The Department of Justice Announces Unprecedented Award to Police Executives and Unions to Create A Technical Assistance Center

The Department of Justice today announced a new $7 million award under the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services’ (COPS Office) Collaborative Reform Initiative for Technical Assistance.  The award is to the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), a nonprofit membership organization with 30,000 members in more than 150 countries that serves all ranks at the state, local, territorial, tribal, campus, and federal levels. IACP will be partnering with other prominent law enforcement stakeholder associations to create the Collaborative Reform Initiative Technical Assistance Center (CRI-TAC).

“This award embodies a field-driven vision for the Collaborative Reform Initiative and incorporates changes that I know are critically important to law enforcement,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions.  “Today’s announcement is part of a course correction that ensures that the Department’s Collaborative Reform Initiative will provide technical assistance to law enforcement agencies based on their own needs, not those dictated by the federal government.”

For the first time, police chiefs, unions and other law enforcement organizations will come together to provide tailored technical assistance to local policing agencies.   While the award will go to IACP, there is a historic and unprecedented coalition represented by the law enforcement associations formally involved in the project:

    Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy Associates (FBINAA)

    Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) 

    International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA)

    International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training (IADLEST)

    Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA)

    National Association of Women Law Enforcement Executives (NAWLEE)

    National Tactical Officers Association (NTOA)

“The IACP and the Fraternal Order of Police, along with six leading law enforcement leadership and labor organizations, will bring together our collective experience, subject matter expertise, and unparalleled reach in the field to build and deliver comprehensive technical assistance, informed by cutting-edge innovation and promising practices, that embraces a collaborative, supportive approach to serving law enforcement and the communities they are sworn to protect,” said IACP President Louis M. Dekmar, Chief of the LaGrange, Georgia, Police Department.

“The FOP is very pleased to partner with the IACP and the U.S. Department of Justice on the Collaborative Reform Initiative,” said Chuck Canterbury, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police.  “Our members have a great deal of knowledge and experience from their own work in our streets and communities.  Together, we can put this information and training to work to benefit all of our colleagues around the nation.”

“The Major Cities Chiefs Association has been very engaged in the discussion with the Department of Justice on revamping the entire collaborative reform process,” said Montgomery County, Maryland Police Chief Tom Manger. We look forward to a meaningful continued role in implementing this vision alongside colleagues from many other law enforcement groups.”

This partnership brings together the nation’s public safety leaders and will touch nearly every sector of the law enforcement field.  Through the combined membership of over 420,000, the CRI-TAC will provide subject matter expertise; share resources and training materials for use in technical assistance delivery; and contribute to outreach, marketing, and membership engagement. Today’s award follows an earlier announcement from the COPS Office regarding significant changes to the Collaborative Reform Initiative to provide technical assistance and support “by the field, for the field.”

The Collaborative Reform Initiative provides critical and tailored technical assistance resources to state, local, territorial, and tribal law enforcement agencies on a wide variety of topics. Through the program, agencies receive technical assistance from leading experts in a range of public safety, crime reduction, and community policing topics. Law enforcement agencies that are interested in receiving technical assistance through the Collaborative Reform Initiative should visit the COPS Office website at https://cops.usdoj.gov/collaborativereform.

The COPS Office awards grants to hire community policing officers, develop and test innovative policing strategies, and provide training and technical assistance to community members, local government leaders, and all levels of law enforcement. Since 1994, the COPS Office has invested more than $14 billion to help advance community policing.