LAW ENFORCEMENT GROUPS ANNOUNCE LARGEST POLICE-COMMUNITY OUTREACH INITIATIVE EVER

As crime escalates and tensions between police and some communities linger, law enforcement organizations are uniting with local communities for National Faith & Blue Weekend 2022 (October 7-10) to encourage dialogue and collaboration

[Washington, DC] – The Hispanic American Police Command Officers Association (HAPCOA), along with every major national law enforcement group, state and regional associations representing all 50 states, the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, is partnering with Atlanta-based MovementForward, Inc.’s One Congregation One Precinct (OneCOP) initiative to jointly organize the most consolidated police-community outreach project in history - National Faith & Blue Weekend 2022 (Faith & Blue). The effort is sponsored by FirstNet, Built with AT&T and the Motorola Solutions Foundation. The mission is to facilitate safer, stronger, and more unified communities by connecting law enforcement officers and residents through local faith-based and community organizations.

“For the past several years, we've seen enormous strains in the relationship between law enforcement and communities,” says MovementForward CEO and Faith & Blue lead organizer Rev. Markel Hutchins. “Recent times have proven that we cannot simply march and protest away the problems — we have to turn our pain into power,” continues Rev. Hutchins. “Our pathway to progress around policing as a nation is a collaborative one that focuses on our commonalities rather than our differences.”

As the nation continues to grapple with recent discord between law enforcement and some of the communities they serve, Faith & Blue weekend will address the urgent yet longstanding need for authentic collaboration between law enforcement and residents. In its inaugural year of 2020, National Faith & Blue Weekend facilitated 1,000 community-led activities in 43 states and the District of Columbia.

“HAPCOA knows that faith organizations offer our communities support which includes worship, training, development, childcare, job training, and when needed they offer emergency care, food, shelter and clothing. HAPCOA recognized years ago that the relationship between law enforcement and faith-based organizations, churches, synagogues, mosques and temples was essential if we as law enforcement were going to serve our communities in their times of need.” Anthony Chapa, Executive Director, HAPCOA.

Collaborations between law enforcement and local groups – especially faith-based organizations – are invaluable force-multipliers for creating safer and more engaged communities. Faith & Blue will positively impact Americans by directly engaging community influencers, residents, and law enforcement professionals in every state across the United States.

"Faith-based organizations and law enforcement groups are uniquely and deeply tied to their communities, and it is through collaborative and respectful dialogue that common ground can be found, " says Jason Porter, president, Public Sector and FirstNet, AT&T. “As America’s public safety partner, it’s our honor to support the grassroots effort of Faith & Blue to strengthen police-community relations in neighborhoods across the country.”

Faith & Blue Weekend 2022 is slated for Friday, October 7 – Monday, October 10, with planned activities such as community dialogues, peace marches, service projects and other interactive experiences to help foster ongoing, authentic, and mutual community-law enforcement trust.

"Motorola Solutions Foundation is honored to support National Faith & Blue Weekend as it drives important conversations and strengthens connections between law enforcement and communities across the United States," says Jack Molloy, Board Member, Motorola Solutions Foundation and Executive Vice President of Products, Sales & Services, Motorola Solutions.

Launched in October 2020 Faith & Blue is an unprecedented national law enforcement-community engagement project involving dozens of state law enforcement professional associations, the federal government, and nearly every major national law enforcement group in the United States of America including:

For more information about National Faith & Blue Weekend (Faith & Blue), visit www.faithandblue.org.

ABOUT HAPCOA: The Hispanic American Police Command Officers Association (HAPCOA) is a non-profit membership organization established in 1973. It is the oldest and largest association in the U.S. of Hispanic American command officers from law enforcement and criminal justice agencies at the municipal, county, state, university, school, and federal levels.
www.hapcoa.org