COPS — the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services is the office of the U.S. Department of Justice that advances the practice of community policing in America’s state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies. COPS does its work principally by sharing information and making grants to police departments around the United States. Read a more complete description

The COPS Office is responsible for advancing the practice of community policing in the nation’s state, local, territory, and tribal law enforcement agencies. One method in doing so is through the COPS Office Grant Programs and Funding. Read more about our 2011 grant programs

The Knowledge Resources available from the COPS Office provide essential information in the form of best practices for law enforcement, Problem-Oriented Policing Guides addressing crime-related problems, and publications composed by subject matter experts within the federal government, academics, and law enforcement leaders that offer free publications on topics ranging from bullying in schools to computer mapping.

Burglary at Single-Family House Construction Sites: This problem oriented guide for police focuses on burglary of building materials, tools, appliances, and small equipment from single-family house construction sites. Understanding the factors that contribute to the problem of single-family house construction site burglary will help law enforcement to frame their local analysis, determine good effective measures, recognize key intervention points and select appropriate responses. Read More...

2011 Electronic Control Weapon Guidelines: The 2011 Electronic Control Weapon Guidelines is based on information gathered from workshops, interviews, and a national survey that examined the use of ECWs. In August 2010, an executive session comprising police, medical, and legal professionals convened in Philadelphia to focus on ECW policy and practice. Afterward, a concentrated working group spent a second day reviewing and modifying the original 2005 guidelines. As a result, this 2011 revised version represents the collective knowledge, experience, and expertise of participants who shared their ideas and concerns throughout this process. This publication is intended to guide agencies as they consider how ECWs can be used in use-of-force scenarios, balancing responsibility and accountability as well as recognizing that ECWs are appropriate weapons when officers must resort to use of force. Read More...

In February 2009, COPS was appropriated $1 billion through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The COPS Office received an unprecedented demand for these funds, with more than 7,000 of the nations’ 18,000 law enforcement agencies requesting more than $8 billion. Just 5 months later, COPS awarded the $1 billion to 1,046 law enforcement agencies to hire or rehire nearly 5,000 officers for 3 years in an effort to create and preserve jobs, and to increase their community policing capacity and crime prevention efforts.

Due to the enhanced reporting requirements that accompany the ARRA funding, the COPS Office developed and implemented the COPS Outreach and Reporting Integration (CORI) system.

• CORI combines two disconnected datasets, programmatic and financial, that are spread out across four databases.
• CORI utilizes actual grant information to predict grantee actions and project expected expenditures.
• CORI analyzes current data to predict completion rate of the COPS Hiring Recovery Program grants, specifically, which have a maximum program life of 5 years.
• CORI’s predictions and data analysis allow the staff to focus on those grants which have potential issues, cutting down research time.
• CORI classifies potential issues, assigning them to workflows based on category, which allows for standardized outreach to grantees and quick resolution.

Read more about CORI in the Targeted Grant Outreach and Effective Grants Management through Predictive Analytics presentation.

COPS on the Road Find out if a COPS representative will be in an area near you. Sign up for email updates. Community Policing Dispatch The e-newsletter of the COPS Office aims to educate readers about a variety of criminal justice issues. COPS on Facebook Join us and "Like" us and "Comment" on our news, events and more.

For more information, please contact us.