The Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) Acting Director Robert E. Chapman issued the following statement on the COPS Office engagement with the Columbus, Ohio Police Department:

“The COPS Office will work with the Columbus Police Department (CPD) to provide technical assistance in a variety of areas. The areas identified by CPD as a focus of the technical assistance may include: policy reviews and evaluation, and associated training; recruitment, with a focus on diversity; technology, including establishing an early intervention system and better integration of systems; staffing (specifically areas where civilianization can be leveraged); and leadership training.

“The COPS Office has a track record of providing a wide array of resources and technical assistance that are flexible to the ever-changing needs of law enforcement agencies. Those services include in-depth analysis and review of existing policies and procedures, peer-to-peer exchanges, facilitated discussions, training, and more.

“All of the assistance provided by the COPS Office embraces community policing as a core fundamental philosophy. Reinforcing the key tenets of community policing – partnerships, the use of problem-solving to address crime systematically, and transforming both organizations and their people – will result not only in more effective law enforcement, but also in communities that are safer and stronger.”

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 invested more than $14 billion to advance community policing, including grants awarded to more than 13,000 state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to fund the hiring and redeployment of more than 134,000 officers.

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