Law enforcement as a profession is standing at a crossroads

The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) awarded a $208,000 Project Grant under the Congressionally Recommended Awards program (CFDA 16.753) to the Town of Marion, Virginia. The grant will fund a total of ten 2.5-day "Servant Officer" training classes delivered through the Leaders Helping Leaders Network. This training program is designed to equip law enforcement officers with professional qualities and personal characteristics that promote community service and partnership. The goal is to increase the number of officers who understand the value of building strong community relationships grounded in service, in order to improve community-police relations and address the perceived lack of community support for law enforcement in the economically depressed Southwest Virginia region.

For the first time in history, law enforcement officers are paralyzed from doing their job. This paralysis comes from a perceived, and real, lack of community and organizational support. With many high-profile incidents caught on camera, police officers are struggling with a loss of community support. Law enforcement leaders are seeking ways to reconnect with their communities during an unprecedented period of community dissatisfaction with police use of force and dealing with minority communities. Unfortunately, many law enforcement leaders are not familiar with addressing these types of social issues and are ILL-equipped to develop solutions required to meet the changing needs of evolving communities. In order to address these issues in an urgent manner the marion police department and the southwest virginia criminal justice academy proposes to host a total of ten 2.5-day training classes titled the servant officer through "leaders helping leaders network (lhln), which is designed to equip officers with professional qualities and personal characteristics, that result in behaviors that will reflect the values of community service and partnership. Historically, officers possessing these characteristics are more connected to the communities they serve and are more APT to perform their duties in a manner that is in line with the professional standards, and expectations, of the individual communities they serve. Unfortunately, this type of officer is the minority in most law enforcement organizations. Our goal is to make these officers the majority through training and mentoring. By creating officers who understand the value of building community relationships that are grounded in service, we can change the culture, and mindset, of law enforcement officers and agencies. Unfortunately, due to the cost to attend, officers in this economically depressed area will never be able to receive this important training to better serve their respective communities without the aid of this funding.