July 15, 2021—The National Police Foundation (NPF), in partnership with the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), is pleased to release Staying Healthy in the Fray: The Impact of Crowd Management on Officers in the Context of Civil Unrest. This guidebook will serve as a safety and wellness resource to frontline officers, supervisors, and law enforcement executives when in the midst of policing mass demonstrations. The guidebook offers steps which can be taken on an individual and organizational level to aid officers in preparing for and protecting colleagues and themselves during, and recovering from, moments of civil unrest. The goal of the guidebook is to provide a holistic sense of support for officers’ physical and mental health, both while at work and at home. We must develop and support organizational cultures that recognize and prioritize officer safety and wellness as an integral part of policing protests and the foundation of community policing.

The guidebook has been created with the support of the BJA Preventing Violence Against Law Enforcement and Ensuring Officer Resilience and Survivability (VALOR) Initiative. BJA created the VALOR Officer Safety and Wellness Initiative to improve officer safety training resources and opportunities available to the law enforcement community in the United States. The goal of the Initiative is to increase officer safety and resilience and strengthen officer wellness.

To view the guidebook, please visit: https://www.policefoundation.org/publication/staying-healthy-in-the-fray-the-impact-of-crowd-management-on-officers-in-the-context-of-civil-unrest

For more information about the VALOR Officer Safety and Wellness Initiative, visit: https://bja.ojp.gov/program/valor/overview