Tremendous changes within the field of law enforcement have taken place over the last several years. When the U.S. Department of Justice released the Final Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing in 2014, law enforcement agencies across the United States took notice. Professional law enforcement associations and international organizations endorsed the recommendations in the report, and many law enforcement agencies began implementing them. The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services’ (COPS Office’s) Advancing 21st Century Policing Initiative (A21CPI) serves to support agencies’ implementation activities by documenting and demonstrating a variety of strategies for implementing the task force’s recommendations and action items and by encouraging other agencies to adopt similar strategies. The purpose of the project is to showcase strategies focused on technology, procedural justice, crime reduction, community police relationships, officer safety, and training.

CNA, working in partnership with the COPS Office and in cooperation with the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), provides technical assistance to 15 agencies participating in the initiative to strengthen and sustain implementation of the recommendations and action items. In a time when law enforcement agencies are being asked to “do more with less,” this project will give nonparticipating agencies solid ideas for how to accomplish that task. These 15 agencies are implementing promising practices and strategies to improve public safety and officer safety and to better engage the public despite budgetary constraints.