Cities to vie for $200M in crime-fighting grants

Tuesday, January 30th 2007, 11:44 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Regions plagued by rising violent crime could share in a $200 million grant next year with a new Justice Department grant targeting gangs, illicit drugs and gun offenses.

The Justice Department will ask for the funding for state, local and tribal authorities as part of its 2008 budget request to Congress next week. It comes in the wake of a 2.2 percent rise nationwide in rapes, murder, robbery, aggravated assault and other violent crimes in 2006 _ the first increase since 2001.

Communities that team up with other cities and regions, partnering with at least one federal law enforcement agency, will be eligible for the grants, Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said. Those that work with other communities across state lines will be given priority, he said.

An ongoing department study of crime rates in 18 cities and regions shows that such task forces have ``played a significant role in helping to effectively combat violent crime,'' he said.

Last fall, mayors and police chiefs reported seeing recent spikes in violent crime, calling for greater support from federal law enforcement agencies that have been distracted by counterterror missions since 2001. At the time, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales made combating violent crime a high priority, but he did not commit to providing extra funding.

Whether the new money will get in the hands of local and state police any time soon is another question, as Congress has yet to approve a budget for 2007 fiscal year that began last October.

Roehrkasse said the Justice study's final results will be released later this spring. So far, he said, it has concluded that ``there is not one single factor that is contributing to the rise in violent crime in some communities.''