DOJ Grants Aim to Improve Recruitment and Reduce Violent Crime

LAPD police officers arrest and handcuff an unhoused woman in Venice Beach, California, in 2016. In Mendota, California, about a four-hour drive north of Venice Beach, law enforcement officials will use COPS Hiring funds to respond to residents who are experiencing mental health crises, addiction, and homelessness, by hiring officers to work alongside trained behavioral health professionals. / Photo credit: wademcmillan via iStock

By Tammy Leytham

Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco has announced a new nationwide public safety agenda, saying that the Department of Justice's highest priority is to keep communities safe.

In early November, she announced $334 million in grants to state and local law enforcement agencies, school districts, and local governments. “These grants will go directly to those who are on the front lines and will strengthen public safety nationwide,” she said.

The new grants bring the Justice Department’s total investments in community safety to over $5.6 billion for fiscal year 2023.

The DOJ grants include:

• Over $216 million awarded through the COPS Hiring Program, which will put more than 1,700 new police officers throughout the United States. These grants are going to nearly 400 police departments to help hire more officers.

• More than $73 million in School Violence Prevention grants given to over 200 school districts and state and local governments to improve school security.

• Over $43 million given through Community Policing Development to 178 local governments and municipal organizations to support crisis intervention teams, de-escalation training, and innovative community policing strategies.

The grants are a critical component of the Justice Department’s Comprehensive Strategy for Reducing Violent Crime, Monaco said.

Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta gave more details about the grants. As recruitment/retention is the No. 1 issue that law enforcement agencies face, the COPS Hiring Program plays an essential role.

“We are supporting agencies small and large, in big cities and small towns across the country, with almost half of the awards going to departments in rural areas,” Gupta said.

Mendota, Calif., for example, will use COPS Hiring funds to respond to residents who are experiencing mental health crises, addiction, and homelessness, by hiring officers to work alongside trained behavioral health professionals.

Safford, Ariz., Unified School District is among those receiving funds from the COPS School Violence Prevention program. This rural, low-income district will use the money to improve its communication systems.

Gupta also highlighted the Leon County (Florida) Sheriff’s Office, which is using Community Policing funds to improve de-escalation techniques.

Monaco said the data-driven strategy uses federal resources as a force-multiplier in partnership with state and local law enforcement.

“This is a strategy that is yielding real results – results being seen and felt around the country in the form of reduced crime rates and increased public safety,” Monaco said.

According to recent FBI statistics for 2021-2022, murder and manslaughter decreased by 6.4 percent and rape decreased nearly 8 percent nationwide.

All indications are that this downward trend in violent crime has continued into 2023, Monaco said.

“But we absolutely recognize that violent crime continues to threaten too many American communities,” she added.

The key to continued progress is DOJ’s partnerships with law enforcement, communities, and local governments supported by grants. 

“That’s why our agents and prosecutors have been working over the last year on joint initiatives and operations that yielded real results,” she said.

Results include:

• Thousands of arrests that have taken violent offenders off the streets

• Hundreds of thousands of investigative leads and gun traces, which have gone after the most violent shooters and put them behind bars

• The seizure of more than 13 million deadly doses of fentanyl

“These efforts are paying concrete, measurable dividends evidenced by decreased rates of homicide and violent crime in cities across the country,” Monaco said, adding that the DOJ will continue to invest in state and local partners.

“Every day, police, educators, and community leaders are on the front lines of keeping the American people safe,” Monaco said. “And the Department of Justice is going to continue to have their backs.”

Additionally, Gupta announced that five cities – Knoxville, Tenn.; Minneapolis, Minn.; Raleigh, N.C.; San Antonio, Texas; and Vallejo, Calif. – have joined the National Public Safety Partnership run by the DOJ’s Bureau of Justice Assistance.

A Violent Crime Reduction Summit set Dec. 11-13 in Indianapolis, Ind., will bring together 1,500 individuals from PSP jurisdictions and Project Safe Neighborhoods to share promising crime-reduction practices and successful strategies.