1

TRAINING IN ENHANCED COMMUNITY POLICING

TO COMBAT VIOLENT EXTREMISM

Topic and Program Outcome Identification and Justification

To advance CVE work in the U.S., COPS has called for applications focused on “Using

Community Policing to Combat Violent Extremism.” This funding initiative is based on the

claim that local police agencies are in the best position to detect and prevent acts of terrorism in

their jurisdictions and to help build resilience to violent extremism across their diverse

communities. It also follows the White House’s 2011 Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) which

set forth broad principles and some specific recommendations regarding building community

resilience to violent extremism.1

One model currently being emphasized by federal, state, and local policymakers is

community policing. Most police departments practice community policing, and some have

developed “tailored engagements” which the IACP defines as, “when police proactively engage

a specific community because of a known or emerging trend.” The emergence of community

policing practices in some departments, in cooperation with Muslim American communities

under threat of violent extremism, is a major new development. These policing practices also

depend on the strengths, organizations, and leadership in Muslim American communities.

In 2008, the LAPD established the “Liaison Section” of its Counter-Terrorism and

Special Operations Bureau. The mission of the Liaison Section is, “to fully leverage the

Department’s public outreach capability and communications capacity in an effort to improve the

quality of life and public safety within diverse communities by building mutual partnerships and

trust through coordination and collaboration of all Department entities, government stakeholders,

public/private/faith-based organizations, nongovernmental organizations with local

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communities.” The Liaison Section consists of up to six police officers and 25 specialist

volunteers and reserve police officers. The commanding officer and founder of the Liaison

Section is Deputy Chief Michael Downing. As part of the Liaison Section, the LAPD began

holding the Muslim Forum in 2008. Each forum hosts approximately two-dozen representatives

from Muslim organizations throughout the greater Los Angeles area. The LAPD is recognized

nationally as one of the leaders in community policing for countering violent extremism.

As part of a DHS funded study of community policing in countering violent extremism,

Dr. Stevan Weine of the University of Illinois at Chicago conducted interviews and observations

with LAPD officers and community advocates, youth, and parents.2 Though data analysis is still

in progress, some themes have emerged. One is that both police officers and community

advocates recognize that the community-policing program has been successful. They report that

the LAPD has been able to engage multiple key organizations and leaders in the community and

to form partnerships that pro-actively and mutually build trust, challenge misinformation,

educate, promote transparency, defuse conflicts, open communication channels, and solve daily

problems. Community advocates said they are being regarded as part of the solution, not part of

the problem, as they are often characterized in the media.

The IACP has been making valuable efforts to promote the ability of law enforcement to

use community policing approaches to combat violent extremists.3 However, new evidence

documents significant remaining gaps in practice. At the NIJ’s Domestic Radicalization

Research Program Status Meeting in June 2014, Dr. David Schanzer presented preliminary

findings from the national survey of law enforcement. Sixty-two percent of law enforcement

agencies had no training on how to engage communities, 80% of their community partners had

no training in preventing violent extremism, and less than 40% of law enforcement practiced any

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form of community engagement. Presently there is no national training and technical assistance

focused specifically on using community policing for CVE. This project addresses the gap by

developing, implementing, and evaluating a new training program designed to enhance the

ability of law enforcement agencies and other community stakeholders to use enhanced

community policing approaches to counter violent extremism. Bridging this gap is necessary to

help current efforts by communities and criminal justice agencies to confront violent extremism.

Much is at stake given that over the past years the U.S. has seen a rise in violent extremism.4,5

This application is focused on those individuals who support or commit ideologically motivated

violence to further political, social, or religious goals in the U.S.6,7,8

Recent homegrown terrorism events have included Chechen-Americans, Somali-

Americans, Caucasian-Americans, Pakistani-Americans, African-Americans and Yemeni-

Americans.9-12 For example, between late 2007 and autumn 2008, 17 or more Somali-American

adolescent boys and young men living in Minneapolis-St. Paul secretly left their homes and flew

to Somalia to join militant extremist training camps run by al Shabaab.13-15 In June 2014, more

Somalis left for training in Syria and Somalia.16 The April 2013 Boston Marathon bombing

committed by two Chechen-American brothers, provided another example of a sudden lapse to

violent extremism in young adults who came to the U.S. as refugees.17 This attack challenged

communities and the government to address the need for prevention in a wide array of

communities under the threat of violent extremism.

