The Vancouver Police Department won a $450,000 grant to help address gender bias in law enforcement responses to domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking, the department said Wednesday.
The department is one of six in the country to win the grant, which will “provide Vancouver with national experts to lead a community assessment, develop and implement a strategic plan, and provide training and technical assistance to improve responses to domestic and sexual violence,” the department said in a news release.
The grant comes through the International Association of Chiefs of Police, a nonprofit police professional and advocacy organization, with support from the federal Office for Victims of Crime and National Crime Victim Law Institute, a national victims advocacy nonprofit.
The department applied for the grant last year, and is working with the granting organization on a budget, contract and the scope of the deal, which will run through September 2019.
Along with assessing and bettering Vancouver officers’ handling of such crimes, the partnership will, according to the police, help create better practices to transfer to other law enforcement agencies nationwide.
