Marking the inaugural Global Consortium for Police Academies and Law Enforcement Training
New Brunswick, N.J. — Police training academy leaders from throughout the United States as well as from Canada and Sweden met this week with Rutgers experts at the inaugural convening of the Global Consortium for Police Academies and Law Enforcement Training. Sponsored by the Center on Policing at Rutgers University, Rutgers’ Miller Center for Community Protection and Resilience, Rutgers Police, New Jersey State Police and the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, the Consortium is a new forum for police agencies to share best practices as they generate new knowledge about police training and practice in the 21st century.
“The forming of this Global Consortium comes at a critical moment in policing. Agencies across this country are struggling to identify and implement best practices and data driven approaches for police officer training. This Consortium will positively impact our communities by learning from agencies around the world,” said Marvin Haiman, Chief of Staff, Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia.
“This week’s training comes at a time where police reform is at the top of all our minds,” said John J. Farmer, Jr., director of both the Miller Center and the Eagleton Institute of Politics. “Rutgers and New Jersey have a decades-long commitment to implementing best practices in policing and to building relationships of trust between law enforcement and the communities it serves. We are honored to share what we have learned and to learn from the best practices of other jurisdictions.”
“The inaugural convening of the Global Consortium for Police Academies and Law Enforcement Training was a valuable experience for both law enforcement officials and academic experts. We hope that this week’s training brings our nation one step closer to implementing more effective evidence-based best practices into police operations”, said Linda Tartaglia, director of the Center on Policing.
Topics covered during the training include:
- Building communities of trust and community-based policing
- A snapshot of policing nationally and internationally
- How to thread the needle of culture (guardian vs. warrior) in police education
- Training law enforcement on social media, disinformation, and modern technology
“This Consortium was a phenomenal opportunity for police academy directors representing jurisdictions from all across the country and abroad to share best police practices in a variety of areas including community engagement, de-escalation, and the handling of mentally ill persons. Relevant topics of discussion that agencies everywhere are facing on a daily basis,” said Colonel Patrick J. Callahan, Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police. “My heart is filled with a tremendous sense of pride knowing that New Jersey is the home of the inaugural Global Consortium for Police Academies and Law Enforcement Training. It is my belief that everyone in attendance benefited from the training, which will enable us all to leave our respective departments better than the way we found them.”
“The members of this Consortium are dedicated to devoting their time, energy and resources towards making a meaningful difference in the law enforcement profession. Together they will establish best practices across the country in an effort to build and foster trust, transparency, and accountability within our communities,” said Kenneth Cop, Executive Director of Public Safety and Chief of University Police at Rutgers University.
“The timing for this Consortium could not have been better planned. If we are to seriously address police reform, we need to focus on providing the highest quality training to the men and woman joining this profession,” said Paul Goldenberg, Senior Fellow at the Miller Center.
In the United States alone there are over 18,000 police agencies, the majority with their own set of policies and training, each subject to laws set by the corresponding jurisdiction. GCPALET seeks to build an international framework where agencies can share and build upon each other’s experience developing a culture of study, action, reflection and consultation among law enforcement agencies; helping each leverage best practices and contribute to a global body of knowledge.
While each nation is governed by unique laws, GCPALET also invites the participation of agencies across the globe to share their experience and to also benefit from the collective experience. Police training is vastly different across the world; however, it is clear to that our communities seek professional, dignified, competent, and equitable police services.
The Consortium has established five primary lines of action that resulted in this convening including:
- Advocacy for Police Training
- Standardized Training Practices
- Developing Evidence-based Practices
- Building Communities of Trust/Community Based Policing
- Impactful Officer Wellness Programs
The Rutgers team would like to thank benefactors Paul Miller, PSEG Foundation, and the Wilf Family Foundation for their recognition of our lasting commitment to law enforcement best practices, for their support for this initiative, and for their vision of a safer, more equitable society.
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ABOUT THE MILLER CENTER FOR COMMUNITY PROTECTION & RESILIENCE
The Miller Center was established to assist vulnerable communities, particularly communities of faith, to enhance their safety and their standing in society by improving their relationships with law enforcement, with other government agencies, and with other vulnerable communities. The Miller Center seeks to honor, through remembrance, the human capacity to rebuild, even to flourish, after unspeakable horrors.
ABOUT THE EAGLETON INSTITUTE OF POLITICS
The Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University—New Brunswick studies how American politics and government work and change, analyzes how the democracy might improve, and promotes political participation and civic engagement. The Institute explores state and national politics through research, education, and public service, linking the study of politics with its day-to-day practice.
ABOUT THE CENTER ON POLICING
The Center on Policing, formerly known as the Police Institute, was founded by Dr. George Kelling in 2001. In 2018, our Center joined the Miller Center for Community Protection and Resilience (CPR) and the Center for Intelligence Studies. Our Center is composed of individuals with a broad range of experience in the public safety arena. The COP’s mission is to integrate research and evidence-based best practices into police operations, violence reduction, problem-solving, community policing, education, training, and the development of criminal justice policy and practice. The center will achieve its goals by focusing on the following three areas: Research, Technology, and Education & Technical Assistance. You can read more about our current and past projects.
ABOUT RUTGERS—NEW BRUNSWICK
Rutgers University–New Brunswick is where Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, began more than 250 years ago. Ranked among the world’s top 60 universities, Rutgers’s flagship is a leading public research institution and a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. It has an internationally acclaimed faculty, 12 degree—granting schools and the Big Ten Conference’s most diverse student body.