West Virginia's Regional Community Policing Institute (RCPI) was established in 1997 when a partnership of state agencies obtained federal grant money to fund the Institute.

West Virginia has approximately 272 law enforcement agencies that serve 1.8 million residents. The majority of these law enforcement departments are very small, consisting of between two and five members. County and state law enforcement officers are often responsible for large rural jurisdictions with difficult mountainous terrain.

The WV RCPI helps overcome these challenges by integrating community policing concepts into basic and in-service training for state and local law enforcement officers at the State Police Academy and other training sessions made available to officers and community members throughout the state.
Community Policing

Community-oriented policing is a strategy that build on fundamental policing practices with an emphasis on crime prevention, problem-solving and citizen involvement.

This includes moving away from incident-driven law enforcement and focusing on addressing issues and predicting ways to prevent problems before they occur. Officers actively working with citizens can identify, understand and devise possible solutions to problems in their community.

In 1994, the Violent Crime Control & Law Enforcement Act authorized funds
to promote this policing strategy, as well as put 100,000 more police officers
on the streets. To carry out these initiatives, the US Department of Justice
created the Office of Community-Oriented Policing Services
(COPS). Regional
Community Policing Institutes are part of a national network of RCPIs created
and funded by the COPS Office to facilitate community policing at
the state and local level.