NCJ Number
226103
Date Published
March 2009
Length
2 pages
Annotation
This issue explains how a $1 billion grant program will impact law enforcement jobs across the Nation, describes how one California city addressed adverse consequences of the housing crisis, features the Child Sexual Predator Program, and touts mediation as a component of community policing.
Abstract
Approximately 5,500 additional law enforcement officer jobs will be created or saved across the country through funding provided by the stimulus plan recently signed by the President. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 allocated $1 billion to the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) for the COPS Hiring Recovery Program. Another report focuses on how the city of Indio, CA, has dealt with citizen complaints of poorly maintained properties and concerns that neighborhood blight was contributing to more serious crime and disorder. The Indio Police Department launched a multipronged project to contain the impact of vacant properties on the surrounding neighborhood. The problem and how it has been addressed are described. The Child Sexual Predator Program (CSPP) is also profiled in this issue. It is a new funding initiative implemented by the COPS Office. Its goal is to reduce and prevent child endangerment and protect communities from sexual predators. Launched in 2008, the program has provided approximately $10 million to 23 State and local agencies in order to assist in locating, arresting, and prosecuting child sexual predators and exploiters, and enforcing State sex offender registration laws. Another community-policing effort profiled in this issue is a successful community-police mediation program as a means of resolving police complaints. It has alleviated misunderstandings, fear, mistrust, trauma, anger, and resentment that can undermine police-community cooperation.