A strong and resilient law enforcement sector is vital to ensuring the health, well-being and safety of our families and our communities. Policing in America is rooted in community, and mutual trust between police agencies and the communities they serve are critical to maintaining public safety.

As members of law enforcement, our officers look for opportunities to build and sustain trust with the communities we serve. We know that trust goes both ways. We rely on the cooperation of community members to provide information about crime in their neighborhoods, and to work with us to devise solutions to crime and disorder problems. Similarly, community members’ willingness to trust the police depends on whether they believe that our actions are legitimate, reflect community values, and incorporate the principles of fairness and procedural justice.

There is no doubt that law enforcement officers face a myriad of challenges that can take a tremendous toll on their wellness and safety, which in turn can impact community trust. Officers deal daily with the trauma of responding not just to gun violence, but also to incidents of child abuse, domestic violence, suicide, opioid deaths, and more. The impact of so much trauma can take a tremendous toll on even the healthiest individuals.

We see the impact of that trauma in the latest law enforcement statistics from the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI), in which police officers suffer from higher rates of depression, burnout, PTSD, anxiety, and suicide than the general population.

That is why the Chautauqua County’s Sheriff’s Office joined an initiative funded by the Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) called Fostering Resilience and Hope: Bridging the Gap Between Law Enforcement and The Community, known as Project Hope. Project HOPE is a three-year demonstration initiative that infuses the science of hope to build protective factors and assist law enforcement officers with addressing burnout, trauma and adversity in order to improve officer well-being and community connections.

Hope science is not merely wishful thinking; it is an evidence-based practice rooted in the belief that the future will be better than today, and that each of us play a role in making that future possible. Hope is based on three simple ideas: goals, pathways, and willpower. It is contingent on the future expectation that we can set valued goals, identify the pathways or roadmaps to achieve those goals, and manage the willpower (mental energy) to pursue those goals. Hope is strongly associated with physical, psychological, and social well-being for individuals and reduced burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and turnover for organizations.

For the last 15 years, research at the University of Oklahoma’s Hope Research Center has focused on understanding the role of hope as a coping resource vital to buffering individuals from stress, adversity, and trauma. This research led to the development of the Hope Centered and Trauma Informed research-based curriculum that is the core of Project Hope’s efforts to help law enforcement departments and communities achieve stronger connections and see improvements in well-being.

What impact can the enhancement of officer wellness and safety have on strengthening trust between law enforcement and communities? The latest research literature suggests that a direct correlation between feelings of hopelessness among officers tied to duty-related stress or danger, as well as administrative stress and lack of organizational support, can impact community connectedness and the levels of trust displayed by both law enforcement and community members.

Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office is one of fifteen law enforcement agencies from across the nation that are currently working collaboratively through Project HOPE to incorporate training, advocacy and outreach around hope science to help build those community connections. Some of the strategies for infusing the science of hope into law enforcement that are being shared include:

— Offering Hope Navigator trainings that provide background in the science of hope and how it can be applied to goal setting and pathways.

— Development of a new evidence-based curriculum for leadership, staff and new recruits that uses hope science with a focus on strengthening culture, morale and wellness.

— Use of hope science messaging in recruitment, retention, peer support and mentoring programs.

We are excited to explore the science of hope and to facilitate learning, collaboration and innovation around law enforcement workforce resilience and community engagement with the ultimate goal of strengthening our connection to our community and providing our officers with the tools they need to achieve their goals of fostering a safer, stronger Chautauqua County.

James B. Quattrone is the Sheriff of Chautauqua County’s Sheriff’s Office and President of the New York State Sheriffs’ Association, a nonprofit working to support New York sheriffs in serving and protecting the citizenry through member-supported training programs, accreditation, legislative advocacy, and public safety programs.