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. BJA worked with 148 BJA training and technical assistance (TTA) awards totaling over $545,000,000 and supported 131 BJA National Training and Technical Assistance Center (NTTAC) engagements. In fiscal year (FY) 2020, BJA TTA and BJA NTTAC 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 TTA Services and Deliverables
BJA TTA and BJA NTTAC providers delivered over 6,000 TTAs and deliverables across 7 program areas—the most prevalent being law enforcement, justice information sharing, and adjudication/courts. The majority of TTAs (73 percent) were estimated at costing less than $2,500. BJA TTA and BJA NTTAC providers also delivered a range of services to criminal justice agencies, including:
- Responding to 266,477 inquiries from the
- field.
- Providing online training to 40,401 individuals at 28,081 agencies.
- Supporting 29,224 agencies with program implementation management/support.
In addition,173,088 criminal justice professionals attended BJA-funded training events. Of those who attended trainings, 107,139 (62 percent) attended webinars, 40,401 (23 percent) attended online trainings, 17,393 (10 percent) attended
classroom trainings, 8,000 (5 percent) attended live video trainings, and 155 (<1 percent) attended phone trainings.
Positive Feedback on Training Evaluations
BJA TTA and BJA NTTAC providers collected evaluations from 63,633 participants at 1,146 trainings.
Ninety-eight percent of respondents indicated that the training was satisfactory or better and 97% indicated that the training was useful.
Details on Resources
In addition to providing hands-on TTA in FY 2020, TTA providers produced nearly 850 resources on a variety of criminal justice topics. The chart below shows a breakdown of the resources created in FY 2020.
Transition to a Virtual Environment During the Covid-19 Pandemic
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, BJA and BJA NTTAC providers strategically transitioned to provide effective and efficient TTA services virtually to the field. During FY 2020, BJA and BJA NTTAC providers delivered 90 percent of trainings in a virtual format through webinars, online, live video, and phone trainings. This is a significant increase from prior years where most trainings (around 60 percent) were delivered in-person.
The transition to a more virtual environment and delivery system allowed BJA and BJA NTTAC providers to reach a broader audience and number of participants. Training events in FY 2020 were attended by 173,088 criminal justice professionals, which was a 150 percent increase in training attendance compared to FY 2019.
Several providers delivered TTA services and resources specific to COVID-19 related topics throughout the FY. These topics included:
- Best practice standards and adjustments during the COVID-19 pandemic, including court operations, technology solutions, law enforcement operations and investigations, reentry protocols and procedures, jail and prison health and safety protocols, and child services.
- Domestic violence issues and concerns.
- Victim advocacy and vicarious trauma.
- Scams and frauds as a result of a global pandemic.
- Psychological impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- How the pandemic affected opioid use.
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.