The LAPD will draw upon and strengthen existing formal partnerships with a community

and academic organization to pursue these outcomes and goals. The community partner for this

proposal is the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), and its director, Salam al-Marayati.

The proposed training project includes a focus on MPAC’s new initiative called Safe Spaces.18

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Safe Spaces is an innovative community-led CVE initiative developed by MPAC that is

presently being rolled out in the United States. The academic partner is Dr. Stevan Weine of the

University of Illinois at Chicago, who has been conducting federally funded CVE research

including a current DHS funded study of the LAPD’s community policing for CVE, as well

additional CVE research funded by DHS and NIJ.19,20 The LAPD, with its partners have formed

a law enforcement-community-academic collaborative with the capacity and expertise to assist

law enforcement nationally to partner with local communities on homeland security initiatives

using established and innovative community policing approaches to CVE.

Innovations. The innovations of the proposed project are threefold. First, this project is

innovative in building an immersive training model that will be rigorously designed based upon

sound theories, empirical evidence, and community and academic input. Second, this project is

innovative in using the Hydra Immersive Simulation Training System and 10,000 Volts

technology assisted debriefing sessions,21 which are highly conducive to achieving the program

goals and outcomes and for which the LAPD is the only U.S. site. Third, this project is also

innovative in using evaluation approaches to build evidence on training for community policing

in CVE, and to build tools that can be used to assess future trainings.

Community Policing Practices. This project is rooted in basic principles and

approaches of community policing.22,23 The LAPD has demonstrated a clear longstanding

capacity for community policing and over the past 7 years have successfully adapted these

community policing practices to countering violent extremism and addressing other homeland

security concerns. However, the LAPD has learned that basic community policing alone will not

succeed in working in a CVE environment. Thus, they have developed the practice of enhanced

community policing, which is described below.

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Research Findings on Enhanced Community Policing. Dr. Weine is currently

conducting a DHS funded study of the LAPD and Muslim-American community in Los Angeles

using ethnographic interviews and observations with the LAPD police officers and with

community leaders, parents, and youth (n=60), and analysis using grounded theory and

Atlas/ti 7.24,25 The

preliminary results presented

in the table describe the

components of traditional and

enhanced community

policing. The completed data

analysis will be used in Aim 1

of the project to develop the

immersive training.

Safe Spaces Conceptual Framework. The training also draws upon the Safe Spaces

Initiative’s Prevention, Intervention, Ejection (PIE) model, which advocates for: 1) community

adoption of social and religious programs that mitigate environmental factors that raise the risk

of individuals adopting extremist worldviews, known as “Prevention”; 2) community adoption of

multi-disciplinary “Crisis Inquiry Teams” that seek to intervene in situations where an individual

is believed to be at risk of engaging in violent behavior, labeled “Intervention”, and; 3) knowing

when intervention is failing or likely to fail, thus necessitating an individual’s removal from a

community institution and notifying law enforcement (“Ejection”). The conceptual framework

guiding the training development draws upon several related models and theories that explain the

Traditional CP Enhanced CP • Establishing relationships with

persons of significant influence in their communities

• Building trust and cooperation • Challenging misinformation • Educating • Promoting transparency • Defusing conflicts • Opening communication channels • Solving daily problems • Proactive joint problem solving • Addressing the immediate conditions

that give rise to public safety issues • Improving police service to

communities • Responding to concerns raised by

community members • Enabling community members to take

the lead • Building capacity of community

members

• Based on explicit knowledge and awareness of historical, political, social, cultural, media, and community factors

• Based upon an explicit underlying theory or theories about CVE

• Supporting the development of community led interventions

• Planning for what partnerships and networks should do

• Promoting awareness of violent extremism

• Focused on risk factors for moving towards violent extremism

• Focused on how communities can assess level of risk in persons

• Focused on when communities should notify law enforcement about individuals who may commit a crime

• Focused on other issues of violence/harm (e.g. domestic violence, trafficking, gangs)

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multilevel determinants of violent extremism and the need for interventions at the community

level. First is opportunity structure theory, which has described the key role of “opportunity

structures” in relation to such outcomes as involvement in terrorism and other risky

behaviors.26,27 Second is the theory of community resilience and protective resources, which

explains how in the face of adversity, social and psychosocial factors at the level of a community

can inhibit, stop, delay, or diminish negative outcomes, including extremism and violence.28-30

Third is partnership theory, which explains how partnerships involving multiple perspectives are

more likely to lead to multi-level and multifaceted approaches to the complexity of criminality.

