New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services

April 6 is New York State Missing Persons Day – a day to honor missing individuals, support their families and raise awareness. We pause to mark the day and want to recognize and thank our Missing Persons Clearinghouse staff and other professionals who have dedicated their careers to helping bring those who have gone missing home. Learn more about the Missing Persons Remembrance and Missing Persons Day: https://lnkd.in/ehwirW3k

🎉 Congratulations to the New York State Police! The agency – accredited since 1990 – was reaccredited during the Law Enforcement Agency Accreditation Council Meeting last month, alongside seven other agencies. The Law Enforcement Agency Accreditation Program is voluntary and designed to improve an agency’s effectiveness, efficiency and professionalism; promote training and foster public confidence in law enforcement. Police departments and sheriffs’ offices are eligible to participate in the program.

Our Office of Probation and Correctional Alternatives today partnered with the New York State Office of Mental Health to offer probation officers, supervisors and directors from across the state a new course focused on wellness. More than 20 professionals attended the course, titled Spring Cleaning: Swapping Out Stress for Hope and Resilience – Useful Ways to Combat Workplace Fatigue and Sustain Officer Wellness. Office of Mental Health Criminal Justice Collaboration Unit Director Carrie Wong and Mental Health Program Specialist Amelia Allen shared stress warning signs and symptoms, the scope of issues affecting officer wellness, the major stressors probation professionals experience, and introduced strategies and tools focused on hope and building resilience. We are thrilled that the following departments participated and thank our colleagues for addressing this important topic. Dutchess County Office of Probation and Community Corrections Greene County Probation Department Niagara County Probation Department Ontario County Probation Department Rensselaer County Probation Dept. Saratoga County Probation Department Tioga County Probation Department

🎉 Congratulations to the Delaware County Sherriff’s Office! The agency – accredited since 2010 – was reaccredited during the Law Enforcement Agency Accreditation Council Meeting earlier this month, alongside seven other agencies. The Law Enforcement Agency Accreditation Program is voluntary and designed to improve an agency’s effectiveness, efficiency and professionalism; promote training and foster public confidence in law enforcement. Police departments and sheriffs’ offices are eligible to participate in the program.

🎉 Congratulations to the New Castle Town Police Department! The agency – accredited since 2005 – was reaccredited during the Law Enforcement Agency Accreditation Council Meeting earlier this month, alongside seven other agencies. The Law Enforcement Agency Accreditation Program is voluntary and designed to improve an agency’s effectiveness, efficiency and professionalism; promote training and foster public confidence in law enforcement. Police departments and sheriffs’ offices are eligible to participate in the program.

Nearly 350 posters qualified for judging in the state’s Missing Children’s Day Poster Contest, sponsored annually by our Missing Persons Clearinghouse. Please join us in congratulating this year’s winner, Hailey Morey, a fifth grader at Gillette Road Middle School in Cicero, Onondaga County! Hailey’s winning poster – featuring puzzle pieces, a home, a heart and a teddy bear with the words, “Bringing Our Missing Children Home!” – will compete in the National Missing Children’s Day Poster Contest sponsored by the federal Justice Department. The winner of the national contest will be announced in April. Hailey will join fellow fifth-graders and second- and third-place winners, Gerard Bonilla from Our Lady of Victory School in Mt. Vernon, Westchester County, and Sofia Alexandra Acebo from Riverhead Charter School in Suffolk County on Long Island, for an award ceremony hosted our Clearinghouse colleagues May 14 in Albany. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/eN3exK9Y NYS Office of Children and Family Services City of Albany, NY Police Department Michael Bonse Adam Dean Madeline Hehir, MSW

That’s a wrap on our first Statewide Targeted Reductions in Intimate Violence (STRIVE) orientation! Day two concluded with an overview of our Crime Analysis Center Network by Program Manager John Riegert, who highlighted the network’s value as an investigative and analytic resource for law enforcement professionals.   Thank you, Andréa Deyo and Shauna Harrington from the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence, for outlining their lethality assessment program, and Jacquelyn Campbell from the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing for discussing a danger assessment tool during today’s final day.   Thank you to all of our partners, presenters and attendees for your time and commitment to reducing and preventing intimate partner violence!

Day two of our Statewide Targeted Reductions in Intimate Violence (STRIVE) orientation featured overviews of evidence-based strategies that law enforcement and victim assistance professionals participating in the initiative must implement. Thank you to subject-matter experts Fatma Zahra, LCSW from the National Network for Safe Communities and Sarah Wittig Galgano and Heather Davies from the Geiger Institute for outlining the different strategies that have proven effective in reducing domestic violence and saving lives: the high-risk team model, danger assessment for law enforcement, and intimate partner violence intervention.

📢 Nominations for the 2023 and 2024 Governor’s Police Officer of the Year Awards are due April 15! Learn more about the award criteria and access the nomination form: https://bit.ly/3XwXF3e

During day one of our STRIVE Orientation, members of the state’s Fatality Review Team presented a Mock Fatality Review, detailing the process for law enforcement professionals and service providers. The team reviews deaths or near-deaths that result from intimate partner violence with the goal of learning from these cases and identifying ways to improve the overall response to intimate partner violence and domestic abuse. Thank you to our partners at the New York State Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence, Oneida County Sheriff’s Office, Westchester County District Attorney's Office, and the New York State Unified Court System for sharing their expertise and insights. Did you know? Homicides decreased by 15 percent (670 vs. 791) from 2022 to 2023 (the most current data available), yet domestic homicides increased by 7 percent (126 vs. 135) during the same time. The 135 domestic homicides represented 20 percent of all homicides reported statewide. In 2020 and 2021, domestic homicides represented 14 percent of total homicides reported statewide. Learn more about the state’s Fatality Review Team ➡ https://bit.ly/4c8HQG2