Reducing Gun Violence in Our Communities: A Law Enforcement Leadership Guide on Effective Strategies and Programs

Reducing gun violence is fundamental to law enforcement’s mission of protecting and serving the community. To achieve this objective, gun violence reduction strategies must be factored into each law enforcement agency’s overall policing strategy. The IACP, with support from the Joyce Foundation, has developed a new guide, Reducing Gun Violence in Our Communities: A Law Enforcement Leadership Guide on Effective Strategies and Programs, to inform and support expanded efforts to enhance community safety and officer safety through the reduction of firearm violence. The guide is structured with topical sections focused on various gun violence problems including gangs, youth violence, domestic violence, and firearms trafficking.

Local law enforcement agencies, together with community leaders, can use this guide to learn about proactive programs and effective countermeasures that can be replicated or customized to tackle existing gun violence challenges. The guide highlights innovative programs and policing strategies developed by local departments and communities across the country that can be implemented by agencies, regardless of size, to produce a long-lasting reduction of gun violence. Successful approaches are built using a collaborative model of law enforcement working closely with key stakeholders from the criminal justice system and the community—such as business, faith, and media partners—to assess problems and design programmatic solutions. Through this collaboration, departments gather critical information while creating buy-in across many constituencies to support these new initiatives.

The guide is available at www.theiacp.org/Portals/0/pdfs/GunViolenceReductionGuide2011.pdf or in hard copy at no cost by calling the IACP Research Center at 800-THE-IACP, extension 392. ?

Click to view the digital edition.

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