Apr 30, 2019   SOURCE: BusinessWire

National Police Foundation Selects New President

The National Police Foundation (NPF) Board of Directors recently announced their decision to name Executive Vice President Jim Burch as the organization’s new President. This announcement comes after the retirement of the former President and retired police chief Jim Bueermann in 2018. Burch has been serving as interim President since December and will begin serving as President immediately.

Burch has served with the Foundation — a non-partisan, non-profit research organization dedicated to improving policing through innovation and science — since 2015. During his tenure, he developed and led multiple research, training, and technical assistance projects related to violent crime reduction, officer safety, transparency and technology, and international policing development efforts, resulting in substantial growth of the Foundation’s programs serving police and communities alike. Burch joined the Foundation after serving more than 20 years in both federal service and the private sector. Burch served as an Acting Assistant Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, & Explosives, the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for DOJ’s largest agency dedicated to supporting state and local law enforcement, and as Acting Director of the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance where he led the development of many resources and programs designed to support and encourage the use of science in policing.

“I am extremely pleased and honored to announce that the Board of Directors has selected Jim Burch as our new President,” said Bernard Melekian, Chairman of the NPF Board of Directors and Assistant County Executive Officer over public safety in Santa Barbara, California. “Jim is a visionary leader and has a long and distinguished public service career. His strong dedication to NPF’s mission and proven record for developing effective and innovative strategies to enhance policing and justice makes him uniquely qualified to lead our organization at this transformative time.”

As President of the National Police Foundation, Burch has identified two major areas of focus within the mission of the NPF — enhancing and strengthening the profession’s reliance on science and evidence-based policing in order to better protect communities and officers, and working with police and community leaders to strengthen the positive relations that exist and to rebuild strained and broken trust where it exists in the U.S. and in fragile democracies across the world.

“Equipping police and political leaders with actionable and science-based information about effective crime reduction and police operations, and working to improve trust, understanding and cooperation between police and communities across racial and demographic divides is essential and must be priority number one for the Foundation,” said Burch. “The Foundation will return to its roots, established nearly 50 years ago, as it seeks to advance policing at a time when the police are so positively viewed by many and yet looked upon with skepticism, distrust or fear by others. We cannot take a one-sided view and for the good of our communities and the profession, we must confront the divides that keep us apart.”

Burch is a nationally-recognized voice in law enforcement and criminal justice and has participated in many panels, television, radio, and print interviews, to discuss trending topics.

About the National Police Foundation:

Established in 1970, the National Police Foundation is a national, non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to improving policing through innovation and science. For nearly 50 years, the Foundation has conducted research on all aspects of policing and is leading the way in promoting and sharing evidence-based practices and innovation among law enforcement. The Foundation is currently working with hundreds of police agencies nationwide, as well as internationally, providing research and translation, training, technical assistance, and modern technology implementation. The Foundation is a leader in officer safety and wellness, community policing, open-data, investigations, and law-enforcement technology. The Foundation’s main goal is to improve the way police do their work and the delivery of police services, in order to benefit officers and the communities they serve, as well as reduce crime.

For more information, please visit the National Police Foundation website. For media inquiries, please contact Erica Richardson at erichardson@policefoundation.org or at 202-833-1466.