By drawing upon these theories, the project framework posits that building community resilience

to extremism and violence should be framed as an activity to promote public safety that depends

upon mitigating risks and enhancing protective resources through increased community

participation and building strong communities. Through an iterative process of model building

and investigation, with data collection leading to refinement of questions and new theoretical

interpretations, this project will culminate in a new empirical model of community policing to

counter violent extremism. The model will postulate multilevel domains and strategies for

community policing to CVE that are likely to enhance the prevention of extremism and violence.

It will provide a basis for developing and implementing new strategies for law enforcement and

community-led CVE.

Program Goals

The proposed program primarily addresses the goal of increasing the skills and/or

abilities of law enforcement agencies and relevant stakeholders to engage in proven community

policing practices. Secondarily, it has the goals of: 1) Developing knowledge about community

policing activities and strategies; 2) Increasing awareness of agencies/individuals on most

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effective community policing strategies, and; 3) Increasing practice of law enforcement agencies

and relevant stakeholders using proven community policing practices.

Strategy to Achieve Program Outcome and Goals

Aim 1. Development. To develop an immersive training exercise on enhanced

community policing approaches to countering violent extremism, that incorporates the

Hydra Immersive Simulation Training System and 10,000 Volts technology assisted

debriefing, through a law enforcement-community-academic collaborative, on the basis of

practice knowledge, theory, prior and current research, and focus groups.

Overview. This part of the project forms a Training Design Collaborative (TDC), which

draws upon practice knowledge, research evidence, and conceptual models to build an overall

training model and scripted training exercises that are tailored for using community policing

approaches to combat violent extremism in U.S. communities.

Convene the Training Design Collaborative. In month 1, the TDC will convene. The

TDC will combine law enforcement, community, and academic members. The TDC is led by

Chief Downing, and will include Stevan Weine, Salam al-Marayati, Michael Menosz, Guy

Golan, and several other community and law enforcement members from Los Angeles TBN.

Several TDC members have previously written numerous training manuals directly relevant to

the proposed project. The TDC will work through face-to-face meetings, regular conference

calls, and ongoing e-mail contact for which appropriate materials are prepared and distributed in

advance. Decisions will be made by consensus after

deliberation using procedures we have successfully

implemented in prior initiatives.31,32 All TDC meetings

will be documented through field notes or transcribed

Sources for Developing Training LAPD community policing techniques CTSOB Liaison Section practices MPAC's Safe Spaces Initiative18

SIP for Empowering Local Partners1

DOVE model on study of Somali-Americans30

Weine’s Study of LAPD2

Scholarly review of other CVE literature3

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audiotapes so as to inform design as well as to document the training development process. The

TDC will review: 1) the conceptual frameworks; 2) existing evidence; 3) theoretical models; 4)

practice knowledge of CP in CVE. The aim is to ground the training design in practice

knowledge, theory, and empirical evidence. This stage of the work also involves identifying

community protective factors and processes that are most likely to increase resilience, to counter

known risks, and to bear upon targeted outcomes, understanding social settings and

environmental influences, and lastly, knowing how, where, and when to best intervene. Lastly,

the TDC selects the training content and format.

