On April 17, 2018, at 2:00 p.m., ET, the Fox Valley Technical College, National Criminal Justice Training Center will host a Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA)-sponsored webinar on the leadership skills necessary for effective community policing.

This no-cost webinar will discuss how important leaders are in promoting community policing and developing organizational vision and values. The webinar will review community policing skills internally and externally that promote officer empowerment and community trust. In addition, the webinar will examine the role police officers can play in leading community problem solving and introduce resources to help implement the community policing strategies discussed.

Registration is now open for the 2018 National Forum on Criminal Justice, scheduled for July 22–25, 2018, in Fort Worth, Texas. This year’s conference will focus on “Collaborative Approaches to Criminal Justice Challenges.” There will also be a special emphasis on mental and behavioral health.

The National Forum on Criminal Justice, sponsored by the National Criminal Justice Association and the IJIS Institute, showcases programs, research, and technologies that help justice practitioners and decision makers in states, local communities and tribal nations address pressing public safety issues. Workshops will feature promising and innovative programs and strategies to address crime around the country; explore how technology can improve the administration of justice; examine research and evaluation; and highlight priority issues and available resources within the U.S. Department of Justice.  Registration fees begin at $475 per person and increase after May 18, 2018.

This webinar is intended for police departments that do not collect nonfatal shooting data or those that are seeking to improve nonfatal shooting data collection and use. Law enforcement analysts, researchers, and investigators are encouraged to attend the webinar.

On Wednesday, April 18, 2018, at 2:00 p.m., ET, the Police Foundation will present a webinar, sponsored by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, regarding the value of nonfatal shooting data.

Most law enforcement agencies in the United States do not collect nonfatal shooting data because there is no federal crime-reporting requirement. However, nonfatal shootings and homicides are closely related, and analysis of nonfatal shootings can be extremely valuable to departments. Analysis of nonfatal shootings (which occur four times as often as homicides) can serve as part of a larger crime-reduction strategy and can help law enforcement better understand the context of local gun violence.

This no-cost webinar will focus on defining nonfatal shootings, describing data collection methodologies, and discussing how policy and investigations can be enhanced based on nonfatal shooting data.  Law enforcement analysts, researchers, and investigators are encouraged to attend.

Our behavioral research on incidents of targeted violence has shaped how we conduct threat assessments as an agency. We use multiple sources to gather and analyze information to assess concerning behaviors and identify mitigation strategies in support of our protective mission.

 ~Frederick Sellers, Assistant Director, Office of Strategic Intelligence and Information, U.S. Secret Service

In March 2018, the U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) released a comprehensive study on mass attacks in public spaces. This study focused on 28 incidents in 2017 in which three or more persons were harmed and which were carried out in public places within the United States. The report takes an in-depth look into the commonalities of these attackers, which include location of attack, weapons used, gender, age, substance abuse, criminal history, mental health, motives, targeting, stressors, and communications.

The mission of the NTAC is to provide guidance on threat assessment and training, both within the U.S. Secret Service and to its law enforcement, public safety, and academic partners.  

The point of Operation Disarray is to put drug traffickers on notice: Law enforcement is watching when people buy and sell drugs online. For those who think the Darknet provides anonymity, you are mistaken.

~Chris Brest, Special Agent, FBI Headquarters 

In January 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the Joint Criminal Opioid Darknet Enforcement (J-CODE) team, an FBI-led initiative that brings together a variety of federal agencies to disrupt illicit opioid sales online. 

Operation Disarray was the first major J-CODE enforcement action.  This initiative seeks to disrupt the sale of opioids online and was the first operation of its kind to occur simultaneously in all 50 states.  Operation Disarray was designed, in part, to highlight the risks of buying opioids online.  Leads from the investigation identified 19 overdose deaths of persons of interest.