Carlena Orosco

Carlena Orosco, Ph.D., is a Professor in the School of Criminal Justice and Criminalistics at California State University, Los Angeles. She holds a Ph.D. in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Arizona State University and both an MA and BA from California State University, San Bernardino. Prior to her academic role, she served as Research and Planning Supervisor at Tempe Police Department (SPARC), Senior Research Analyst for the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission, and worked for nine years as a dispatcher/Acting Supervisor at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Her research spans critical areas of modern law enforcement, including de-escalation strategies used by police dispatchers and officers, crime analysis methodologies, and data-driven decision-making in policing. She integrates her frontline experience into academic work, aiming to bridge theory and practice.

Orosco serves on the Editorial Board for Police Practice and Research: An International Journal and has published in leading journals such as Justice Quarterly, Policing: An International Journal, Journal of Experimental Criminology, and the American Journal of Public Health.