The Impact - PSP Quarterly Newsletter
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Presents . . .
The PSP Impact
- A Quarterly Snapshot of the PSP Network -
July–September 2020
-Virtual Peer Exchanges and Webinars-
The National Public Safety Partnership (PSP) team is committed to the continued delivery of virtual engagements, such as webinars and collaborative virtual peer exchanges (VPEs), to support law enforcement agencies and PSP partners during these unprecedented times. By employing the use of Web-based technologies to host webinars and peer exchanges, PSP sites and their law enforcement partners can communicate and collaborate more frequently, and in a more cost-effective and interactive way. VPEs promote exposure to evidence-based investigation and prosecutorial strategies among a wider and more diverse audience.
The following virtual engagements, held between July and September 2020, cover a variety of topics aimed at reducing violent crime and enhancing public safety in PSP sites and other state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies.
Interested in participating in a VPE or need additional information? Contact the PSP team at info@pspartnership.org.
Model Victim Services
Integrating victim services into law enforcement agencies can provide crime victims with streamlined access to counseling and resources. In addition to providing more empathetic services to victims of crime, law enforcement agencies and prosecutorial partners benefit from enhanced victim/witness communication, which in turn can increase the likelihood of cooperation as cases progress through the criminal justice system. Implementing a victim services program can increase an agency’s ability to connect with the community it serves; however, the process of building capacity in victim services is a challenging endeavor.
This webinar highlighted the implementation of the Victim Services Program in the Chattanooga, Tennessee, Police Department (PD). Participants heard from representatives from the Office for Victims of Crime regarding available resources and the Chattanooga PD to discuss how the department navigated the implementation of a victim services program and the unique challenges it faced.
Utilizing Data Efficiently
The 21st-century crime analyst’s role is ever-changing as technology continues to grow, evolve, and be used successfully in criminal investigations. Crime analysts are being tasked with more than just dots on a map, charts, and graphs. The amount of data available to analysts can be overwhelming, but knowing how to leverage data can be a valuable tool for law enforcement.
This presentation focused on engaging the crime analyst’s critical thinking skills to help provide valuable leads that may lead to arrests and convictions of criminal offenders. Case studies and success stories were presented from crime analysts who have been instrumental in identifying unknown suspects, such as analysts who provided information to officers in the field during in-progress events like the San Bernardino, California, terrorist event. Current technology and applications were explored along with strategies to utilize available resources and tools.
Intelligence 101
In today’s climate of rapidly evolving technology, intense public scrutiny, and the increased availability of data to drive strategies, it has become increasingly important that violence reduction strategies are intelligence-led.
This webinar provided PSP sites with an overview of the terminology associated with intelligence, as well as the review process required to utilize it in a manner that is both efficient and legal. In addition, the Intelligence 101 webinar highlighted critical practices and reviewed national standards that line officers and investigators need to know to combat violent crime, gangs, and criminal enterprises.
Social Network Analysis
Social network analysis (SNA) can be a useful tool for criminal investigations and efforts to reduce violent crime. Understanding how data is compiled and structured, how it may be utilized, and its limitations is critical for leaders considering the use of SNA.
At the request of the Baltimore Police Department (PD) leadership, the PSP team hosted a VPE on July 14, 2020, with select Baltimore PD personnel to learn how SNA can be incorporated into a focused-deterrence model. Participants were provided an overview of SNA and discussed how it can be utilized strategically to support focused-deterrence and other crime reduction strategies.
Interested in learning more about SNA? Click the button below to view the PSP SNA webinar held on June 24, 2020.
-Communities of Practice-
Communities of Practice (CoPs) bring together those with common interests and/or professions to share lessons learned, refine skills through interactive engagements, and expose members to new methods.
Since 2017, PSP has established CoPs in the areas of crime analysis, technology, prosecution and, most recently, public information officers.
Contact info@pspartnership.org to learn more about the CoPs or to join our distribution list.
Crime Analysis Community of Practice (CACoP) Interactive Case Exercise and Follow-Up
The PSP CACoP hosted a Crime Analysis interactive event on July 16, 2020, led by Ms. Annie Mitchell, retired supervising crime analyst with the Los Angeles County, California, Sheriff’s Department and current vice president of administration for the International Association of Crime Analysts (IACA).
PSP site crime analysts were invited to participate in the analytical exercise designed to engage entry-level crime analysts. Participants had the opportunity to review data and make strategic decisions about how to proceed and what resources to utilize and to build a strategic intelligence product for review by the group.
Participants were given approximately three weeks to complete the exercise. The CACoP hosted a follow-up session on August 13, 2020, to examine the products produced by the participants and allow them to describe their processes of analysis used to complete the exercise.
Participating Agencies:
- Amarillo, Texas, Police Department
- Anchorage, Alaska, Police Department
- Anniston, Alabama, Police Department
- Baltimore, Maryland, Police Department
- Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Police Department
- Calhoun County, Alabama, Sheriff’s Office
- Cleveland, Ohio, Division of Police
- East Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Sheriff’s Office
- Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department
- Marion County, Indiana, Prosecutor’s Office
- Memphis, Tennessee, Police Department
- Ohio Department of Public Safety
- Oxford, Alabama, Police Department
- St. Louis, Missouri, Metropolitan Police Department
- U.S. Attorney’s Office—Northern District of Ohio
- Wichita, Kansas, Police Department
For more information about the CACoP, please click here.
Public Information Officer Community of Practice (PIO CoP) Roundtable
The current climate has highlighted the increasing challenges that public information officers (PIOs) face and the critical role that they play in communicating with communities. To assist PIOs in this difficult environment, PSP established a PIO CoP for participants to discuss lessons learned and creative strategies for engaging with communities.
In August 2020, PSP hosted a PIO CoP roundtable. This candid conversation among PIO colleagues was an opportunity to hear and share what is working and what is not.
Ms. Laura McElroy, media veteran and communications strategist of the McElroy Media Group, led the discussion, and participants heard from members of the Anniston, Alabama, Police Department (PD); the Indianapolis, Indiana, Metropolitan PD; the Salisbury, North Carolina, PD; and the St. Louis, Missouri, Metropolitan PD on many of the recent challenges they have experienced and strategies they have engaged in.
For more information about the PSP Communities of Practice, please click here.
The Public Safety Clearinghouse is a public online tool that serves as a one-stop shop for violence reduction and public safety resources from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) program components and other federal entities. The Clearinghouse was developed as part of PSP and was officially launched in 2017 to provide a single point of access to DOJ violence reduction and public safety resources for the criminal justice field.
The Clearinghouse functions as an online catalog for users to browse, search, and ultimately build a custom toolkit of resources that can be downloaded in one package and shared with others for future access.
If you have questions or would like to add any DOJ-sponsored resources to the Clearinghouse, please contact info@pspartnership.org.
Featured Toolkit: Domestic Violence
The Domestic Violence toolkit was curated by the PSP team, in honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, to provide a suite of timely resources on domestic violence, including intervention strategies, police-community partnerships, enhancing responses to children exposed to trauma, prosecution strategies, and other considerations for law enforcement agencies as they face this difficult issue within their communities.
-Contact Us-
We want to hear from you! Do you have a success story or information that you would like to feature in future editions of the PSP Impact?
Please contact info@pspartnership.org for suggestions on items to spotlight.
This project was supported by Grant No. 2016-DG-BX-K006 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime, and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART). Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.