Towards a More Safe and Secure World is a three-week International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) initiative that engages international participants with U.S. counterparts and examines methods for upholding the rule of law, leveraging partnerships, expanding international cooperation and defeating terrorism.

Project Objectives

• Foster greater global cooperation against terrorism and other transnational crime threats
• Explore methods to neutralize global criminal activities such as drug trafficking, trafficking in persons, money laundering, and countering extremism
• Address the impact of transnational crime on the global economy
• Survey the U.S. criminal justice system and review how its principles are applied to international crime prosecution
• Examine ways to strengthen partnerships between community- based organizations and law enforcement officials
• Address issues of balancing law enforcement and security with the preservation of civil liberties

In its fifth year, this three-week International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) connects participants from 56 countries with their U.S. counterparts in Washington D.C., New York City, and small and mid-sized American cities. Participants gain an understanding of public safety and security issues from federal, state and local law enforcement officials, public officials, and social service and victim assistance providers. Together, they exchange ideas on how to expand international cooperation, uphold the rule of law, and defeat terrorism.

The 2019 initiative begins with plenary sessions at the U.S. Department of State and the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. featuring top public and private sector security experts. IVLP participants will then embark on their programs across the United States before convening in Tampa Bay, Florida at the new St. Petersburg Police Department Headquarters for a workshop on St. Petersburg College’s Multijurisdictional Counterdrug Taskforce Workshop Training Program.

The program will conclude in New York City with the annual Combating Transnational Crime Global Cooperation Conference, co-hosted with the Federal Bureau of Investigation New York Field Office.