The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) connects state, local, and tribal justice agencies in need of assistance with no-cost training and specialized guidance—also known as training and technical assistance—both in person and virtually on a wide variety of criminal justice topics. In fiscal year (FY) 2019, BJA Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) providers served thousands of agencies by delivering a variety of TTA activities and creating many resources tailored to the needs of the field, some of which are highlighted below.
Breaking Down Deliverables
BJA TTA providers delivered nearly 5,000 TTAs and deliverables across 7 program areas—the most prevalent being law enforcement, adjudication/courts, and corrections. BJA TTA providers also delivered a range of services to criminal justice agencies, including:
- Responding to 38,276 inquiries from the field.
- Supporting 117 focus/advisory group working sessions serving 712 agencies.
- Supporting 6,929 agencies with program implementation management/support.
In addition, 69,239 criminal justice professionals attended BJA-funded training events. Of those who attended trainings, 42,169 (61 percent) attended classroom trainings, 16,623 (24 percent) attended online trainings, 10,384 (15 percent) attended webinars, and 58 (<1 percent) attended phone trainings.
Positive Feedback on Training Evaluations
BJA TTA providers collected evaluations from 37,480 participants at 1,015 trainings.
Ninety-eight percent of respondents indicated that the training was satisfactory or better and 97% indicated that their knowledge increased as a result of the training provided.
Details on resources
In addition to providing hands-on TTA in FY 2019, TTA providers produced nearly 800 resources on a variety of criminal justice topics. The chart below shows a breakdown of the resources created in 2019.
Highlighting BJA-Funded TTA Resources
The examples below provide a small snapshot of the wide range of activities BJA TTA providers engage in to enhance the justice community.
Capital Case Litigation Initiative
As part of the Capital Case Litigation Initiative, the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys developed a series of webinars designed to educate prosecutors on best practices in handling capital litigation cases. Topics include victims’ rights, meeting with victims’ families, mitigating mental health defenses, mass shootings and victim considerations, and jury selection. Access the webinars on BJA’s YouTube channel.
Prison Rape Elimination Act Resource Center
Impact Justice implemented the National Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) Resource Center to help eliminate sexual abuse in confinement. They help corrections facilities meet the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) PREA standards by providing research, resources, and technical assistance from subject matter experts to help enable best practices in corrections, law enforcement, victims’ services, and sexual abuse prevention and response.
Child Sex Trafficking Training Series Toolkit
Child sex trafficking can be difficult to identify for various reasons, including its hidden nature and the unlikelihood of victims to come forward. Having the tools necessary to identify potential victims help frontline officers better respond to and locate victims of sex trafficking. The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) developed the IACP Child Sex Trafficking: A Training Series for Frontline Officers Toolkit, which is designed to help address the issue.
TTA Addressing the Opioid Epidemic
The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) supported Dayton, Ohio, in responding to crime and disorder related to opioids. The article Community-Police Partnerships Fight the Opioid Epidemic Where It Lives, by Mona Mangat, national director of LISC’s Safety and Justice programs, and Matthew Perkins, senior program officer and criminologist at LISC, outlines how TTA from LISC and a DOJ grant helped Dayton, Ohio, address the opioid problem and how it could provide a model for other communities throughout the country.
VALOR Officer Safety and Wellness Program
Managed by the Institute for Intergovernmental Research, the Preventing Violence Against Law Enforcement and Ensuring Officer Resilience and Survivability (VALOR) Initiative aims to enhance both short- and long-term officer safety and wellness and aid in officer resiliency. VALOR provides many resources to law enforcement officers, including publications, collaborative partnerships, and no-cost professional training and education. By aiding in officer safety and wellness they hope to help create strong partnerships between officers and the communities they serve.
Providing Future TTA
The TTA Resources section on BJA NTTAC’s website displays free resources from BJA-funded activities, offering specialized guidance on justice topics including webinars, publications, toolkits, and fact sheets. To find more learning opportunities, the BJA NTTAC TTA Catalog provides a list of upcoming training events.
If your jurisdiction is in need of TTA, or if you know of a community that would benefit from this type of assistance, please contact BJA NTTAC at BJANTTAC@ojp.usdoj.gov and we can connect you to the appropriate training, assistance, TTA partner, and/or resources.
If you are interested in submitting the work of your organization or jurisdiction for consideration in a future TTA Today blog post or in obtaining information related to a particular topic area, please email us at BJANTTAC@ojp.usdoj.gov.
Points of view or opinions on BJA NTTAC’s TTA Today blog are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of DOJ, BJA, or BJA NTTAC.
Join the National Law Enforcement Memorial and Museum for their upcoming “Mid-Year Law Enforcement Fatalities Report: Keeping Officers’ Names off the Wall” webinar on July 14, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. ET. During this webinar, a panel of law enforcement, officer safety, wellness, medical, and mental health experts will review and discuss the preliminary numbers of law enforcement fatalities from January–June 2020 in the United States. The panel of experts will also interactively address the issues of physical and mental health within policing and discuss successful and innovative strategies that help reduce line-of-duty deaths and improve officer’s safety and wellness.
