Representatives from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office accept the 2012 IACP/LogIn Excellence in Victim Services Award at the 119th Annual IACP Conference in San Diego, California.

The program was founded in 1992 by Sheriff John Cary Bittick, and accredited in 1998.  The C.A.R.E. Cottage, directed by Lt. K.B. Ayer, is a combination children advocacy center and victim/witness program. This program enables the Sheriff’s Office to provide resources and assistance to all victims of crimes.  Just a few of the services the C.A.R.E. Cottage provides to victims are counseling, transportation, safe housing, and trial support.

Detectives Grant Gildon and Corinthia Campbell from the Arlington, Texas Police Department’s Crimes against Children Unit presented key components of IACP and OJJDP’s recommended juvenile interview and interrogation techniques for law enforcement.  Strategies, techniques and cautions were discussed for analyzing juvenile behavior, developing rapport with juveniles, and conducting effective juvenile  interviews and interrogations.  The presentations were based on IACP and OJJDP’s two day law enforcement training, “Introduction to Juvenile Interview and Interrogation Techniques”, which has been delivered 28  times to 1,476 law enforcement from 690 jurisdictions in 37 states, Nigeria, and Germany.  The next classroom training will be in New Orleans, Louisiana, June 25-26, 2013.  IACP is currently developing portions of this training to be delivered online and anticipates releasing this free, self-paced training later this year.

Arlington, Texas Police Department’s Crimes against Children Unit

In October 2012, IACP released a publication titled Reducing Risks: An Executive’s Guide to Effective Juvenile Interview and Interrogation. This resource is targeted to law enforcement and includes recommended best practices, information on recent research and key cases affecting law enforcement, and sample documents departments can tweak for their own jurisdictions. Law enforcement professionals can request a free copy at www.theiacp.org/reducingrisks .

For more information, contact Sabrina Rhodes, Project Specialist, at juvenilejustice@theiacp.org or at 703-836-6767, ext. 831 or visit www.iacpyouth.org.

Since 1995, this annual training conference has addressed up-to-date information on drug trends, legal issues, and innovative technology. The training is not just for drug recognition experts—although many DREs use this opportunity to fulfill the requirements for recertification. The general sessions, daily workshop, exhibits, and opportunities for sharing information with other agencies will be beneficial also to Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement (ARIDE) and Standard Field Sobriety Test (SFST) training coordinators and instructors. The Sheraton Hotel is offering a group rate of $89 plus tax, but book soon, because the room block is filling up quickly!

The conference agenda will address a variety of topics:
• Prosecuting DRE Cases with Better Reports
• Improved Teaching Techniques
• Prescription Drug Abuse
• One Pot Meth Labs
• Interdiction – Transportation Methods and Hidden Compartments
• NHTSA/IACP Impaired Driving Program Updates
• Mechanics of Addiction
• Understanding Interlock Devices and How they can benefit DUI Investigations
• Excited Delirium
• DRE School Course Manager Training
• Southwest Border Operations
• Instructor Techniques – Ideas to Enhance Teaching Effectiveness
• What to Do with a Negative Toxicology Result

Questions?
Please contact Carolyn Cockroft with any questions or visit www.decp.org for updates regarding the agenda and other details.

To address these concerns, the IACP and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Service (COPS) partnered to launch a new look and new features on the DiscoverPolicing.org website.  DiscoverPolicing.org is the official career center of the IACP and a nationwide police recruitment and career exploration resource.

New features include:

• Information about community policing, its components, and the skills and abilities required for careers in the field
• Community policing success stories and videos from agencies around the country
• Dedicated pages for employers and educators featuring sample police career exploration resources, including presentations, classroom activities, links, and more
• A mentoring center through which current and future law enforcement professionals can connect and network online.

These new features, along with the robust Discover Policing career center, inform jobseekers about career opportunities in law enforcement and help them quickly find and connect with departments that fit their interests and qualifications.

