The Department of Justice (COPS Office) is offering this grant to support Law Enforcement Agencies in seeking Accreditation.

To advance Executive Order 13929 Safe Policing for Safe Communities, as of October 28, 2020, the Attorney General determined that all state, local, and university or college law enforcement agencies must be certified by an approved independent credentialing body or have started the certification process to be allocated FY 2023 DOJ discretionary grant funding, either as a recipient or a subrecipient. For detailed information on this new certification requirement, please visit https://cops.usdoj.gov/SafePolicingEO.

Community Policing Development (CPD) funds are used to develop the capacity of law enforcement to implement community policing strategies by providing guidance on promising practices through the development and testing of innovative strategies; building knowledge about effective practices and outcomes; and supporting new, creative approaches to preventing crime and promoting safe communities.

The COPS Office is committed to advancing work that promotes civil rights and racial equity, increases access to justice, supports crime victims and individuals impacted by the justice system, strengthens community safety and protects the public from crime and evolving threats, and build trust between law enforcement and the community.

Statutory Authority

This program is authorized under the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, as amended, and the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, Title I, Part Q, Public Law 103-322, 34 U.S.C. § 10381 et seq.

All awards are subject to the availability of appropriated funds and any modifications or additional requirements that may be imposed by law.

Program-Specific Information

This program is authorized under the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, as amended, and the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, Title I, Part Q, Public Law 103-322, 34 U.S.C. § 10381 et seq.
All awards are subject to the availability of appropriated funds and any modifications or additional requirements that may be imposed by law.
For all identified deliverables, the applicant should adhere to the COPS Office Editorial and Style Manual. For projects that propose site-specific work, letters of support from the targeted agencies are strongly encouraged.

With any programmatic questions, please contact the COPS Office Response Center at 800-421-6770 or send questions via email to AskCopsRC@usdoj.gov. The COPS Office Response Center operates Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET, except on federal holidays.

Program Goals

Under this solicitation, the COPS Office seeks to support projects that allow for the identification and expansion of promising practices and produces knowledge products that follow the principles of good guidance:

Quality-driven, with an emphasis on action statements to drive promising practices and reduce variations in performance
Evidence-based, with recommendations that are consistent with the weight of the best available evidence identified through systematic review
Accessible, with clear language and manageable lengths that are appropriate and relevant for the law enforcement field
Memorable, to encourage immediate actions or aid for the complex situations law enforcement professionals face

To read an overview of the principles of community policing, please see the COPS Office publication Community Policing Defined.

Applicants should also consider the COPS Office performance measures when developing their own specific project goals and activities, which can be found in the “Performance Measures” section of this application.

Supporting Law Enforcement Agencies in Seeking Accreditation

Multiple awards, up to $250,000 for large agencies and $160,000 for small or rural agencies

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recognizes the importance of law enforcement agencies’ adhering to the highest standards of police policies and operations. The community benefits when it is assured its law enforcement personnel are following best practice policies and procedures to provide efficient, effective, and fair policing. Accreditation of agencies helps to ensure accountability and transparency that can enhance confidence and trust in law enforcement among community members and communities as a whole.

Accreditation involves the process of law enforcement agencies adopting and maintaining standards focused on their operations. To obtain accreditation, a law enforcement agency must ensure that it has the appropriate policy standards as defined by the accreditation entity. The number of standards varies by accreditation entity.

Under this solicitation, the COPS Office will fund costs related to agencies obtaining law enforcement accreditation from an existing state or national law enforcement accreditation entity. The awards will fund expenditures including civilian employee salaries, sworn officer overtime, contracts for staff, accreditation fees, policy management software, office supplies, and costs associated with internal training for personnel as well as any other expenses directly related to an agency’s ability to successfully obtain accreditation. The total amount available for this solicitation is $6,675,000 of which the program will set aside a minimum of $2,500,000 for small and rural law enforcement agencies for this purpose. The COPS Office understands that renovation or construction is sometimes necessary for accreditation; however, such costs are unallowable because of National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) restrictions.

Projects Out of Scope

Applicants that are already accredited or are seeking renewal of an existing accreditation will not be considered.
Projects that exclusively seek to purchase technology, software, or mobile applications that are not combined with other efforts to seek accreditation will not be considered.
Applications seeking funding for equipment not directly relevant to the agency’s ability to obtain accreditation will not be considered.
Applicants seeking jail, communications, training academy, or other non-law enforcement accreditation will not be considered.

Additional Requirements

The project description (completed in the survey questions) should also address the following:

Explain the need for financial support to obtain accreditation.
Provide a project plan that details the process for obtaining accreditation, including the selected accreditation entity.
Describe how accreditation will be sustained after the COPS Office funding award period ends.

Deliverables

The deliverables are the tangible steps taken toward accreditation and the successful obtainment of accreditation during the award period.