WSU Spokane
P.O. Box 1495
Spokane, WA 99210-1495
Telephone: 509.358.7711
E-mail: vila@wsu.edu
Curriculum vita (PDF)
Books
Bryan Vila, PhD
Professor of Criminal Justice
Director, Operational Tasks Simulation Laboratory,
Sleep
& Performance Research Center
Profile
Bryan Vila, PhD, is a professor of criminal justice at WSU Spokane. Prior to joining WSU in July 2005, he directed the Division of Crime Control and Prevention Research at the U.S. Department of Justice's National Institute of Justice. In 1990, Dr. Vila received his PhD in Ecology from the University of California, Davis.
He since has held tenured faculty positions at the University of California, Irvine and the University of Wyoming. Before he became an academic, Dr. Vila served as a law enforcement officer for 17 years—including nine years as a street cop and supervisor with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, six years as a police chief helping the emerging nations of Micronesia develop innovative law enforcement strategies, and two years in Washington, D.C., as a federal law enforcement officer.
Dr. Vila teaches courses on criminology theory, research methods, policing, crime control, human ecology, justice and human performance, and capital punishment, as well as drugs and crime.
Research Spotlight
Upcoming talks include:
Nov. 2, 2009: "Active School Shooter
Training Technology Evaluation." NIJ Technology
Institute for Law Enforcement, Annapolis, Md.
Nov. 5, 2009: "The Effect of Officer
Fatigue on the Exercise of Police Discretion and
Accountability." American Society of Criminology
Annual Meeting, Philadelphia
Nov. 18, 2009: "Police Work-Hour
Guideline Research." Washington Association of
Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, Blaine, Wash.
Dec. 8, 2009: "Tired Cops:
Understanding and Managing Police Fatigue." Day-long
training workshop for police officers. Spokane, Wash.
Jan. 25, 2010: "Consequences of Sleep Loss in Police and First Responders." Medical Grand Rounds, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland.
Research interests
Tired cops: Understanding and dealing with the impact of long and erratic work hours and shift work on officer performance, health and safety
Cross-cultural police training and development
Developing a general theory of crime and crime control
Interdisciplinary research methods
History and evolution of capital punishment and policing in the United States
Using geographical information systems (GIS) to understand and control street gang crime
Syllabi
Crime Control
and Prevention (PDF)
Criminology
Theory (PDF)
Introduction to
Political Science Research Methods (PDF)
Selected publications
- Micronesian Blues: The Adventures of an American Cop in Paradise (book)
- The Role of Police in American Society: A Documentary History (book)
- Capital Punishment in the United States: A Documentary History (book)
- Tired Cops: The Importance of Managing Police Fatigue (book)
- Prevention of Youth and Gang Violence
- Determining the Quality of Accelerometer Data
- Human Ecology, Crime and Crime Control
- Police Work Schedules
- Child Welfare and Lagged Crime Trends
- Tired Cops
- Human Nature and Crime Control
- Connections Between Fatigue and Performance
- Self-Control and Social Control
- Police Handgun Qualification
- Expropriative Crime and Crime Policy: An Evolutionary Ecological Analysis
