Basic Crime Prevention Skills Workshop

Thanks to all who attended our Crime Prevention - Basic Skills Training Workshop. During Representative Eric Johnson's August Town Hall meeting at St. Luke's following the Dixon Circle police shooting incident, much discussion centered around the need for more training for police officers. Following this meeting, we partnered with Rep. Johnson, the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC), the Dallas Police Department (DPD), the and Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas (USDOJ), to host a Basic Crime Prevention Skills training workshop November 13-15th.

     Our goal was to provide training and technical assistance to newly hired law enforcement officers, officers working as neighborhood patrol officers and crime prevention practitioners (i.e. community crime watch leaders and other stakeholders) with skill-based training, tools, and resources to assist them in executing their jobs effectively, i.e. keeping our communities safer.

     Over the three days of the workshop, attendance daily averaged over sixty officers and other stakeholders representing 15 different north Texas communities. Trainees spent three days with some of our countries top law enforcement trainers from the NCPC covering emerging crime trends, business crime prevention, frauds & scams, neighborhood watch, senior safety, cyber-crime, and gang intervention.

     Lt. James Perez, from the Special Services Division of Fairfield, Connecticut Police Department spent several hours talking about emerging trends with youth gangs. Lt. Perez has recently been featured on NBC's Dateline for his work to address internet scam artists working in his area.

Event coordinator, Kerry Goodwin (Rep. Johnson's District Office Community Liaison) reported that the training was very well received and culminated with a special delegation of members of the NCPC Board of Directors visiting neighborhood sites, including Dolphin Heights, Ferguson Road Initiative Weed & Seed communities and Jubilee Park.

      The workshop was held in the newly completed and opened White Rock Hills Branch Library in far east Dallas. The NCPC was founded in 1982 and is the nation's non-profit leader in crime prevention. For more than 30 years, their highly recognizable icon, McGruff the Crime Dog® has delivered easy-to-use crime prevention tips that empower neighborhoods to individually and collectively keep themselves, their families, and their communities safer places to live and raise families.

Special thanks to Sandra King and her staff at the library and State Representative Eric johnson for their support and hard work to present this program.