Weekly News Brief

COPS Office Changed Police, Community Relationships - In remarks at the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Conference in Washington, D.C., on Monday, Aug. 1, Assistant Attorney General Laurie Robinson, Office of Justice Programs, said, "COPS was instrumental in spreading the practice of community policing into departments across the country. Through innovation grants, technical assistance, training conferences and the Regional Community Policing Institutes, COPS leveraged change in police-community relationships ? it's not an overstatement to say the COPS Office helped engineer a revolution in public safety." https://ojp.gov/newsroom/speeches/2011/11_0801lrobinson.htm

CrimeSolutions.gov Website Offers Back to School Resources to Practitioners, Teachers - In much of the country, the first day of school is just around the corner. Justice practitioners, teachers and others can visit the CrimeSolutions.gov Website and learn about successful school-related programs. Among the highly rated programs are Linking the Interests of Families and Teachers which aims to prevent the development of aggressive and antisocial behaviors in children within an elementary school setting and the Positive Action Program, which focuses on improving youth academics, behavior, and character within schools, families and communities. Another program, Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies, promotes emotional and social competencies to reduce aggression and behavior problems among elementary school-aged children. http://crimesolutions.gov/

BJS Releases Victims of Serious Violent Crime Report - About nine percent of victims of serious violent crime-rape or other sexual assault, robbery, or aggravated assault-received direct assistance from a victim service agency, according to the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) report, Use of Victim Service Agencies by Victims of Serious Violent Crime, 1993-2009. While the rate of serious violent crime in the United States declined overall from 22 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older in 1993 to 6 per 1,000 in 2009, the percentage of victims receiving assistance from victim service agencies remained relatively stable. http://www.bjs.gov

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