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(Mark Almond/malmond@al.com)

Birmingham has been chosen as one of six cities nationwide to serve as a pilot site for a national initiative on restoring relationships between law enforcement and citizens.

Attorney General Eric Holder made the announcement today. The $4.7 million National Initiative for Building Community Trust and Justice was announced in April and is a partnership between federal officials and criminal justice experts focused on providing training, policy and research to address distrust between citizens and law enforcement.

The other pilot cities are: Ft. Worth, Gary, Indiana, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh and Stockton. The initiative comes after several high profile fatal police-involved shootings.

"We are truly honored that DOJ would select Birmingham as one of six national pilot sites,'' said Birmingham police Chief A.C. Roper. "The mayor and I actually started discussing this initiative several months ago and knew there would be over 100 cities vying for the limited opportunities."

"We're all aware of the modern day issues and national discussion on policing in America. Although we've worked extremely hard building bridges in our communities we saw this initiative as an opportunity to strengthen relationships, increase public cooperation, and improve the perception of police legitimacy across our city,'' Roper said. "We truly recognize that the Birmingham Police Department cannot be successful without community support and community trust. This three year project will allow us to serve as a national police model and increase our capacity to serve our citizens."

The Department of Justice started the initiative as part of the My Brother's Keeper program, which seeks to create opportunities for all young people throughout the country - regardless of background - to improve their lives and reach their full potential.

"We are always committed to engaging with the community to ensure that we are serving them and hearing their concerns,'' Birmingham U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance said in a prepared statement. "We want to do a good job of listening, so that we can work together to make the community safe. We appreciate the opportunity to be one of the six pilot sites in this initiative, and the recognition from Washington that we are trying to get it right down here."