Pillar 1: Trust and Legitimacy

BRPD Alignment

1. The Baton Rouge Collective Healing Initiative was conducted from October 1, 2017, through September 30, 2020. The Baton Rouge Police Department (BRPD) served as the lead and fiscal agent for the project. 
   • The original core members of the Initiative included 100 Black Men of Metro Baton Rouge, the Baton Rouge Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Capital Area Human Services, LSU Social Research, and Evaluation Center, and the Southern University, Center for Social Research. 
   • The initial baseline survey and community listening session assessments informed community and law enforcement efforts and programming. The Baton Rouge Collective Healing Initiative partners worked closely with national technical assistance organizations to gain knowledge about successful interventions to heal community-police relationships. 
   • Throughout the grant period, the Baton Rouge Collective Healing Initiative expanded the number of agencies working on the project. This capacity-building strengthens and expands Baton Rouge’s ability to strategize and address historically entrenched community-police relationships and reduce violent crime in the capital city. As the Baton Rouge Collective Healing grant reaches its conclusion, multiple efforts are underway for continuing this work. Innovative, community-based strategies will be continued via Baton Rouge’s new Safe, Hopeful, Healthy Initiative. Housed within the Healthy BR organization, a local non-profit organization that promotes healthy lifestyles for Baton Rouge residents, Safe, Hopeful, Healthy will include a community-based violence intervention program and the Baton Rouge Street Community Team (BRSCT). 
2. Through its leadership and involvement, BRPD is contributing to and learning from the work of the East Baton Rouge Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (EBRCJCC) Criminal Justic Coordinating Council Board of Directors and Staff. 

• The mission of the EBRCJCC is to work less as individuals and more as a team, focusing on inclusion, collaboration, and data analysis to achieve a justice system that is fair and equitable for all residents of East Baton Rouge Parish.
• Included in its body of work was a 2020 citizen survey of attitudes and perceptions related to the criminal justice system. BRPD uses this, and other feedback, to inform its policies and practices. 

Resources

• Baton Rouge Collective Healing Initiative: Final Report.
• Survey: Overall high marks for Baton Rouge law enforcement, but responses split along racial lines
• At a north Baton Rouge church, teens get a lesson in law enforcement and collective healing
• Safe Hopeful Neighborhood.
• Mayor Broome Dedicates $2 Million of CARES Act to Public Safety
• It affects us all,’ Baton Rouge Community Street Team looking to deter crime in city
• The Baton Rouge Street Team is addressing local violence starting this summer