The NJ Police Chief Magazine Volume 23, Number 8 | Page 32

The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine | October 2017 NJSACOP LEAP 2017 Standards Revised Edition to be Released Soon Harry J Delgado, Ed.S., Accreditation Program Manager Very exciting new developments will be announced soon about the 2017 NJSACOP Standards Revision The Standard Review Committee (SRC) met over the summer to discuss many developments in Law Enforcement that impact the process of accreditation in New Jersey. A rigorous and intensive review led to proposed changes in language as well as additional standards. This proposed draft was approved by the NJSACOP Board of Officers, and it is now undergoing the final review process as a 2017 Revised Edition for release. The release of the 2017 NJSACOP LEAP Standards will include updated documents such as the Standards Reports, Summary Matrix, Data Tables, Annual Report, and Final Report. A timeline for the release of the documents and effective date for compliance will be announced once this final phase is completed. Law enforcement associations, leading educational and training institutions, government agencies, and insurance agencies have all acknowledged that any police agency who receives an accreditation certification is holding itself and its officers to the absolute highest standards in the industry. To date, close to one hundred and ninety agencies have received accredited status through NJSACOP LEAP. For more information about our program I may be reached at [email protected]. FBI Releases 2016 Report On Crime In The United States The Federal Bureau of Investigation has released the 2016 edition of its Crime in the United States (CIUS) report, a part of the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports (UCR). According the official release, the report, which covers January-December 2016, "reaffirms that the worrying violent crime increase that began in 2015 after many years of decline was not an isolated incident." The violent crime rate increased by 3.4 percent nationwide in 2016, the largest single-year increase in 25 years. The nationwide homicide rate increased by 7.9 percent, for a total increase of more than 20 percent in the nationwide homicide rate since 2014. US Attorney General Jeff Sessions was quoted in the FBI release as saying "For the sake of all Americans, we must confront and turn back the rising tide of violent crime. And we must do it together....The Department of Justice is committed to working with our state, local, and tribal partners across the country to deter violent crime, dismantle criminal organizations and gangs, stop the scourge of drug trafficking, and send a strong message to criminals that we will not surrender our communities to lawlessness and violence.” The report also adjusts and corrects numbers for 2015, showing that the violent crime rate actually increased by 3.3 percent (as opposed to 3.1 percent, as previously reported) in 2015. The violent crime rate increases in 2015 and 2016 each represented the largest single-year increases in the violent crime rate since 1991. These increases were nationwide, with the average violent crime rate increasing in cities over 250,000 in population, in cities under 10,000 in population, in suburban areas, and in every size in-between. In addition to the 7.9 percent homicide rate increase in 2016, the corrected numbers show the homicide rate increased by 11.4 percent in 2015, for a total increase of more than 20 percent from 2014-2016. Rapes, robberies, and aggravated assaults also each continued to increase nationwide in 2016. 31