The COPS Office is offering the Tribal Resources Grant Program – Technical Assistance to support tribal law enforcement in developing Tribal Community Response Plans for Missing Indigenous Persons.

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.

The Tribal Resources Grant Program- Technical Assistance (TRGP-TA) funds are used to support tribal law enforcement agencies through training and technical assistance efforts around community policing topics. The FY22 TRGP-TA program will fund projects that develop knowledge, increase awareness of effective community policing strategies, increase the skills and abilities of law enforcement and community partners, increase the number of law enforcement agencies and relevant stakeholders using proven community policing practices, and institutionalize community policing practice in routine business.

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.

Tribal Community Response Plans (TCRP) for Missing Indigenous Persons Technical Assistance Project

One award, up to $300,000

Executive Order 14053 of November 15, 2021, “Improving Public Safety and Criminal Justice for Native Americans and Addressing the Crisis of Missing Indigenous People,” in part directs that technical assistance be provided to “promote coordination of Federal, State, local, and Tribal law enforcement, including, as appropriate, through the development and support of Tribal Community Response Plans [TCRPs] for missing person cases”. The goal of a TCRP is to improve responses to emergent missing Indigenous persons cases by establishing a collaborative response from Tribal Governments, law enforcement, and other partners through culturally appropriate guidelines. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and other federal agencies developed draft guides to assist in developing TCRPs with input from tribal leaders, tribal law enforcement, and their communities, which are available on the DOJ’s Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons TCRP page.

Prior COPS Office Tribal Resources Grant Program—Technical Assistance projects have promoted tribal law enforcement community policing efforts, and the COPS Office is looking to build upon this work to assist tribal law enforcement with developing TCRPs to address missing Indigenous persons cases. This technical assistance project will assist tribal agencies in developing and implementing TCRPs within their tribes, which may include partnering with other tribal and nontribal agencies such as local law enforcement agencies. The development of a TCRP should be a tribally led process with the technical assistance provider assisting the tribal law enforcement agency as requested. In addition, the project should assist tribal law enforcement agencies in developing and improving law enforcement policies and procedures related to missing or murdered Indigenous persons cases.

The applicant should be an organization that demonstrates well-established experience in developing and delivering direct technical assistance to law enforcement personnel and criminal justice professionals in this area.

Projects Out of Scope

Projects focused on the development of research and training directed at tribal law enforcement agencies will not be considered.

Additional Requirements

The proposal narrative should address the following objectives:

Create a technical assistance strategy to assist tribal law enforcement in developing and implementing TCRPs to address missing Indigenous persons cases, including working with existing DOJ resources such as personnel in the United States Attorneys’ Offices (e.g., MMIP Coordinators, Tribal Liaisons, Law Enforcement Coordinators) and the National Indian Country Training Initiative.
Assist agencies in developing and improving law enforcement policies and procedures related to missing or murdered Indigenous persons cases.
Deliver technical assistance to tribal and nontribal law enforcement agencies to facilitate the implementation of TCRPs.
Ensure widespread dissemination of tools and materials to aid in the development of TCRPs.

Deliverables

Deliverables will include a technical assistance strategy, technical assistance deliveries, and related tools and materials. Project deliverable(s) should be clearly identified and described in the application proposal narrative.

Other Requirements and Information

All applicants must document their experience and capabilities to implement projects and the competencies of the staff assigned to projects for federally recognized Indian tribes, including the following:

Demonstrated knowledge of federal Indian law and tribal law
Demonstrated knowledge of laws governing federal and tribal law enforcement jurisdictional issues, including for tribes located in P.L. 93-280 states
Demonstrated knowledge of federal Indian policies pertaining to Indian self-determination, tribal consultation, executive orders, and memoranda
Demonstrated knowledge of federal agencies responsible for Indian law enforcement, tribal justice systems, and services
Demonstrated knowledge of Tribal Government governance systems, culture, and intergovernmental protocols