ICITAP Hosts High-Level Webinar on 21st Century Policing

On September 22, ICITAP hosted an event titled “Policing in the 21st Century” with former Assistant Attorney General Laurie Robinson. As part of ICITAP’s continued focus on police reform and racial justice, the virtual engagement was attended by 130 participants representing the U.S. government interagency community as well as many international participants. With over three decades of analyzing and leading U.S. criminal justice policy, Ms. Robinson twice served as the Senate-confirmed AAG for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs – or OJP – which is DOJ’s research, statistics and criminal justice assistance agency. Her ten years as the AAG, serving under two presidents, made her the longest-serving head of that agency in its 50-year history. In 2014, Ms. Robinson was named by then-President Obama to co-chair the White House Task Force on 21st Century Policing, who, along with fellow chair, Charles Ramsey, was charged with developing recommendations on ways to build greater trust between law enforcement and citizens in the wake of the shooting of Michael Brown by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.  In the May 2015 final report, co-chairs Robinson and Ramsey wrote, “the task force was created to strengthen community policing and trust among law enforcement officers and the communities they serve—especially in light of recent events around the country that have underscored the need for and importance of lasting collaborative relationships between local police and the public.” Ms. Robinson share with the 130 participants her journey and experience in defending the rule of law and advocating for equal access under the law, focusing on her service as the co-chair of the Obama White House Task Force on 21st Century Policing.