Focus Groups to Inform Training Design. In months 2-3, Dr. Weine and Officer Golan

will conduct focus groups with community stakeholders, law enforcement, and state and local

officials (1 each with 12 persons). These focus groups will elicit their experiences and

perspectives regarding community resilience to CVE, prevention and intervention with CVE,

including the role of community and law-enforcement initiatives, and incorporating feedback to

inform specific key design decisions elements. These focus groups will generate qualitative data

that will be analyzed using Atlas/ti 7.25

Hydra Immersive Simulation System and 10,000 Volt Debriefing. These innovative

technologies will be used to build an immersive training experience. The Hydra Immersive

Simulation System (hereafter Hydra) is a unique, high-fidelity learning environment that enables

the monitoring of real-time leadership and decision making in critical incidents (for example,

terrorist attacks, murders, abductions). In each simulation, participants are split into teams of

four to seven members; in multi-agency exercises, participants can either be assigned to teams

comprised of either multi or single agencies. The incidents unfold in real-time, continually

moving between ‘slow-burn’ tasks (e.g., analysis of witness statements, examination of forensic

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evidence) and ‘fast-burn’ tasks (e.g., highly volatile family liaison, press attention).34 The Hydra

system has a comprehensive multi-media store of information that can be communicated to

teams at any point. They include ‘paper feed’ written information (such as records of criminal

convictions, eye witness statements, faxes, and other analytical product) and visual information

(such as photo fits of suspects or video clips of actors conveying information, telephone calls,

radio traffic). Such features strengthen immersion and participants feel a sense of ‘Presence’,35

enabling the participants to fully immerse themselves in the problem.

Ten Thousand Volts (10kv) gives each participant access to their own laptop computer,

which enables them to anonymously comment on issues raised. 10kv enables groups and

individuals to collaborate and work through issues, tensions or reviews within their respective

worlds. Whether an operational debrief, review of procedures, community engagement, or

restructuring within an organization, the collective system allows participants to share mental

models of the problem, unshackled by the chains of hierarchy, seniority or personality. Training

can begin with a 10kv session focused on releasing the burning issues facing the group. Those

views are collected and displayed contemporaneously to the participants on a Mind Map, which

at the end of the session, will then be used to populate the 10kv system with self-generated

categories for participants to then select, and further comment on in more detail. The final

outcome is a document that has been read and analyzed highlighting emerging themes, if

required; which also contains the entire participant generated raw data which will be sent to the

Sponsor of the event, for onward dissemination, as thought appropriate by them. Importantly,

Hydra and 10kv now have mobile capability. This means that the LAPD can either conduct

trainings in their suites at the LAPD or they can bring the entire system to external sites. This

makes training more feasible in other states where there are known threats of violent extremism.

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Developing the Immersive Training. Space does not permit us to outline the elements

of all the manuals, but we identify some key elements here. The target outcomes for the training

include increasing the skills and/or abilities of law enforcement agencies, relevant stakeholders,

and/or individuals to engage in proven community policing practices (as well as increasing

knowledge, awareness, and institutionalizing practice). The training will be designed to produce

these outcomes through making changes in: 1) CVE knowledge and skills; 2) knowledge about

communities under threat; 3) traditional and enhanced CVE practices; 4) CVE prevention skills

for communities and law

enforcement; 5) working

with partners; 6) CVE risk

communication. NOTE:

The training has three

different sub-groups of

both law enforcement and

community stakeholders

(executive; managerial;

tactical) which enables

trainers to develop executive-level buy-in, so crucial to the adoption of new CVE

approaches. All TDC members will be asked to review the intervention and provide feedback

on: 1) the applicability of language, role scenarios, and problem solving situations; 2) the focus

and sequencing of topics; 3) the differences in the group experience related to role, locality, rank,

and gender; 4) logistics such as program length, duration, and recruitment strategies; 5)

additional themes to include in the intervention. Other important design issues to be addressed

Sections Focus Content I (Day 1 a.m.)

Introduce participants, encourage dialogue, and build awareness regarding urgency of responding to threat.

Pre-Survey •10KV mind mapping • awareness briefing • Identify need for new model of CP for CVE

II (Day 1 a.m.)

Increase participants knowledge of enhanced CP and CVE, including the roles of law enforcement and community

Review of CP key concepts • Review of CVE key concepts • Enhanced CP in CVE • PIE model • Crisis inquiry teams

III (Day 1 p.m.)

Give participants an immersive experience in responding to a violent radicalization scenario

Hydra crisis inquiry team scenario (success example) • 10kb debriefing of scenario and Day 1 material

IV (Day 2 a.m.)

Increase participants knowledge and skills on enhanced CP and CVE, including the roles of law enforcement and community

Evolving threats •Building collaborative networks • Strategies for moving individual away from violent path • Strategies for building community resilience

V (Day 2 a.m.)

