FY23 Law Enforcement Agency De-Escalation Grants -Community Policing Development Solicitation | O COPS 2023 171550

Opportunity Information: Apply for O COPS 2023 171550

The FY23 Law Enforcement Agency De-Escalation Grants - Community Policing Development (CPD) solicitation is a discretionary grant opportunity from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office), designed to strengthen law enforcement agencies capacity to carry out community policing through practical, evidence-informed improvements in training, policies, and organizational practices. The program is rooted in the idea that community policing is not a single program, but an agency-wide philosophy that relies on partnerships and problem-solving to address the conditions that contribute to crime, disorder, and fear of crime. Through CPD, the COPS Office aims to help agencies identify, test, and expand promising practices, while also generating usable knowledge products that can be shared across the field. The solicitation emphasizes that this work should align with broader national priorities, including protecting civil rights, advancing racial equity, increasing access to justice, supporting victims and people impacted by the justice system, improving community safety, and building trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.

This particular CPD track focuses on de-escalation and is framed around the ongoing public concern about police use of force. The COPS Office defines de-escalation as a set of verbal and nonverbal skills and decision-making approaches that help officers slow situations down, improve situational awareness, conduct sound threat assessments, and use time, options, and resources to reduce the likelihood of injury or physical confrontation. A key theme in the solicitation is that de-escalation should be approached holistically: it is not only about tactics in a moment of crisis, but also about community engagement, procedural justice, and organizational systems that reinforce safer outcomes. The goal is a comprehensive, whole-agency approach that pairs training with internal supports such as use-of-force data review, after-action learning, and community-informed policies that encourage de-escalation as the default mindset.

Funding under this solicitation is expected to be awarded in multiple grants, with an award ceiling of up to $250,000 per award and an estimated 46 awards. Eligible applicants are limited to state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement agencies; applicants outside those categories will not be considered. The central intent is to support whole-agency training efforts in three linked areas: de-escalation, implicit bias, and duty to intervene. The grant can pay for costs that commonly limit agencies ability to train at scale, including overtime needed for staff to participate. It can also support sending training personnel to nationally certified train-the-trainer programs in these topic areas, allowing agencies to sustain training beyond the life of the grant. Beyond training delivery, the solicitation explicitly supports broader organizational change work that helps institutionalize de-escalation, such as analyzing use-of-force incidents, conducting after-action reviews, updating policies and procedures, creating internal marketing or promotional materials that reinforce expectations, and other efforts aimed at building a lasting culture of de-escalation.

The solicitation draws a clear boundary around what it will not fund. Projects are considered out of scope if they are centered only on hands-on tactical instruction, force-on-force exercises, or other training that does not directly support a de-escalation mindset. Similarly, proposals that mainly seek to buy technology are not competitive unless the technology is integrated into a broader de-escalation, implicit bias, and duty-to-intervene training strategy. The guidance recognizes that tools like virtual reality or augmented reality (VR/AR) can be useful for scenario-based learning and skills maintenance, but it stresses that these investments must be tied to a comprehensive program and cannot be primarily about firearms or tactical capacity-building. If an agency proposes VR/AR or simunitions, it is expected to explain how those tools advance de-escalation and related objectives, rather than simply increasing the volume of use-of-force decision training.

A notable administrative requirement involves third-party training providers. If an application proposes using outside trainers or curricula (whether brought on-site or accessed through sending staff to external programs), the COPS Office will require post-award review and approval of the specific provider and curriculum before funds can be committed. In other words, an agency can be awarded the grant without having its chosen vendor automatically approved; final authorization for that training content happens after award acceptance. The solicitation also points out that the COPS Office already supports no-cost, nationally certified de-escalation training through regional training centers, and it encourages agencies to consider complementary activities such as developing online modules for the COPS Office Online Training Portal, creating roll-call videos and toolkits, reviewing policy manuals, and improving internal learning systems.

Applicants are expected to propose work that meets two practical objectives: first, establishing or enhancing officer training in de-escalation, implicit bias, and duty to intervene; and second, implementing organizational improvements that reinforce de-escalation as part of the agencys culture and operations. Applications must clearly identify deliverables, which may include training deliveries, curriculum or online training development, policy updates, communication products, toolkits, and analytic outputs such as call-for-service analysis and after-action review findings. Agencies should also plan to report on the number of officers who complete training during the grant period. Importantly, deliverables created with grant funding may be shared with the COPS Office De-Escalation National Coordinator to support training efforts nationwide, while proprietary vendor materials are not shared. For written products, applicants are instructed to follow the COPS Office Editorial and Style Manual, and proposals involving site-specific work are encouraged to include letters of support from targeted agencies to show buy-in and readiness.

The opportunity is authorized under federal law, including the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (as amended) and the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, and awards depend on the availability of appropriated funds and any legal requirements that apply. Programmatically, the solicitation emphasizes producing guidance and knowledge products that reflect principles of good guidance: being quality-driven and action-oriented, evidence-based and consistent with the best available research, accessible and written in clear language, and memorable enough to be used in real-world, high-stress policing situations. Basic administrative details include the funding opportunity number (O-COPS-2023-171550), CFDA number 16.710, and an original closing date of May 15, 2023, with the COPS Office listed as the issuing agency within DOJ. For applicant support, program questions are directed to the COPS Office Response Center by phone (800-421-6770) or email (AskCopsRC@usdoj.gov) during standard weekday business hours, excluding federal holidays.

• The Department of Justice, Community Oriented Policing Services in the law, justice and legal services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY23 Law Enforcement Agency De-Escalation Grants -Community Policing Development Solicitation" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.710.
• This funding opportunity was created on Mar 30, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 15, 2023. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $250,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 46 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for O COPS 2023 171550

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