I 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4098 

To improve public safety through increased law enforcement presence and 

enhanced public safety equipment and programs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 28, 2012 

Mr. CONYERS (for himself, Mr. CLARKE of Michigan, Mr. PETERS, Mr. SCOTT

of Virginia, Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas, Ms. WATERS, Mr. COHEN, Mr. 

JOHNSON of Georgia, and Ms. CHU) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To improve public safety through increased law enforcement 

presence and enhanced public safety equipment and programs, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; DEFINITIONS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Shield Our Streets Act of 2012’’. 

6 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 

7 (1) ELEVATED NEED LOCALITY.—The term 

8 ‘‘elevated need locality’’ means a county or other 


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1 unit of local government that is not part of a county 

2 that— 

3 (A) has a violent crime rate at or above 

4 the national average, as determined by the Fed5 eral Bureau of Investigation; and 

6 (B) has, during the most recent 5-year pe7 riod, had budget reductions. 

8 (2) UNIT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT.—The term 

9 ‘‘unit of local government’’ has the meaning given 

10 such term in section 901 of title I of the Omnibus 

11 Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 

12 U.S.C. 3791). 

13 SEC. 2. SHIELD POLICE HIRING GRANTS. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General is author15 ized to carry out a program, through the Office of Com16 munity Oriented Policing Services, to award grants to eli17 gible local law enforcement agencies to assist such agen18 cies with hiring and rehiring career law enforcement offi19 cers in accordance with this section. 

20 (b) ELIGIBLE LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGEN21 CIES.—For the purposes of this section, an ‘‘eligible local 

22 law enforcement agency’’ is a local law enforcement agen23 cy that has jurisdiction over all or part of an elevated need 

24 locality. 


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1 (c) USE OF FUNDS.—Grant funds awarded under 

2 this section shall be used by an eligible local law enforce3 ment agency to— 

4 (1) hire and train new career law enforcement 

5 officers for deployment in the jurisdiction of the 

6 agency; or 

7 (2) rehire career law enforcement officers who 

8 have been laid off as a result of Federal, State, or 

9 local budget reductions. 

10 (d) GRANT PERIOD.—Each grant awarded under this 

11 section shall be for a period of 3 years and may be ex12 tended or renewed for an additional 2-year period at the 

13 discretion of the Attorney General. 

14 (e) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Attorney General 

15 shall provide technical assistance to eligible local law en16 forcement agencies during the application process and 

17 while such agencies are carrying out grants under this sec18 tion. 

19 (f) NO MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—An eligible local 

20 law enforcement agency receiving a grant under this sec21 tion shall not be required to provide any portion of the 

22 costs, in cash or in-kind, of the activities carried out with 

23 such grant from non-Federal funds. 

24 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—In addi25 tion to any other funds authorized to be appropriated for 


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1 hiring and rehiring local law enforcement officers, there 

2 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

3 $100,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2013 through 

4 2018. 

5 SEC. 3. SHIELD PUBLIC SAFETY ENHANCEMENT GRANTS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General is author7 ized to carry out a program to award grants to eligible 

8 organizations to enhance public safety through the activi9 ties described in subsection (c). 

10 (b) ELIGIBLE ORGANIZATIONS.—For the purposes of 

11 this section, an ‘‘eligible organization’’ is— 

12 (1) a unit of local government that has jurisdic13 tion over all or part of an elevated need locality; or 

14 (2) a nonprofit organization that operates in 

15 one or more elevated need localities. 

16 (c) AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.—Grant funds awarded 

17 under this section shall be used as follows: 

18 (1) With respect to an eligible organization de19 scribed in subsection (b)(1), to enhance public safety 

20 in the jurisdiction of the organization. Such en21 hancement may include— 

22 (A) purchasing public safety equipment; 

23 (B) funding public safety programs; 

24 (C) making infrastructure improvements 

25 for the purpose of enhancing public safety; 


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1 (D) purchasing and installing street lights 

2 and other lights to deter crime; 

3 (E) funding activities related to crime labs; 

4 and 

5 (F) funding public defender programs. 

6 (2) With respect to an eligible organization de7 scribed in subsection (b)(2), to carry out programs 

8 designed to reduce crime in one or more of the coun9 ties or cities under subsection (b)(2). 

10 (d) GRANT PERIOD.—Each grant awarded under this 

11 section shall be for a period of one year and may be ex12 tended or renewed for an additional period at the discre13 tion of the Attorney General. 

14 (e) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Attorney General 

15 shall provide technical assistance to eligible organizations 

16 during the application process and while such organiza17 tions are carrying out grants under this section. 

18 (f) NO MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—An eligible orga19 nization receiving a grant under this section shall not be 

20 required to provide any portion of the costs, in cash or 

21 in-kind, of the activities carried out with such grant from 

22 non-Federal funds. 

23 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—In addi24 tion to any other funds authorized to be appropriated for 

25 public safety enhancement by eligible organizations, there 


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1 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

2 $100,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2013 through 

3 2018. 

Æ 


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