Police Executive Research Forum’s recommendations for managing mass demonstrations.  

Dr. Herold co-developed the Place Network Investigations (PNI) strategy to reduce gun violence, which received the 2017 Herman Goldstein Award for Excellence in Problem-Oriented Policing. She has since helped to develop and implement PNI across the US. Her research focuses on the impact of place on crime and crowd dynamics, and she regularly provides crime prevention and problem-solving training for police departments and security professionals worldwide.