Ian T. Adams is a leading scholar of policing. He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice at the University of South Carolina. His applied research focuses on the practical concerns of police practitioners, with a specific interest in technology, policy, personnel, and use-of-force in law enforcement.

Dr. Adams has over forty peer-reviewed publications on these and related topics, and his work has been published in the top general interest journals of both criminal justice and public administration, including Justice Quarterly, Criminology & Public Policy, and Public Administration Review. He is the recipient of the 2024 Early Career Award from the American Society of Criminology, Division of Policing.

Dr. Adams is the co-founder of the Police Accountability and Policy Evaluation Research (PAPER) Lab, and senior faculty of the Governance & Responsible AI Laboratory (GRAIL). He is committed to the goal of marrying police practice and high-quality scientific evidence, an aim that is supported by his appointment as a 2023 National Institute of Justice LEADS Academic. In sum, he and his colleagues have secured more than $3.25 million in research grants from both governmental and philanthropic organizations.

Dr. Adams serves as a Senior Research Advisor for the Excellence in Policing and Public Safety (EPPS) program at the University of South Carolina’s Joseph F. Rice School of Law, an affiliate of the Police Staffing Observatory at Michigan State University, and a managing editor of Police Practice & Research: An International Journal. In addition, he has consulted as a policing expert across the US and internationally, including Australia and Europe.

His research and comments are routinely featured in media coverage, including at the Washington Post, New York Times, and NPR, among others, and his public-facing communication has appeared in multiple written, radio, and podcast outlets.

Download his CV here.