My message was intended to remind the more than 200 public and private industry participants who attended, that criminal justice professionals have an enormous impact on how people view the criminal justice system. And, these perceptions and attitudes of American citizens are critical to the legitimacy of the system and are essential to the co-production of public safety and security. Transparency, public trust, and confidence in the criminal justice system, therefore, become necessary elements to protecting citizens and ensuring the safety of communities.

I continued by highlighting that no one understands better than President Obama this connection between legitimacy of the system and public safety. President Obama has not only declared that his Administration will be the most transparent in history, but has also asked Executive departments to offer Americans increased opportunities to participate in policy making and to provide their Government with the benefits of their collective expertise and information; and, to cooperate among themselves, across all levels of Government, and with nonprofit organizations, businesses, and individuals in the private sector.

Working to improve the quality of the system, and seeking to implement the President's call to be transparent, engage communities, and to collaborate, BJA has been able to successfully harness the field - industry, community, and government - to leverage improved quality of justice.

Some of the efforts that have led to this success include:

• The Global Advisory Committee's leadership in ensuring the protection of privacy and civil liberties of our citizens through the use of (1) privacy policy templates to ensure consistency and provide accountability when managing sensitive information and (2) advanced privacy technologies to help enable automated privacy policy enforcement to ensure accountability.
• The National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) which is now in use across justice, public safety, homeland security, and emergency management domains as the standard for information exchange. This partnership of DOJ, DHS, and Global is unique in government, and demonstrates the common successes that can be achieved through collaboration with our state and local partners.
• The Global Federated Identity and Privilege Management (GFIPM) program that has enabled agencies to share information across jurisdictional boundaries in a low-cost way, such as the case with the CONNECT project, a multi-state consortium which allows Alabama, Kansas, Nebraska, and Wyoming to share disparate state data through a common information portal while requiring only a single existing login account.

Working together and with industry and technology, we can improve the quality of justice in America. I want to thank the IJIS Institute and all of our national partner organizations working in technology, for their partnership and commitment to justice.

School Crime and Safety (October 15, 2009)
This week BJA and Office of Justice Programs (OJP) staff met with officials from the U.S. Department of Education to discuss the issue of school crime and safety and how we can work together to ensure that schools are "safe zones" and centers of learning and growth that we count on them to be. Programs such as BJA's Gang Resistance Education And Training (G.R.E.A.T.) and the National Crime Prevention Council's (NCPC) Be Safe and Sound and other evidence-based strategies were on the list of topics. A few days ago, BJA and the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) jointly made available the Guide for Preventing and Responding to School Violence, a publication compiled by IACP's Private Sector Liaison Committee with BJA funding. The 41-page Guide covers all aspects of school violence prevention, including the critical topics of prevention, community engagement, student engagement, threat assessment, legal considerations and working with the media.

Going forward, we will continue to explore opportunities to collaborate with other federal, state and local partners and our partners in the private and non-profit sectors on priorities such as preventing school and community violence. Using the latest evidence on what strategies are effective and leveraging resources within and outside of OJP and DOJ, we can fulfill the promise of safe and drug-free schools.

A busy time at BJA! (October 9, 2009)
The first week of October has been a busy week for all of us at BJA and the Office of Justice Programs. The BJA staff are returning from the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Conference in Denver, Colorado. At the conference, we shared the latest BJA updates and our vision for supporting evidence-based crime reduction efforts with the thousands of law enforcement executives in attendance. The September issue of Justice Today, our monthly e-newsletter, identifies some of the workshops we participated in at the Conference.

We also announced this week all of the competitive grant awards made during FY 2009. I encourage you to review the full listing of all BJA competitive and formula grant awards on our Funding page. As we close out FY 2009, we look forward to working in partnership with each of you in FY 2010.

Welcome to BJA's redesigned web site! (July 24, 2009)
Our goal is to keep you informed about the latest developments in the field, new initiatives, funding, upcoming training and conferences, and other opportunities. BJA is committed to providing the field with cutting edge information about what works and resources available to you.

We look forward to hearing from you, and welcome your comments on the new look of the web site, and suggestions for new or improved content.