In 2012, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) awarded a grant to the Urban Institute (Urban) to conduct an evaluability assessment of the Data-Driven Approaches to Crime and Traffic Safety (DDACTS) initiative, developed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in collaboration with the NIJ and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). Urban identified 15 sites for this assessment from 441 law enforcement agencies that have received DDACTS training and/or technical assistance. Through interviews, reviews of program documentation and on-site observations, Urban researchers collected information across multiple domains to determine the feasibility of rigorous evaluation for each site. These domains included DDACTS program fidelity, consistency with DDACTS training curricula, implementation process and status, engagement and commitment of key personnel, adequacy of local data systems, and site willingness to support an evaluation. Based upon this information, Urban considered which evaluation designs were most suitable and feasible for each site. The assessment produced 15 individual site evaluability assessment reports (located in the appendix) and this cross-site final report, which synthesizes findings and themes. It is envisioned that these reports will be used to inform current and future DDACTS sites on the state of DDACTS implementation and use as well as to support potential future DDACTS evaluations undertaken by NIJ and NHTSA.
