It ran Between March 30th and May 29th, while it appeared to be open to any/all policing type organizations, 1,725 have been approved grants for a total of $800 million. This is what I know: there are 58 states and territories. There are approximately 3,000 counties in this country. Let’s make believe that’s 200 large cities. I think we can estimate there are 3,500 policing-type agencies in this country. So half of them got a grant.
29th of May… you’ll hear snark in my voice, certainly. Has there been any COVID related or police related topics in the news between May 28th and June 8th when this video was published? Of course there has. Law enforcement agencies have encountered increased costs for PPE, supplies, training, and overtime.
My off-the-cuff analysis. This now-closed grant provided $800 million to fewer than half of the law enforcement agencies. And the grant program closed before the first day of June.
Will there be another round of funding? Was this first come-first serve? What effort did the DOJ use to publish this grant opportunity.
Clearly, I don’t have answers. I feel confused. To take that confusion further, I went to grants.gov to confirm my findings. I searched for COVID-related grants from DOJ. I found one recently closed DOJ grant that referenced COVID. The research and evaluation on firearm violence grant may be extended due to COVID. Not a COVID grant, or CARES Act grant.
What is on the DOJ website doesn’t match what is presented on grants.gov.