The Strategies for Policing Innovation (SPI) initiative is hosting a no-cost webinar on law enforcement collaboration titled “Taking Collaboration to the Next Level.”  This online, interactive webinar will engage participants on the use of collaboration to improve performance and outcomes in law enforcement.

This webinar will discuss what collaborative policing means and the principles that make it effective; the use of collaboration to address gun violence and the problems concerning individuals in mental health crises in three SPI sites; and methods for assessing and improving collaboration.

Date:  February 21, 2019

Time:  2:00 p.m., ET

The negative consequences of the trafficking and use of illicit drugs, along with the toll that drug misuse and abuse is taking across America, have endangered too many communities, ruined too many families, and taken the lives of too many of our fellow Americans.

~Jim Carroll, Director, Office of National Drug Control Policy

On January 31, 2019, Jim Carroll, the newly sworn-in Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), released the Administration’s National Drug Control Strategy, which establishes the President’s priorities for addressing the challenge of drug trafficking and use.  The strategy is intended to guide and focus federal government efforts along three fundamental elements, which are complementary and mutually supporting: prevention, treatment and recovery, and reducing availability.

In January 2019, the Bureau of Justice Statistics released the report that presents statistics describing firearm possession by state and federal prisoners serving sentences in 2016.  The report describes firearm possession during the crimes for which prisoners were serving time and by type of offense; how the firearms were used during the crime; types of firearms possessed; and methods, sources, and processes of obtaining the firearms.  Findings are based on BJS’s 2016 Survey of Prison Inmates (SPI), formerly known as the Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities.  The SPI self-report data were collected through face-to-face interviews with a national sample of state and federal prisoners.

The Justice Technology Information Center (JTIC), a National Institute of Justice program, has recently added a new model program to its school safety website that highlights the school safety educational program implemented by the City of Falls Church, Virginia.  The First 12 Minutes is a multi-faceted program that provides training to administrators, teachers, and school staff, all within a three-hour window, at no charge to the participating schools. This program includes active shooter response and Stop the Bleed training.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will transition to a National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)-only data collection in January 2021.  This will make NIBRS the nationwide standard for collection of crime data.

At the recommendation of major law enforcement associations, the FBI is committed to the NIBRS transition and to facilitating the NIBRS transitions of law enforcement agencies across the nation.

The Summary Reporting System (SRS) has been the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program’s traditional system of crime data since 1930, but NIBRS is designed to be more detailed and comprehensive.  NIBRS includes data on separate offenses within criminal incidents plus dozens of details, such as location types, property losses, clearances, and relationships between victims and offenders.  On the FBI website, the article “Questions NIBRS Can Answer” discusses in more detail some of the ways NIBRS can provide more useful information about crime than SRS.

The FBI UCR Program is actively working with the Bureau of Justice Statistics, state UCR Programs, and law enforcement organizations to promote the NIBRS transition.  As part of this effort, the FBI has updated its NIBRS Web page with helpful features and resources.