Centenial Celebration

Transaction Search Form: please type in any of the fields below.

Date: April 29, 2024 Mon

Time: 9:01 pm

Results for community-oriented programs

1 results found

Author: Ramirez, Debbie A.

Title: Developing partnerships between law enforcement and American Muslim, Arab, and Sikh communities: a promising practices guide

Summary: The Partnering for Prevention and Community Safety Initiative (PfP) grew out of a series of conversations among American Muslim, Arab, and Sikh communities, and among federal, state, and local law enforcement leaders, that began in the fall of 2001. After the attacks of September 11th, leaders in the Muslim, Arab, and Sikh communities realized a critical need to define themselves as distinctly American communities who, like all Americans, had every desire to help prevent another terrorist attack. It was, as many have noted, their time in history. However, these communities also had the added burden of both guarding their civil liberties from heightened security measures and protecting their children, their homes, and their places of worship from hate crimes and hate incidents. To achieve these goals these communities began to prioritize law enforcement outreach efforts. At the same time law enforcement recognized that the tools used prior to September 11th were inadequate to the new post-September 11th task. Although traditional investigative tools had been useful in achieving a quick and thorough response to September 11th, law enforcement needed enhanced tools to effectively prevent future acts of terror. Specifically, September 11th reinforced the idea that for law enforcement agencies to effectively prevent future acts of terrorism, it would require the cooperation and assistance of the American Muslim, Arab, and Sikh communities. Embedded within these communities are the linguistic skills, information, and cultural insights necessary to assist law enforcement in its efforts to identify suspicious behavior. In order to have access to these critical tools and information, law enforcement recognized the need to build the bridges required for effective communication with these groups. In the fall of 2002, members of the future PfP research team came together at Northeastern University to pursue mechanisms for moving this discussion about institutionalizing partnerships forward into action. In order to assist with the development of partnerships, the team decided to research 1) the benefits of these proposed partnerships; 2) the challenges posed by this partnership model; 3) case studies of these partnerships in action; and, ultimately, 4) the "promising practices" that can be utilized by sites interested in pursuing this model. The PfP research was conducted from May 2003 to May 2004 and was based on three sites: Southeastern Michigan, Southern California, and Greater Boston. Guidance and input from national partners in Washington, DC was another critical piece of the research plan. These research sites were chosen because of their experience in developing preliminary partnerships between communities and local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, the presence of major terrorism or hate crime investigations, and/or because significant numbers of Arab, Muslim and Sikh community members indicated an interest in participating in the study. These communities were chosen because both law enforcement and the perpetrators of hate crimes were (and in some cases still are) focused on individuals who share or are perceived to share1 characteristics with the September 11th hijackers. Specific research participants were initially identified through national organizations. Local chapters of these organizations then directed the team toward other interested community members, who were also asked to participate. On the law enforcement side, key federal, state, and local agencies were contacted in each of the three sites. Over the course of the year, PfP visited the three sites and conducted numerous focus groups, personal interviews, and discussions with community and law enforcement members. After these visits, the team continued to communicate with project participants through emails, letters, faxes, and phone calls. All project participants were given the opportunity to review a draft version of the relevant section of the report to help ensure its accuracy. As a culmination of this research, the Promising Practices Guide aims to demonstrate the research findings that: 1) The goals of the American Muslim, Arab, and Sikh communities and law enforcement are not in conflict and can in fact be achieved simultaneously; 2) The most effective model for simultaneously addressing community and law enforcement concerns is through institutionalized partnerships; and 3) While there are significant challenges to achieving these partnerships, they are not only possible but also necessary for both community safety and terrorism prevention. While this work is by no means comprehensive, it does reflect the experience of a wide range of community and law enforcement representatives. Both in terms of studying additional sites and contacting more community organizations and law enforcement entities, there is still much work in this arena to be done. The hope is that this guide will serve as the beginning of an ongoing dialogue and the catalyst for new programming and training focused on the initiation, development, and strengthening of partnerships. This research will continue and can be followed by accessing PfP's website at www.ace.neu.edu/pfp.

Details: Boston: Northeastern University, Partnering for Prevention & Community Safety Initiative, 2004. 98p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 11, 2015 at: http://iris.lib.neu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=pfp_pubs

Year: 2004

Country: United States

URL: http://iris.lib.neu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=pfp_pubs

Shelf Number: 134905

Keywords:
Community Crime Prevention
Community Participation
Community-Oriented Programs
Crime Prevention Programs (U.S.)
Minority Groups
Partnerships
Police-Citizen Interactions
Police-Community Relations
Terrorism