Background
Many urban areas have been affected by increased levels of community
and domestic violence. The Yale University Child Study Centers
Child Development-Community Policing (CDCP) Program developed out
of concern about escalating violent crime in the greater New Haven, Connecticut,
area and across the country and the impact of exposure to violence and
trauma on childrens development. The CDCP Program is a collaboration
between the Yale University Child Study Center and the New Haven Department
of Police Services that aims, in part, to address the mental health needs
of children exposed to violence within the community. The CDCP
Program is based on the premise that although exposure to violence and
trauma may compromise childrens developmental potential, it may
also provide a window of opportunity for introducing a variety of interventions
that can help mitigate the impact of such trauma. The Community Outreach
through Police in Schools Program is an example of an intervention implemented
by the CDCP collaboration that targets children who have been directly
or indirectly exposed to violence and trauma within their community.