The Volunteers in Police Service (VIPS) program, funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, and managed by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) for 12 years, was a hugely innovative effort when it began following 9/11. Since then the program has added tremendous value to participating law enforcement agencies as demonstrated by the following results:

• 2,320 volunteer programs, including 89 new programs, registered with VIPS last year, representing 264,000 volunteers.
• More than 100 in-person trainings and 153 presentations reached approximately 10,000 people.
• More than 1,100 people registered for the online Building Blocks of a Law Enforcement Volunteer Program since its launch.
• 459 law enforcement staff and volunteers from 109 agencies received training on using the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System and other resources to help support missing and unidentified person cases.
• 16 VIPS program managers participated in the VIPS State Advocate Project to assist and support state and local VIPS programs.