WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) today announced that it will provide an organizational assessment of the Dearborn Heights (MI) Police Department, under the Collaborative Reform Initiative. Over the next year, the Dearborn Heights Police Department will work with the COPS Office Collaborative Reform Initiative team to focus on:

• Community-engagement and problem-solving strategies
• Accountability and oversight systems
• Recruitment, hiring, retention, and promotion practices
• Employee safety and wellness
• Organizational learning and data-informed practices
• Internal and external communication

“Through the Collaborative Reform Initiative, the Justice Department is working with law enforcement agencies across the country to encourage the adoption of best practices in community policing and public safety strategies that build community-police trust,” said Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta. “I’m grateful for the leadership of Chief Hart and Director Clements and their teams as we partner in this complex but important work to keep all of our communities safe.”

“We applaud the initiative of Chief Jerrod Hart in asking for this assessment,” said COPS Office Director Hugh T. Clements, Jr. “This work will support the Chief and his department, ensure sustained transformation, and will be an important building block to developing and maintaining a productive relationship with the community.”

The Department of Justice offers expert assistance to state, local, territorial, and tribal law enforcement agencies at no cost. Through its Collaborative Reform Initiative, the COPS Office helps agencies with a range of issues including building trust with the community, promoting officer and public safety, and advancing community policing (complete details of this Initiative can be found at https://cops.usdoj.gov/collaborativereform).

The assessment for the Dearborn Heights Police Department will be the most intensive form of technical assistance available. The COPS Office will be supported by a multidisciplinary assessment team of subject matter experts in law enforcement, community engagement, research and evaluation, program management, organizational reform, and civil rights. Regular updates on the team’s work with the Dearborn Heights Police Department will be provided at https://cops.usdoj.gov/active-oa-site-dearborn-heights-mi-police-department as part of the transparency and public accountability of this new organizational assessment effort.

The COPS Office is the federal component of the Department of Justice responsible for advancing community policing nationwide. The only Department of Justice agency with policing in its name, the COPS Office was established in 1994 and has been the cornerstone of the nation’s crime fighting strategy with grants, a variety of knowledge resource products, and training and technical assistance. Through the years, the COPS Office has become the go-to organization for law enforcement agencies across the country and continues to listen to the field and provide the resources that are needed to reduce crime and build trust between law enforcement and the communities served. The COPS Office has been appropriated more than $20 billion to advance community policing, including grants awarded to over 13,000 state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to fund the hiring and redeployment of more than 136,000 officers.

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