The COPS Office Collaborative Reform Initiative Technical Assistance Center (CRI-TAC) program provides critical and tailored technical assistance resources to state, local, territorial, and tribal law enforcement agencies on a wide variety of issues. In collaboration with the COPS Office, the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) spearheads this national law enforcement technical assistance center, which is supported by FBI National Academy Associates, Inc.; the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP); the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA); the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training (IADLEST); Major County Sheriffs of America (MCSA); the National Association of Women Law Enforcement Executives (NAWLEE); the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE); the National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA); and the National Tactical Officers Association (NTOA). This coalition supports the program ensuring that CRI-TAC is “by the field, for the field” while delivering individualized technical assistance using leading experts in a range of public safety, crime reduction, and community policing topics.

This assistance can take many forms, including training, peer-to-peer exchanges, policy reviews, and consultations. CRI-TAC can support law enforcement agencies in addressing a variety of human rights issues, including hate crimes. CRI-TAC examples of this type of assistance have included the following:

• Providing a customized one-day training on hate groups, hate crimes, threat assessments, and sovereign citizens to a regional group of law enforcement agencies
• Agency collaboration to review current in-service and recruit level curriculums focused on hate crimes, diversity, and inclusion; this assistance further provided consultation on community partnerships and collaboration to educate and address hate crimes
• Delivery of a regional Procedural Justice and Legitimacy train-the-trainer course that defined police legitimacy and procedural justice, the four tenets of procedural justice, the role of cynicism in procedural justice, barriers to building community trust, and the historical and generational effects of policing
• Delivery of Building Trust with the LGBTQ+ Community, a training by CRI-TAC partner IACLEA, to a campus public safety department and neighboring agencies scheduled for December 2021

In addition to these deliveries, CRI-TAC partnered with the Arlington (Texas) Police Department (APD) to develop Hate Crimes: Recognition and Reporting. This national in-person hate crimes training was created as part of a larger suite of training options on the subject for law enforcement. The training development was led by CRI-TAC partner IADLEST in collaboration with IACP, APD, and the COPS Office.

The Hate Crimes: Recognition and Reporting line-level officer and first-line supervisor training addresses the immediate response on the scene of a potential hate or bias crime. The training is focused on enhancing law enforcement’s response and the uniform patrol officer’s ability to recognize and report a hate crime. These abilities include addressing victim needs, reporting incidents, and building community trust. Education on victims and their needs is integrated throughout the lessons, including victimology research, understanding diverse cultures, communication best practices, interviewing, and social service resources.

Hate Crimes: Recognition and Reporting launched in May 2021 with the first national delivery in collaboration with the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police. Thirty participants from 18 Tennessee agencies attended the training.

Agencies interested in receiving this training or any other technical assistance may visit the Collaborative Reform website.

Nazmia E.A. Comrie
Senior Program Specialist
The COPS Office

Laura Wilt
Program Manager
IACP

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