Rural Violent Crime Reduction Initiative TTA Provider

There is a pressing need to address violent crime in rural areas, especially given the overall increase in violent crime across the country and the staffing shortages many departments face. Rural areas have unique challenges, including covering vast areas with very few staff, lacking community resources to support the public, less financial resources to invest in technology and training, and lack access to other agencies to learn from peer networks.
 

As small and rural grantees of the Bureau of Justice Assistance have shown, there is a tremendous need for an experienced national training and technical assistance (TTA) provider that understands the needs and challenges of rural law enforcement agencies. Furthermore, a TTA provider with experience in improving investigations, implementing violence prevention strategies and technology, enhancing crime analysis capacity, problem-solving expertise, and enhancing collaboration between relevant local stakeholders and supporting agencies as they navigate the parameters of being a federal grantee, potentially for the first time. The National Policing Institute (The Institute) and the Small & Rural Law Enforcement Executives Association (SRLEEA) will continue to work with Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) to achieve these goals by partnering to form the Rural Violent Crime Reduction Initiative (Rural VCRI) team. The Rural VCRI team brings together an unparalleled blend of experience in improving investigations to reduce violent crime, conducting research, providing high-quality TTA on a national scale, and tailoring evidence-based practices to individual agencies and communities, with a tremendous depth of knowledge of the challenges facing small, rural, and tribal law enforcement agencies.

The Rural VCRI will provide microgrants to the field to support rural agencies experiencing specific crime problems. The team will assist site-based agencies in defining, refining, implementing, and tracking outcomes for the site’s individualized rural violent crime problem. The Rural VCRI will provide TTA to guide the use of technology, enhance crime analysis capacity, support the expansion of community-based crime prevention programs, strengthen partnerships with victim service providers and other community and government stakeholders, and assist agencies in meeting strategic goals.

In 2017, approximately 60 million Americans (20% of the population) lived in rural areas. In 2020, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that 76 percent of Americans live in communities comprised of fewer than 5,000 people, with 42 percent living in communities with fewer than 500 people. These rural communities have traditionally been viewed as insulated areas that do not face many of the challenges their urban counterparts do. However, contemporary data confirm that violent crime is a growing problem within rural communities. Furthermore, these communities are plagued by an overall lack of resources. They are isolated geographically, constrained financially, lacking infrastructure and technology, and not engaged by external stakeholders. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics National Crime Victimization Survey, from 2021 to 2022, violent victimizations increased from 11.1 to 15.4 victims in rural areas (per 1,000 persons over the age of 12). While this is reflective of a national increase in violence, the true severity of the problem is unknown, as only 42 percent of violent victimizations were reported to police in 2022. With violence on the rise, rural law enforcement agencies (LEAs) must confront the crimes occurring in their jurisdictions while navigating a resource shortage to support their response. As the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) allocates additional funding to the Rural Violent Crime Reduction Initiative (RVCRI), there is a tremendous need for an experienced training and technical assistance (TTA) provider who understands the unique challenges facing these agencies.

Recognizing this need, the National Policing Institute (NPI) proposes to continue to serve as the RVCRI TTA team. Through extensive in-house experience and knowledge and existing partnerships with the Small and Rural Law Enforcement Executives Association and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, NPI will provide an unparalleled blend of expertise in supporting rural LEAs in violence reduction, implementing high-quality TTA on a national scale, and tailoring evidence-informed policies and practices to LEAs and the communities they serve. To achieve this goal, NPI will (1) enhance and expand the RVCRI’s online presence to reach additional rural agencies; (2) identify rural model learning sites and match them with incoming rural agencies to facilitate peer learning and exchanges; (3) administer and award RVCRI microgrants; (4) provide customized TTA and (5) support to new rural agencies in line with the Violent Crime Reduction Operations Guide; and (6) work in collaboration with other BJA TTA providers to identify promising practices for rural agencies.