Who We Are
The Community Based Public Safety Association (CBPS Association) was created to serve and advocate for local Community-Based Public Safety professionals who work with law enforcement on implementing complementary strategies to save lives and reduce violence in their communities.
CBPS Association members are Community Violence Interventionists, High Risk Interventionists, Assertive Outreach Workers, Credible Messengers, Victim/Survivor Advocates, Community Health Workers, Community Outreach Workers, Navigators, and Case Managers – and comprise one of the largest movements in the country led primarily by Black and Brown men. The impact of their collective work in more than 200 cities across the country has produced evidence-based results, reducing violence and crime, saving lives, increasing safety and well-being, improving community police relations and saving billions of dollars nationwide.
There are professional associations advocating for police, prosecutors, corrections officers, probation officers and more. But, residents trained in conflict resolution and mediation strategies doing the work of intervening to stop retaliatory violence in real time on the ground every day are a critical part of the public safety conversation and ecosystem. Their work results in dramatic reductions in community violence, but they often don’t get the recognition – or the pay (not to mention the ability to retire with dignity). We are here to change that.
Our members turn to the Association for further connection, leadership development, advocacy, and professional training. Our members work with us to focus public policy and public safety funding toward organizations and programs having the greatest impact in saving lives and building local leadership in communities.
Association By-laws
Association Board
Aqueela
Sherrils
President
@aqueelasherrils
Aqeela Sherrills is a spirit-centered organizer and activist who has worked for three decades to promote community ownership of public safety and facilitate healing from violence in marginalized communities. A nationally recognized expert in victim service and community-based public safety, Aqeela has created and led multi-million-dollar nonprofit organizations focused on reducing violence and fostering safety in urban communities and advised hundreds of organizations.
Currently, Aqeela is the Founder and leader of the Community-Based Public Safety Collective, which advises and trains local public safety organizations in the methodologies that he has found most effective in helping communities reduce and prevent violence, as well as helping victims heal. This work builds on his work with The Newark Community Street Team (NCST) community-based violence reduction initiative which he co-created and directed at the request of Newark, NJ’s Mayor Ras Baraka in 2014. In the five years Aqeela led NCST, Newark homicide rate went from 104 in 2015 to 51 in 2019. Aqeela currently serves on the board of NCST, Victoria Foundation and The Alliance for Safety and Justice.
Aquil
Basheer
Chair
Dr. Basheer has been described as “One of the nation’s most premier, sought after Violence Intermediation Professionals, Elite Public Safety Experts, Strategic Organizational Planners, and Hard-Core Gang Intervention Specialists” in society today. He is recognized as being at the top of a league of pinnacle specialists in this area of discipline and acknowledged as one of the most accomplished authorities in this field of expertise. He instructs & consults worldwide, is a Special Subject Matter Expert and Primary Trainer for the White House’s 17-Cities Initiative, has founded, The Professional Community Intervention Training Institute-International (PCITI); (the nation’s first “practitioner based’ professionally certifying Community Violence-Urban Safety- Gang Intervention Training Institute), License to Operate Movement, (LTO) the largest regional affiliated network of specially trained, certified Intervention Peacebuilders) and the non-profit Brotherhood Unified for Independent Leadership through Discipline (BUILD) program.
Dr. Basheer is the author of the textbook, Peace In The Hood, developer of supporting texts PCITI Skill Set Development and Peace in the Hood Workbook I: Working with Gang Members to End the Violence. These texts are used as the primary reference tool for various types and levels of training, instruction and education in the field of Violence Interdiction. He has received awards and honors much too numerous to list including the exalted Doctorate of Letters in Humanities from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Honor of Excellence from the United Nations’ Switzerland, numerous Congressional Awards of Recognition from the United States House of Representatives, and the celebrated “California Peace Prize” from The California Wellness Foundation.
Treasurer
Vacant
Tinisch
Hollins
Secretary
Tinisch Hollins has over two decades of professional experience in community organizing, guiding government systems, and informing public policy to make social change. She is a gifted critical thinker, public speaker, and seasoned facilitator who uses both professional training and lived experience to build shared understanding and to frame practical and sustainable solutions rooted in community well-being. Through demonstrated leadership in the fields of violence prevention and social justice, she has built effective partnerships with impacted communities, decision-makers, influencers, and stakeholders throughout California.
Currently, Tinisch serves as the Executive Director of Californians for Safety and Justice (CSJ), one of the nation’s most effective criminal justice reform agencies. CSJ works to reduce wasteful jail and prison spending and advance common-sense public safety solutions that address the root causes of crime and achieve long-term safety. In June 2020, she co-founded SF Black Wallstreet – an organization committed to preserving Black culture and building economic power in San Francisco. She also serves as Vice Chair of the San Francisco African American Reparations Advisory Committee.