Background
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) offers a wide array of violence reduction information and resources to criminal justice agencies, policymakers, and practitioners, yet many agencies in need of assistance may struggle with navigating available resources and determining the appropriate DOJ points of contact for specific topics. In June 2018, the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) launched the DOJ Violence Reduction Response Center (VRRC) to connect state, local, and tribal justice agencies, victims’ groups, and others with crime reduction training and technical assistance (TTA) resources offered by DOJ. By providing direct referrals to crime reduction publications, current grant opportunities, and additional TTA, VRRC serves as a one-stop shop to connect practitioners to the most appropriate resources available.
Summary
VRRC helps state, local, and tribal communities address violent crime across a broad set of justice-related subjects, including community policing, crime analysis, gang violence, homicide, intelligence/information sharing, officer safety/wellness, prosecution, and victim/witness assistance, among others. Since its launch, VRRC has successfully connected justice practitioners with available DOJ resources on a range of important topics, including best practices for violent crime task force operations and for addressing assaults against law enforcement officers. Other highlights of VRRC assistance include:
- Working with a local police department to reduce juvenile gun violence by connecting the department with a subject expert and facilitating an onsite review of agency policies and procedures through the BJA National Training and Technical Assistance Center (NTTAC);
- Providing information to a local government on current funding opportunities for TTA related to violence reduction strategies; and
- Sharing resources from other government agencies and programs – such as the National Public Safety Partnership’s Public Safety Clearinghouse – to address violent crime in various communities.
If your agency is looking for assistance to address violent crime issues in your community, but you’re not sure where to start, we encourage you to contact VRRC. A representative from BJA NTTAC will contact you to discuss the specific nature of your request, gather additional information as needed, and direct you to the best available resources to fit the needs of your individual agency and community. Also, to ensure the assistance provided met your needs, VRRC personnel will follow up after your initial request to gauge whether you’ve made strides in your efforts, to understand whether the resources shared have been helpful, and to learn more about your violence reduction approaches for the future.
Those seeking assistance may contact VRRC at 1-833-872-5174 during its hours of operation – 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday – or via email at ViolenceReduction@usdoj.gov. All requests for assistance will receive a response within one business day.
To submit the work of your organization or jurisdiction for consideration to be featured in a future BJA NTTAC TTA Spotlight, please email BJANTTAC@ojp.usdoj.gov.
If your agency or community is interested in violence reduction or would like to apply for technical assistance, please contact BJA NTTAC at BJANTTAC@ojp.usdoj.gov to discuss your unique criminal justice needs.
For the fifth year, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) is hosting its annual "Community Policing in Action” Photo Contest. State, local, territorial, and tribal law enforcement agencies are invited to submit a photo that showcases examples of community policing in action with other law enforcement and community stakeholders. The COPS Office will select 12 winning photos to publish on the COPS Office’s Facebook and Twitter pages. Additionally, the COPS Office will feature the selected photos in its e-newsletter, the CP Dispatch, and a press release. Please note that the COPS Office may archive photo contest submissions for use in other agency communications for federal government purposes in the future, even if they are not selected.
The deadline to submit photos to the COPS Office is Monday, November 5.
To learn more about the contest rules, terms, and conditions, please visit the COPS Office contest page today.
Join the National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma and Mental Health (NCDVTMH) for the webinar “Substance Use, Trauma and Domestic Violence: Critical Issues, Promising Approaches” on Tuesday, October 23 from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. ET. During the webinar, participants will learn different strategies to address various factors that contribute to substance use in domestic violence situations.
To help combat the national opioid crisis, NCDVTMH has identified several approaches to address the complex needs of domestic violence survivors with substance use disorders. These support efforts recognize both the impact of trauma on survivors’ use of substances as well as the role of substance use-related coercion by perpetrators, which require integrated approaches for serving survivors’ needs. The session will discuss approaches to the opioid epidemic by rural domestic violence programs, as well as an evidence-based intervention to support the safety of those dealing with substance use and trauma.
