Thirty years ago, with the passage of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) was created. Since then, the COPS Office has been committed to advancing community policing and reducing crime in state, local, tribal, and territorial communities. For 30 years, the COPS Office has been a dedicated partner in advancing community policing. As the only U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) component with policing in its name, the COPS Office has placed an emphasis on listening sessions with the field, forums with subject matter experts, practical research, and developing community policing practices that build trust and mutual respect between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve.

The COPS Office has made significant strides to support the law enforcement community since its inception:

• By 1998, the COPS Office had funded 75,000 new community policing professionals worldwide.
• Also in 1998, the COPS Office introduced three new programs— (1) Distressed Neighborhoods Pilot Project, (2) Police Corps Program, and (3) Small Communities Grant Program—and launched the Methamphetamine Initiative, through which it awarded $34 million throughout the fiscal year.
• In 2010, on its 16th anniversary, in its continued efforts to support tribal communities, the COPS Office was an inaugural component of the DOJ’s new Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation (CTAS), which combined individual funding applications for Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), and COPS Office tribal criminal justice assistance programs and allows grantees to seek funding for all of their criminal justice needs through one application.
• In 2019, recognizing that good mental and psychological health is just as essential as good physical health for law enforcement officers to be effective in keeping our communities safe from crime and violence, the COPS Office launched the Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act (LEMHWA) program, which provides funding for training, peer mentoring, and mental health program activities for law enforcement officers.
• In 2022, the COPS Office Collaborative Reform Initiative was revamped and expanded to include a continuum of three distinct levels of technical assistance services— (1) the continuation of the Collaborative Reform Initiative Technical Assistance Center (CRI-TAC), (2) an updated Critical Response program, and (3) an updated Organizational Assessment program.
• Finally, this year, the COPS Office led and authored the DOJ Critical Incident Review: Active Shooter at Robb Elementary School report, providing an accounting of the law enforcement response to this tragic May 2022 school shooting, including observations, recommendations, and resources to help agencies with their own planning and preparation.

These achievements represent only a fraction of the work the COPS Office has done to demonstrate its commitment to the law enforcement community. This year, the COPS Office will be commemorating 30 years of commitment to partnership. To see where we have been, where we are, and where we are going, please visit our COPS Office 30th anniversary page.

Ebonyque Taylor
Social Science Analyst

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