Department of Justice Awards $12 Million to Advance Community Policing Efforts and Collaborative Reform

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch today announced $12 million in funding through the Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) as part of President Obama’s commitment to engage with law enforcement and other members of the community to implement key recommendations from the 21st Century Policing Task Force report.  The grant awards will build on the Justice Department’s community policing efforts and include funding for the development of innovative community policing strategies, officer training and technical assistance, applied research, and the implementation of best practices for community engagement.

Grant awards were made in categories that support the implementation of recommendations from the 21st Century Policing Task Force report, including the Microgrant Initiative for Law Enforcement, Critical Response Technical Assistance, Community Policing Emerging Issues Forums, Community Policing Training Projects, Law Enforcement Led 21st Century Policing Demonstration Projects, 21st Century Policing and Implementation Projects.  A full list of grant awardees is available here: http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/Default.asp?Item=2895.

In addition, the COPS Office allocated $4.5 million to a contract award for Hillard Heintze to support the Collaborative Reform Initiative for Technical Assistance program.  Collaborative reform is a long-term strategy that identifies issues within an agency that may affect public trust and then offers recommendations based on a comprehensive agency assessment for how to resolve those issues and enhance the relationship between the police and the community.

The COPS Office, headed by Director Ronald Davis, is a federal agency responsible for advancing community policing nationwide.  Since 1995, COPS has invested more than $14 billion to advance community policing, including grants awarded to more than 13,000 state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to fund the hiring and redeployment of more than 129,000 officers and provide a variety of knowledge resource products including publications, training and technical assistance.  For additional information about COPS, please visit www.cops.usdoj.gov.