Improving Law Enforcement Responses to Youth Training and Technical Assistance Program

The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) proposes to further enhance the Improving Law Enforcement Responses to Youth Training and Technical Assistance Program, designed to strengthen law enforcement capacity to reduce juvenile crime, victimization, and delinquency. This supplemental funding proposal seeks to: elevate the priority of juvenile justice within law enforcement agencies; strengthen the connection between police agencies and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP); meet new training and technical assistance gaps identified by law enforcement; deploy evidence-based and best practice Youth-Focused Policing strategies in police organizations to reduce youth victimization, crime, and delinquency; enhance the Youth Focused Policing Online Resource Center; and create and disseminate resources to help law enforcement confront juvenile justice issues more effectively. Performance metrics will include data tracking, course evaluations, and impact evaluations. NCA?NCF

OJJDP's Demonstration Programs Continuation Grants program was established to provide grants and cooperative agreements to organizations that OJJDP has selected for funds in prior years. This program will be authorized by an Act appropriating funds for the Department of Justice.

The goal of the Improving Law Enforcement Responses to Youth Training and Technical Assistance Program is to improve the ability of law enforcement officers to reduce juvenile crime, victimization, and delinquency and to better understand the importance of their role and impact on juveniles during or in responses to policing situations. To accomplish this IACP intends to: increase awareness of youth issues to promote the elevation of juvenile justice as a priority within law enforcement agencies; maintain and enhance the Youth Focused Policing Online Resource Center, including the directory of law enforcement programs and services for youth, to strengthen usage of and benefits for law enforcement; further deploy in select law enforcement departments evidence-based and best practice youth-focused policing strategies to reduce juvenile offending, reoffending and victimization; provide training and technical assistance to law enforcement and juvenile justice stakeholders on relevant juvenile justice issues through classroom and online course deliveries; and increase the production, marketing, and dissemination of information and resources for law enforcement to effectively address juvenile issues and policing challenges.

The IACP will use web-based survey software such as Wufoo to collect registration and pre-training survey data. This online software catalogues, analyzes, and provides reports on data collected. A list of resources developed and disseminated as well as course and impact evaluation data will be documented and maintained. Law Enforcement youth programs, services, resources, forum and mentor activity entered and maintained in the Youth Focused Policing Online Resource Center will be tracked through the website. Through current TTA project activities, IACP staff is familiar with and has submitted data using the OJJDP Performance Data Reporting Tool (DCTAT).

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This program furthers the Department's mission by providing grants and cooperative agreements for training and technical assistance to organizations that OJJDP designates. Through the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the OJJDP Improving Law Enforcement Responses to Youth Training and Technical Assistance Project, has provided no-cost, trauma-informed, developmentally-appropriate TTA resources to law enforcement and allied stakeholders for nearly two decades. By providing continuation funding for this effort, the OJJDP is fulfilling recommendations of both the National Research Council’s Implementing Juvenile Justice Report and the Attorney General’s Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence. Using these funds, the IACP will provide training in adolescent development, developmentally-appropriate and trauma-informed responses, de-escalation, diversion, risk assessment, responding to adolescent girls, and school/justice collaborations to improve law enforcement’s capacity to effectively respond to, and proactively engage with, youth.

The IACP proposes to continue to provide expert assistance in methods to improve law enforcement’s ability to minimize juvenile delinquency and victimization by providing police officers with instructional courses and web-based tools to better understand the importance of their role and impact on juveniles during, or in response to, policing situations and their ability to positively influence youth. This expert assistance will enable law enforcement to better understand important trends and emerging methods in policing youth. To meet this goal, the IACP will 1) Provide instructional TTA support by delivering online learning courses that promote performance improvement among police officers who work with youth and are based on the adult learning and experiential paradigm; 2) Conduct impact evaluations to assess the general learning experience from the training and, after a three-four month interval, measuring learning transference including participant’s perceptions of how their job performance has changed as a result of the TTA and the impact that these changes bring to their sector or division; and 3) Produce, market, and disseminate information and resources to assist law enforcement in effectively addressing youth crime, victimization, and delinquency; and to help officers better engage with youth utilizing developmentally-appropriate approaches.
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