The Connecticut Institute for Youth and Police Relations, (CIYPR), was developed to promote a unified and consistently effective approach to policing youth across a jurisdiction in which police come to recognize their role as gatekeepers to the criminal justice system. By creating community within the cohort, as well as across local departments and youth-serving organizations, officers coordinate resources and information needed to support reform efforts.  A major component is engagement with the community and garnering input and feedback from parents and youth.

The CIYPR held 3 listening sessions in October and November to obtain feedback from the community ahead of finalizing plans for Cohort 2. Community members expressed a significant amount of interest in the project and offered ideas for future solutions during the discussions.

The sessions were open to people from across the community, and in attendance were individuals from nonprofits, police, elected officials, and others. All of these community members showed up to the listening sessions to represent themselves and self-identified as a person in a position of power when they were interested in pushing for a specific initiative or had resources that could support a workable solution presented in the session. Many of the groups represented at the sessions had the same observation that engaging with youth is critical, and they were glad it was a component of the CIYPR and hopeful that the program expands beyond Hartford.

Each of the three sessions began with community members voicing struggles and complaints, before shifting into a discussion about possible solutions and ways to move forward. CIPYR urged communication from the group and shared stories of connections between police and the community, with both parties working towards a common goal of improved relations.

Plans for the second cohort of  15 officers are being developed. The CIYPR is currently evaluating data collected from the sessions with officers and interviews across Connecticut to inform the design of the second cohort.