"The idea that getting to know people is going to encourage corruption is not true anymore," said Professor Sherman.

But Professor Sherman is skeptical of the effectiveness of community policing over all.

Professor Sherman's research interests include security of voting systems, cryptology, information assurance, and discrete algorithms.

Professor Sherman said the key to lowering the homicide rate was to concentrate on the illegal gun trade.

Professor Sherman argues that we should concentrate first on gun control.

"I think these are plausible for inner-city schools, but not as a nationally representative sample," Professor Sherman said.

Professor Sherman also said he has found that fatal police shootings are routinely being presented to grand juries for investigation.

"Students take the recent scandals very seriously, and as a result the ethics course is much more fun to teach," Professor Sherman said.

But because the bounties are small, Professor Sherman said, the most dangerous guns are likely to stay on the street.

"We need to put the money where the crime is, not just where the votes are," Professor Sherman said.