Community Relations Service

     ST. LOUIS, MO--The U.S. Department of Justice Community Relations Service (CRS) cosponsored a cultural awareness training and protocol seminar on May 28 for law enforcement officers, support service workers, local officials, and community leaders from the Central Region Midwestern states of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska.

The focus of the seminar was on improving awareness of Arab, Muslim, and Sikh cultures and issues for law enforcement agencies. Hosted at the University of Missouri in St. Louis, the seminar was held as a multi-site video conference at various locations in order to include as many participants as possible. Satellite sites included the Adam's Mark Hotel in St. Louis, MO; Penn Valley Community College in Kansas City, MO; the University of Nebraska Central Administration in Lincoln, NE; and the Springfield-Greene County Library District Center in Springfield, MO.

Remarks were given by CRS Director Sharee M. Freeman; Assistant U.S. Attorney for Missouri's Eastern District Don Wilkerson; Muhamad Nur Abdullah, President of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA); and Dr. Julie Middleton of the University of Missouri, St. Louis.

This training event was cosponsored and supported by 17 local, state and federal agencies and organizations, including the U.S. Attorney's Offices for the Eastern and Western Districts of Missouri; the University of Missouri in St. Louis; the University of Missouri in Columbia; the University of Nebraska Central Administration in Lincoln, Nebraska; ISNA; and the Islamic Foundation of St. Louis.

The seminar, one in a series of educational awareness and protocol training events, was developed in partnership with Connecting Cultures and the Sikh Mediawatch and Resource Task Force as a continuation of efforts to address issues affecting Arab, Muslim and Sikh communities encountering ethnic tension.

CRS is a unique federal component of the U.S. Department of Justice dedicated to preventing and resolving racial and ethnic conflicts. More information about CRS may be found at www.usdoj.gov/crs.

For more information about this news spotlight, please contact Deputy Director Stephen Thom at (202) 305-2935.

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