WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) today announced the 12 winners of its third annual “Community Policing in Action” photo contest. The contest, piloted in 2015, has received widespread support from law enforcement for providing a platform for agencies to share positive interaction with community members.

This year, the COPS Office invited state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies to submit one photo that best depicts community policing in action. Close to 200 agencies participated and through an office-wide selection process, the following photos were chosen as winners:

• Arlington Police Department (Massachusetts)
• Arlington Police Department (Texas)
• City of Coatesville Police Department (Pennsylvania)
• Dallas Area Rapid Transit (Texas)
• Houston Police Department (Texas)
• Little Rock Police Department (Arkansas)
• Marietta Police Department (Georgia)
• Pima County Sheriff’s Department (Arizona)
• Providence Police Department (Rhode Island)
• Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department (California)
• Tulalip Tribal Police Department (Washington)
• Winston-Salem Police Department (North Carolina)

The 12 winning photos will be featured on the COPS Office website and social media accounts for one month during the 2017 calendar year. In addition, the winning agencies will be featured in monthly articles in the COPS Office e-newsletter, the Community Policing Dispatch. The winning and semi-finalist photos from this year and prior years can be viewed on the COPS Office website at http://cops.usdoj.gov/photocontest.

The COPS Office is a federal agency responsible for advancing community policing nationwide. Since 1995, 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 approximately 129,000 officers and provide a variety of knowledge resource products including publications, training and technical assistance. For additional information about the COPS Office, please visit www.cops.usdoj.gov.