Homicides and other violent crimes devastate cities in both human and economic terms. Successful anti-violence efforts should begin with clear goals, with leaders setting ambitious but attainable targets, measured in concrete terms of reduced homicides and non-fatal shootings.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has training and technical assistance (TTA) resources to help local jurisdictions set goals, perform analyses, and develop plans for reducing crime and violence. Flexible grant funding can support these activities as well. Helpful reports, publications, and other materials are also provided. Key resources are identified below, followed by additional resources. These same resources are also listed for Actions 2 and 3, since these three actions are related to one another.
Resources
Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) National Training and Technical Assistance Center (NTTAC)
BJA NTTAC connects justice agencies with national experts to help reduce violent and drug-related crime. A specific Violence Reduction Response Center connects localities with resources to help identify appropriate goals. Jurisdictions interested in implementing strategies outlined in the Roadmap may also contact NTTAC to request TTA from the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF). In collaboration with BJA and a cadre of subject matter experts, PERF will coordinate no-cost TTA services designed to enhance jurisdictions’ capacity to reduce community gun violence and promote community trust.
Community Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative (CVIPI)
The CVIPI provides funding to support evidence-based violence intervention and prevention programs. The CVIPI webpage provides access to a variety of resources for planning, implementing, supporting, and assessing community-based violence intervention and prevention efforts. CVIPI funding can support goal-setting, analysis, and planning activities. Communities can request technical assistance to support these efforts through the National CVIPI Resource Center.
Community Violence Intervention Implementation Checklist
Developed with support from BJA, the Community Violence Intervention Implementation Checklist captures background information about CVI efforts, CVI guiding principles, and details on the following specific steps to take when implementing CVI programs.
National Public Safety Partnership
The National Public Safety Partnership is a network of communities who are committed to implementing evidence-informed approaches to reducing violence and enhancing public safety. It is a DOJ-wide program that connects communities with peers and experts to receive coordinated training and technical assistance. There are many resources available to all jurisdictions – including virtual training academies and published materials - through the Clearinghouse, including to help leaders in establishing goals and their own roles in reducing violence.
Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN)
PSN is spearheaded by each U.S. Attorney’s Office, bringing together federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement officials, community leaders, and other stakeholders to identify their most pressing violent crime problems and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. The PSN website includes training resources for all localities working to reduce violence, including a gun violence resource hub. Jurisdictions can also use PSN funding for goal identification, community engagement, and evaluation. Localities should connect with their United States Attorney’s Office to better understand these resources.
Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program
The JAG Program is a formula award administered to each state and territory, based on their population and violent crime. The award is divided between the state (60%) and direct to local (40%) units of government. JAG funding is administered by a state agency. JAG funds are extremely flexible in ways they can support violent crime reduction: they can be used for planning and evaluation activities, and community engagement. Localities should contact their State Administering Agency or the National Criminal Justice Association.
Institute for Intergovernmental Research Violence Reduction Focus Area
Learn about technical assistance to support state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies, officers, and prosecutors in the investigation, prosecution, and deterrence of violent crime, especially crime related to gun violence, gangs, domestic violence, and drug trafficking.
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) National Gang Center (NGC)
The OJJDP NGC contains numerous resources to support communities that are working to prevent and reduce violence. The NGC provides both direct engagement and produced guidance assist localities where those people and places most at-risk of experiencing violence are involved in group-related violence.
OJJDP National Training and Technical Assistance Center
OJJDP provides TTA resources to address the needs of juvenile justice practitioners and support state and local efforts to build capacity and expand the use of evidence-based practices.
Smart Policing Initiative (SPI)
The SPI generally is available to program grantees, but there are publicly available resources on the SPI website. These resources include implementation guides, toolkits, survey guides, community engagement strategies, and problem-oriented policing tactics.
VetoViolence Tools & Trainings
This Centers for Disease Control and Prevention center provides training and resources to strengthen the violence prevention toolkit of educators, policy makers, and public health professionals.
BJA Violent Crime Reduction Summit Resource Center
Resources from the BJA Violent Crime Reduction Summit designed to offer insights and tools to jurisdictions in addressing violent crime that impacts their communities.
Bringing a Folding Chair: Planning for Community Violence Intervention and Prevention
During this webinar, a diverse group of multi-disciplinary leaders in the community-based violence intervention space speak about the importance of cross-sector collaborations between trusted partners.
Cardiff Violence Prevention Model Toolkit
The Cardiff Violence Prevention Model provides a way for communities to gain a clearer picture about where violence is occurring by combining and mapping both hospital and police data on violence. It also provides a framework for hospitals, law enforcement agencies, public health agencies, community groups, and others interested in violence prevention to work together and develop collaborative violence prevention strategies.
Meaningful Strategic Planning that Produces Results
In this webinar, experts in strategic planning share experiences on how to get started and how to navigate challenging strategic planning issues. The session also includes considerations for multi-disciplinary partner engagement, strategic plan elements, ways to measure impact, and DOJ training and technical assistance opportunities.
The Prosecutors' Guide for Reducing Violence and Building Safer Communities
Informed by a roundtable of experienced prosecutors from around the country, this guide provides a systematic way for prosecutors’ offices to evaluate their practices with respect to the key elements of a successful violent crime reduction strategy. This guide is intended to enable the executives responsible for operating a prosecutor’s office to identify policies and practices that can be readily implemented, as well as those that represent actionable goals to work toward. It suggests practices that are customizable and scalable, from foundational to enhanced, depending on an office’s available resources and experiences, as well as jurisdiction-specific needs and challenges.
This guide provides information for prosecutors, law enforcement, and community partners to develop and sustain effective responses to violent crime. The guide provides insights on identifying stakeholders, establishing metrics, and utilizing training and technical assistance resources.
PSN Webinar on Building and Enhancing PSN Partnerships and Strategies
This recorded webinar reviews strategies PSN programs have used for building partnerships, including approaches to planning, communication, information sharing, accountability, and sustainability.
Smart Policing - Data-Driven Decisionmaking
This webinar discussed what data-driven decisionmaking involves for a law enforcement agency, provided examples of data-driven decisionmaking from both SPI and the National Public Safety Partnership, and discussed how to institutionalize it in an agency through innovation and officer buy-in.
VetoViolence Tools & Trainings
This Centers for Disease Control and Prevention center provides training and resources to strengthen the violence prevention toolkit of educators, policy makers, and public health professionals.
Violent Crime Reduction Operations Guide
This BJA-sponsored, practitioner-focused guide, developed under the leadership of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, provides an action plan for police leaders on how to focus their leadership on community engagement, partnerships, accountability, resources and sustainability, training and tactics, analytics and intelligence, and technology, to comprehensively work to reduce violence.