Security News: Department of Justice Announces the Opening of Nominations for the Sixth Annual Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service in Community Policing

Source: United States Department of Justice News

Today, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced the Department of Justice is now accepting nominations for the Sixth Annual Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service in Community Policing. Through this award, the Department of Justice honors the incredible work our nation’s law enforcement does to keep our communities and our country safe.

“Every day, law enforcement officers across the country work to forge and maintain strong community ties that are essential for ensuring public safety,” said Attorney General Garland. “The Department of Justice cannot fulfill its public safety mission without such critical efforts, and this award is just one way the Department says ‘thank you’ to our law enforcement partners.”

The Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service in Community Policing recognizes individual state, local, Tribal, and territorial police officers, deputies, and troopers for exceptional efforts in community policing. The awarded officers, deputies, and troopers will have demonstrated active engagement with the community in one of three areas: innovations in community policing, criminal investigations, or field operations. Within each category, an award will be given to law enforcement agencies serving small, medium, and large jurisdictions. Those agency sizes are defined as follows:

  1. Small: agencies serving populations of fewer than 50,000.
  2. Medium: agencies serving populations of 50,000 to 250,000.
  3. Large: agencies serving populations of more than 250,000.

By acknowledging and rewarding these efforts, the Department strives to promote and sustain its commitment to community policing and to advance proactive policing practices that are fair and effective. With the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service in Community Policing, the Justice Department recognizes that the nation’s law enforcement agencies, officers, deputies, and troopers continue to work tirelessly to keep our communities safe.

The deadline for nominations is Sept. 23, 2022 at 8 p.m. (ET). More information and the application for nominees can be found at: www.justice.gov/ag/policing-award.