DiscoverPolicing.org continues to be a great resource for agencies in promoting their departments, their hiring efforts, and the broader profession of policing.  Our powerful online tools enable you to:

• Advertise vacancies (sworn and civilian) nationwide
• Customize postings with images and descriptive text
• Search our nationwide resume database
• Highlight your officers in our Real People Real Stories section
• Celebrate your community policing success stories

Visit www.DiscoverPolicing.org today to check out our new look and our new and existing features!

As a first responder in a leadership position, you have the power to identify Veterans who are homeless or at imminent risk of becoming homeless, and to raise awareness about the resources available to them.

Here are some ways you can help VA help Veterans:

• Watch this video for first responders to find out how to help Veterans who are struggling to get back on track, and share it with your colleagues: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_t-pX_m45A8

• Ask members of your community who lack safe, stable housing if they served in the military. If they did, encourage them to Make the Call to 877-4AID-VET or chat online at www.va.gov/homeless. You can also call the hotline on behalf of any Veterans you may encounter. The hotline and online chat are free, confidential, and available 24/7. Trained responders, many Veterans themselves, can connect Veterans with the services they’ve earned.

• Order free materials that promote the hotline and other VA services for Veterans who are homeless or at imminent risk of becoming homeless. Visit www.va.gov/homeless/materials_center.asp to order brochures, wallet cards, and tear cards to keep in your cruiser in case you encounter someone who needs support.

As you work to keep individuals and families in your community safe, remember we can all do something to help end Veteran homelessness.

IACP Institute faculty Dave Thomas (left) and Randy Carroll (right) discuss the realities of Violence Against Women crimes with Illinois law enforcement leaders in Oak Brook.

This March and April, the IACP’s National Law Enforcement Leadership Initiative on Violence Against Women partnered with the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board Executive Institute (ILETSB) to conduct two regional trainings focused on assisting law enforcement in developing a practical, pro-active plan to increase agency effectiveness in responding to and investigating the crimes of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. The Institutes were held in Oak Brook and East Peoria, IL, and brought in participants from 34 different agencies throughout Illinois.

Utilizing collaborations with the Illinois Family Violence Coordinating Councils and the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence, along with grant funding from the Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women, these interactive Institutes were able to provide Illinois executives with an opportunity to assess current agency efforts to hold perpetrators accountable, to examine innovative investigative strategies, and to learn from experts.

Susan Nichols, Director of the ILETSB Executive Institute, noted the success of multidisciplinary partnership in conducting effective trainings. “[ILETSB Executive Institute] is pleased to partner with the IACP to bring this thought-provoking program to Illinois. Recent and past Illinois Leadership Institute participants completed the program with a road map to develop an action plan in responding to and investigating crimes against women. The Executive Institute commends these leaders for their dedication in promoting professionalism in policing.”

These law enforcement leaders will discuss and take questions on topics, including:

• Insights from the Boston bombings, including the use of social media by law enforcement to communicate with the public and how it can aid investigations;

• Lessons learned from responding to disasters, like Superstorm Sandy, including best practices for working with victims, other government agencies, and the media;

• Law enforcement’s role in elevating information sharing and cooperation during times of crises;

• IACP’s ongoing efforts to improve officer safety and wellness, including helping officers who have been involved in responding to traumatic and mass casualty events.

This Twitter chat will take place during National Police Week when law enforcement from around the country will gather in Washington, DC to honor fallen officers.  To join the conversation on Monday at 4:00 pm EDT, Tweet questions to @TheIACP with the hashtag #askIACP.

@MassStatePolice
@THP_Colonel
@LAStatePolice

Attendees of the Annual Meeting for the Southeastern Europe Police Chiefs Association (SEPCA) stand together for a group photo, April 2013

In order to stay connected with law enforcement leadership worldwide, the IACP works closely with like-minded organizations, including the Southeastern Europe Police Chiefs Association (SEPCA) and the Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police (ACCP). Both these organizations held their annual meetings at the end of April and sent invitations to the IACP, a special privilege considering both events are by invitation only!

