Armed Versus Unarmed Officers

Dr. Lovins is a Principal at JSP. He earned his PhD in Criminology from the University of Cincinnati, and he is the past President for the American Probation and Parole Association (APPA). Prior to JSP, Dr. Lovins worked for Harris County Community Supervision and Corrections Department (CSCD) as the Assistant Director. He was tasked with developing and implementing agency wide change plans to drive increased successful completion rates. Dr. Lovins has been instrumental in introducing the referee/coach conversation to the field. In 2018, Dr. Lovins and colleagues published the initial article “Probation Officer as a Coach: Building a New Professional Identity” in Federal Probation. Since then, he has delivered hundreds of conference presentations and invited talks regarding the referee/coach concept. Dr. Lovins routinely consults with agencies regarding their implementation of a coaching framework within the context of evidenced-based interventions. Dr. Lovins has received the 2020 Edward J. Latessa Practitioner Research Award from the American Society of Criminology-Division on Corrections and Sentencing for his continued body of work in helping community corrections move forward. He has also been honored with the Dr. Simon Dinitz Public Service Award for his work and dedication in helping correctional agencies adopt evidence-based programs and the David Dillingham Award, as well as a being recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus from the University of Cincinnati. His publications include articles on risk assessment, sexual offenders, effective interventions, and cognitive-behavioral interventions.