BRISTOL, R.I., May 2008 – With recent incidents of violent crimes occurring not only in major cities, but also in smaller cities in the region, police across New England are searching for ways to look outside the box to develop innovative tactics to protect their cities.

On Tuesday, June 3, the Justice System Training and Research Institute at Roger Williams University will join forces with The New England Association of Chiefs of Police and the Providence Police Department to host police chiefs from major cities in New England at a summit on the topic of “Crime and Violence in America.”

“For the second year, the New England Police Summit will provide our regional police chiefs with crucial training on topical law enforcement issues,” said University President Roy J. Nirschel. “Our Justice Institute continually strives to conduct research and develop training for police departments to help maintain safe communities.”

The summit—to be held at the University’s Bristol, R.I., campus— will open with a welcome from Providence Mayor David Cicilline, Providence Chief of Police Dean Esserman and Robert McKenna, director of the Justice Institute, beginning at 8:45 a.m.

The conference will feature a variety of expert panelists and speakers, including: Bob Herbert, New York Times columnist; David Kennedy, director of the Center on Crime Prevention & Control at John Jay College of Criminal Justice; Laurie Robinson, a former assistant attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice and current director of the criminology program at the University of Pennsylvania; and Steven Marans, head of the National Center of Children Exposed to Violence at the Yale Child Study Center.

Additional conference topics include: crime trends, drug markets, children exposed to violence and community policing.

Among others, police from the following cities will participate:

• Boston, Lawrence, New Bedford and Holliston, Mass.
• Bridgeport, New Haven and Norwich, Conn.
• Providence, Cranston, Newport and Warwick, R.I., and the Rhode Island State Police

The summit will be held in the College of Arts and Sciences Room 157 at the University’s Bristol campus located on One Old Ferry Road. The event is closed to members of the public.

The University established the Justice System Training and Research Institute at its School of Justice Studies to provide training and professional development for all areas of law enforcement.