Held the last week of April in Banja Luka, Republic of Srpska, the SEPCA Annual Meeting included Director Generals and or their deputies from the ten member countries.  IACP Vice President Treasurer Dwight Henninger, and Parliamentarian Ellen Hanson were accompanied by International Policing Division Director Paul Santiago.  This meeting covered a variety of topics, including women’s leadership issues, an organized crime proposal with the Austrian government, and organizational funding models to strengthen SEPCA’s viability.  Also included on the program was a presentation, given by Director Santiago, covering benefits of IACP membership and the cooperative nature of the IACP/SEPCA relationship, exemplified by a Memorandum of Understanding signed last year.

The following week, the IACP was represented by Vice-Presidents at Large, Kent Barker and Jim Craze, again accompanied by Director Santiago, at the ACCP Annual General Meeting in Hamilton, Bermuda. The relationship between these organizations is very close inasmuch as the ACCP president, Commissioner Ellison Greenslade of the Royal Bahamas Police Service, is not only the IACP World Regional Office Chair for Central America and the Caribbean, but is also on the IACP Executive Committee.  As the meeting’s theme was ‘Police and Public Partnerships: Joining up Prevention, Intervention and Enforcement Strategies to Tackle Gangs and Youth Violence’, many of the presentations focused on the role of the community in gang intervention programs, including a presentation on best practices from Commissioner David Baines of the Grand Cayman Islands. The IACP representatives took every opportunity to highlight benefits of membership, as well as the establishment of the IACP Center for Officer Safety & Wellness.

For more information about these organizations, please visit their websites:

Southeastern Europe Police Chiefs Association (SEPCA): http://www.sepca-see.eu/
Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police: http://www.accpolice.org/

Please click HERE for the application

The IACP is proud to once again partner with Target to recognize exemplary performance in professional policing from law enforcement agencies both domestically and internationally.

As the most prestigious law enforcement award of the IACP, the Police Officer of the Year award recognizes outstanding and heroic achievement among police officers across the globe and highlights the sacrifices made daily by law enforcement’s finest.  Four finalists will be selected, one of which will be named the Police Officer of the Year.

Recipients will be recognized at the IACP’s Annual Conference, in particular as guests of honor at the IACP Foundation’s Annual Fundraising Gala where one Police Officer of the Year will be named from the group of four finalists.  Following the Gala, on Monday morning, the Police Officer of the Year will be honored at the IACP’s First General Assembly.

Additionally, the officers will be featured in Police Chief Magazine in follow-on coverage from the Annual Conference.

All sworn, full-time police officers below the rank of chief are eligible. Nominations may be made for exceptional achievement in any police endeavor, including but not limited to, extraordinary valor, crime prevention, investigative work, community relations, traffic safety, drug control and prevention, juvenile programs, and training efforts.

We’re sorry, but posthumous nominations are not eligible.

Applications are accepted from across the globe and all nominations will be considered equally by an independent team of judges.

The time frame for eligibility for events is between July 31, 2012 and June 28, 2013

Deadline for submissions is Friday, June 28, 2013.

For more information, contact Petey Casstevens, Foundation Director, 703-647-7367, or casstevens@theiacp.org.

May 2, 2013 marked the 40^th anniversary of the execution-style murder of New Jersey State Police (NJSP) Trooper Werner Foerster by radical, domestic terrorist Joanne Chesimard and several accomplices. She was sentenced to life in prison but subsequently escaped several years later being aided and abetted by other domestic terrorists. Since 1984, Chesimard has lived the life of luxury in Cuba.

Sadly, in our society, convicted cop killers like Chesimard are all too often made out to be some kind of hero or victim while the true hero or victim’s loved ones are forgotten by the media and advocacy groups. Thankfully, with Trooper Foerster, NJSP Colonel Rick Fuentes, the men and women of the NJSP, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have not forgotten; we acknowledge and appreciate their collective, relentless efforts to return Chesimard to face justice.

On this 40^th anniversary of Trooper Foerster’s death, Colonel Fuentes and FBI Special Agent in Charge Aaron Ford announced that Chesimard has been named to the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list and the reward for information leading to her capture has been doubled to $2 million.

As we approach National Law Enforcement Week, may we never forget our fallen heroes, their loved ones, and their respective and collective sacrifice.