TTA Today Blog

Welcome to BJA NTTAC's TTA Today blog! TTA Today posts tell the story of training and technical assistance (TTA) engagements through individual perspectives, including those of DOJ and BJA leaders, staff, technical assistance providers, subject matter experts, community members, and other relevant stakeholders. These posts serve as an informal venue to share relevant updates or best practices from the criminal justice community, as well as to feature first-hand accounts of how TTA impacts state, local, and tribal communities across the nation.

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.

Background

Calls for service involving people with mental illness can be among the most time-consuming and complex types of calls for law enforcement agencies. Police officers are often the first responders to mental health calls, which may require more resources than other calls for service. These calls also necessitate increased awareness of the safety of both responders and people in crisis. To improve the outcomes of interactions between police and people with mental illness, many law enforcement agencies have adopted Police-Mental Health Collaboration (PMHC) programs, which are collaborative partnerships among law enforcement agencies, mental health providers, and community-based organizations. 

Background

Since 2012, Blue Courage, LLC has offered innovative leadership development training to all levels of law enforcement, encouraging integrity, courage, and character while meeting the demands of 21st century policing. The philosophy of Blue Courage motivates law enforcement officers to develop the right mindset and skillset to perform their duties in a manner that also safeguards their own health and wellbeing, such as building resilience and recommitting to the nobility of policing. 

Contributed by the National Public Safety Partnership Team, U.S. Department of Justice.

In 2015, the West Memphis, Arkansas Police Department (WMPD) began working with what is now known as the National Public Safety Partnership (PSP) to develop a violence reduction strategy.

In the National Gang Intelligence Center’s 2015 survey of federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement, more than half of respondents reported that street gang membership and gang-related crime had increased in their jurisdictions over the past two years. Faced with increases in gang-related incidents, many law enforcement agencies are seeking advanced, robust methods for identifying, investigating, and addressing the prevalence of gangs operating within certain geographic areas. 

Det. John Skaggs runs a tight ship at the Los Angeles, California Police Department (LAPD) based on two principles: organization and hustle. Those principles built the foundation of his 30-year career with the LAPD, during which he served as the lead detective on 165 murder investigations and supervised an additional 250. Now nearing retirement, Det. Skaggs has teamed up with the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) National Training and Technical Assistance Center (NTTAC) to share his extensive experience by delivering homicide investigation and violent crime reduction training across the country.

Background

The United States incarcerates more individuals per capita than any other country in the world. With an expansive justice system consisting of federal, state, and local bodies collecting different metrics and using different performance measurements, it is difficult to imagine a standardized process for collection and assessment of data, even though it would allow for improved identification of systemic justice issues and sentencing disparities. Without the ability to compare performance and identify trends at all levels of the system, injustices may become more prevalent and become accepted as the status quo.

In January 2016, I began to explore where the Chesterfield County, Virginia, and Colonial Heights, Virginia, supervised offender population was living to determine if there were common areas where this group resided.

Background

Across the United States, criminal justice practitioners, policymakers, and researchers have recognized a growing need to improve statewide corrections systems and implement more judicious parole policies. The national trend in corrections and parole systems signals that different parole populations can experience varying rates of recidivism, affecting how risk information and guidelines are used to predict recidivism and inform parole release decisionmaking in violent and non-violent crime cases and in high, moderate, and low risk recidivism cases.

In 2014, Detroit, Michigan, joined a consortium of cities in the Violence Reduction Network (VRN), a nationwide, locally focused Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) training and technical assistance (TTA) initiative to reduce high rates of violent crime in communities through strategic and innovative measures. Similar to other communities in the VRN program, Detroit has one of the highest violent crime rates in the United States and has endured deep public sector resource constraints and challenges with police-community relations.

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