PRESS RELEASE

National Institute of Justice Launches Challenge to Examine Community Perceptions of Law Enforcement

The Office of Justice Programs’ National Institute of Justice today announced the rollout of its “Measures of Community Perceptions” Challenge. Part of the Challenge.gov initiative launched by the White House in 2010, today’s challenge is an open competition to develop new methods to capture community perceptions of police and public safety. Practitioners, researchers, startup companies, students and others may submit entries that include the views of all segments of the community; are cost effective, accurate and capable of low-burden administration on a systematic basis; and are able to be successfully deployed in cities of varying sizes. Entries from disciplines outside of criminal justice or involving interdisciplinary teams are encouraged.

“Public perceptions of law enforcement hold a key to improving both police effectiveness and community confidence in the justice system as a whole,” said NIJ Director Nancy La Vigne. “Through this challenge, we hope to gain a better understanding of how to measure attitudes and beliefs about law enforcement in a way that leads to better police-community relations and stronger bonds of trust.”

To ensure entries can be compared using similar methods, entries will be accepted under two categories: Category 1 for approaches that use a survey instrument and Category 2 for approaches that use non-survey instrument methods. A total of $175,000 is available in prizes and will be divided between two categories.

NIJ is the interdisciplinary research arm of the U.S. Department of Justice. The challenge format encourages the development and testing of innovative ideas that leverage solutions from a range of scientific fields to serve the needs of the criminal justice community.

The Challenge Submission Period ends July 31, 2023. More information about the Challenge is available at https://nij.ojp.gov/funding/innovations-measuring-community-perceptions-challenge.

About the Office of Justice Programs

The Office of Justice Programs provides federal leadership, grants, training, technical assistance and other resources to improve the nation's capacity to prevent and reduce crime, advance racial equity in the administration of justice, assist victims and enhance the rule of law.

More information about OJP and its components can be found at www.ojp.gov.

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OFFICE: nij.ojp.gov
CONTACT: OJP Media at media@ojp.usdoj.gov