Ambush Project
IACP, in partnership with CNA, is seeking to fill the void in research on ambushes of police and use the knowledge gained to inform policy, training, and operational practices in U.S. police departments. The project team will review existing research and literature on the topic; analyze data sets of assaults on police officers; present the research review and data analysis to a series of focus groups comprised of leading practitioners and academics specializing in officer safety; and produce and disseminate reports, guides, and other materials based on research, analysis, and focus group findings to the field.

The project team is interested in obtaining incident and after action reports of ambush attacks on law enforcement officers to further inform this important initiative. If you wish to provide copies of such reports or any additional information pertinent to the topic, please contact IACP representative, Ian Hamilton, hamilton@theiacp.org.

Visit http://www.iacp.org/Ambush-Project to learn more or to view the project’s new factsheet.

Citation in Lieu of Arrest
In 2012, law enforcement made more than 12 million arrests—of which less than 5 percent were for violent crimes. Some jurisdictions have sought to reduce the number of physical arrests of low-risk offenders by using citation in lieu of arrest. However, little information is available about which jurisdictions use citation and the impact of this approach on community safety and justice system efficiency.

The IACP has formed a partnership with the Laura and John Arnold Foundation (LJAF) to conduct research on how police departments approach the use of citation in lieu of arrest. This research will provide stakeholders with baseline information about the citation use across the United States. It will also provide the basis for LJAF to develop innovative tools to help law enforcement make data-driven decisions about the use of citations. These tools will help law enforcement determine which individuals pose a risk of committing a new crime or failing to come back to court, and therefore, should be arrested and booked rather than cited and released.

Preliminary findings from the first phase of the partnership will be released in mid-2015. For more information, contact Jennifer Foley, foleyj@theiacp.org

Youth Focused Policing Resource Center
The IACP’s Youth Focused Policing (YFP) Resource Center is an online clearinghouse of information and resources to help law enforcement deliver effective services to youth within their communities. The YFP Resource Center includes a searchable program directory of youth law enforcement programs from across the United States; a searchable resource library of materials relating to youth crime, delinquency, and victimization; IACP’s training and technical assistance opportunities in the areas of juvenile justice, children exposed to violence, and child sex trafficking; news articles on current issues in youth policing; facts on juvenile delinquency; and a moderated discussion forum. The YFP Resource Center also includes a Youth Program Impact Toolkit, an online guide for law enforcement to measure the impact of their youth programs and services. The toolkit contains an overview of the impact evaluation process, an eight-step guide for evaluating impact, sample evaluation plans, and a customizable evaluation template.

The website is part of IACP’s Improving Law Enforcement Responses to Youth Training and Technical Assistance Program, funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, an initiative designed to educate law enforcement and allied juvenile justice professionals on strategies to effectively address juvenile delinquency, crime, and victimization and build positive relationships with youth. ♦

Access the Youth Focused Policing (YFP) Resource Center at http://www.iacpyouth.org.