WHEREAS, The members of the Crime Prevention Committee have received the "building our way out of crime strategy" as set forth in the book by Bill Geller and Lisa Belsky, entitled Building Our Way Out of Crime: The Transformative Power of Police-Community Developer Partnerships, as a ground-breaking approach to reducing crime in low-income neighborhoods; and

WHEREAS, "Building our way out of crime" strategy establishes a blue print by which public safety agencies can provide a catalyst for community developers to transform crime-generating sections of neighborhoods into safe, vital places for people of modest means to live, work, and engage in commerce; and

WHEREAS, This strategy has received the enthusiastic endorsement of the Office of Community Oriented Policing, U.S. Department of Justice, which underwrote the landmark case studies by Bill Geller and Lisa Belsky of the use of this strategy in Providence, Rhode Island; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Charlotte, North Carolina; and

WHEREAS, Mayors, city managers, county executives, a former secretary of the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, police chiefs, sheriffs and other leading government officials and highly regarded scholars have hailed this strategy as a practical, replicable "new investment strategy for criminal justice in these challenging economic times" because of the way public safety and local government leaders can leverage considerable neighborhood turnaround resources from the private sector to convert crime-generating problem properties into community assets, thus freeing public safety practitioners to tackle other problems; and

WHEREAS, Bill Bratton, who is a noted police administrator, and Paul Grogan, who is a highly regarded national community development leader, report in their Foreword to the book Building Our Way Out of Crime that "The substantial, multi-year improvements in focus areas in Charlotte, Minneapolis and Providence – which are portrayed in this book's case studies – are remarkable…. Our belief in the value of greater, more routine police-developer interaction is confirmed by the quantitative and qualitative evidence Geller and Belsky have amassed in this book…. There are many experts on policing and many experts on community development, but nobody knows more about the intersection of public safety and community development practice than Bill Geller and Lisa Belsky…. At this juncture in the 21st century, these collaborations are necessary not only because they are effective, but also because shrinking public resources require them. We can think of no better investment at the neighborhood level than a wellconceived, ongoing alliance between dedicated cops and high-capacity grassroots community developers. Some may say that nurturing this new synergy among police, neighborhoods, and community developers is a luxury we can ill afford when terrorists and economic woes challenge the nation. Nonsense…. With this book in hand, newly elected public officials – from mayors to the President – can hit the ground running and take practical steps that support robust public-private collaborations. We recommend Building Our Way Out of Crime to urban leaders everywhere. It offers an effective and practical roadmap we can follow to knock crime down and keep it down in low-income neighborhoods." and

WHEREAS, United States Attorney General Eric Holder on August 1, 2011, on behalf of the United States Department of Justice and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, presented the first annual L. Anthony Sutin Civic Imagination Award to the police-developer team in Providence, Rhode Island and the first runner-up Sutin Civic Imagination Award to the police-developer team in Charlotte, North Carolina whose accomplishments are portrayed in the Building Our Way Out of Crime book; and

WHEREAS, The National Sheriff's Association at a Meeting of the General Membership in St. Louis, Missouri, on June 20, 2011 adopted a similar resolution, now, therefore be it,

RESOLVED, that the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) duly assembled at its 118th Annual Conference in Chicago, Illinois does hereby support the "building our way out of crime strategy" as a valuable form of high-impact, cost-effective partnership between police departments, sheriffs' offices, prosecutors, other local government agencies and developers with a long-term interest in strengthening, safeguarding and revitalizing challenged neighborhoods throughout the nation; and, be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, That the IACP commend the public safety and community development practitioners and leaders who forged effective partnerships in Providence, Rhode Island, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Charlotte, North Carolina, which resulted in durable crime reductions and community improvements as proof of concept for the "building our way out of crime strategy" and, be it further

FURTHER RESOLVED, That the IACP commend public safety expert Bill Geller and community development expert Lisa Belsky for their work over 15 years in developing evidence of the effectiveness of this strategy, compiling that evidence in their book Building Our Way Out of Crime, and continuing to support public safety organizations, local governments and community developers who are implementing the "building our way out of crime" strategy and, be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, That the IACP commend the private foundations and corporations, as well as the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance, and Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, which have provided on-going support to provide practitioners with clear and convincing evidence of this cost-effective crime-control, community-building strategy, along with practical guidance on how to implement it to enhance public safety in neighborhoods throughout the nation, and, be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, That the IACP encourage its members to learn more about the "building our way out of crime strategy" and to collaborate with other relevant public and private organizations to adopt this strategy in challenged neighborhoods that will benefit significantly from innovative, mutually reinforcing partnerships between creative public safety practitioners and high-capacity developers who are committed to the long-term improvement of the neighborhoods they serve and protect.

Submitted by: Crime Prevention Committee
cpc.019.A11