Published by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), this guide will help law enforcement agency leaders and strategic communications advisors develop the necessary knowledge and skill to create strategic communications plans to help build and maintain community trust. This guide is a revision and expansion of the Strategic Communications Practices Toolkit published by the COPS Office and the Major Cities Chiefs Association in 2012. It expands on the tenets of best-practice communications planning to provide law enforcement executives with guidance and assistance in the creation of four distinct communications planning tools: the strategic communications plan, the tactical communications plan, the crisis communications plan, and the interview plan. Templates and samples are included at the end of the toolkit to help with implementation. 

Hosted by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), this podcast is Part Two in the series that features three Law Enforcement Advancing Data and Science (LEADS) scholars serving in different law enforcement agencies and positions to discuss their experiences with identifying and implementing evidence-based interventions to reduce gun violence. LEADS, which stands for Law Enforcement Advancing Data and Science, is designed to increase the research capabilities of law enforcement professionals and agencies.  Since 2014, yearly cohorts of selected policing professionals have been provided with access to programming that connects current and emerging police leaders with evidence-based research to advance justice. In this webinar, participants will learn more about these LEADS scholars, their challenges and triumphs, and how they embraced science to tackle gun crime in their jurisdictions.

Published by the Justice Clearinghouse and the International Public Safety and Justice Network (Nlets), this webinar will provide details on how a Real Time Crime Center (RTCC) functions and how it can be a force multiplier for an agency. The webinar will describe the differences between a fusion center and a real-time center and how the two can work together despite being completely different entities. A discussion on different funding options will take place, revealing that the dream of starting an RTCC can be accomplished with minimal start-up costs.  This webinar will also describe the benefits of engaging members of your community and allowing them to become partners instead of just customers. If your agency is facing widespread staffing shortages and a lack of community engagement and trust, the webinar will show you how establishing an RTCC within your agency can help bridge those gaps and bring your agency into the modern era of policing.

When: Tuesday, June 27, 2023
Time: 3:00 p.m. – 4:15 p.m., ET

Funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance and hosted by the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), this webinar will cover various dark nets—TOR, I2P, ZeroNet, IPFS, and LokiNet—and explain the differences among them.  Attendees will learn about various investigative methods to uncover different elements of criminality that exist on these dark nets, including investigating overdose deaths with a nexus to the dark web.  A very cursory overview of cryptocurrencies will be covered including how these cryptocurrencies serve as the cornerstone of dark web commerce as well as the best investigative leads.

When: Tuesday, July 18, 2023
Time: 1:00 p.m. – 2:15 p.m., ET

The John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health announced the release of two new reports about gun violence.  The first report provides updated data on gun fatalities in the United States and highlights the need for action to prevent gun violence and create a more peaceful future. According to the report, gun violence is a major public health crisis in the United States that worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it hasn’t appeared to slow. In 2021, almost 49,000 people died from gun violence, with an average of 134 deaths per day. Gun homicides and suicides increased, and guns were the leading cause of death among children and teens. Many evidence-based, equitable solutions exist to prevent gun violence, but policymakers have been slow to enact them. The second report sheds an important light on firearm policy by delving into the intersection of alcohol use and gun violence. Evidence shows that many gun homicide perpetrators, homicide victims, and gun suicide victims were heavily influenced by alcohol. Despite this, few attempts have been made to address this intersection.  The report makes two main policy recommendations: (1) limit access to firearms by persons with a history of alcohol misuse and (2) limit access to guns when and where alcohol is consumed.