At the 2014 National Association of Pretrial Services Agencies (NAPSA) Annual Conference held September 7-10 in Denver, CO, the IACP partnered with the National Association of Counties on the opening plenary panel discussion, “Partners in Pretrial Reform: How to Effectively Engage Law Enforcement and Local Elected Officials.”

Chief Frank Straub, Spokane, WA, represented IACP’s perspective as member of IACP’s Pretrial Justice Champions Group. The panel addressed the value of pretrial risk assessment and risk-based release to both public safety and to responsible fiscal management.

Chief Straub commented to the more than 650 pretrial service providers in attendance, “We were just arresting everyone and taking them to jail and finally, common sense set in. We asked ourselves, ‘Who do we send to jail? Why? Does it make sense? Can we afford it?’ We know that we need strong reentry resources, but really, we need to make sure we have appropriate entry procedures. Pretrial detention or release decisions should be risk-based so that we detain the right people for the right reasons.”

NAPSA Conference attendees were encouraged to be risk takers and collaboration builders and reach out to law enforcement leaders and local elected officials to engage them in supporting pretrial services, including the use of a validated risk assessment tool to inform detain/release decisions.

At the 2013 NAPSA Conference, IACP was presented with the Partners Award for the proactive work of the Pretrial Justice Reform Initiative, which is supported by the Public Welfare Foundation. To learn more about how IACP is encouraging law enforcement to be proactive partners with pretrial services providers, visit www.theiacp.org/pretrial or contact Program Manager Dianne Beer-Maxwell at [email protected].