By Shannon Day, Senior Grants Development Consultant (Public Safety)
In the nearly five years I have worked with law enforcement agencies in their grant funding pursuits, I’ve often heard, "I'd love our department to apply for more grants, but we just don't have the time." The departments I work with most often are the little guys because small departments don't have the luxury of having a dedicated grant manager on staff, and certainly not an entire grants department. Let's be honest: when considering the priorities for first responders, grants don't often rank high on the list, in part because of their typically complicated processes.
Similar feedback has been heard across all sectors resulting in the bipartisan Streamlining Federal Grants Act of 2023 (H.R 5934). Introduced to Congress in October 2023, this act is currently awaiting a vote from the 119th Congress. The federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has proactively begun simplifying the grant process, including streamlining and standardizing application guidance and simplifying grants.gov.
As seen in the table below, small departments (fewer than 250 full-time sworn personnel) accounted for more than 98% of the 11,788 local police departments in 2020. Of the 258 tribal police departments[1] in the United States, 100% have fewer than 250 sworn officers, the largest being the Navajo Nation with 210 sworn officers. (Pomper, 2023).
Data sourced from Goodison, S. (2022, November). Local Police Departments Personnel, 2020. https://bjs.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh236/files/media/document/lpdp20.pdf
The good news for criminal justice agencies is that the Department of Justice received feedback from small, rural, and tribal departments several years ago and has already made many changes to its grant funding process, including the creation of a single grant platform: the Justice Grants System, or . The Department of Justice has also begun providing simple, one- or two-page solicitation overviews so potential applicants can quickly determine whether a grant program is right for them.
The DOJ has also made changes to existing grant programs. In 2010, the disparate funding areas of the Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation (CTAS) were consolidated under one single program. While each purpose area is still administered through its related DOJ funding office, including the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), and Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), the grant application and administration process has been streamlined.
In 2020, the Bureau of Justice Assistance created two funding categories under the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Local program. Category 1 streamlines the application process and reduces the reporting burden for applicants receiving an allocation of less than $25,000.
The feedback from small, rural, and tribal departments also led to new grant programs that mirror larger programs, making federal funds more accessible for these departments.
The Bureau of Justice Assistance's Rural Violent Crime Reduction Initiative provides funding and support to small (250 or fewer sworn officers), rural, and tribal law enforcement agencies to implement violent crime reduction strategies, improve investigations, improve services to victims, and enhance collaboration between local stakeholders. The funder understands that violent crime may look different in every community, so the program is flexible and may be tailored to suit each applicant's needs. The critical elements around which successful programs are built can be found in the Violent Crime Reduction Roadmap, organized around ten essential actions to reduce community violence.
The Bureau of Justice Assistance's Small, Rural, and Tribal Body-Worn Camera Program (SRTBWC), a micro-grant administered by Justice & Security Strategies, Inc., provides funding and support for small (50 or fewer sworn officers), rural, and tribal law enforcement agencies to purchase or lease body-worn cameras and related costs for the creation of pilot programs, implementation of new programs, or expansion of existing programs.
The Office on Violence Against Women's Rural Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, and Stalking Program seeks to enhance the safety of rural victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking. The program encourages collaboration among criminal justice agencies, victim services providers, social services agencies, health professionals, and other community organizations to overcome the problems of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking in rural communities.
These are just a few examples; many federal funding opportunities are available for your agency, depending on what you aim to accomplish. Below are some helpful links to more information on grant programs offered through the Department of Justice and some of its funding offices:
Grants.gov is where every Department of Justice grant application begins. While the site can be overwhelming for the average applicant, and even for seasoned grants professionals, dozens of helpful articles, videos, and blog posts are available. Here is a good place to start.
Grants can be overwhelming but don't panic and shut down when you are inundated with information. Take a breath, keep your focus, and remind yourself why you started this journey in the first place. And be sure to check out the many free resources available to you through Grants Office.
[1] When it comes to grant funding, federally recognized Indian tribes are statutorily identified as rural, regardless of their location (Justice.gov, n.d.), so when considering federal grants, tribal agencies may be eligible to apply to all DOJ grants.