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Press Release

Office of Justice Programs Awards More Than $5.6 Million to Enable Information, Technology Sharing to Reduce Crime

For Immediate Release
Office of Public Affairs

The Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) today announced funding of more than $5.6 million through two separate programs.  One is a new initiative designed to help communities reduce and prosecute gun crime; the other is an annual grant that enables jurisdictions to leverage technology and information sharing to enhance criminal justice operations.

Nearly $3 million was awarded to three cities—Metropolitan Police Dept. of the District of Columbia ($999,129), Wisconsin’s Milwaukee Police Dept. ($1 million), and the City of Los Angeles ($1 million)—via BJA’s National Crime Gun Intelligence Center Initiative, a newly developed initiative in 2016.  The program, which is supported and administered in partnership between BJA and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), supports the implementation of three crime gun intelligence centers in the above listed cities.  These centers employ multidisciplinary teams to identify perpetrators and connect criminal activity and sources of gun crime for immediate disruption, investigation and prosecution.  Each site will also work closely with a research partner to help guide implementation and evaluate program outcomes.

Another $2.6 million was awarded to six cities and the Washington, D.C.-based Police Foundation ($499,826) to enhance information sharing capacities through the use of innovative technological solutions to reduce crime.  Funded through BJA’s annual competitive grant Technology Innovation for Public Safety Program, the resources provided through this grant are intended to help selectees address a precipitous or extraordinary increase in crime in individual jurisdictions.  To combat this, awardees are enabled to share information across crime-fighting agencies.  This collaboration can help address specific local crime problems, which often require multidisciplinary responses involving public safety agencies, personnel and shared investment in technology.

“The Office of Justice Programs is committed to giving our state and local partners the tools they need to drive down crime and maintain public safety for the long run,” said Assistant Attorney General Karol V. Mason of the Office of Justice Programs.  “These new resources will expand community capability to investigate and prosecute gun offenses and support data sharing and other technological solutions to serious violence challenges.”

The six cities and police departments awarded under the Technology Innovation for Public Safety Program include: the New Castle County Division of Police, Del. ($306,700); the City of Hartford, Connecticut ($245,681); the City of Cincinnati, Ohio ($370,673); the Los Angeles Police Department ($395,717); the City of Memphis, Tennessee ($401,193); and the St. Louis, Missouri, County Government ($400,636).

For additional information about the National Crime Gun Intelligence Center Initiative, visit http://go.usa.gov/xKefx. For additional information about the Technology Innovation for Public Safety Program, visit http://go.usa.gov/xKefa.

The Office of Justice Programs (OJP), headed by Assistant Attorney General Mason, provides federal leadership in developing the nation’s capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice, and assist victims.  OJP has six bureaus and offices: the Bureau of Justice Assistance; the Bureau of Justice Statistics; the National Institute of Justice; the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; the Office for Victims of Crime, and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART). More information about OJP and its components can be found at www.ojp.gov.

Updated December 12, 2016

Topic
Grants
Press Release Number: 16-1095