But now, as some police departments contend with both rising violent crime rates and decreasing public confidence, more are turning to federal agencies for help.
The US Department of Justice announced two new initiatives on this front earlier this week. First, the department will hold a meeting later this month with more than a dozen local law enforcement officials dealing with violent crime surges, according to USA Today.
Also, the department is expanding its Violence Reduction Network (VRN) from five cities to 10. The network partners local law enforcement agencies with federal partners, which provide training and technical assistance tailored to the problems in those communities.
Early returns from the five original VRN cities – Chicago; Detroit; Camden, N.J.; Wilmington, Del.; and the Oakland-Richmond, Calif., area – have been broadly positive. Homicide arrests have tripled in Wilmington since it joined the network. Camden County Police Chief Scott Thomson has attributed a 50 percent drop in shootings and homicides over the past two years to the federal assistance. And the Justice Department helped local authorities in Detroit apply for and receive $10 million in funding grants that were used to hire more police officers, purchase body cameras for all officers, and help the authorities process their backlog of rape kits.