Webinar presenters will include:
- Carole Warshaw, Director, NCDVTMH;
- Laurie Thompsen, Health and Behavioral Health Coordinator, West Virginia Coalition Against Domestic Violence; and
- Beth Collins, Domestic Violence Program Specialist, Colorado Department of Human Services.
The U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Children and Families, Family and Youth Services Bureau, Division of Family Violence Prevention and Services are co-sponsoring this webinar in recognition of Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
Register for the webinar today.
View this webinar on the TTA Catalog.
Background
A disproportionate number of people who interact with the criminal justice system are persons with mental health disorders and intellectual and developmental disabilities, often prompting specialized responses from law enforcement and criminal justice agencies. The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and its partners in the justice and mental health fields have developed programs and resources to assist jurisdictions in interacting with and managing justice-involved people with mental illness and intellectual and developmental disabilities, from the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program and the National Center on Criminal Justice and Disability to the Stepping Up Initiative and the Police-Mental Health Collaboration Toolkit. Serving Safely: The National Initiative to Enhance Policing for Persons with Mental Illnesses and Developmental Disabilities – BJA’s latest partnership with the Vera Institute of Justice – offers an additional resource for police departments, sheriffs’ departments, prosecutors’ offices, and community members.
Summary
Serving Safely offers a one-stop center for police departments and other criminal justice agencies to learn how to design responses that enhance outcomes of interactions between police and people with mental illness and intellectual and developmental disabilities through collaboration with mental health service providers, families, and peers. The initiative aims to:
- Ensure law enforcement officers are equipped with the necessary tools, resources, and practices to respond safely and effectively to calls for service, increasing both community safety and officer safety;
- Offer training and technical assistance (TTA) to criminal justice professionals – including police, emergency dispatchers, and legal and victim service professionals – designed to help agencies develop and implement policies and solutions that lead to better responses to incidents involving people with mental illness and intellectual and developmental disabilities; and
- Develop a community of practice for police responses to people with mental illness and intellectual and developmental disabilities.
To accomplish these goals, Vera has created a multidisciplinary team of leaders from a variety of fields, including policing, prosecution, mental health, intellectual and developmental disabilities, crisis intervention, emergency medicine, and technology development. Together, BJA, Vera, and partner organizations will help police and justice agencies connect people with mental illness and intellectual and developmental disabilities to treatment services, assist prosecutors with alternatives to jail when appropriate, and build police-community partnerships to effectively respond to people with mental illness and intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Serving Safely’s consortium of TTA partners currently includes:
- American College of Emergency Physicians;
- The Arc;
- CIT International;
- Jane Addams College of Social Work, University of Illinois, Chicago;
- National Alliance on Mental Illness;
- National Disability Rights Network;
- Prosecutors’ Center for Excellence; and
- Subject experts Dr. Amy Watson; Dr. Michael Compton; Meredith Hitchcock; Katherine Nammacher; Melissa Reuland; and Ron Wilhelmy, Retired Assistant Commissioner, New York City, New York Police Department.
To learn more about this innovative program, read the Serving Safely fact sheet.
To submit the work of your organization or jurisdiction for consideration to be featured in a future BJA National Training and Technical Assistance Center (NTTAC) TTA Spotlight, please email BJANTTAC@ojp.usdoj.gov.
If your agency or community is interested in responses to people with mental illness or intellectual and developmental disabilities, or would like to apply for technical assistance, please contact BJA NTTAC at BJANTTAC@ojp.usdoj.gov to discuss your unique criminal justice needs.
Join the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Program (COAP) team for the webinar “First Responder Burnout Prevention” on Thursday, October 11 from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. ET. During this webinar, participants will gain insight into factors that attribute to first responder burnout, with special consideration given to stresses coming from responses to the opioid epidemic.
The webinar will cover the following topics to address the stresses associated with opioid abuse response efforts:
- Approaches to identify burnout in first responders or their partners;
- Impact of responding to opioid abuse, which is considered a chronic public health problem;
- Stress that arises from responding to calls involving critical opioid incidents or accidents; and
- Collateral consequences of the opioid epidemic, particularly the abuse and neglect of children.
