Briefing on State and Local Law Enforcement Coordination

On Thursday, September 17th, the National Governors Association (NGA) hosted its monthly briefing for the Criminal Justice Policy Advisors (CJPA) network and the Consortium of Governors' Public Safety Executives. The briefing featured a discussion of the practices and policies for facilitating state and local public safety coordination.

State and local divisions of law enforcement are frequently involved in operations and investigations to address various public safety concerns, including traffic safety, illicit drug interdiction, violent crime response or prevention, and mass violence incident response. Planned operations may be organized at the direction of the Governor or other senior public safety leadership, and require continuous engagement across all levels of law enforcement. These operations may be state-wide initiatives to address a specific type of crime, or organized in a particular city or jurisdiction to provide support generalized crime reduction or prevention efforts. Emergency response operations, which occur as needed, may be supported by routine trainings or table-top exercises to plan and prepare for operational, logistics, and communication challenges prior to an incident.

Local law enforcement offices may receive state funding through annual fiscal appropriations or other funding awards to address specific public safety challenges. Funding for local law enforcement may be conditional on the adoption of certain policies or standards, which can vary across states. Finally, data and resource sharing agreements between state and local law enforcement provides significant public safety benefits, allowing departments to work more efficiently and improve effective coordination.

To discuss this topic, the briefing featured a presentation by several states on their recent joint initiatives between state and local law enforcement divisions. States shared remarks on their recent programs to boost law enforcement coordination, as well as recommendations and best practices. Speakers emphasized several key takeaways, including maintaining a collaborative, supportive approach for joint programs, allowing local governments flexibility on the allocation of state public safety resources, and prioritizing relationship building with partners across the state.

NGA holds monthly briefings for Governors' Criminal Justice Policy Advisors. For more information about this or other topics, please reach out to Ken Hardy ([email protected]) and Maria Kearl ([email protected]).