Washington, DC - This week, the Biden Administration released their budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year.  While we are still reviewing the details, President Biden has delivered on the commitment he made during the State of the Union to increase Federal funding to State and local law enforcement.

The budget proposal includes $20.6 billion for the U.S. Department of Justice’s discretionary spending on Federal law enforcement, crime prevention and intervention—an increase of more than $2 billion.  This includes:

• $533.5 million for the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne-JAG) program;
• $10 million for officer training for officers responding to those with mental illness or disabilities;
• $40 million for the Project Safe Neighborhoods program to help State and local agencies combat gun crimes; and
• $30 million for the Patrick J. Leahy Bulletproof Vest Partnership (BVP) grant program.

The proposal boosts the budget of the Office on Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) to $651 million, including $537 million for the COPS Hiring Program.  This is an increase of $139 million for the COPS Office and the many programs it administers. In the last fiscal year’s budget, the COPS Office received the largest budget increase request in recent years, and this proposal continues to build on funding for law enforcement.

These numbers will obviously fluctuate as Congressional appropriators will be crafting their own budgets to guide the appropriations bills—a process that has, in fact, already begun.  As always, the FOP will be very engaged in this budget cycle to make sure our men and women in blue have access to the resources they need to keep their communities and themselves safe.