The Department of Justice today announced significant changes to the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) Collaborative Reform Initiative for Technical Assistance to better align the program with the principles outlined by the Attorney General in support of local law enforcement and the original intent of the authorizing statute. The changes are effective immediately and will provide targeted assistance directly to local law enforcement based on their identified needs and requests.



“Changes to this program will fulfill my commitment to respect local control and accountability, while still delivering important tailored resources to local law enforcement to fight violent crime,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “This is a course correction to ensure that resources go to agencies that require assistance rather than expensive wide-ranging investigative assessments that go beyond the scope of technical assistance and support.”



Earlier this year, the Attorney General released a memorandum stating that all Department of Justice activities would be reviewed by Department of Justice leadership to ensure that they fully and effectively promote the principles outlined in the memo. Today’s announcement is the conclusion of that review for the Collaborative Reform Initiative. These changes will return control to the public safety personnel sworn to protect their communities and focus on providing real-time technical assistance to best address the identified needs of requesting agencies to reduce violent crime.



The COPS Office is a federal agency responsible for advancing community policing nationwide: www.cops.usdoj.gov.