Background

Many urban areas have been affected by increased levels of community and domestic violence. The Yale University Child Study Center’s Child Development-Community Policing (CD–CP) 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 children’s development. The CD–CP 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 CD–CP Program is based on the premise that although exposure to violence and trauma may compromise children’s 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 CD–CP collaboration that targets children who have been directly or indirectly exposed to violence and trauma within their community.

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Community Outreach through Police In Schools
August 2003