The IACP is the longest-standing and largest law enforcement leadership professional organization in the world. It was started in 1893 by a group of approximately 50 police chiefs who met to share ideas on improving crime detection and prevention. From these humble roots, the IACP grew into an organization whose membership now includes individuals in more than 155 countries worldwide. Annually, the IACP manages more than 40 national- and international-level grants and cooperative agreement programs, in cooperation with the U.S. Departments of Justice, Transportation, and Homeland Security and the State Department, in addition to grants from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Motorola Foundation, and Bloomberg Philanthropies.

International Partnerships and Training

In collaboration with local, state, and federal partners, the IACP has recently been working to assist international partners in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and South America to lead change, develop and implement new policies and procedures, reform police training, and develop relationships among key stakeholders.

By leveraging the expertise of IACP’s many law enforcement partners and members (along with IACP staff), we are able to help lead international police reform while also creating professional development opportunities for law enforcement leaders. Specifically, currently employed command-level officers serve as members of an IACP-led team collaborating with our international partners. These programs are an opportunity for current police leaders to create relationships, exchange ideas, and collaborate with their peers from other countries and cultures. The participating international officers are provided with high-quality training and exposure to best practices in all areas of 21st century policing.

The IACP develops custom-designed, high-quality training programs, study tours, and mentoring programs for our international partners and members. We demonstrate how law enforcement officials in the United States apply the six pillars of the 21st century policing report in their communities. The study tours, mentoring trips, and professional exchanges spur the development of long-lasting professional relationships between law enforcement leaders across the globe engaged in employing best practices. These avenues are also an excellent forum for facilitating interdisciplinary dialogue among criminal justice and allied professionals.

International Training Grants

IACP’s international police reform efforts are funded by grants from the Department of State, by Department of Justice contracts, through bilateral agreements with specific countries, and through contracts with organizations or agencies.

INL Grants

The U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) sponsors grants to help other countries’ governments build effective law enforcement institutions. With INL support, IACP is building partnerships in Mexico with experts in the prosecutorial, law enforcement, forensic, medical, and social welfare fields. They will assist those professionals in moving forward with the development of their own multidisciplinary teams to address domestic violence and sexual and gender-based violence issues. Similar projects were recently completed involving high-level officials from Egypt. Both projects included training in the United States along with workshops in the host country.

The IACP has also worked with law enforcement in North Africa to increase transparency and citizen engagement with the police. In Tunisia, IACP worked with INL on the creation of a Media and Community Relations Unit. In Morocco, IACP worked with INL on policies, procedures, and training related to evidence preservation and the creation of evidence lockers and rooms. The IACP also assisted Morocco’s Director General of National Security (DGNS) with enhancements to the practices of their Internal Affairs Unit. In Nigeria, the IACP worked with INL and the Nigeria Police Force on the topic of academy and training reform.

ICITAP

The Department of Justice, International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP) focuses on capacity building with international police organizations.

ICITAP projects are funded through interagency agreements between ICITAP and the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. In 2016 and 2017, ICITAP, Engility Corporation, and IACP partnered to deliver the Women’s Leadership Institute (WLI) training for public safety officials in Nepal and South Africa. The IACP is participating in ongoing discussions to deliver WLI in additional countries.

Bilateral Training Agreements

Bilateral training agreements are partnerships made directly with the client agency or country to deliver state-of-the-art, customized training in safety and security; leadership best practices; and traffic reform. In India, the IACP has worked with the Indian Police Service (IPS) and its national academy to deliver leadership training and executive seminars in the United States to the senior ranks of the IPS, as well as providing mentoring on-site in India.

The following projects and training opportunities are currently being provided by the IACP through bilateral agreements:

• In Saudi Arabia, the IACP is assisting Saudi Aramco with training to enhance engagements between the citizens and security services, as well as training on critical infrastructure protection.
• In Brazil, the IACP is currently working with the Bloomberg Foundation and Vital Strategies to enhance traffic safety and address fatal crashes resulting from speeding, not wearing seat belts or helmets, and impaired driving.

Benefits

To police partners: These programs afford IACP’s law enforcement partners with professional development opportunities to their current and rising leaders. Police agencies that partner with IACP to help implement the activities and presentations for the study tours receive a career-enhancing opportunity for their mid- to upper-level management staff. Through short-term international deployments as part of an IACP-led team, they have the opportunity to train, mentor, and collaborate with their international colleagues. Engaging in international programing also expands an individual’s cultural intelligence—and this added experience, in many cases, can eventually lead to leadership positions. Many of the law enforcement, public safety, and criminal justice officials who have taken part in these deployments report that the experience is life changing and has resulted in promotions, new job assignments, and post–law enforcement career opportunities such as consulting, both domestically and abroad. These programs also allow them to share their professional experience with their peers from other agencies while gaining an appreciation of global issues in policing and different cultures.

To recipient agencies: IACP assists with international police reform by encouraging international law enforcement organizations to construct positive, sustainable, long-term change within their criminal justice sector while adhering to many of the pillars of 21st century policing. These specialized international programs provide opportunities for international law enforcement officials and their organizations to observe other modern police services in action, thereby encouraging the adoption of internationally accepted standards for competent, ethical policing and public safety while fostering the development of international police leaders who can lead effective, ethical police organizations. At the same time, these programs encourage mutually beneficial and long-enduring relationships between countries’ law enforcement organizations, drawing them into the international police community. ♦

Please cite as

Catherine M. Haggerty, “Putting the “I” in IACP,” IACP Working For You, The Police Chief (December 2017): 82–84.