U.S. Department of Justice: Technology Innovation for Public Safety (TIPS)

The Technology Innovation for Public Safety (TIPS) is part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Suite of programs, which is focused on reducing violent crime. The TIPS program seeks to assist state, local, territorial, and tribal jurisdictions in enhancing their justice information-sharing capacity through the use of innovative technological solutions to more effectively address disproportional and precipitous increases in crime(s).

While many jurisdictions are making progress implementing justice information-sharing solutions to address critical gaps in coordinating crime prevention across organizations and jurisdictions, there remains significant challenges that inhibit the ability of the criminal justice system to respond to threats to public safety, especially when it comes to addressing increases in crime(s). For this solicitation, “justice information-sharing technology” refers to any technology (hardware and/or software, hosted residentially or remotely) that plays a role in the collection, storage, sharing, and analysis of criminal justice data.

TIPS is designed to enable strategic information sharing across crime-fighting agencies and with identified partnerships to address specific local or regional crime problems. Often these efforts will require a multidisciplinary response, involving law enforcement, analysts/investigators, information technology staff, public safety/first responders, adjudications/courts, corrections, human services organizations, and other stakeholders. Applicants are encouraged to propose comprehensive plans that include coordination among multiple stakeholder agencies, shared investment and use of technology services or regional planning as appropriate.

The following objectives are expected to be achieved:

1. Identify and promote technology solutions that target preventing, investigating, prosecuting, and responding to precipitous increases in specific crime(s).

• Use innovative technology solutions to develop new resources or leverage existing relationships and resources to combat specific crime issues
• Promote information sharing and collaboration within and among criminal justice agencies having a role in responding to and investigating specific crime(s)
• Ensure proposed technology solutions are cost-effective to the identified jurisdictions
• Applicants will document the technology solutions identified and articulate in a summary document how the use of technology may result in cost savings to the agency (e.g., reduced personnel costs, resources, etc.)

2. Leverage new and existing partnerships to include other criminal justice entities, community organizations, and private or public providers to enhance the applicant’s ability to respond to these specific crimes within their jurisdiction.

• Improve communications and training strategies, with the intent of educating their communities and building awareness and support in the general public about the crime reduction strategies being implemented
• Build successful partnerships among local, state, federal, and tribal law enforcement agencies, as well as local nonprofit and faith-based organizations, to combat specific crime(s) increases
• Applicants will collaborate with stakeholders and their communities to build awareness through meetings, training, and resource materials

3. Develop policies and practices around the use of the technology solution that promote decision making with the intent to reduce the precipitous increase of the identified specific crime(s).

• Review and develop existing new policies based on the intended technology solutions to include the implementation and continued use of these solutions
• Applicants will document and implement the policies and practices as part of the jurisdiction’s operation manual and the agency’s rules and regulations

4. Implement the identified information-sharing or other technology solution(s) at all levels.

• Research and procure the information-sharing or other technology solution(s)
• Applicants will implement and sustain the proposed technology solution(s)

Program deliverables must include, at a minimum, the following:

• Successful implementation of an information-sharing solution at the state, local, regional, tribal, or national level that leverages the GSP and has a measurable positive impact on the crime trends cited as the problem(s) to be addressed.
• Development of a BJA-branded report that documents the successful implementation process, as well as appropriate project outputs, outcomes, and performance measures, to support replication and adoption of the technical solution and related policies and practices to support other jurisdictions experiencing the same or similar challenges.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to propose the development and implementation of technical solutions that can be replicated or reused by other agencies and organizations nationwide that are facing similar criminal justice challenges. Successful applicants will be required to measure the impact of the solutions they implement on their criminal justice business practices. Applicants must be prepared to share data regarding project outputs and outcomes to assist future initiatives designed to replicate best practices and innovative technology solutions nationwide.

Amount: A total of $3,500,000 is available to fund up to seven awards, ranging up $500,000 each. The project lengths is for up to two years.

Eligibility: Public agencies of state governments, units of local government, federally recognized Indian tribal governments that perform law enforcement functions, or government agencies acting as fiscal agents for one of the previously listed eligible applicants. There is a specific interest in funding innovative technology implementation and applicant projects that specifically address precipitous increases in crime(s) on a local, county, or regional basis, with an emphasis on addressing violent crime, human trafficking, and the opioid crisis.

Applicants must clearly identify how the funding will directly address a precipitous or extraordinary increase in crime(s) or in a type or types of crime in the applicant’s own jurisdiction, by impacting the population(s) affected in the application. Applicants must:

• Identify a crime or type(s) of crime that have precipitously increased within the jurisdiction, which will be addressed by the proposed solution
• Identify the period of time during which the relevant category of crime increased
• Provide evidence substantiating the claimed increase. Examples of such evidence include statistics, research findings, or other objective evidence, as appropriate

Link: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=301687

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