LPRC - CrimeScience – The Weekly Review – Episode 249 Ft. Christina Burton, PhD (LPRC)

Episode Date: September 3, 2026

In this episode, Christina Burton, PhD, sits down with UCF graduate student interns Amelia and Sara to discuss their work with the LPRC. They share how they are translating research into practice through R2P report writing and the development of a cargo theft mapping tool designed to support supply chain loss prevention professionals.

Hi everyone and welcome to crime science. In this podcast, we explore the science of crime and the practical application of this science for loss prevention and asset protection practitioners as well as other professionals. Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the crime science podcast. I'm your guest host for today, Dr. Christina Britton, but you can call me Christina, as I normally like to be called. And I'm joined today by two awesome graduate research assistants helping out the LPR Sarah and Amelia, hi, welcome you too. Hi, thanks for having us.

Yeah, of course. So this one's going to be a little different this time around because we're just going to get to know these grad students and the work that they've been doing, helping out the LPRC a little bit rather than talking about the results of a particular study that they've been doing. So let's go ahead and get started.

So Sarah and Amelia, why don't you introduce yourselves and tell the members who you are, and what you're studying. I'm Amelia Wyrchuk. I'm a fourth-year PhD student in the Department of Criminal Justice, the University of Central Florida. I'm mostly interested in studying things

like police accountability and police culture, but I'm also pretty interested in criminal justice theory and other types of translational research. My name is Sarah Lusak, and just like Amelia, I'm currently a fourth-year doctoral student at the University of Central Florida. My interests largely are on policing more broadly,

However, more specifically, I like to research individuals convicted of a sex offense, spatial analyses or crime mapping, and with LPRC, retail-related incidents. Awesome, thank you. And you're both currently PhD students. So what are you guys thinking about in terms of your dissertations? For me, my dissertation is going to be largely focusing on discretion within the criminal justice system as it pertains to sex offense cases. So as they progress through the court system, our prosecutors and judges using discretion to influence how the case will turn out, like whether an individual gets prison, jail, or even probation or parole. And my dissertation emphasizes or focuses on the craft of policing. So I'll be working directly with the police department to ask police officers what they think are the key elements of the craft.

And then also we're going to be analyzing differences in rank. So do frontline officers believe that the craft of policing is a little bit different than deputies? Makes sense. And can you explain a little bit of what the craft is for retailers in case they've never heard of it before? Yeah. So there's basically kind of two camps. There's the craft or the art of policing and there's also the science of policing. So the craft is kind of the more intangible, soft skills. A lot of times it's the interpersonal communication, empathy, how people deal with people. And then the police science camp is more predictive policing technologies, hot spots, things like that. So basically right now in the literature, there's not really a measure for the craft. And so that's kind of what my dissertation aims to do.

Very cool and very interesting. Thank you both. Now, you both kind of describe your line of research to be more focused in criminal justice, right? whether that's policing or it's in prosecution and sentencing. And we in retail, right, at the LPRC, we do coordinate quite a bit with law enforcement, right? But a lot of our focus is also on like the retail loss prevention side. So, you know, why did you all decide to kind of help the LPRC from a graduate research perspective since you guys are kind of in criminal justice instead?

I think for me, when you broadly look up any kind of topic or idea on like Google Scholar, let's say if you want to look at stalking or something related to policing, you're going to get hundreds, thousands, or even millions of records that come back, whether that's journal articles, whether that's books. However, when you research things like retail-related offenses or something in the retail sector, there's less that comes up, which kind of shows to me that retail is something. somewhat forgotten and we don't want to forget that because this is all part of our criminal justice system. If there are offenses happening within the retail sector or trying to provide

solution for retailers. So I'm trying to, for me, get the word out there a little bit more about retail related research. Yeah, what about you, Amelia? Yeah, I think too, the retail sector is really interesting. They face really unique and complex challenges. So they really require rigorous research to address and it spans a bunch of different topics or theoretical framework so it includes criminology but there's also sociological elements there's organizational theory so it's really expansive really complex and I like the prospect of being able to sort of bring that perspective to the table yeah absolutely and I often like to tell people that some of our earliest

opportunity theories like routine activities theory kind of started within retail a bit in part because they were looking at how, you know, TVs and products changed over time and why they may be more susceptible to theft and whatnot. So retail has been kind of a backbone and a lot of this kind of research just hasn't been focused on. Thank you for that. So technically you all work under me with some of my projects here at the LPRC,

but can you give kind of a brief overview of some of the projects that you all have been working on? Yeah. So we have worked on smaller projects and some larger projects. So some of the smaller ones we have been looking at like impact of EAS pedestals or restroom related crimes. So like what things occur in retail restrooms? Is it drug use or is it shoplifting slash left?

Like various different things. And then some of our larger projects are looking at one is called voice of the victim. So what do employees face while they're working in a retail sector? Is it sexual harassment? Is it physical assault or is it something more verbal? And then more recently for me, I'm going to be working on a project looking at gun violence within Gainesville. I'm looking at where they spatially distributed and crime mapping along those lines. And don't forget your cargo theft project.

