Dr. Nicole M. Napolitano joined the Center for Policing Equity (CPE) in December 2021, bringing over a decade and a half of experience as a research and policy professional and a career commitment to police reform and social justice.

Prior to joining CPE, Dr. Napolitano served in senior managerial roles in two of New York City’s largest police oversight agencies. As the Director of Policy and Advocacy for the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB), which investigates, mediates, and prosecutes civilian allegations of misconduct against uniformed members of the New York City Police Department (NYPD), Dr. Napolitano led the team that conducts the CCRB’s quantitative and qualitative evaluations of CCRB complaints and NYPD protocols and training and makes recommendations for policy changes based on those analyses. Prior to the CCRB, as Senior Policy Manager with the Office of the Inspector General for the New York City Police Department (OIG-NYPD), she led multidisciplinary teams of policy analysts, auditors, data assistants, investigators, and attorneys to conduct systemic reviews of the policies and procedures of the NYPD, producing public-facing reports of findings and recommendations for change.

Dr. Napolitano studies criminal justice policy development and implementation, generally focusing on the relationships between public opinion and criminal justice policy decisions, particularly within the context of agenda-setting, public deliberation, and norm development; inequality, social control, and state power; the efficacy and ethics of crime and policing policies; and police reform, accountability, and oversight. She received her Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and holds Masters Degrees in both Forensic Psychology and Criminal Justice from John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a B.A. in Anthropology, with minors in both Psychology and Sociology, from the University at Albany.