Enhancing Law Enforcement Response to Children Exposed to Violence

OJJDP's State and Community Development Invited Awards program was established to provide grants and cooperative agreements to organizations that OJJDP has selected for funds in prior years. This program has been authorized by an Act appropriating funds for the Department of Justice. The partnership between the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and the National Center for Children Exposed to Violence and Childhood Violent Trauma Center at the Yale Child Study Center has been developing training, tools and resources to equip law enforcement professionals in their vital roles helping children and families exposed to violence through identification and trauma-informed response. The IACP-Yale partnership has worked to achieve this goal through two primary objectives: (1) Building on materials and resources that have been developed and recognized as best practices in law enforcement response to Children Exposed to Violence (CEV) (including best practices regarding successful collaborations with other professionals responding to CEV) to create a series of tools and resources that can inform law enforcement agency operations, activities, policies and procedures to meaningfully address children's exposure to violence; and (2) Utilizing and refining existing models of training for law enforcement professionals and the breadth of the IACP-developed venues for review and dissemination to offer resources, training and technical assistance (TA) related to law enforcement response to CEV in a manner that has the potential to reach the largest possible number of law enforcement officers. IACP seeks to deliver additional training, tools and resources to the law enforcement community through the continuation and enhancement of this existing program. FY14 State and Community Development Invited Award funds will be used to continue to the partnership. Progress will continue to be measured through internal and external tracking mechanisms and focus on short and long-term outcomes. NCA/NCF