The session will also provide recommendations to help first responders access resources so that they can effectively manage stress.
Webinar panelists will include:
- Presenter: Connie Priddy, R.N., Quick Response Team Coordinator, Huntington, West Virginia; and
- Moderator: Ben Ekelund, Administrator of Consulting and Training for the Center for Health and Justice, Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities.
This webinar is a part of the COAP webinar series that provides virtual learning opportunities to those working on recovery efforts.
Register for the webinar today.
View this webinar on the TTA Catalog.
Next Wednesday, October 3, the Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) will collaborate with the Hawthorne, California Police Department (PD) and law enforcement agencies nationwide to recognize the third annual National Coffee with a Cop Day. The mission of National Coffee with a Cop Day is to reduce barriers between police and the public and to increase public safety. The first Coffee with a Cop originated in 2011 as a police-community partnership-building effort of Hawthorne PD, which the COPS Office later started to fund in 2012. As of 2016, the COPS Office designated the first Wednesday of October as National Coffee with a Cop Day.
The COPS Office encourages members of the public to get involved to create meaningful conversations between the police and community residents. Local partners can find more information on how to get involved, retrieve contact information for organizations who have hosted past events, and sign up for or register their event on the National Coffee with a Cop website.
Join the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Strategies for Policing Innovation (SPI) team for the webinar “Practical Approaches to Sustaining Innovative Policing Initiatives” on Thursday, September 13 from 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. ET. During the webinar, participants will learn how SPI sites in various phases of program implementation are developing sustainability plans for their innovative initiatives.
The webinar will review the practices, principles, approaches, and challenges related to implementing sustainable, innovative policing programs. Webinar speakers will include:
- Dr. Mike White, Professor, School of Criminology & Criminal Justice at Arizona State University;
- Christian Peterson, Crime Analyst, Portland, Oregon Police Bureau;
- Captain Ryan Mills, East Patrol Division, Kansas City, Missouri Police Department; and
- Captain Kari Sloan, Crime Intelligence Unit, Detroit, Michigan Police Department.
View this webinar on the TTA Catalog.
Background
In 2008, the National Institute of Corrections launched the Evidence-Based Decision Making (EBDM) initiative, offering an innovative method for state and local justice policymakers to better use data and research findings to guide decisionmaking across the criminal justice system. The EBDM approach emphasizes interagency collaboration and the development of jurisdictional research-driven decisions and programming to increase efficiency and enhance public safety.
La Crosse County, Wisconsin was one of eight counties in the state selected to participate in Phase V and VI of the EBDM initiative in 2015. At the direction of its Criminal Justice Management Council EBDM subcommittee, La Crosse County prioritized the development of strategies to improve risk/needs assessment processes, diversion programming, internal and external communications, and consistency and codification of policies and procedures across agencies.
La Crosse County requested assistance from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) National Training and Technical Assistance Center (NTTAC) to further disseminate research-driven practices and implementation strategies countywide. The county viewed a train-the-trainer course as the most effective approach for training the selected individuals representing different agencies, who could further circulate research and research-informed practices to their peers and colleagues.
Training
BJA NTTAC identified The Carey Group (TCG), a national consulting firm specializing in public safety with expertise in providing training and technical assistance to justice policymakers, practitioners, and community groups, to develop and deliver the requested training. TCG collaborated with leadership personnel in La Crosse County to develop a customized train-the-trainer curriculum based on the immediate needs of La Crosse County officials.
The training was held over two days in early 2018 and led by a TCG instructor. Participants included 11 leadership personnel from the La Crosse County, Wisconsin District Attorney’s Office, the La Crosse County Department of Human Services (specifically, representatives from Justice Support Services, Juvenile Justice, and the Juvenile Detention Facility), the La Crosse County, Wisconsin Sheriff’s Office, and the Wisconsin Department of Corrections. Attendees participated in a robust course in research-driven principles and how they can be applied to address numerous complex justice challenges within their agencies and the larger justice system. Day one focused on developing positive and incentive-based case plans and assessments. Day two covered topics such as how to reward positive behaviors and properly address noncompliance, community support engagement, and preparation considerations for successful discharge. Throughout the two-day course, participants had opportunities to practice their instructional skills by delivering the course material to their colleagues.
