Too much is not better. Providing more than what the directions require can lower the proposal's score or cause it to be rejected. The safest route is to follow the grant application rules exactly.

When the proposal is complete, have someone outside of the process (and outside of police work) read it for content and grammar. If it doesn't make sense to them, it might not be clear to the grant reviewer, either. Make corrections until it reads easily and is clearly understandable by any audience.

Freeequipment for law enforcement

These grants usually come from foundations and private companies. They are limited and generally smaller, but can be a source of acquiring needed equipment.

The grant proposal must state clearly that a need exists and can be addressed by the funding the grant provides. This need must not only be identified, but also backed up by data demonstrating the need. This is also the area in which to discuss other solutions that may have been attempted and why those attempts were unsuccessful. It is helpful to show where a program or equipment might solve multiple problems, adding additional value.

Each grant proposal is a unique document that expresses a specific problem and solution, connecting all the dots in between. No two grant proposals should look alike. The grant reviewer should easily be able to identify that the writer specifically addressed the particular grant's objectives and aligned them with the proposal's goals.

Dronegrants for law enforcement

Each state legislature will set up grant programs to address their own set of priorities. Some federal grants are distributed to state agencies that award individual grants to specific departments within their state; an excellent example of this is the money provided by the Federal Highway Traffic Safety Administration. These monies are used to address drunk driving, seatbelt usage, aggressive driving and, more recently, cell phone usage behind the wheel (in states where it is illegal).

The outcome documents how the program implementation can lead to a positive result, and should be explained in readable metrics. Take this example:

There are often many different approaches to solving a problem or deficiency. The grant writer's job is to identify the best approach to solving the problem using facts and data to re-enforce it. Show why this approach has the most significant potential for success in solving the problem.

The lion's share of police grant money comes from the federal government. Congressional legislators decide what priorities need to be addressed in police departments and set aside large quantities of grant money that departments must apply to receive. Some federal grants will support almost all that apply, while many others are highly selective and competitive.

Thanks for reading our community guidelines. Please read the full list of posting rules found in our site's Terms of Service.

To locate a particular states' grant announcements, go to that state's website and look for a grants page. Every state is different, so if a separate page does not exist for grant applications, then locate it in the search window. Enter the words “grant” or “police grants” into the search bar. This should provide information on all available state-funded grants and how to apply.

The error of mistaking a pistol for a Taser has happened before and could well happen again, even if the nonlethal option is typically bright yellow and not quite the same shape and feel as a pistol. As seen in previous cases, it’s possible but very rare that officers, who carry both weapons, grab the wrong one in stressful situations, says Anthony Guglielmi, former communications chief at the Chicago Police Department and now doing the same job at the Fairfax County Police Department in Virginia. He says that with the right training, this kind of error shouldn’t happen, given a Taser should be in a holster on the opposite side to the gun and turned in a different direction. A spokesperson for Axon, the company that owns Taser and was previously known as Taser International, declined to comment on the shooting of Wright, but told Forbes there were numerous safeguards against such mistakes. “This includes building Taser energy weapons to look and feel different than a firearm: A Taser device has a different grip and feel and is lighter than a firearm; is offered in yellow to contrast a black firearm; a LED control panel lights up when the safety is taken off; and it is contained in a holster that is different and separate from the officer’s firearm.”

The Taser is just one strand of Axon’s plans for further growth. Thanks to its substantial body-worn-camera business, its online evidence storage software, and its burgeoning drone division in collaboration with $1 billion-valued Silicon Valley startup Skydio, the company has seen its stock skyrocket in the last two years. In the last year alone it’s doubled. Going back in 2018, it was valued at around $25. In February, it peaked at above $200 before settling back down to $150 this month.

Its most recent results show $680 million in revenues for 2020, $230 million coming in the fourth quarter. One of the biggest wins of the year was a $20 million order for Tasers from an unspecified international customer. The quarter saw revenue of $136 million for the Taser division, which grew 62% year over year.

Reviewers may consider thousands of proposals for only a small number of grants. A good rule is that the greater the amount of dollars involved, the more applicants will apply. With so many proposals to consider, reviewers usually score them numerically. In competitive grants, any proposal that fails to follow a single instruction or doesn't provide something that's asked for will usually be rejected.

It appears your browser does not have cookies enabled. In order to check out, enable browser cookies and refresh the page.

Continued funding will identify how the program will continue to be funded after the grant money is gone. The grant's objective is to effect lasting change, not fund short-term results that will revert back as soon as the grant money is depleted. Identifying where future funds will come from to maintain the program is always necessary.

The next Taser could be the one that means police don't need their guns anymore, according to one of the nonlethal weapon's creators, Rick Smith. A new patent shows where his thinking is going.

Public safetygrants2024

Writing a grant proposal is a competition. The writer's work will be judged against the work of professional grant writers hired by large city departments. What a police officer may lack in the finer points of grammar, though, are more than made up for in their understanding of police work. Knowing what works and what won't, based on years of experience and citizen interactions, is invaluable. Not every proposal will be accepted; only a small percentage of proposals for some competitive grants will succeed. But the first time you find success, it will bring a sense of accomplishment you won't soon forget.

