In early 2020, when Chief Dale McFee of the Edmonton Police Service assigned me to engage, support and learn from the Global Law Enforcement and Public Health Association (GLEPHA), the world was changing. The COVID-19 virus was in the early stages of migration, providing only a whisper of the future devastation to the lives and livelihoods to be lost. Tensions between law enforcement and racialized communities solidified into a movement, seeking real action to defund policing institutions and end the longstanding systemic racism that our community’s experience. Efforts as an Association to understand and respond, and continue to pay sufficient and sensitive attention to the issues while managing everyone’s health, felt at times insurmountable.
Cancelling the 6th International Conference on Law Enforcement and Public Health, however, was never an option. It is imperative now and at this juncture to create a space for academics, students, practitioners and the community to engage with each other, listen to each other, and take action with each other to pursue real change to secure the wellbeing for all our communities. Using a virtual platform to connect with our global network is not only a new and exciting prospect, it is also an opportunity for GLEPHA to provide leadership and embrace responsible approaches to collaboration during a pandemic.
The LEPH 2021 conference has created a tiered fee schedule to make registering for this event as accessible as possible, while maintaining the high quality of sessions that we expect of this international gathering. We feel privileged to offer an exclusive rate for those delegates that will virtually join us from low and middle-income countries, and as always we strongly encourage students to collaborate with us using the student rate. Please visit our Eventbrite page here to learn more about the attendance fees and to register for the conference. We are excited to be partnering with Whova as our official event app, and we encourage you to download the app early and explore how you might leverage this platform to maximize your conference experience. There are a number of user guides and tutorials that you can access at Whova to gain confidence and be ready when the virtual doors are opened.
Please consider joining us at the LEPH 2021 conference, and contribute to both the conversation and the movement to secure a shared space between community health, safety and collective wellbeing. You will be introduced to the generous and hard-working partners that inspire us in the City of Philadelphia, and have the unique opportunity to network with delegates from around the globe in which I personally hope will become our best international representation yet.
Jamie