Give participants an immersive experience in responding to a violent radicalization scenario

Hydra crisis inquiry team scenarios (failure example) • 10kb debriefing

VI (Day 2 p.m.)

Review and dissemination Facilitator’s review of lessons learned • Discussion on Next Steps • Post-Survey • Focus Group Discussion of Training

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include clarifying procedures for: 1) recruiting participants for the training; 2) hiring and training

the training facilitators; 3) approach to evaluation. Lastly, the training content and format will

then be used to build an entire immersive training using Hydra and 10,000 Volts and to train the

two facilitators (Officers James Buck and Yvonne Lopez of the LAPD). Because we have not

completed the developmental activities, we cannot specify the exact intervention components,

but we think it useful to outline the basic components that are the starting point (see table above).

Trial Run of Training. In month 8, 20 law enforcement and community members will

be invited to the project offices to participate in a trial run followed by an immediate group

feedback session where they will identify components that need modification. Participants will

be asked to reflect on what was helpful about the training and what could be improved. Feedback

will inform final modifications to the training.

Aim 2. Implementation. To implement the immersive training with a total of 60 law

enforcement and community stakeholders (20 each) who come from three localities outside

of the LAPD jurisdiction (LA County, Orange County, Nashville), and to assess the

training’s feasibility, implementation process, and outcomes.

Overview. This aim is focused on implementation and its evaluation. It focuses on four

issues: 1) how the training was actually implemented; 2) facilitators and barriers to

implementation; 3) issues regarding law enforcement-community collaboration, and; 4) the

impact of evaluation. The program will collect data at multiple time points in several different

ways including direct observations, process measures, pre-post surveys, focus group interviews,

and observations, both of law enforcement and community stakeholders.

Selection of Trainees. The intention is to train both law enforcement and community

stakeholders from localities in the U.S. that are selected because of a known threat of violent

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extremism. For Aim 2, the TDC will first select two groups for training that come from

localities near, but not within LAPD jurisdiction (e.g. two police departments and associated

communities – one from LA County (e.g. Glendale) and the other from Orange County (e.g.

Anaheim)). The third training will be chosen from a site outside of California (e.g. Nashville).

Chief Downing has good relationships each of these sites, as well as many other potential sites.

Each site will be able to include a total of 20 participants, which includes 10 from law

enforcement and 10 from the community. The project leadership will work with law

enforcement and community stakeholders in each site to recruit persons for training using

recruitment strategies and scripts that will be developed by the TDC. We aim to include law

enforcement from different ranks and community stakeholders from a range of organizations and

groups. The training is provided at no cost. Law enforcement and community groups are

expected to arrange and pay for transportation to the training sites.

Evaluation Data Collection. Data is collected by Dr. Weine and Officer Golan at the

training and at one follow-up point one month later. In the first three months of the project the

team will review practices that have found to be successful in other projects, including: 1)

approaches to engaging participants; 2) procedures for the protection of human subjects; 3) ways

of dealing with emergencies and ethical problems, including threats to the safety of researchers

and research participants; 4) practice in conducting surveys, focus groups interviews and focused

field observations; 5) practice in writing field notes. During data collection, weekly Skype

meetings will be led by Dr. Weine, augmented by regular e-mail.

Process Measures. To assess implementation process, four measures will document: 1)

facilitators’ self-reports on training delivery; 2) attendance at training sessions; 3) satisfaction

with training sessions, and; 4) observer’s assessment of training delivery.36

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Focused Field Observations. To further assess implementation process, focused field

observations of each training session will be conducted by either Officer Golan or Dr. Weine.

The observers take field notes using an observation guide and also complete one process

measure.37

Focus Group Discussion. At the end of the second day of training (Section V), the

researchers will conduct a focus group discussion with each group or training participants

regarding the training. Dr. Weine will oversee the staff training and supervision of the other

team members in running focus groups. Each focus group lasts up to 60 minutes, and will be

audio-recorded, transcribed and translated into English as necessary, without identifiers.

