Media Advisory

TO:                    Assignment Editors

FROM:                UAF Justice Department

SUBJECT:           Community Policing Program

LOCATION:         Wood Center Ballroom, UAF Campus

DATE & TIME:     Saturday, Feb. 15 - Monday, Feb. 17, 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.

A three-day training session on developing community police teams will take place at UAF Feb. 15 -17. Law enforcement agencies and community groups will participate. Costs for the training are being supported by a U.S. Department of Justice grant given to the Western Regional Community Policing Resource and Training Center in Monmouth, Ore. The center provides educational resources, coordination of services and training to law enforcement officers and community teams in Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Utah. The center works closely with state Police Officer Standards and Training agencies to deliver services.

UAF justice instructor Caralyn Holmes is one of two Alaskans serving on the regional training center's steering committee. She says the three-day course at UAF is one of the first-ever in the state using money from the national justice department's Community Oriented Police Services (COPS) program. Another center-sponsored training session is scheduled in Kenai in March.

COPS money is being used in other areas of Fairbanks and at UAF. The opening of a satellite police office on the UAF campus was supported by a COPS grant. Holmes points out that UAF's justice department is meeting the needs of a changing philosophy in the delivery of law enforcement by offering classes, training and information. In December, UAF was the only Alaska site for a U.S. justice department live satellite videoconference on combating juvenile crime.

FOR MORE INFORMATION contact: UAF Criminal Justice Instructor Caralyn Holmes, (907) 474-6501.

DPD/2-6-97/97-53med.adv