Deputy Attorney General Yates Announced Smart Policing Initiative Grant Awards Totaling Over $2 Million to Develop Data-Driven Approaches to Crime

    October 01, 2015

    On Monday, September 28, Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates announced that the Department of Justice awarded more than $2 million in funding for the Smart Policing Initiative (SPI). SPI is a collaborative consortium composed of the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), CNA, and over thirty local law enforcement agencies that are testing solutions to serious crime problems in their jurisdictions.

    Specifically, SPI works to tackle public safety challenges such as neighborhood drug markets, gun violence, domestic violence, and the chronic violent offenders who perpetrate such crimes. It encourages innovative use of analysis, technology, and evidence-based practices, while seeking community input on ways to improve policing practices and increase transparency, accountability, and legitimacy. 

    Monday’s announcement was made at the second annual Violence Reduction Network (VRN) Summit. To learn more about the VRN and how it supports coordinated training and technical assistance (TTA), check out this TTA Today blog post.

    More information on the evidence-based assistance BJA NTTAC can provide.