Training Course: Community Policing Defined
Mode of Delivery: Web-based (Online)
Training Provider: Virginia Center for Policing Innovation
Target Audience: Law Enforcement, Criminal-Justice Professionals, Community-policing Stakeholders

Course Description: Community Policing Defined is a web-based training course designed to provide participants with a basic awareness and understanding of the fundamental principles and best practices of community policing. Based on the Department of Justice, COPS Office publication of the same name, Community Policing Defined not only describes the practice of community policing but also examines how it can be effectively applied. Comprised of four interactive modules, the course explores partnerships, problem solving and organizational transformation as they relate to specific issues and challenges facing today’s law enforcement professionals and the communities they serve. As such it is a valuable and appropriate training opportunity for a wide variety of law enforcement and public safety professionals ranging from new hires to experienced personnel.  Utilizing a blended learning approach, Community Policing Defined prompts users to actively navigate through the course’s comprehensive content which includes on-screen text, graphics and narration. This design feature allows adult learners the flexibility to determine their own pace and sequence for completing the course. Although Community Policing Defined requires a minimum of 4 hours of uninterrupted run-time, participants should expect to spend between 8 and 12 hours to complete the course.

For additional information on this course: www.vcpionline.org

Training Course: New Perspectives on Community Policing
Mode of Delivery: Web-based (Online)
Training Provider: Virginia Center for Policing Innovation
Target Audience Law Enforcement, Criminal-Justice Professionals, Community-policing Stakeholders

Course Description: New Perspectives on Community Policing is a web-based training course that examines how change, emerging issues, and threats are necessitating a reinvigorated commitment to the key components of community policing:  community partnerships, organizational transformation, and problem solving.  Building and expanding on these principles, New Perspectives on Community Policing explores the dramatic shifts in society, technology, criminal trends, economics and the very definition of “community” relative to law enforcement.  In doing so, the course introduces participants to a new perspective on community policing and its continued relevance for current and future public safety.  Utilizing a blended-learning approach, New Perspectives on Community Policing offers users the opportunity to examine problem-solving tools, discover examples of successful police and community partnerships, and directly link to numerous community-policing resources. Flexible, interactive, and relevant, the course offers participants an outstanding opportunity to gain new insights on community policing and its role in today’s complex world.  It is ideal for all law enforcement and criminal justice professionals, as well as any community-policing stakeholders. New Perspectives on Community Policing has been developed as a modular web-based training that allows participants to start, stop, and resume the training based on their schedules and the demands of the day. Although New Perspectives on Community Policing requires a minimum of 4 hours of uninterrupted run-time, participants should expect to spend between 8 and 12 hours to complete the course. New Perspectives on Community Policing is the product of a joint partnership between the Virginia Center for Policing Innovation (VCPI), the Western Community Policing Institute (WCPI), and the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS).

For additional information on this course: www.vcpionline.org

Training Course: Tactical Community Policing for America's Homeland Security Initiatives
Mode of Delivery: Classroom
Training Provider: Virginia Center for Policing Innovation
Target Audience: Law Enforcement Instructors

Course Description: Tactical Community Policing for Homeland Security Initiatives (TCPHS) Train-the-Trainer course focuses on strengthening the capacity of law enforcement agencies to implement an all-crimes approach, based on community policing principles. The fundamental premise for the course is that terrorism and community policing are both philosophical approaches aimed at influencing civilian populations. Whereas terrorism seeks to inspire fear and coerce civilian populations into submission, community policing aims to preserve order, diminish fear, and build resilience. The contrasting qualities of the philosophies render community policing an ideal means to thwart terrorism. The TCPHS delivers specific training and practical guidance designed to encourage law enforcement practitioners to proactively implement community policing as a homeland security strategy. The course focuses on the systematic use of partnerships and problem-solving techniques, initiatives for building community resilience, grassroots intelligence gathering, and enforcement strategies that are likely to be effective means of interdicting terrorism. TCPHS) will include a comprehensive, blended-learning, national Instructor Development Program (IDP) that will provide law enforcement trainers with the knowledge, complete presentation materials, and supplemental resources needed to prepare local officers to effectively engage in homeland security activities, utilizing proven strategies, policies and operational procedures in a thriving community policing environment. The vision of the TCPHS program is to improve the capacity of law enforcement officers nationwide to fully and effectively integrate community policing into local, regional, and national homeland security duties, maximizing resources, building lasting partnerships, and enhancing public safety across the law enforcement agencies to partner with relevant stakeholders on homeland security initiatives and to integrate homeland security roles with community policing responsibilities. 

For additional information on this course: www.vcpionline.org

Training Course: COPS Critical Incident Technical Assistance Initiative
Technical Assistance Provider: CNA
Target Audience: Law Enforcement Agencies

Program Description: Law enforcement agencies are required to respond and provide support during a range of incidents, including those that might involve criminal activity, civil disturbances, and terrorism or high-profile issues. Each circumstance requires a specific response plan, resource pool, and collaboration of partners. In many cases, the immediacy of the incident precludes the responding law enforcement agency from conducting a comprehensive assessment of best practices to inform its response activities. This can cause mistakes, accidents, community hostility, media criticism, injuries, property damage, and cost overruns. In addition, the range of potential incidents includes many that likely would overwhelm law enforcement agencies, particularly small to mid-sized agencies. In those cases, identifying and seamlessly engaging response partners can be a challenge while in the midst of a response. Often some agencies do not have the training and experience necessary to effectively execute a coordinated incident response. CNA will provide real-time training and technical assistance that incorporates community oriented policing principles in critical response operations.

For additional information on the COPS Critical TA initiative please contact the COPS Office Response Center at 800.421.6770