Vision

It is the premise of the Partnering for Prevention and Community Safety Initiative (PfP) that the United States will only be safe from terrorist attacks when, as part of a multi-pronged counterterrorism strategy, law enforcement and Muslim, Arab, and Sikh American communities work to create trust and build relationships. This paradigm is not only consistent with our constitutional ideals, it also increases law enforcement’s operational effectiveness and provides the best defense against the perpetration of hate crimes. The PfP Initiative is, therefore, focused on building trust and strengthening relationships between law enforcement and these communities.

Benefits

When federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies develop partnerships with key communities, those communities are more likely to share information about any suspicious activity or unusual newcomers. Through these partnerships law enforcement agencies can also obtain the cultural and linguistic insights that help them to better understand and evaluate the information they receive. Moreover, potential terrorists often look to evade law enforcement by exploiting the cultural and linguistic characteristics they share with certain American communities. By working with law enforcement to make their communities immune to this type of exploitation, Muslim Arab and Sikh American communities can become a critical component of a national deterrence strategy. Further, with the help of these communities, law enforcement can engage in the type of respectful policing that yields the best results in preventing and prosecuting the hate crimes that have plagued the Muslim, Arab, and Sikh American communities since September 11, 2001.

Research

A major aspect of PfP’s work is conducting research into promising practices for building relationships between law enforcement and Muslim, Arab, and Sikh American communities. In May of 2004, PfP published a "Promising Practices Guide" based on research from three sites - Southeastern Michigan, Southern California, and the Greater Boston area. In 2005, PfP conducted its second year of research which includes case studies of Washington, DC, Chicago, and a follow-up of the Greater Boston area. In 2006, with funding from the National Institute of Justice, PfP completed a case study of London and Leeds. All of PfP’s completed research is available online.

Training

 

While PfP’s research has shown that there are examples of community-law enforcement partnerships at work, to-date these partnership efforts have been pursued on a limited, ad hoc basis and vary in their efficacy. There is currently no mechanism to train law enforcement and community groups on how to develop and implement partnerships that are truly beneficial. Based on this need and the expertise gained through its research, the PfP team has developed a collaborative community-law enforcement training model. Using this model, PfP proposes training law enfocement and Muslim, Arab, and Sikh American community leaders to develop and implement results-focused partnerships that positively impact counterterrorism and hate crime prevention and response strategies. This proposed training would result in the development of systemic and effective community-law enforcement partnerships nationwide.