Goals and Products of Qualitative Data Analysis. This is an iterative analysis which is

a well-accepted approach based upon grounded theory using Atlas/ti 7.24, 39, 40,41,42 Process

measures and field notes from observations and discussions are transcribed verbatim and entered

into Atlas/ti 7. The 10kv output from each trainings are also entered. The analysis is conducted

in steps. Step 1: Initial Review of the Data. The initial reading yields a set of concepts that are

labeled, defined, and illustrated in categories that correspond with the initial conceptual

framework and contribute to developing a coding scheme. Step 2: Developing a Coding

Scheme. Next the researchers develop a codebook consisting of the labels, definitions, and

illustrations of categories formulated in Step 1. When it is clear that the coding scheme is

appropriate, two coders are trained to use it, until a level of .80 agreement is reached. Step 3:

Coding. Using the coding scheme, the data is coded under supervision of Dr. Weine. Step 4:

Pattern Coding. Pattern coding examines the relationship between codes in order to identify

overarching themes and patterns of variation. Step 5: Memoing. Memoing, or writing short,

descriptive statements, is performed at each of the aforementioned steps, to document ideas

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during preliminary data review, to define codes during coding, to concisely describe items not

coded, and to describe the outcomes of specific Atlas/ti 7 queries. Step 6: Specifying Training

Implementation Processes; Step 7: Law-Enforcement to Community Collaboration; Step

8: Facilitators and Barriers. These steps use the coded data to specify each of the above.

Step 9: Report Writing. Analysis of the data generates four types of products: 1) narrative

descriptions (e.g. of different prevention strategies); 2) content categories elaborating the range

of phenomena observed in a given analytic domain (e.g. the perceptions and enactments of

prevention); 3) theoretical statements (e.g. understanding the PIE model), and; 4) interpretive

accounts (e.g. of how the training addresses communities’ needs). These are incorporated into

quarterly reports, a final report, research briefs, training guides, and articles.

Assessment Domains and Approaches. To assess impact, the researchers will conduct a

three-wave survey of all the training participants (n=60). The pre-assessment will be conducted

just prior to the beginning of training (Section I). The post-assessments will be conducted

immediately following training at the training site, and then one month later through contact with

a fieldworker (Section VI). Intervention and longitudinal studies conducted by Dr. Weine have

been very successful, tracking over 80%.43-45 The evaluation will apply strategies used in those

studies to ensure high rates of participation. Subjects will be mailed the interview and asked to

return it within one week. Nonetheless, there is likely to be some attrition from wave 2 to 3. For

each locality we will admit 20 subjects into the project at pre-assessment. We estimate an

attrition rate of 10%. Thus, each site sample should have 18 at post-assessment for a total of 54.

Impact Measures. The researchers compiled a survey focused on implementation that

combines items modified from existing instruments with new items.38 The survey consists of 61

items with either forced choice (yes/no or Likert scale) responses or numerical response (e.g.

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estimate the #). It was designed to be self-completed in 30 minutes so as to limit response

burden. The survey covers: 1) demographics; 2) attitudes; 3) CVE actions. The survey is

completed by pen and paper with a fieldworker at the training (before and after) and at 1-month

follow-up it is completed by mail (see discussion of follow-up strategies below).

Goals and Products of Quantitative Analysis. Recognizing that the Aim 2 impact study

is not adequately powered to formally test hypotheses, we will conduct exploratory analysis with

the following purpose: 1) to explore patterns of intermediate outcomes to inform the researchers

in making intervention modifications; 2) to explore comparisons across the different localities; 3)

to demonstrate the feasibility of the evaluation methods; 4) to determine important parameters

with sufficient accuracy to allow reliable estimates of sample size and detectable effects for a

subsequent RCT study. The primary hypotheses to be considered are: H1: Participants will

show increases in the skills and abilities for CVE practice from pre to both post-intervention

assessment; H2: Participants will show increase in practice using CP approaches to CVE from

pre to post 2-intervention assessment. These study objectives represent multilevel data

structures. For intervention participants, this is a three-level problem in which measurement

occasions (level 1) are nested within subjects (level 2) who are nested within localities (level 3).

