Ian T. Adams
Ian T. Adams

Ian T. Adams is an Assistant Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of South Carolina. His research focuses on policing technology, policy, and practice, with recent work examining artificial intelligence applications in law enforcement. He brings over twenty years of experience as a policing practitioner and researcher. His scholarship appears in leading journals across criminology, policy studies, and public policy. He has received early career awards from the American Society of Criminology's Division of Policing (2024), the Division of Experimental Criminology (2025), and the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences' Policing Section (2026). Adams serves on the Council on Criminal Justice's Taskforce for Artificial Intelligence and the International Association of Chiefs of Police Research Advisory Council. He regularly lectures on policing to practitioner audiences, including at the FBI National Academy, and provides expert consultation to law enforcement agencies in the United States and abroad.

Columns by Ian T. Adams
What Federal Immigration Enforcement Is Doing Isn’t Policing—and It Isn’t Normal

This opinion piece by policing experts Seth W. Stoughton, Ian T. Adams, Geoffrey P. Alpert, Gil Kerlikowske, Maureen Q. McGough, and Jeffrey J. Noble addresses federal immigration enforcement tactics under the Trump administration. The authors argue that the conduct of agencies like ICE and CBP has departed from established norms in policing in a way that has undermined public safety, particularly through fatal shootings. They contend that these actions—marked by poor planning, aggressive field tactics, and a disregard for accountability—are not just unprofessional but dangerously authoritarian, threatening public safety and the legitimacy of policing itself.