TASERgrants for law enforcement

The department had one hundred citizen complaints this year. With the body-camera program fully implemented, we expect to reduce that number by thirty percent over the first twelve months.

In order to do so, please follow the posting rules in our site's Terms of Service.  We've summarized some of those key rules below. Simply put, keep it civil.

“Five years ago, I would have said you never take a Taser to a gunfight. And I’ve started to challenge that and say, ‘Well, what if the Taser is the better gun?’ And what if it’s actually more effective—it just doesn’t leave the other person dead.”

The remaining submissions will be scored on a preset number of criteria. These might include the severity and immediacy of the need, the lack of other funding based on a jurisdiction's financial condition, the clarity of the mission stated in the proposal or the probability of success.

The art and science of de-escalation will take time, training and practice to master. Read up on applicable skills here.

Over the weekend, Minnesota police officer Kim Potter shot and killed Daunte Wright during a traffic stop, leading to protests outside the Brooklyn Center police station. Before she resigned on Wednesday, Chief Tim Gannon of the Brooklyn Center Police Department said he believed Potter meant to use her Taser, but mistakenly fired her gun.

While grants can solve many departments' fiscal issues, they don't just magically appear. The process of researching grants, writing proposals and submitting those proposals is potentially long and tedious. With the right method and know-how, though, it's something you can do that will greatly help your department in a number of ways.

Law enforcement grants for equipment2024 PDF

Private companies are an excellent resource for help with grant writing. One of the most sought-after upgrades is money to purchase body-worn camera systems. These cameras are being considered by most police departments nationwide, and you can read more about them in our officer's guide to police body cameras. They are quite expensive, though, and require large leased or owned storage space for their massive video data files. As a result of their price tag, body camera systems are a well-targeted use of grant money.

Other Federal Agency GrantsWhile the Justice Department administers most federal police grants, there are many federal departments and agencies with grant money available for specific law enforcement purposes. Even the Department of Agriculture has a law enforcement grant program. The Rural Development Community Facility Grant Program allows towns with less than five thousand residents to apply for funds to build new police stations or, in some cases, buy new police cars.

In a job where every second makes a difference, you need to be sure your police duty belt is set up for maximum efficiency.

Byrne Justice Assistance GrantAnother essential federal grant open to virtually every department is the Byrne Justice Assistance grant. This ongoing grant provides needed financial resources to police departments on a continuing basis. During 2019, nearly 264 million dollars was made available for this grant.

There are many funding sources available to police departments across the country. Each source comes with its own strings attached and methods by which to receive those funds. The main three sources are federal money, state money and private grants.

Smith, who spoke to Forbes a month before the weekend’s shooting, knows that right now, the Taser isn’t the perfect nonlethal weapon. Sometimes the barbs that hook on to a target to deliver the electric charge don’t effectively penetrate heavy clothing. The Taser also only gives you two shots, so if you miss both or can’t get through whatever the target is wearing, it’s unlikely to be effective in a high-pressure situation. "They're still not as effective as a gun. Why do the police still end up shooting and killing people? Because that is the most reliable way to stop a threat,” Smith says.

A new patent filed by Taser could be a sign of things to come from Axon, which is hoping to make police pistols redundant by 2030.

The person responsible for grant writing should be well organized, detail-oriented and have above average report writing ability. Probably the most important attribute, though, is the desire to learn (though a bit of a competitive streak doesn't hurt, either).

As concerns around aggressive American policing grow, so does Axon’s value. Neither have yet solved the problem of police killings, not to mention the startling rise in deadly violence across America.

Police Vehiclegrants2024

COPSOne successful federal grant program is Community Oriented Policing Services, known simply as the COPS grants. These grants pay up to 75% of newly hired community policing officers' salaries for up to three years. They allow departments to expand their departmental workforce to include officers implementing a community policing strategy. In 2020, the COPS grants total was nearly 400 million dollars, intended to pay for the hiring of 2,732 police officers in 596 law enforcement agencies.

To improve the Taser, it isn’t a case of how to make it more injurious, or more powerful, says Smith. The company needs to figure out how to more effectively get the Taser’s barbs to latch on to a target and deliver the electrical charge, ensuring it gets through thick clothing and has a better chance of hitting a person who might be moving fast or erratically. “For us, it's a delivery question, how do we engineer so that with 100% certainty, we can get the effect on the target where we want it in fast-moving situations in the field,” he adds. “We don’t have to go create phasers, or any new really sci-fi stuff. All the science is pretty clear. This is an engineering problem.”

