News

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)

Police and Security News (P&SN), the predominant magazine serving both law enforcement and Homeland Security, is celebrating its 40th anniversary, as part of the 2024 Buyer’s Information Guide (March/April). P&SN made its debut in late 1984, released alongside its two sister publications – Firefighter’s News and Rescue News. First published by Brewer Communications, Inc. from its offices in Barnegat, NJ, the inaugural edition included feature articles covering such topics as video surveillance, administering first aid, effective personnel utilization, as well…

This new report published by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) and the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) offers law enforcement executives key considerations for establishing a cybercrime unit, including scope, recruitment/staffing, interagency partnerships, training, and funding. This information is especially pertinent because nearly every crime has a digital component. As such, police leaders are under increased pressure to dedicate resources to combat cyber-enabled crime. Download to read the report.

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) has issued an updated standard for ballistic-resistant body armor – NIJ Standard 0101.07 – tailored to the needs of law enforcement and other criminal justice agencies. Key updates include improved test methods for armor designed for women; more rigorous testing of soft armor panels; revised testing of hard armor plates, including curved plates; and references to ten standardized test methods, laboratory practices and terminology guides. Law enforcement agencies should expect to see body armor…

Published by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), this report addresses one of the most critical issues in policing today: the role of police officers in responding to calls for service involving people in mental or behavioral health crisis. This has been a serious challenge for policing for decades, ever since mental health institutions were closed. People were discharged without adequate provision of help to live in the community and many of them landed on the streets. This report, which…

The “Overcoming Language Barriers in Policing and Building an Effective Language Access Program” includes resources and tools developed by the US Department of Justice’s Law Enforcement Language Access Initiative (LELAI) which can assist local and state law enforcement agencies in their efforts to provide meaningful language access to individuals with limited English proficiency within their jurisdiction. An initiative led by the Civil Rights Division’s Federal Coordination and Compliance Section in partnership with US Attorneys’ offices, the resources review the legal obligation to provide language…

Published by the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) and the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training (IADLEST), this report describes the results of the Academy Innovations project, a COPS Office supported initiative aimed at studying ways to improve the methodology for delivering basic police training content. Recruits’ ability to learn and retain material presented during and after basic police academy training is a genuine concern for academy directors,…

Funded by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), this toolkit serves as an online educational toolkit with strategies, guidance and links to resources on preventing and responding to mass attacks. Mass public attacks, whether personally or ideologically motivated, cause much concern and fear. Nonetheless, you can often take actions to prevent, defend against and respond to them. A recent NIJ funded research project analyzed over 600 mass attack plots, hundreds of articles and resources, and dozens of expert interviews to…

Published by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), this article spotlights the Preventing Violence Against Law Enforcement and Ensuring Officer Resilience and Survivability (VALOR) Safer Together training program, an initiative aimed at building positive partnerships between police officers and the communities they serve to reduce crime and ensure safety and wellness for all. Community safety doesn’t start with a traffic stop – it begins with building trust. That’s just one of the lessons Lieutenant James Jefferson III of the Louisiana…