Challenge and Promise of Using Community Policing Strategies To Prevent Violent Extremism: A Call for Community Partnerships With Law Enforcement To Enhance Public Safety, Executive Summary

• NCJ Number: 249675
• Author(s): David Schanzer; Charles Kurzman; Jessica Toliver; Elizabeth Miller
• Date Published: January 2016
• Length: 9 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2012-ZA-BX-0002
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Summary); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored)

Annotation

This is the executive summary of a final report that presents the findings and recommendations of an assessment of the challenges and promise of a national strategy for developing partnerships between police and communities to counter violent extremism.

Abstract

The report's findings and recommendations are based on a nationwide survey of law enforcement agencies, personal interviews with key local law enforcement and community leaders, and site visits with police departments and local community members. Two general conclusions are drawn from the study. First, law enforcement agencies face multiple obstacles to creating community partnerships that focus on preventing crimes motivated by violent extremism. Second, some law enforcement agencies are engaged in promising practices that can cultivate trust between the police and the communities they serve. This trust can be the foundation for cooperation in addressing public-safety threats, including violent extremism. Based on this assessment's findings, recommendations are proposed for building trust between police and communities and for cooperation in preventing acts of violent extremists. Fourteen recommendations are addressed to local police agencies, suggesting how to organize, train, and apply police resources to strengthen cooperative interactions with a community composed of diverse races, ethnicities, and cultural values. Three recommendations deal specifically with police engagement with Muslim-American communities, which are at risk for profiling, discrimination, and negative stereotyping. Five recommendations provide guidance for how the Federal Government can assist local police-community partnerships against violent extremism through strategic funding and technical assistance.