Oh, yeah, correct. And cargo theft looking at cargo theft within Florida. Sorry, go ahead, Amelia. Just to echo that, we work a lot on the same types of projects. Sarah kind of mentioned large and small. So the smaller form projects kind of take the form of what we call research to practice reports or RTP. So like she said, we've done a few one on retail restroom crime. I recently did one on the integration of community-oriented policing elements and retail, so looking at community partnerships and how we can address retail crime using that. And then also the larger form reports are we work. with the National Retail Federation to look at both national and international crime stats, and then working with Riccada for the voice of the victim and workplace violence, and then also kind of those medium-sized articles. So we're working on magazine articles for the LPRC

magazine. And that one I'm currently working on basically a policy analysis of what kinds of legislation is out there in the United States that addresses the use of AI in retail surveillance. Yeah, of course. Sounds good there. And you've also been helping out with kind of looking into the transparency and rigor of our studies within the LPRC. Can you talk a little bit about some of that work you've been doing too? Yeah, absolutely. So this transparency rigor, we wanted to evaluate the studies and articles and R2Ps that come out of LPRC. That come out of LPR. to show practitioners and anybody who may be looking at them that, hey, these projects and research and stuff that we're producing is up to a certain standard. Like we are doing what we're supposed to be doing when it comes to conducting research. And so for that, Amelia and I have been going through all of LPRC's articles and R2Ps that they have ever published and sent out. and we have been essentially grading them on seeing how rigorous they are,

and do they meet those certain standards. Yeah, she put it perfectly. We're looking at the methods. We're looking at how the results are presented, and it really just demonstrates, I think, LPRC's commitment to rigorous, helpful, practical research. Absolutely. And our goal, as we all develop this type of scale, right is partly transparency, right, to be kind of open about, you know, the type of research that

we're doing as a catalog for our members, but also, hey, you know, something to think about within your own organizations or with other organizations, you know, where do they rank within that transparency as well? And it also helps that part of this was derived from, you know, other types of ways in which we cataloged research like Campbell's and other ways that we've kind of worked on this. So hopefully we'll be able to talk about that a little bit more later. But for now, you know, stay tuned and thank you both for all that work that you've been doing there. But you kind of talked about quite a bit of the different projects that y'all have been working on. Do you have a favorite that you've been enjoying? Yes, I actually have a few favorites. Yes. So I really

like the cargo theft, like story map that I've been working on because I do really like spatial analyses. And I also like the idea of cargo thefts in the sense that it isn't really researched a lot. So you're exploring new things that most people don't know about. Like, where are they highly concentrated? Is it at those cities near the water for Florida or are they more in the center? So that's very interesting. And then I am actually very excited to work a little bit more on the gun violence project again because it has that spatial analyses with it. Yeah. Do you want to talk a little bit about what we? we're trying to do with the gun violence project. Yeah, so we're kind of looking at gun violence

in a sense of is it not related per se, but is it influenced by various factors within the community, like how close it is to a retail sector and almost looking at how the terrain of the environment could influence where and when these events occur. So is it going to be a shooting or is it going to be whether or not somebody had a concealed carry and how is that influenced by that environment? Is it close to those retailers or is it close to bus stops and so forth like that? So we want to kind of understand how retailer and retail sector intersects with gun violence within the community. And any other kinds of environmental factors such as proximity to an ATM or proximity to what we would

call crime generators within our research. So very good with that. Thank you, Sarah. What about you, Amelia? What's been your favorite project so far? Yeah, so one of my favorite projects actually has been an R2P that I helped write. So I kind of talked about it before. It was the intersection of community oriented policing principles and retail crime. So it basically applied the community partnerships element of community-oriented policing to retail settings. And it was kind of the perfect intersection between research and practice. So I got the opportunity to kind of lay out what community-oriented policing is and then outline how the partnerships can benefit retailers specifically. And then closing it out with some practical things retailers can do to help strengthen their

relationships with local police. And if you're definitely interested in that RTP, be sure to check it out in the Knowledge Center. It's posted there, as well as Sarah's most recent RTP, that kind of looked at a data guidebook. If you want to talk a little bit about that, Sarah. Yeah. So within the retail sector, there are many different ways that you could conduct research. And many people may not know that if they're not, like,

really into research themselves. And so this guidebook is just kind of laying out, like, the do's and don'ts and what's most applicable for the retail environment, given their situation. So is it easiest and more informative for a retailer to do a service? with customers or employees or is it better for them to do an interview? And it kind of just goes along with what are they trying to get out of it? And so this R2P is kind of detailing what are the pros and cons of various types of research within the retail sector. And also give kind of foundation

for the work you've been doing with the Knowledge Center, right? So people can be more informed about like this type of research is advantageous for these types of questions, right? Yes. Perfect. Thank you. So a lot of your prior work seems to be very academic focused, right? What's it been like doing more practitioner-oriented research? Yeah, so it's been definitely an adjustment, but really rewarding. So in the PhD program, there's a very specific style of writing that is taught and reinforced. And so kind of shifting over to helping write for the LPRC. It's a completely different style. But we, We've had a lot of help, a lot of support, and I think we've kind of managed that adjustment.

