Bio - Brandon Kooi PhD

Brandon Kooi, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Criminal Justice program at Aurora University in Aurora, Illinois. He chaired the program from 2007-2013.  He received his Ph.D. degree from the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University in 2004. Dr. Kooi has been employed as a private security consultant/executive, criminal investigator, law clerk, and youth crisis interventionist. He has assisted in training police administrators through the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing and the Wisconsin-based Problem-Oriented Leadership Institute for Chief Executives (POLICE).  Dr. Kooi’s consulting work included the Aurora, Illinois Police Department’s anti-gang initiative (Finding Typhoid Mary) assessing a five-year 49 percent reduction in citywide shootings and a 78 percent reduction in murders.  This initiative was named a finalist for the Herman Goldstein Award at the 2013 international Problem-Oriented Policing conference and was presented in Stockholm, Sweden at the 2018 Criminology Symposium. 

Dr. Kooi also worked with the Sheboygan, Wisconsin Police Department on a community anti-drug initiative (Neighbors Against Drugs) that won the Wisconsin Association for Community Policing (WACOP) Robert Peel Award and was also a 2005 finalist for the Herman Goldstein Award for Excellence in Problem-Oriented Policing.

He wrote the problem-oriented policing guide Theft of Scrap Metal for the Department of Justice Office for Community-Oriented Policing after a two-year national study and was previously employed as an Assets Protection Team Lead and Market Investigator for the Target Corporation.  Dr. Kooi’s book, Policing Public Transportation appears with LFB Scholarly Publishing and 7 Highly Effective Police Leaders will appear with Taylor & Francis Publishers in 2021. His research papers have been published in the Journal of Criminal Justice Education, Journal of Security Education, Security Journal, Journal of Applied Security Research: Prevention and Response in Asset Protection, Terrorism, and Violence, Journal of Applied Security Research: An International Journal of Police - Security Operations & Practices, Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, Police Science and Management, Criminal Justice Studies and Crime Prevention and Community Safety: An International Journal.