To aid police departments in responding to these various challenges, the Department of Justice’s COPS Office developed several technical assistance programs to assist police departments experiencing public safety challenges that impact the trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve. The Collaborative Reform through Technical Assistance (CRI-TA) initiative, developed in 2011, is a voluntary initiative to help police departments address long-term, systemic issues by assessing their policies, practices, training, tactics and accountability systems through a DOJ contract with the COPS Office.  DOJ has provided a series of recommendations and technical assistance to help address their critical issues. The Critical Response Technical Assistance Program, developed in 2013, provides rapid response technical assistance to law enforcement agencies dealing with specific short term incidents in their department and community.  Technical assistance services ranging from peer-to-peer exchanges (experienced chiefs providing advice to the chiefs experiencing the issues in real time, such as Ferguson, Standing Rock, etc.), in-depth review and analysis of policies or practices, and facilitated discussions between law enforcement agencies and the community or between responding agencies are among the many tools that can be leveraged to address issues with national implications.

In 2016, the COPS Office offered technical assistance to a diverse range of police departments across the country facing unique challenges.  Through its Critical Response program, the COPS Office conducted focused assessments of the law enforcement response to the mass demonstrations in Ferguson, MO, completed a comprehensive analysis of the Tampa Police Department’s stop and ticketing data, conducted a peer-to-peer exchange with the Orlando Police Department following the Pulse nightclub shooting event, and released timely and critical assessments of the San Bernardino response to the attack on the Inland Regional Center.   

Broad assessments were conducted of several police departments (voluntarily and usually at their request)  and releasing comprehensive reports which included a series of recommendations to help these departments improve their policies, practices, training and accountability systems. These included the police departments in San Francisco, CA; Milwaukee, WI; Fayetteville, NC; Salinas, CA; and Calexico, CA. These reports are publically available on the COPS website and the process is very transparent at the local level. These departments are currently receiving technical assistance to help implement the recommendations that came out of the assessment reports. In addition to these departments, there are several police departments that are close to completing the Collaborative Reform process and implementing the recommendations needed to help their departments improve with the community. These include police departments in Spokane, WA and Philadelphia, PA.  The COPS Office expects to release reports of their final progress before the end of 2016.  The Philadelphia Police Department also increased citizen involvement with the creation of their Police Civilian Oversight Board and significantly lowered Officer Involved Shootings.

Through the DOJ contract, the COPS Office initiated several new Collaborative Reform sites in 2016 to include the Chester, PA; North Charleston, SC; Commerce City, CO; and Memphis, TN. Through these initiatives, the COPS Office is able to engage law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve around a host of critical public safety issues. These opportunities forged a greater sense of partnership between police and citizens and renewed commitment to community policing to address issues that impact the quality of life for many of these communities. One great example of this program’s success occurred in partnership with the Fayetteville Police Department.

The Fayetteville Police Department (FPD) began implementing the recommendations from the assessment team before the assessment report was released. This action spoke volumes in terms of the dedication of the Chief and command staff to the collaborative reform process and their desire to institute real change.  This included increasing the number of community watch groups across the city, building a coalition of clergy and community leaders and holding regular meetings to keep citizens informed and engaged. FPD also established the Chief’s Youth Advisory Council, of which the FPD attributes the success of these initiatives to the fact that there were no student deaths in 2015. These community engagement efforts helped bridge the gap between police and citizens and built a greater sense of trust within the community.  In addition, FPD changed their traffic stop policy so that vehicles would no longer be stopped for issues like broken tail lights or outdated inspection stickers. Instead, vehicles would only be stopped for moving violations – speeding, running a red light, suspected DWI, etc. As a result, discretionary stops have ended. The FPD also experienced a reduction of officer involved shootings and use of force incidents. In 2012 there were a total of 157 use of force incidents, 2013 there were 103 incidents, in 2014 there were 52 incidents, and in 2015 there were a total of 47 Use of Force Incidents recorded. This is a 9.6% decrease between 2014 to 2015. Since 2012 there has been a 70% decrease.