On September 20, 2007, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) established the Weapons and Protective Systems Technologies Center of Excellence (WPSTC) at The Pennsylvania State University as part of the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC) system. The Center supports OJP's efforts to enhance the safety of law enforcement and corrections officers. The WPSTC includes programs and projects within Penn State’s Applied Research Laboratory (ARL), its Institute for Non-Lethal Defense Technologies (INLDT), and its Pennsylvania Transportation Institute (PTI) as well as the Denver Research Institute (DRI) at the University of Denver leveraging myriad multi-disciplinary research units across these universities.

The Center provides testing, evaluation, specialized technology assistance programs, and other services with regard to tools and technologies intended for use by law enforcement, corrections and other criminal justice agencies and organizations. This program furthers the Department's mission by improving the safety and effectiveness of criminal justice technology and the access of law enforcement and other criminal justice agencies to that technology.

The WPSTC supports the NIJ Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation activities within the improvised explosive device defeat, less-lethal devices, personal protective equipment, corrections, school safety and pursuit management investment portfolios, and related areas by:

• Assisting the NIJ in identifying criminal justice technology requirements by coordinating and conducting Technical Working Groups and conducting focused studies; 
• Supporting NIJ research and development programs by assisting with program objective definition and refinement, assessing ongoing NIJ projects, scouting relevant technology efforts, and participating in national & regional groups; 
• Testing, evaluating and demonstrating technologies by conducting comparative laboratory and field testing, conducting and coordinating operational evaluations and conducting, facilitating and coordinating demonstrations with law enforcement and corrections agencies; 
• Supporting the adoption of new technologies by introducing new technologies to practitioners, providing practitioner requirements to developers, assisting developers in commercialization, and providing support to first adopter LEAs for effectiveness evaluation; 
• Coordinating and developing technology guidelines for planning, selecting and implementing technology solutions; and 
• Providing technology assistance to criminal justice agencies across the country including providing science and engineering advice and assist first adopters with new tools and methods.

 Last updated: July 23, 2008