And then also there's a completely different audience with different priorities. So not only is the phrasing maybe a little bit different, but also the emphasis. It's more focused on the practical implications, the findings, whereas a lot of academic research is really focused on kind of the process and the methods. Yeah, I 100% have to agree with everything Amelia said. That's kind of what I was thinking when you ask that question. It is, in a way, challenging because we are taught to write in a certain formal way for academics to read. But, you know, this is very, it is challenging.

But we are working through the process and learning a lot more and giving us those tools that we could use to reach a broader audience. Well, if it makes you feel any better, I'm still working on it myself. As my partner likes to tell me, it can be a little verbose sometimes. I get it. It's a skill that you practice, but hopefully through this process, it also helps your academic writing, too, because, yes, they may be coming in with more background information about your topic of interest, but you still got to be concise, no matter to the audience, right? But what's what surprised you the most when working within practitioner-oriented research? I think for me is the idea of implications or solutions. So in academia, we do generally write an implication section in a manuscript. What can our findings impact?

However, when it comes to academic research, you don't always see those implications like come to fruition. Whereas when you're focusing more on solutions and implications for retailers, you have an easier or a more likely chance of seeing those come to fruition. Like, if a retailer asked us to do a survey or a study on a specific thing, whether it's related to retail theft, we can do this research and come up with solutions that could help that specific organization. And they can implement those within weeks, months, maybe a year. When it comes to academic research, you don't always see those implications come to fruition. And to me, that is very surprising of how quickly those solutions can be implemented.

Yeah, I feel the exact same way. It's been a really pleasant surprise to see how open and willing practitioners. are to implement the practical implications that a lot of this research conducted by LPRC finds. Yeah, and a lot of our members, I mean, they have a problem and they need a solution, right? And so the research helps get them there, right? Hopefully, that's kind of our goal here, but that's kind of what we're trying to do, right, is just help people out, right, to make their places safer and their people safer. very good there and what's a piece of advice you would give graduate students who are currently

kind of in an academic setting so they haven't really heard about doing much practitioner oriented research but what kind of advice would you give them if they're kind of thinking about it um for me i would say 100% just go for because the more you do like either retail related research or just practice in our focused research, like we said kind of earlier, you're gaining those tools to put in your toolbox to have that variation in your writing style. And you're learning a lot more of this that you may not necessarily think about when you're doing research just in an academic setting because you are thinking about actual solutions that retailers can implement and the writing style and stuff like that. So for me, I would say, you know, go for it.

Like there's no harm in at least trying to see if this is what you really like. Yeah, and then I think as academics, really what our role is is to conduct strong, rigorous research using the most appropriate methods to answer the types of questions that practitioners want to be answered, right? So as an academic, then, as a student, you get to work closely with them, but also it's important to kind of retain that objectivity and be as fair as you possibly can during the research process. And then one more thing, too, is, what I think is really important is that the research doesn't really stop after the study ends, after the answers are found, right? Arguably, the most important part is then helping practitioners develop evidence-based solutions, which is a really key part of the academics job. Yeah, absolutely. And then what do you think is something that our members that are listening today should take away from this conversation?

I think one thing that they can take away is that research in general doesn't happen in a vacuum. And so we are dealing with real people, real things every single day. And the research we do can help inform practitioners. And on the flip side, practitioners can help inform us as researchers what needs to be done. What research are they wanting to find answers to? So in other words, we're helping bridge that gap between research and practice and kind of putting in like those actual solutions that could work. Like Amelia said, the evidence-based practice. Yeah, exactly.

That was also really well put. We as academics are here for you. Developing relationships with researchers, especially those at the LPRC, can be really valuable and kind of helping to solve the problems that you're facing day to day. Yeah, it's a partnership, right? Just like what you were talking about earlier, Amelia, with community-oriented policing, right? It's all about that partnership and what can each of us bring to the table as part of that collaboration. So thank you both so much for taking the time to chat with me today. If you're interested in any of the studies that Sarah and Amelia kind of talked about a little bit throughout this conversation,

feel free to reach out to the Knowledge Center or, you know, let us know. I'm really happy to kind of send that over your way. You can send it, you know, your inquiries to me at Christina.b at LPRC.org. But thank you both for chat with me today, and I'll catch you all later in a future crime science podcast. Thanks for listening to the Crime Science Podcast, presented by the Loss Prevention Research Council. If you enjoyed today's episode, you can find more crime science episodes and valuable information at LPRsearch. The content provided in the Crime Science Podcast,

is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for legal, financial, or other advice. Views expressed by guests of the Crime Science podcast are those of the authors and do not reflect the opinions or positions of the Loss Prevention Research Council.