Youth Focused Policing: Agency Self-Assessment Tool

• NCJ Number: 248825
• Date Published: March 2015
• Length: 29 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2010-MU-FX-K591
• Agencies: OJJDP-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Test/Measurement; Technical Assistance; Report (Technical Assistance); Report (Grant Sponsored); Administration/Management Material

Annotation

After discussing the importance of and potential impact of police interaction with youth in the course of their critical adolescent development, this publication presents a law enforcement agency self-assessment tool developed by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), which guides an agency through a self-assessment of its policies and procedures regarding officers' interactions with and decisionmaking regarding the management of youths' problem and delinquent behaviors.

Abstract

The self-assessment tool guides agency executives through an assessment of an agency's policies and practices regarding police interactions with youth. The following 13 areas of organizational practices are examined: mission, vision, values statements; youth-specific policies and procedures; agency organization; personnel assigned to juvenile functions; juvenile information collection; juvenile crime analysis; access to youth-focused information databases; juvenile crime information sharing; partnerships and collaborations; best practices or evidence-based programs; police-operated programs, practices, and intervention activities; police involvement in juvenile diversion programs; and training. Agency responses in this self-assessment are intended for use in shaping departmental policymaking and programs designed to reduce juvenile offending, reoffending, and victimization. An Action Plan Template is included in this report.