Violent Crime Reduction for Small, Rural, and Tribal Agencies:Training and Technical Assistance Program

This proposal from Justice & Security Strategies, Inc. (JSS) seeks funding to provide training and technical assistance (TTA) to small, rural, and tribal law enforcement agencies to reduce violent crime. The project will support grantees under the Rural Violent Crime Reduction Initiative (RVCRI). JSS will adhere to a principle-based strategy while working with grantees. That is, the JSS team will: 1) follow a customer service philosophy, 2) make things easy to use for grantees, 3) leverage technology, and 4) take a data-driven approach for decision making and for assisting grantees.

The JSS team includes two subrecipients, Justice and Health Analytics and NetString, as well as subject matter experts in problem-oriented policing, collaboration, prosecution, community-based violence prevention, and researchers. Team members have extensive experience in implementing violence reduction programs within large and small jurisdictions and in municipal, sheriff, and tribal law enforcement agencies. They have conducted research and evaluation of violence reduction programs and published articles on the topic. Moreover, JSS currently operates the small, rural, and tribal law enforcement body-worn camera program and understands how these agencies work and what it takes to assist them with grants.

JSS and its team will make a concerted effort to assist tribal Nations and their law enforcement agencies as they have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by inequality.

The team will plan and conduct regional and topical meetings, enhance the current RVCRI website, produce webinars, newsletters, and research briefs, host quarterly virtual learning opportunities, convene a gathering of rural sites in Washington, D.C., and identify model learning sites. For this TTA effort, JSS will create different products and deliverables including 30-minute webinars, 3–5-minute training videos, easy-to-read research summaries, and convene listening sessions. The purpose of these activities is to elevate the knowledge of grantees and non-grantees.