Use the American Rescue Plan Act to Proactively Fight Violent Crime
Billions in funding is available for state and local governments to combat violent crimes and quickly solve homicide cases – talk to a Cellebrite Expert to find out how you can leverage these funds, or learn more from our resources below.
Today's Reality
Violent crime rates have surged to levels not seen since the 1990s. As crimes increase, many states, cities, and counties are finding themselves unable to plan, budget, and implement critical digital intelligence solutions necessary to tackle the increase in homicides, violent crime, and child exploitation cases. In today’s investigations, when digital evidence collected from cell phones, computers, and other devices is a primary driver in accelerating justice, law enforcement agencies need solutions to:
- Quickly obtain actionable intelligence to expedite case closures.
- Vigorously investigate nonfatal shootings and gun possession cases, as a digital evidence-based strategy for preventing shootings and homicides.
The American Dilemma: The Spike of Violent Crime and Homicide During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Use Digital Intelligence as a force multiplier to help you understand the networks of violent offenders.
Steps for Advocating for your Agency’s Share of the Funds:
Each community will approach this process differently, so reach out to your leadership and ask about the process, any deadlines and exactly how much funding your community received.
Schedule a meeting with your local leadership to make your case for receiving ARP funds, but do so as if you’re applying for a competitive grant.
You must be ready to justify your funding requests with qualitative and quantitative data that shows continued increase in violent crimes and financial loss due to COVID-19 and the long-term impact of that loss.
What risk is there to the community if your agency does not get funds to invest in the appropriate Digital Intelligence solutions to streamline your criminal investigations?
Come prepared with a budget and scope of your proposed projects to ensure you have accurate information ready to share when it comes up.
If you have five potential projects across various divisions (Homicide, Narcotics, Human Trafficking, ICAC, HIDTA, Guns) that could be covered by the ARP funding, prioritize that list and in case your first project is passed over you can quickly go to the next one.
What Your Agency Should Know About the American Rescue Plan Act:
The American Rescue Plan Act provides state and local governments with approximately $350 billion which can be used to support law enforcement agencies to protect the public and combat the rise in violent crime.
The U.S. Department of Treasury is giving local governments wide latitude to use these funds to address shortfalls and urgent public service needs. Explicitly included in the allowable use of funds are initiatives to reduce and respond to increased violence due to the pandemic. Specifically, the guidance allows state and local governments to “Invest[ing] in technology and equipment to allow law enforcement to more efficiently and effectively respond to the rise in gun violence resulting from the pandemic.”
There is no application process required to advocate for your share of these allocated funds. Once funds have been allocated, there is no requirement to report back to the Federal Government on the use of funds or on the impact it’s had on your agency.
The $350 Billion Includes
- $195 billion for states
- $130 billion for local governments
- $20 billion for tribal governments
- $4.5 billion for territories
By granting almost immediate access to funding, The American Rescue Plan Act can impact your law enforcement agency’s ability to deal with the COVID-19 related increases in violent crime and child exploitation cases. If your agency would like to expand its capabilities when it comes to unlocking devices for accessing and analyzing data to solve more crimes, Cellebrite can help.
Learn About Agencies Whose Investments in Digital Intelligence Have Paid Off
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Customer StoryThe Power of a Calling: Seattle PD ICAC Unit Puts Digital Intelligence to Work to Stop Crimes Against Children Customer Stories
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Customer StoryJefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office: How Digital Transformation Made This Agency a Model for Solving Modern Crimes
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Cellebrite Fast Facts:
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Cellebrite technology has been purchased by 6,700 public safety agencies and enterprises in over 140 countries.
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Our technology has been used in more than 5 million cases across the globe.
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Police Departments in 20 of the largest U.S. cities rely on Cellebrite solutions.
Additional Funding Resources:
- American Rescue Plan: Guidance on state and local fiscal recovery funds (PoliceGrantsHelp)
- American Rescue Plan: Additional Guidance on State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (Lexipol)
- American Rescue Plan Act Funding Breakdown (NACO)
- American Rescue Plan Act Overview (NCSL)
- The U.S. Department of Treasury Guidance on ARP Funding