Participants’ individual experiences with risk reduction principles and practices varied going into the training. For some, such as the participating jail staff members, the course material was largely new. For others, the course served as a good refresher. The training was unanimously well-received, as captured in the course evaluations; participants noted the high quality of the curriculum, the instructor, and the course materials. One participant remarked, “The training is going to be a big help to be able to bridge the understanding gap between social workers and juvenile detention officers.”
Next Steps
La Crosse County officials believe this training was a significant step toward implementing risk reduction principles and programming across justice agencies and other civic organizations, as well as shifting the institutional mindset around the value and applicability of research and data. This train-the-trainer session provided the county with the internal capacity to conduct future training without outside assistance. The identified lead and co-trainers are now equipped to share their knowledge with colleagues and agency counterparts to create organizational change and develop a common language. As these trainers refine their instructional skills locally, La Crosse County eventually hopes to have the capacity to become a regional hub in Wisconsin for risk reduction training.
The implementation of research-driven principles and programming will help enhance public safety, strengthen community partnerships, and advance operations, efficiencies, and communications within the La Crosse County justice system. Whether the eventual result is improved communication between school district officials and juvenile justice support services, the development of upgraded risk/needs assessment matrices, or the expansion of eligibility for misdemeanor diversion programming, the implementation of research-driven practices will have a lasting, positive impact on the La Crosse community.
To submit the work of your organization or jurisdiction for consideration to be featured in a future BJA NTTAC TTA Spotlight, please email BJANTTAC@ojp.usdoj.gov.
If your agency or community is interested in evidence-based decisionmaking principles or would like to apply for technical assistance, please contact BJA NTTAC at BJANTTAC@ojp.usdoj.gov to discuss your unique criminal justice needs.
Join the National Reentry Resource Center for the webinar “Opioid Addiction Screening and Assessment for People in the Criminal Justice System” on Tuesday, July 10 from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. ET. During this webinar, participants will learn about screening and assessment best practices to support people in the criminal justice system who have opioid addictions.
The webinar presenters will review the various screening and assessment instruments available, as well as how to select the most appropriate instrument and ask supplemental questions about opioid use and drugs of choice. Participants will also learn strategies for identifying and assessing people with opioid addictions.
Presenters will include:
- Roger Peters, PhD, Clinical Psychologist and Professor in the Department of Mental Health Law and Policy, University of South Florida;
- Jac Charlier, MPA, National Director for Justice Initiatives, Center for Health and Justice at Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities (TASC);
- Phillip Barbour, Master Trainer, Center for Health and Justice at TASC; and
- Allison Upton, Senior Policy Analyst, The Council of State Governments Justice Center.
Learn more and register for the webinar today.
View this webinar on the TTA Catalog.
Join the National Drug Court Resource Center at American University’s (AU) Justice Programs Office (JPO) for the webinar “To Serve, Protect, and Treat: Law Enforcement and Treatment Courts” on Wednesday, June 13 from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. ET. During this webinar, participants will learn about the best strategies and practices for law enforcement to engage with treatment courts, which strive to combine effective justice approaches with clinical services for those with substance use disorders.
Panelists will discuss:
- The role of law enforcement in treatment court programs;
- Types of engagement strategies to increase law enforcement participation;
- Different educational and training approaches to inform law enforcement about treatment services; and
- The importance of law enforcement advocacy for treatment court programs.
The webinar will be moderated by Zephi Francis, Research Specialist, JPO. Speakers will include:
- Ronald R. Thrasher, Director of the Forensic Psychology Program, Oklahoma State University;
- Alex Casale, State Coordinator for Specialty Courts, New Hampshire Judicial Branch;
- Jac Charlier, National Director for Justice Initiatives, Center for Health and Justice at Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities;
- Michelle Boyd, Chief Deputy and Law Enforcement Officer Representative, Minnehaha County, South Dakota Sheriff’s Office and Second Circuit Drug Court Program.
View this webinar on the TTA Catalog.