The Evolution of G.R.E.A.T.

In April 1992, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and the Phoenix PD entered into a cooperative agreement to facilitate the national expansion of the G.R.E.A.T. Program. In August 1992, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) joined ATF and the Phoenix PD to expand the Program nationally, providing the programmatic support required to train G.R.E.A.T. instructors. G.R.E.A.T. expanded with surprising speed over the next few years.

By 1995, the Program had trained 1,859 law enforcement officers and taught more than 500,000 middle school students. That same year, the University of Nebraska Omaha began an in-depth, five-year longitudinal evaluation of the Program. The study showed significant positive effects for students completing the training but did not clearly demonstrate that the Program was meeting its goals for reductions in gang joining. This led program leadership to take a hard look at what was needed to improve effectiveness.

In 1998, the Program added the Orange County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, PD; La Crosse, Wisconsin, PD; and Portland, Oregon, Police Bureau to the Phoenix PD to assist in administering the Program and serve as G.R.E.A.T. Regional Training Centers. This regional lineup remained the same until 2009, when it was reorganized to four regions—Midwest Atlantic, Southeast, Southwest, and West—through 2017, when federal funding was no longer maintained for the regional training centers.

During 1999-2000, G.R.E.A.T. underwent an extensive multidisciplinary program and curriculum review. The objective was to ensure program adherence to the latest scientifically supported data regarding prevention and educational research and theory. The new curriculum was successfully piloted in 14 cities nationwide in 2001 and was universally implemented beginning in 2003.

In 2004, administration and oversight of the G.R.E.A.T. Program was transferred from ATF to the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, which assigned operational control to the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). BJA entered into a cooperative agreement with the Institute for Intergovernmental Research (IIR) to establish the G.R.E.A.T. Program Office (GPO). The GPO provides national training coordination services, advanced curriculum development, resource distribution, and continuing support to certified Program instructors. ATF and FLETC continued to work closely with BJA and IIR and to participate in the administration of the Program.

In 2006, a second rigorous scientific evaluation was commissioned by the National Institute of Justice to assess the redesigned curriculum implemented in 2003 to determine whether the changes increased Program effectiveness. Findings from this multiyear, multicity study were published in 2012. When the program was implemented as intended, results of the one-year post-program showed a 39% reduction in odds of gang joining among students who received the Program compared to those who did not and an average of 24% reduction in odds of gang joining across the four-years post-program. To read more about the results of the national evaluation of the G.R.E.A.T. Program, see Evaluation of G.R.E.A.T.

In 2009, the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, U.S. Department of State, partnered with G.R.E.A.T. to introduce the G.R.E.A.T. Program in Central America. The region is plagued by an epidemic of gang growth that has become transnational in scope, influenced by strong migration, deportation, and repatriation patterns that make this a shared problem with the United States. The Program has spread rapidly throughout Central America, adding an eagerly received prevention component to anti-gang efforts in the region.

In 2011, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention assumed responsibility from BJA for providing the funds needed to support the training of G.R.E.A.T. instructors in the United States and provide up-to-date materials to instructors and students.

In 2018, IIR’s GPO remained as the central coordinating office for the Program, handling all state and local agency contact directly for training and Program implementation support. In 2022, with no federal funding support to schedule regional G.R.E.A.T. Officer training, the GPO schedules fee-based training events by request with state and local agencies. ATF continues to sponsor local outreach and implementation.