Each of the above variables will be calculated as a continuous score. The analysis of this data is

a straightforward application of a two and three-level random effects regression models.46-51

Given the obvious power limitations of this pilot, testing hypothesis is not as important as the

other analyses, but will still be attempted for two reasons. One, there may still be detectable

effect sizes. Two, they will be used to estimate intervention parameters. The power analysis

was calculated using a one-group, pre-test post-test model, with a 20% attrition rate between

successive time points, a Type I error rate of 5%, an intra-class correlation of .3. For continuous

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endpoints, 30 subjects will detect an effect size between pre and post time points of .53 SD units;

54 subjects will detect .39 SD units. This should enable the researchers to detect changes in

several continuous variables. The results of the quantitative analysis of the impact data will be

integrated with the qualitative data, to generate a multi-level empirical model of training in

community policing to combat CVE, forming the basis for published reports. These analyses will

also produce estimates of the rate of change over time of each parameter for the intervention.

We will also have estimates of the corresponding standard errors, so that we can develop

confidence intervals for the rates of change over time and point estimates of means (and

corresponding uncertainty intervals) at the end of the training period. These model-based

estimates will allow us to precisely design and power a future large-scale impact trial.

Aim 3. Dissemination. To convene a workshop of the law enforcement-community-

academic collaborative so as to collaboratively refine the immersive training exercise and

to develop other practical and usable training and technical assistance materials and

evaluation tools (process measures, survey, focus group guide) that will facilitate

community policing to CVE and other community-level prevention initiatives.

Workshop. The workshop will include the members of the Aim 1 TDC and additional

select representatives from community groups, and federal, state and local government agencies.

The purpose of this workshop is to engage a cross-section of persons with practical CVE

experience so as to use the knowledge gathered in Aim 1 and Aim 2 to refine the immersive

training exercise and to develop other practical and usable training and technical assistance

materials and evaluation tools (process measures, survey, focus group, and observational) that

will facilitate community policing to CVE and other community-level prevention. The work

follows these steps: Step 1: The program leadership will prepare detailed summary reports of the

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analyzed data from Aims 1 and 2 including an overall model and specific findings, as well as

preliminary drafts of educational materials. These will be provided to workshop invitees as read-

ahead materials. Step 2: Training and technical assistance materials, to include the evaluation

tools and procedures will be reviewed, critiqued, and revised during the workshop. To achieve

this aim, the researchers will employ a consensus building approach that was successfully used

in producing consensus guidelines with multi-disciplinary, multi-sectoral providers of trauma

related services.31,32 This process works by facilitating discussions in breakout groups, editing

the materials based on those discussions, and then reviewing and updating the products by the

participants as a whole. The consensus building meetings will generate revised drafts of

evaluation tools and also field notes documenting the deliberations of the meetings. Step 3: The

field notes generated by each of the workshops will be analyzed using Atlas/ti 7, compiled, and

used as the basis for formulating the educational materials, evaluation tools and procedures, and

also written reports, which includes the interim and final reports and publishable manuscripts.

Capacity and Experience

The research project will be housed at the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and

the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). The project team is comprised of practitioners and

researchers with expertise in community policing, violent extremism, participatory action

research, ethnographic and mixed methods, prevention, and immigrants and refugees. The

program leadership, Chief Michael Downing (Program Director), Dr. Stevan Weine (Program

Co-Director), and Salam al-Marayati (Program Co-Director) are all are experienced in

community policing, CVE, and training. Deputy Chief Michael P. Downing is Commanding

Officer of the LAPD’s CTSOB who has forged a trail for local, state, and federal law

enforcement agencies to follow with the institutionalization of the community outreach program.

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Stevan Weine is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago who conducts a

program of research designed to understand and help refugees and migrants, with continuous

federal funding as Principal Investigator since 1998, including a focus on building resilience to

counter violent extremism among Muslim-Americans supported by DHS and NIJ. Salam al-

Marayati is the President of MPAC, who has written extensively on Islam, human rights,

democracy, Middle East politics, the Balkan Crisis, and the Transcaucus conflict, and has been

active in interfaith and Muslim community advocacy. NOTE: Chief Beck fully supports

Deputy Chief Downing pursuing this initiative, which also includes departmental support

for the roles of: Deputy Chief Downing, Officer Guy Golan, Lieutenant Timothy Kalkus,

and Sergeant II Michael Menegio.

