Victoria Sytsma

• Applied Criminology
• Policy and Program Evaluation
• Canadian and American Policing
• Open-air drug markets
• Opportunity theories of crime
• Quantitative Data Analysis

Victoria is an applied criminologist who specializes in policy and program evaluation and quantitative data analysis. She has done evaluations in a wide range of areas, including student mentoring, police run organized-crime countermeasures, and juvenile offender reentry. She has published papers on open-air drug markets and municipal policing and often employs quantitative or mixed methods approaches.

Victoria has taught courses in data analysis, research methods, policing, immigration and crime, organized crime, and youth justice.

Victoria is actively seeking graduate students to undertake research in the areas of criminology, criminal justice program/policy evaluation, policing, drug markets, and opportunity theories of crime.

Victoria is the co-principal investigator on a research team which has secured a grant in the amount of $110,346.69USD from The Charles Koch Foundation, Criminal Justice & Policing Reform Program to complete a study titled, Identifying Situational Determinants of Police Use of Force: A Systematic Social Observation of Body Camera Footage in Newark, NJ.

Saulnier, A., & Sytsma, V. (Submitted). Body-worn camera videos and public perceptions of police: Positive video exposure and community-police relations. 

Piza, E.L., Connealy, N., Sytsma, V.A., & Chillar, V.F. (Forthcoming). Situational factors and police use of force across micro-time intervals: A video systematic social observation and panel regression analysis. Criminology. 

Piza, E.L., & Sytsma, V.A. (forthcoming). Video data analysis of body-worn camera footage: A practical methodology in support of police reform. In M. Craig and K. Blount Hill (Eds.). Transforming the institution: Can we achieving justice and legitimacy in policing? New York: Routledge. 

Piza, E.L. & Sytsma, V.A. (2022). The impact of suspect resistance, informational justice, and interpersonal justice on time until police use of physical force: A survival analysis. Crime & Delinquency. https://doi.org/10.1177/00111287221106947 

Sytsma, V.A., Laming, E., & Pohl, E. (2021). Situational and ecological predictors of conducted energy weapon application severity. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice. http://doi.org/10.3138/cjccj.2021-0019 

Chillar, V.F., Piza, E.L., & Sytsma, V.A. (2021). Conducting systematic social observations of body-camera footage: Methodological and practical insights. The Journal of Qualitative Criminal Justice and Criminology. https://doi.org/10.21428/88de04a1.6642b3cd 

Sytsma, V.A., Piza, E.L., Chillar, V.F., & Grossman, L. (2021). Measuring procedural justice policy adherence during use of force events: The body-worn camera as a performance monitoring tool. Criminal Justice Policy Review. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F08874034211021894

Sytsma, V.A., Chillar, V.F., & Piza, E.L. (2021). Scripting police escalation of use of force through conjunctive analysis of body-worn camera footage: A systematic social observational pilot study. Journal of Criminal Justice, 74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2020.101776 

Sytsma, V.A. (2021). Opportunities for crime in the Mushroom Kingdom: Applying rational choice perspective and routine activity approach to Super Mario Bros. p. 69-86 In S. E. Daly (Ed.). Theories of crime through popular culture (pp. 69-86). London: Palgrave Macmillan. https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030544331 

Sytsma, V.A., Connealy, N., & Piza, E.L. (2021). Environmental predictors of a drug offender crime script: A systematic social observation of Google Street View images and CCTV footage. Crime & Delinquency, 67(1), 27-57. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0011128720910961 

 Sytsma, V.A., & Laming, E. (2019). Exploring the barriers to researching the economics of municipal policing. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 61(1), 15-40. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjccj.2017-0056.r2 

 Sytsma, V.A., & Piza, E.L. (2018). Quality over quantity: Assessing the impact of frequent public interaction compared to problem-solving activities on police officer job satisfaction. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, 14(2), 526-541. https://doi.org/10.1093/police/pay033 

 Sytsma, V.A., & Piza, E.L. (2018). Script analysis of open-air drug selling: A systematic social observation of CCTV footage. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 55(1), 78-102. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0022427817709502

Sytsma, V.A., & Piza, E.L. (2017). The influence of job assignment on community engagement: Bicycle patrol and community-oriented policing. Police Practice and Research: An International Journal, 19(4), 347-364. https://doi.org/10.1080/15614263.2017.1364998 

Piza, E.L., & Sytsma, V.A. (2016). Exploring the defensive actions of drug sellers in open-air markets: A systematic social observation. Journal of Research in Crime & Delinquency, 53(1), 36-65. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0022427815592451 

 Sytsma, V.A. (2015). Exploring police-resident racial equality and violent crime. Journal of Criminological Research, Policy and Practice, 1(1), 4-18. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCRPP-10-2014-0003 

 Sytsma, V.A. (2011). Chapter 20: Applying RTM to aggravated assault. In J.M. Caplan, & L.W. Kennedy (Eds.), Risk Terrain Modelling Compendium for Crime Analysis (p. 83-84). Newark, NJ: Rutgers Center on Public Security. https://www.rutgerscps.org/uploads/2/7/3/7/27370595/riskterrainmodelingcompendium_caplankennedy2011.pdf 

 Gabor, T., Kiedrowski, J., Sytsma, V.A., Melchers, R.F., & Morselli, C. (2010). Community effects of  law enforcement countermeasures against organized crime: A retrospective analysis. Ottawa: Public Safety Canada. Report No. 006. https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/lbrr/archives/cn23540201-eng.pdf