Biden to Announce $37B In Crime Prevention, Police Training Funds

To fund policing and crime prevention initiatives across the U.S., President Joe Biden will present a $37 billion budget proposal to Congress on Tuesday, Spectrum News reports.

The plan will center on hiring and retaining officers, intervention strategies, enhancing the criminal justice system and a call for additional efforts to keep firearms out of dangerous hands.

A little over a month after his COVID-19 diagnosis postponed an initial visit and announcement there, Biden will present his “Safer America Plan” in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., at 3:15 p.m.

The policing portion of the plan will allocate nearly $13 billion for the federal Community Oriented Police Services (COPS) Hiring Program to hire 100,000 officers over the next five years. The money will be distributed as grants to “recruit, train, support, and manage” officers in “effective, accountable community policing.”

Along with separate funds devoted to officer retention, the Safer America plan would also allot $1 billion for officer training that places a special emphasis on “accountability, transparency, and the well-being of state and local officers.”