This webinar is for all law enforcement officers. Advance registration is required.
Join the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention for their upcoming “Secondary Trauma & Traumatic Stress: Behavioral Signs and Symptoms and How to Mitigate” webinar on July 16, 2020 at 3:00 p.m. ET. This webinar will help law enforcement, prosecutors, and other investigative personnel combating child sexual exploitation learn how to identify, reduce, and address secondary trauma and traumatic stress.
During this webinar, attendees will discuss how and why stress and trauma develop, signs and symptoms, mitigation techniques using everyday tools, and coping strategies. Attendees will also focus on behavioral factors that can compound the response to trauma.
Join The Council of State Governments Justice Center for their upcoming “Connecting People Who Have Serious Mental Illness (SMI) to Care: Trends and Strategies” webinar on July 7, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. ET. As telehealth becomes increasingly popular, attendees will learn how The Stepping Up Initiative connects people with SMI to treatment programs and other services after being discharged from jail.
During this webinar, Christopher Seeley, Program Director for School and Justice Initiatives at the American Psychiatric Association Foundation; Edward Kaftarian, Chairman and CEO of Orbit Health Telepsychiatry; and Daphne Kendrick, Adult Mental Illness Division Director at Central Alabama Wellness will outline how to best facilitate and approach connecting people with SMI to care and provide tips and strategies from other counties.
Join the National White Collar Crime Center for their upcoming “An Agency’s Cybersecurity and the Integrity of Digital Evidence” webinar on July 8, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. ET. During this webinar, attendees will examine law enforcement agency’s cybersecurity challenges resulting from threats faced by municipalities, counties, and state governments.
Carter Schoenberg, Executive Vice President of Cybersecurity Solutions at IPKeys Power Partners, will also analyze how a cyber incident within a law enforcement agency can negatively impact a criminal case for the prosecution and even discredit the agency’s credibility.
Join the Justice Clearinghouse for their upcoming “Cumulative Trauma: The Covert Enemy of First Responders” webinar on July 14, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. ET. During this webinar, Dr. McDougall, a licensed mental health counselor, will provide attendees insight into the day-to-day incidents that can cause police officers’ cumulative trauma and complex post-traumatic stress disorder. The webinar will also feature clinical scenarios that identify how cumulative trauma can impact officers’ professional and personal lives.
The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) is seeking nominations for its annual Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor now through July 31, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. ET. To honor public safety officers, Congress passed The Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor Act of 2001, which created the Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor—the highest national award for valor for public safety officers. The Medal of Valor recognizes acts of heroism and bravery by living or deceased public safety officers who serve or have served in a public agency as a firefighter, law enforcement officer, corrections officer, court officer, civil defense officer, or emergency services officer.
To be eligible, nominees must have demonstrated one of the following acts of valor between June 1, 2019 and May 31, 2020:
- Went above and beyond the call of duty.
- Exhibited exceptional courage, extraordinary decisiveness, and presence of mind.
- Displayed unusual swiftness of action—regardless of his or her personal safety—in an attempt to save or protect human life.
Visit the Medal of Valor web page to learn more about this award and how to submit a nomination.
Join the International Association of Chiefs of Police for their upcoming “Part 2: Mindfulness Strategies for Law Enforcement Webinar” on June 24, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. ET. During this webinar, Mindful Junkie Founder, Gina White, will host a 30-minute interactive mindfulness session. Police officers across every rank, dispatchers, victim services personnel, other law enforcement personnel, and family members are encouraged to attend this webinar.
This webinar is part of the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance’s National Officer Safety Initiatives Program. Learn more about upcoming webinars in the Mindfulness Strategies for Law Enforcement series.
Join the Justice Research and Statistics Association (JRSA) for their upcoming “Web Resources for Identifying Effective Criminal Justice Programs: What They Offer and How They Differ” webinar on June 25, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. ET. This webinar will help attendees understand how web-based criminal and juvenile justice resources such as CrimeSolutions.gov, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Model Programs Guide, Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development, Campbell Collaboration Library of Systematic Reviews, and the Washington State Institute of Public Policy Benefit-Cost Results Tables vary in content, process, and effectiveness. JSRA research associate Mark Myrent will also identify what works by analyzing the methodologies and criteria that each resource uses.
Join CNA and the National District Attorneys Association for their upcoming webinar on June 16, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. ET. Attendees will learn about three offices’ experiences throughout COVID-19 and the challenges that prosecutors will face in future months.
During this webinar, Kim Foxx, Illinois State Attorney; Kim Ogg, Texas District Attorney; and Raúl Torrez, New Mexico District Attorney will highlight lessons learned and changes implemented in the past two months. Panelists will also discuss challenges, plans and actions regarding courts, and businesses reopening as we move forward and restart operations. In addition, in light of recent events, the speakers will be expanding the originally planned discussion to include police accountability and the role of the prosecutor.