Using the example of body-worn cameras, the primary goal may be to increase police accountability and transparency. However, secondary goals might include:

Grant money is available to police departments who successfully complete the grant application process. To understand grants, it is important to understand the purpose they serve. First, money is allocated to address specific needs within police departments. These needs may be broad, such as providing money for additional officers through the COPS grant program. They can also be relatively narrow and specific, such as providing money for police training in de-escalation techniques or methods of investigating domestic violence. Other grants may address particular equipment needs, such as implementing a body-camera program or even a drone program.

Ford police vehiclegrants

What tech the company has actually made that’s getting them closer to that milestone is a mystery. Smith won’t divulge any secrets. But there may be some clues as to what the next Taser looks like in a previously unreported patent, which shows off a stun gun with multiple loading bays, held in a kind of tripod. It might look like something out of a sci-fi writer’s dreams (or nightmares), but the patent application, which Smith coauthored, is an attempt to address that “engineering problem” with a gun that can fire more electrodes over a wider area than the current version of the Taser. It’s designed to “provide a greater initial spread between the one or more electrodes to increase a likelihood of causing NMI [neuromuscular incapacitation] in a target.”

Law enforcement grants2024

The internet is key to the search for grants. The starting point for federal police grants is the U.S. Department of Justice's website. It will take time and exploration of the many links this massive site provides to get started on the application path. There is much to read and learn on this site, so do your due diligence.

Two of the largest manufacturers of police body cameras, Watchguard and Axon, have extensive information about grant writing on their websites. They offer expert assistance and grant writing guides with actual grant proposals for camera systems. These companies aren't in the business of grant writing, but rather the business of selling camera systems. It's in their best interest for body-worn cameras to receive grant funding. Free professional assistance is always welcome, so this is a good starting point for body-worn camera grants.

One of the best sources for learning grant writing's unique language is to read other successful grant proposals. These can be located with a couple of searches on the web. There are also tutorials available through government websites and even online grant writing courses. Many police academies offer a catalog of continuing educational courses for police officers, including writing grant proposals.

Grants are highly competitive. Only the best written proposals that are directly on point stand any shot at scoring high enough for consideration. Make sure the grant description matches the equipment or program philosophy being proposed. It's a waste of time to stretch a grant's boundaries to fit your proposed program. For example, one shouldn't seek to buy SWAT team equipment using community policing money.

Outcomes are particularly important for grants that run for more than a single year. Continued funding of a new or pilot program will be dependent on showing proof that the program is working. A program that doesn't hit expected outcomes may be defunded.

Now it must be decided who will administer the grant. Almost every grant has a long list of how money can and cannot be used. These rules must be strictly followed. One person in the department will act as the grant administrator and be held accountable for the proper use of funds. Additionally, many grants require officers to complete progress and keep statistics identifying whether or not the grant money is achieving the expected result, as documented in the proposal. This is particularly important for multi-year funded grants.

Our community is about connecting people through open and thoughtful conversations. We want our readers to share their views and exchange ideas and facts in a safe space.

Once a grant opportunity has been identified that matches a specific area of need in the department, it's time to do the research. All grant proposals are separated into four areas that must be addressed: need, approach, outcome, and continued funding. Each area must be thoroughly addressed, making a strong case for why this particular department's need is worthy of grant funding.

Most grants have their own dedicated web page with a detailed description of the grant, an on-line registration page and the application. Read the description of the offering closely and determine if the grant will address a severe departmental need. Programs usually list the total amount of money available in the grant and the maximum amount awarded to any recipient. Also, take note of the filing deadline and specific allowed uses for the funds. Most grant funds come with many strings attached regarding how the money can be used; for example, some grants are only open to departments of a specific size or population density. Take note of any qualifiers and limitations in the description.

Careful accounting will have to be maintained for years on every penny that is spent. These records are subject to government audit and investigation. Documentation with receipts or purchase orders should be kept in a separate grant file or binder. These materials should be well organized and kept together to be easily accessible, even on the grant administrator's day off.

The average police officer might not be the Pollyanna that Smith is when it comes to the future of force. Some won’t want their pistols replaced; others won’t believe a Taser will ever be as effective as a gun. Guglielmi says both his former agencies in Chicago and Fairfax, Virginia, have tried to move to models that focus on the sanctity of life. He says that if Taser could produce the kind of weapon Smith is talking about, they’d happily put down their guns. “We would absolutely explore something like that,” he says. “Our goal here is not to kill people. Our goal is to incapacitate a threat. So if officers had a magic wand, where they could incapacitate a threat without killing somebody, absolutely it would be used.”

One of the first steps in receiving grant money is finding the grants themselves. Each grant does things a little differently, so we'll tell you where to look based on your needs.

But Rick Smith, the cocreator of the Taser and now CEO of the $10 billion market cap nonlethal weapon’s manufacturer, Axon, believes his company will make an electric stun gun that will make the police pistol redundant within a decade. “We’ve got to outperform the police pistol. . . . I think we’ll get there, where, by 2030, we’re going to have nonlethal weapons so good, it will actually be a faster time to incapacitation more reliably than a police pistol,” Smith says.

It appears your browser does not have javascript enabled. In order to check out, enable browser javascript and refresh the page.