The Regional Institute for Community Policing, which has been a part of the University of Illinois Institute of Government and Public Affairs since 1997, will become the IGPA Center for Public Safety and Justice on Oct. 1, 2009.

The new name will more accurately reflect the mission of the Center, which has evolved since its creation in 1997 as part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing (COPS) program, said Patricia S. Rushing, director of the center. Over the years, the center has grown from concentration on community policing efforts to now include education, training and policy development solutions to an array of nationally critical issues affecting communities.

“Changing the name to the Center for Public Safety and Justice better describes the programmatic initiatives in which we are involved and therefore more accurately describes our focus,” Rushing said. “We assist the public safety sector with training and helping to develop emergency response and action plans, and we serve the justice focal point on the criminal justice spectrum by providing information and resources to designers of public policy,”

The CPSJ examines issues surrounding themes that affect the safety of our nation’s residents, Rushing said. These themes are advanced through programs that involve a community’s, as well as individuals’, preparation and response to crime, natural disasters or other catastrophic events.

“We are proud to have the Center for Public Safety and Justice as part of the Institute of Government and Public Affairs,” said IGPA Director Robert F. Rich. “The center’s work is emblematic of IGPA’s mission to conduct sound public policy research and then translate that research into practice. Moreover, CPSJ does work that can quickly and directly affect people’s lives.”

The CPSJ continues to be among eight regional institutions that are part of the Department of Justice’s COPS National Delivery Alliance. The center also will continue to find solutions to community problems through its partnerships with other agencies such as the Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice, the Illinois Terrorism Task Force, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Illinois State’s Attorney’s Appellate Prosecutor’s Office, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Anti-Cruelty Society and Best Friends Animal Society.