Justice Department Launches Effort to Improve Young People's Relations with Police

IACP Awarded $500,000 to Host a Youth-Police Roundtable and Best Practices Institute

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch today announced that the Justice Department is launching a new initiative to bring young people together with the police officers in their community.

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) awarded $500,000 to a joint effort of the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Coalition for Juvenile Justice to convene a youth and law enforcement roundtable and to develop an institute for disseminating best practices and sharing new approaches on issues of juvenile justice.

To achieve these objectives, IACP will compile best practices and innovative approaches, help law enforcement departments conduct self-assessments and develop action plans to improve relations with youth in their communities and create a training curriculum to support these efforts.  In addition to hosting the law enforcement/youth roundtable this upcoming fiscal year, IACP will hold virtual meetings with roundtable participants to seek their recommendations to law enforcement for long-term strategies for improvement.

Lynch announced the award today during a White House Champions of Change event co-hosted by the Office of Justice Programs and the Community Oriented Policing Services Office (COPS). The event honored law enforcement officers and young people who are leading efforts to improve interactions between law enforcement and youth in their communities.