Proactive Alliance Relationship-Based Approach
The Proactive Alliance policing approach integrates policing methods with adapted concepts from counseling psychology created by a licensed professional counselor and a police officer. This collaborative approach is a prevention model based on building relationships with the community in a variety of settings and using the humanity of the individual police officer as his or her most valuable instrument.
Although forging collaborative relationships has been suggested and encouraged to most police departments, exactly how to develop and improve existing skills to achieve this goal has been uncertain. The ability to create lasting, purposeful relationships with stakeholders is not an innate skill but can be taught. While some police officers have a natural talent for social interaction, all personality types are capable of learning how to build productive relationships with the appropriate training. Building a productive relationship requires effective communication and empathy, but must also incorporate collaboration. Proactive Alliance recognizes the value of the transactional de-escalation techniques that police use to defuse adversarial conflict and empowers officers to actively engage with the public before a conflict occurs. When a crisis does occur, the relationship acts as a problem-solving medium, giving the officer more options than enforcement alone, including the ability to draw from the community for the most effective solution.
The concept of Proactive Alliance, developed by Molly Mastoras, LPC, is a method of collaboration among police, businesses, and community members fostered by active listening techniques, effective communication, and empathy to develop purposeful and productive relationships. This approach draws from and adapts counseling psychology concepts including Family Systems Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Person-Centered techniques, the Stages of Change, Trauma-informed techniques, and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
The IACP Trust Building Campaign
To join IACP's Trust Building Campaign, police agencies must pledge to implement the outlined key policies and promising practices. These policies and practices represent six key focus areas that are essential to enhancing trust and collaboration between communities and police.
- Bias-Free Policing
- Use of Force
- Leadership and Culture
- Recruitment, Hiring, and Retention
- Victim Services
- Community Relations
Safe Night provides training and technical assistance to help law enforcement agencies fulfill the IACP's Trust Building Campaign. Proactive Alliance relationship-based policing can help your organization meet several key focus areas, including community relations, leadership, and culture.
For more information on the IACP Trust Building Campaign or how Safe Night can help your organization fulfill its campaign pledge, contact mail@safe-night.com
To join the IACP Trust Building Campaign, click here.
Proactive Alliance Featured on the NCJA Podcast
Episode 28: Engaging Stakeholders Using a Relationship-Based Approach
In episode 28 of the NCJA Podcast, learn about the creation of Safe Night. Safe Night works with police departments, local and state enforcement agencies, economic development partners, business improvement districts, private businesses, and community groups and leverages public/private partnerships to improve the safety and vibrancy of communities. Listen as Program Manager Jessica Grisler speaks to co-founders Dimitrios (Jim) and Molly Mastoras about how they utilized their unique areas of expertise to create the Proactive Alliance relationship-based approach training. This approach, which is adapted from evidence-based psychological counseling therapy, teaches individuals how to create and maintain strong relationships with all relevant parties to solve complex public safety issues.
MIT Solve - Proactive Alliance
Solve is an initiative of MIT. We believe that to achieve a more sustainable and equitable future for all, we need new voices and ideas. We launch open calls for exceptional and diverse solutions to the most pressing global challenges from anyone, anywhere in the world. Selected innovators get the backing of MIT and our community of supporters to scale their impact and drive lasting change.
What specific problem are you solving?
Proactive Alliance addresses two challenges of community policing: building meaningful collaboration and empowering officers to become change agents in pursuit of the "co-production" of public safety. Proactive Alliance (PA) provides perspectives and practical solutions adapted from counseling psychology to teach police how to engage appropriately with individuals in the community with empathy and respect in the pursuit of collaboration. PA is meant to dovetail with evidenced-based solutions, specifically community oriented policing (COP) and problem oriented policing (POP), to boost or empower these methods.
Project Hope - Wichita, KS
In the fall of 2023, Safe Night staff conducted Proactive Alliance relationship-based approach training for staff from the Wichita Police Department and the Wichita Housing and Community Services Department in service of their collaboration called Project HOPE. Our Proactive Alliance training focused on strengthening their multidisciplinary model and their capacity to build trustful, individual relationships with partnering agencies and the community.
This training was made possible through our role in providing technical assistance to the US Department of Justice Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation (BCJI) grant overseen by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP).
Click the link to learn more about Project HOPE and the Wichita Police Department's Homeless Outreach Team (HOT).
Public Safety Clients
Dayton Police Department
Proactive Alliance Training
What Officers are Saying About Proactive Alliance
“Both instructors were very clear and informative, they kept me intrigued throughout the entire course.”
“Jim and Molly did a great job presenting the content. Proactive Alliance offers new techniques and methods to deal with daily interactions. Law enforcement is changing rapidly and we need to grow with the change.”
“I will use what I’ve learned from Proactive Alliance to help me better deal with citizens and other officers.”
“Much of what I learned in Proactive Alliance will be applied as a supervisor with my subordinates.”
“I love the concept of bringing policing and psychology together.”
“This class needs to be offered to both officers and supervisors!”
Proactive Alliance Presentations
2020 American Society of Evidence-Based Policing Conference
2020 American Society of Evidence-Based Policing Conference
2020 American Society of Evidence-Based Policing Conference
In June 2020, Molly Mastoras, MA, LPC, presented Proactive Alliance Relationship-Based Policing at the American Society of Evidence-Based Policing (ASEBP) with Dr. Charlotte Gill from George Mason University Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy.
2021 Law Enforcement and Public Health Conference
2020 American Society of Evidence-Based Policing Conference
2020 American Society of Evidence-Based Policing Conference
On March 23, 2021, Molly Mastoras, MA, LPC presented Proactive Alliance relationship-based policing with Dr. Charlotte Gill from the George Mason University Center for Evidence-Based Policing at the 6th International Conference on Law Enforcement and Public Health (LEPH).