News

Developed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), this course was designed to instruct law enforcement, first responders, victim specialists, and allied professionals on a four step, evidence informed approach to providing trauma or death notifications to the next of kin. The course highlights various challenges, including best practices for making notifications through a culturally inclusive lens. The course was recently refreshed and now features an expanded availability, as well as eight new videos which illustrate best practices for delivering…

Released by the National Policing Institute (NPI), this brief is intended to provide law enforcement leaders with guidance on addressing organizational culture which may currently run counter to roadway safety best practices. As agencies seek to mitigate the risk factors for officer-involved collisions and struck-by incidents and work to develop a culture of roadway safety, leaders and officers should look to the National Law Enforcement Roadway Safety Program (NLERSP) for support and guidance on actionable steps which can be taken….

The Collaborative Reform Initiative Technical Assistance Center is a partnership between the COPS Office and many professional law enforcement organizations throughout the field to provide technical assistance to law enforcement agencies on request. In its first five years, the center managed more than 900 requests for assistance from local, campus, county, tribal, and state agencies on critical issues like community engagement; active threat response; de-escalation; crime analysis; mass demonstrations; school and campus safety; and recruitment, hiring, and retention. This report…

Published by the Center for Naval Analyses’ (CNA) Center for Justice Research and Innovation, this report includes data collected by First H.E.L.P. on law enforcement and correctional officer deaths by suicide. First H.E.L.P.’s efforts represent a notable stride toward comprehensively collecting reliable and valid data on the challenging issue of law enforcement deaths by suicide, marking one of the most extensive efforts undertaken in this area. This research brief presents analyses of the 1,287 deaths by suicide of law enforcement…

Hardwire LLC, a leading provider of advanced ballistic protection solutions, announced its recent contract awards from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for the provision of high quality ballistic shields. Hardwire, in partnership with Bethel Industries, swept all four contracts awarded by the FBI for the ballistic shields, totaling $27,000,000 and affirming its position as the trusted partner for critical protective gear for federal law enforcement. The contracts began February 1, 2024, and April 1, 2024. These contracts are a…

Written by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), this article presents findings from a nationally representative sample of persons age 60 or older who experienced personal financial fraud. The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) Supplemental Fraud Survey (SFS) aims to address the need for nationally representative estimates of fraud, both reported and not reported to the police. In addition, the SFS reveals that the demographic profile of financial fraud victims age 60 or older differs from the profile of fraud…

With the median annual salary for a police officer reaching over $69,000, the personal finance Web site WalletHub recently released its report, “Best & Worst States to Be a Police Officer in 2024,” as well as expert commentary, to help identify where this career is the most worthwhile. WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 30 key metrics. The data set ranges from the median income for law enforcement officers to police deaths per 1,000 officers…

On Thursday, January 18, 2024, the Department of Justice, through the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), released a report on its critical incident review of the law enforcement response to the tragic school shooting at Robb Elementary School. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced the review shortly after the tragedy on May 24, 2022, in which 19 children and two teachers died at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. The report provides a thorough description of the critical…

Throughout 2023, the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) and the National Policing Institute (NPI) convened a series of meetings to discuss specialized units in state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement agencies and create guidance for those agencies’ leadership to consider when forming, managing and disbanding such units. This report includes sections on identifying the need for a specialized unit; selecting the unit’s membership and leadership; managing the unit; establishing its policies, procedures, and end date; holding the unit…

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released the 2024 Law Enforcement Resource Guide for state, local, tribal, territorial, and campus law enforcement partners. This resource guide, updated annually, highlights the most up-to-date training and resources DHS provides to support law enforcement. Download a copy of the resource guide (PDF)