Bryan Vila

Bryan Vila, Ph.D., is a professor emeritus at Washington State University and founder of its Simulated Hazardous Occupational Tasks laboratory. His research interests include cross-cultural policing, police fatigue and crime control. He has published more than 80 articles on these topics as well as four books, including Micronesian Blues (with Cynthia Morris, 2009, 2013, 2017), Tired Cops: the Importance of Managing Police Fatigue (2000), The Role of Police in American Society (with Cynthia Morris, 1999), and Capital Punishment in the United States (with Cynthia Morris, 1997).

Since receiving his Ph.D. in 1990 from the University of California, Davis, Bryan has held tenured faculty positions at the University of California, Irvine and the University of Wyoming. Prior to joining WSU in 2005, he directed crime control and prevention research at the U.S. Department of Justice.

Before he became an academic, Bryan served as a law enforcement officer for 17 years -- including nine years as a street cop and supervisor with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, six years as a police chief helping the emerging nations of Micronesia develop stable and culturally-appropriate law enforcement agencies, and two years as a federal law enforcement officer in Washington, D.C.