About Us
Innovative Strategies for Public Safety
Justice & Security Strategies, Inc. (JSS) is a minority- and woman-owned business that specializes in crime and public policy issues, with an emphasis on law enforcement. JSS has conducted ‘applied research’ for over 25 years. Dr. Craig D. Uchida is the President and Founder. Dr. Shellie E. Solomon is the Chief Executive Officer.
‘Applied research’ means that JSS works hand-in-hand with organizations to ensure that research and evaluation projects are of practical use and of value to those agencies. Reports and products are written with practitioners in mind.
Projects
In 2021, JSS was selected by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) to provide micro-grants to small, rural, and tribal law enforcement agencies for body-worn cameras (BWCs). Since 2021, JSS and BJA have provided over $15 M to 700 agencies for BWCs. For more information go here.
JSS serves as the Research Partner for a number of law enforcement agencies and community-based organizations across the country. JSS has worked extensively with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) as its Research Partner for over 15 years. Currently, JSS is working with LAPD’s homicide detectives to improve the solvability of its cases. In addition, JSS is assisting the LAPD with body-worn cameras, justice and mental health, and anti-Asian hate crime.
Other JSS work includes a partnership with the Baltimore and Miami Police Departments to establish their crime gun intelligence centers; a partnership with the Bronx County District Attorney’s Office to enhance the capabilities of their Crime Strategies Unit; and a partnership with the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office to assist with community-based violence reduction and evaluate a program on children exposed to violence. Lastly, JSS provides training and technical assistance on body-worn cameras to law enforcement agencies throughout the country via a contract with the Bureau of Justice Assistance.
Leadership
Dr. Craig D. Uchida, Ph.D.
President and Founder
At JSS, Craig serves as project director for a number of projects, writes grant proposals, and oversees contracts and grants with cities, counties, criminal justice agencies, foundations, and foreign nations.
As a criminologist, Craig is the author of numerous journal articles, government publications, and monographs. He is the co-editor of two books on drug enforcement and police innovation and is co-author of a book that assessed the security of the Nation's dams, published by the National Academy of Sciences. His most recent book is, Community, Crime Control, and Collective Efficacy: Neighborhoods and Crime in Miami. His most recent journal articles include studies of body-worn cameras (in Criminology, Sociological Methods and Research), focused deterrence (in Police Quarterly), and use of force (in the Criminal Justice Policy Review).
Craig has taught courses at the Naval Post-Graduate School’s Program in Homeland Security in Monterey, CA and was a professor at the University of Maryland. He was the Senior Advisor to the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service where he revised the entire training curriculum for this 7,300-officer department.
Craig was a senior executive within the US Department of Justice. He is the former Assistant Director for Grants Administration and Senior Policy Adviser for the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office). As the Assistant Director for Grants Administration he and his staff were responsible for developing and implementing the grant making process, making grant awards, and grant monitoring. When he left the COPS Office he had provided $3.4 billion to over 9,000 law enforcement agencies for over 65,000 officers. His efforts at the COPS Office resulted in two major US Department of Justice Awards – the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award in 1995 and the JustWorks Award for innovation in government in 1997.
Craig received his doctorate in Criminal Justice from the University at Albany and holds two Masters degrees, one in Criminal Justice and one in American History.
Dr. Shellie E. Solomon, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer
Shellie is the Executive Project Director for the Small, Rural, and Tribal Body-Worn Camera program. She oversees all facets of the project, including the application process, monitoring, training and technical assistance, payments, and closeouts.
At JSS, she has led projects on geospatial predictive policing, the LAPD’s early warning system, child support parenting time, gang intervention, mortgage fraud and collective efficacy. She often leads efforts to aid law enforcement agencies with adopting technologies and also using “big data.” Throughout her career at JSS, Dr. Solomon has worked in over 50 law enforcement agencies including Miami Police Department, the Miami State Attorney’s Office, LAPD, San Francisco DA’s Office, Austin Police Department, Spartanburg Police Department, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service.
Prior to JSS, Dr. Solomon was a Senior Policy Analyst/Supervisor at the COPS Office, serving as a point person for coordinating over 10,000 grants for small and rural agencies.
Ms. Solomon received her doctorate in governance from the University of Maastricht, Netherlands, a United Nations University through the UNU Merit Program (Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute). She earned a Master’s in public policy at the University of Rochester and her Bachelor’s degree in economics at the University of Oklahoma.
