The University of Chicago Crime Lab has received gifts totaling $27.5 million from investors and philanthropists Kenneth C. Griffin and Michael Sacks to launch an initiative designed to train police managers and prevent neighborhood violence.

The funding includes $25 million from Griffin and $2.5 million from Sacks to launch two Community Safety Leadership Academies. The Policing Management Academy aims to professionalize departments by educating their leaders through coaching, accountability, and data-driven decision making. The Community Violence Intervention (CVI) Management Academy will work to educate participants on information use, program retention, and worker growth. To that end, the academies will supply administration and management coaching for law enforcement officials using information, behavioral science, and experience. The academies will offer multidisciplinary and complementary curricula over six months, and the first cohorts will graduate in 2023.

In 2018, Griffin awarded $10 million the Crime Lab to implement an early intervention system to investigate citizen complaints.

“Improving the ability of community safety institutions to use data-driven management strategies is a vastly underutilized lever for stemming the tide of gun violence and closing the safety gap in America’s cities,” said Crime Lab executive director Roseanna Ander.

“The Crime Lab and its partners have made the communities they serve safer. The success of these programs demonstrates that we know how to better protect our residents and build stronger bonds between law enforcement and our neighborhoods,” said Griffin, CEO of Citadel. “Leveraging these insights, the Community Safety Leadership Academies will bring together the best minds from policing, violence intervention, and research to strengthen the way we invest in community safety in cities across the nation.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Kali9)