For Immediate Release
October 31, 2008

CONTACT: Gilbert L. Moore
(202) 616-1728

NEW RESOURCE WILL HELP POLICE AND COMMUNITIES WORK TOGETHER TO EFFECTIVELY ADDRESS REENTRY & RECIDIVISM

The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), along with the Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center, has released a new publication that will aid law enforcement efforts to establish and maintain ex-offender reentry programs. Planning and Assessing a Law Enforcement Reentry Strategy provides an overview of issues that should be considered when developing successful reentry programs and provides guidance on specific strategies that have proven to be effective. 

Planning and Assessing a Law Enforcement Reentry Strategy offers guidance for law enforcement on engaging community and social service stakeholders in a successful reentry initiative, planning the details of the initiative, implementing the plan, and monitoring the initiative to ensure that it is effective and sustainable. It also offers examples of successful strategies that have been used in various communities throughout the country. 

"We know that at least 95 percent of all state prisoners will eventually return to the community, and we know that an increasing number of ex-offenders will be released without adequate employment skills, housing, counseling services, or the life skills that will enable them to become productive members of society," said COPS Director Carl R. Peed. "In some states, just over two-thirds of those released from state corrections facilities are re-arrested within three years of their release. The COPS Office is pleased to have developed a resource that will help criminal justice professionals and communities work together to establish effective reentry initiatives." 

Planning and Assessing a Law Enforcement Reentry Strategy can be ordered free-of-charge by calling the COPS Office Response Center at 800.421.6770. In addition to this new toolkit, COPS has also published Prisoner Reentry and Community Policing: Strategies for Enhancing Public Safety, which examines the role of law enforcement in reentry programs and the link between community policing, public safety, and ex-offender reentry. Both resources can be ordered from the Response Center at no-cost.

The COPS Office is a federal agency responsible for advancing community policing nationwide. Since 1995, COPS has awarded over $9 billion to advance community policing, including grants awarded to more than 13,200 state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies to fund the hiring and redeployment of 117,000 officers and provide a variety of knowledge resource products including publications, training, technical assistance, conferences and webcasts.

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