Policing and Immigrants - NYTimes.com Re "Little-Known Guide (Definitely Not for Tourists) Helps Police in a Diverse City" (news article, June 11): In the last decade, more than two-thirds of states saw their foreign-born populations increase by at least 30 percent. A significant proportion of the growth is happening in areas that were once unfamiliar with immigration - in rural communities, suburbs and small cities. Work that we have done with the Justice Department's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services aims to foster continuing collaborations between police departments and the immigrant communities they serve. We have identified some promising practices in the field: comprehensive approaches, including dedicated community liaisons, multicultural police advisory councils, and training for police personnel that is developed in partnership with community members. Effective efforts include training guides, but need to go beyond them and directly involve the community in learning about its barriers to receiving police protection and services. A police officer can learn volumes about a specific community's needs through interactions that take place at a community-based cafe or during a walk through a neighborhood. Finally, prosecutors, courts, corrections departments and other criminal justice agencies need to think about how to strategically encourage cooperation and gain the trust of the many communities they serve. The writer is program director at the Center on Immigration and Justice, Vera Institute of Justice.