BJA FY 22 Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Program

State, local, and tribal law enforcement and prosecution agencies. Tribal law enforcement and prosecution agencies must be from federally recognized American Indian tribal governments that perform law enforcement functions (as determined by the Secretary of the Interior). Applicants can partner with other agencies and nonprofit organizations with expertise to support outreach, education, investigation, and prosecution of hate crimes. For purposes of this solicitation, “state” means any state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. To ensure a comprehensive approach, applicants must outline their plan to collaborate with key partners. It can include existing strategies or partnerships with other agencies and nonprofit organizations with expertise to implement a comprehensive program including outreach, education, investigation, and prosecution of hate crimes. To advance Executive Order 13929 Safe Policing for Safe Communities, the Attorney General determined that all state, local, and university or college law enforcement agencies must be certified by an approved independent credentialing body or have started the certification process, to be eligible for FY 2022 DOJ discretionary grant funding. To become certified, the law enforcement agency must meet two mandatory conditions: (1) the agency’s use-of-force policies adhere to all applicable federal, state, and local laws and (2) the agency’s use-of-force policies prohibit chokeholds except in situations where use of deadly force is allowed by law. The certification requirement also applies to law enforcement agencies receiving DOJ discretionary grant funding through a subaward. For detailed information on this certification requirement, please visit https://cops.usdoj.gov/SafePolicingEO to access the Standards for Certification on Safe Policing for Safe Communities, the Implementation Fact Sheet, and the List of Designated Independent Credentialing Bodies. All recipients and subrecipients (including any for-profit organization) must forgo any profit or management fee.