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About the COPS Office <br />The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) is the component of the US Department <br />of Justice responsible for advancing the practice of community policing by the nation's state, local, territorial, <br />and tribal law enforcement agencies through information and grant resources. <br />Community policing begins with a commitment to building trust and mutual respect between police <br />and communities. It supports public safety by encouraging all stakeholders to work together to address <br />our nation's crime challenges. When police and communities collaborate, they more effectively address <br />underlying issues, change negative behavioral patterns, and allocate resources. <br />Rather than simply responding to crime, community policing focuses on preventing it through strategic <br />problem -solving approaches based on collaboration. The COPS Office awards grants to hire community <br />policing officers and support the development and testing of innovative policing strategies. COPS Office <br />funding also provides training and technical assistance to community members and local government <br />leaders, as well as all levels of law enforcement. <br />Since 1994, the COPS Office has invested more than $14 billion to add community policing officers to the <br />nation's streets, enhance crime fighting technology, support crime prevention initiatives, and provide training <br />and technical assistance to help advance community policing. Other achievements include the following: <br />• To date, the COPS Office has funded the hiring of approximately 130,000 additional officers by more <br />than 13,000 of the nation's 18,000 law enforcement agencies in both small and large jurisdictions. <br />• Nearly 700,000 law enforcement personnel, community members, and government leaders have been <br />trained through COPS Office —funded training organizations. <br />• To date, the COPS Office has distributed more than eight million topic -specific publications, training <br />curricula, white papers, and resource CDs and flash drives. <br />• The COPS Office also sponsors conferences, round tables, and other forums focused on issues critical to <br />law enforcement. <br />COPS Office information resources, covering a wide range of community policing topics such as school <br />and campus safety, violent crime, and officer safety and wellness, can be downloaded via the COPS Office's <br />home page, www.cops.usdoj.gov. This website is also the grant application portal, providing access to <br />online application forms. <br />65A-55 <br />