Management and Implementation Plan

Qualifications and Experience of Proposed Staff. Chief Michael Downing is the

Program Director (PD) for the project. He will coordinate all the activities of Co-Directors Dr.

Weine and al-Marayati, and be responsible for coordinating information with the project

manager, Guy Golan. The PD will lead the development, implementation, and dissemination

activities of Aims 1, 2, & 3, and work with the Co-Directors in all these areas. The PD will be

responsible for any monthly or quarterly reports required by the sponsor as well as furnishing

copies of publications and presentations. The PD will also be responsible for the project meeting

deadlines, spending thresholds and deliverables according to the timelines established in the

proposal. He will oversee the overall management of the project and will be responsible for fiscal

accountability and the production of all reports in a timely manner. The PD will have primary

responsibility for training and supervising the project manager, as well as collaborating with all

project personnel. The PD and the project staff will communicate at least twice weekly. Weekly

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project meetings and email communications will keep all team members informed, engaged, and

ensure that all milestones are met.

Dissemination Strategy. The project will generate an immersive training exercise on

community policing approaches to countering violent extremism. This can be delivered to law-

enforcement and community stakeholders either at the LAPD or at their localities. The intention

is to use this as a resource to train law enforcement and community stakeholders in any U.S.

localities under the threat of violent extremism. Other deliverables include: 1) brief training

modules delivered either on-line or in person that are derived from the overall module; 2) a series

of research reports, op-eds, podcasts, peer reviewed academic articles and other reports

presenting the results of training development and implementation, including recommendations

for dissemination in multiple venues; 3) seminars and briefing activities across academic

disciplines and agencies; 4) a conceptual framework to aid practice and policy development and

implementation; 5) policy- and practice-ready knowledge and strategies for community-level

approaches to CVE ; 6) multiple easy to use evaluation tools (e.g. survey, process measure, focus

group guides) with detailed instructions for their use in community-level CVE programs.

The program leadership formulated a plan to disseminate the aforementioned products to

several key audiences. First, Aim 3 was included to better prepare the training and research

findings and model for dissemination so that they speak to current and pressing concerns for

practitioners, policymakers, and researchers focused on community-level CVE, and to be able to

be tailored to local contexts. Second, multiple audiences are targeted for trainings, presentations,

and publications (law enforcement, community, academic, policy; in particular IACP, PERF,

COPS office DHS and other federal conferences). Third, this project involves supporting,

training, and supervising law enforcement and community non-academic collaborators to be

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presenters and co-authors. Fourth, the research team will prepare presentations and publications

that are engaging, accessible, and practical for multiple diverse and multidisciplinary audiences,

paying attention to how material is presented textually and visibly. Educational materials will

include guides for how they should be used, to include explanations of how the data gathering

and analysis activities themselves should be used as part of the collaborative CVE engagement

efforts between federal, state and local authorities and community-based organizations. MPAC

will incorporate findings into their future outreach efforts with the community.

Timeline. The timeline for program implementation is as follows:

MONTHS 1-3 4-6 7-9 10-12 13-15 16-18 19-21 22-24 Startup Complete hiring and training; Office

set up; Obtain full IRB approval X

Aim 1

Convene IDC (C); Conduct Focus Groups (FG); Review Materials (RM), Design Training Content (TC), Build Training with Hydra and 10kv (BT); Trial (T); Refine (R)

C, FG, RM

TC, BT BT, T R

Aim 2

Training groups (1, 2, 3); pre-and post-assessments; process measures

1, 2, 3

Aim 3

Workshop (W); Finalize educational and evaluation materials (M)

W, M M

Completion Report, manuscript, dissemination & grant preparation

X X X X X

Evaluation Plan/Effectiveness of Program. The program will evaluate the

effectiveness of its activities including the extent to which the deliverables assist law

enforcement in implementing or institutionalizing community policing. The plan for collecting

and tracking data is consistent with the COPS Office performance measure. Overall it focuses

on the LAPD’s capacities to create training resources that can be used by other law enforcement

and community partners to enhance their practice of community policing. Quarterly progress

reports will provide detailed data on the following: 1) progress towards creation of training

resources and publications; 2) completed training resources and publications; 3) process and

impact of training on law enforcement and community stakeholders.

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