This report presents the findings and methodology of research that examined issues in the use of community policing strategies to prevent violent extremism.
This research was conducted 5 years after the White House announced its promotion of a strategy that called for developing partnerships between police and communities as the key element of an effort to counter violent extremism in the United States. The current research assessed the challenges and promises of this strategy based on a survey of U.S. law enforcement agencies and interviews and site visits with police leaders and community members. The survey included all U.S. law enforcement agencies with more than 300 sworn officers and a sampling of smaller departments. The survey was conducted in the first half of 2014 and yielded responses from 70 percent of the surveyed agencies.