COPS Anti-Methamphetamine Program (CAMP)—

How Decisions were Made to Allocate $12 Million 

When More than $19.7 Million was Requested

The COPS Office received applications from 12 eligible state law enforcement agencies requesting 

$19,700,456 in federal funding for the FY 2020 COPS Anti-Methamphetamine Program (CAMP). 

The COPS Office developed an application to meet the 

requirements of the law

This is the seventh fiscal year that the COPS Office has received funding for CAMP. As in the previous 

fiscal years, CAMP focuses on advancing public safety by providing funds to investigate illicit activities 

related to the manufacture and distribution of methamphetamine. Only state law enforcement agencies 

authorized by law or by a state agency to engage in or supervise anti-methamphetamine investigative 

activities were eligible to apply for funding. 

The COPS Office balanced scoring indicators

Applicants were asked to submit information regarding their jurisdiction’s methamphetamine problem 

on such indicators as

• reported seizures of methamphetamine for the previous three years; 

• current anti-methamphetamine investigative activities; 

• planned or current involvement in an anti-methamphetamine task force. 

The community policing philosophy engages in a proactive and systematic examination of identified 

problems that can be countered with effective responses. Community policing relies heavily on 

partnerships and relationships between law enforcement and the community it serves. Narrative 

questions were designed to examine an agency’s formation of collaborations with federal, state, local, 

or tribal partners such as other law enforcement and public agencies, private organizations, or 

participation in multijurisdictional task forces. Agencies were asked to identify and describe the types of 

partnerships they intended to initiate or enhance in order to address their identified methamphetamine 

problem.
CAMP award methodology 2 

The COPS Office verified the data submitted 

The application system contains numerous built-in logic checks to help prevent the submission of 

erroneous data. In addition, once the applications were submitted, specialists in the COPS Office 

immediately reviewed the data contained therein. The COPS Office verified information provided in 

applications using data from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). This data verification process was 

crucial to ensuring that all applicants were properly evaluated based on accurately and consistently 

reported seizure data. 

The COPS Office developed a uniform system of 

evaluating the information that applicants submitted

Comprehensive review

The 12 eligible applications underwent an exhaustive and comprehensive review process. 

The peer reviewers evaluated the following criteria in the Project Narrative and Budget Narrative 

sections of the application to determine the quality of each application. The reviewers looked at the 

following: 

• Problem identification

• Current methamphetamine investigative activities

• Anti-methamphetamine task force participation

• Collaboration and partnerships

• High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area threat assessment regarding methamphetamine

• Strategy to achieve program goals 

• Applicable and allowable budget items requested

The peer reviewers then developed recommendations based on a rating of “Highly Recommended,” 

“Recommended,” or “Not Recommended” for each proposal. All of the agencies ranked within the 

“Recommended” rating. 

Data scoring

The focus for funding was on state-level law enforcement agencies in states with high rates of identified 

methamphetamine problems as indicated through the following sources of statewide data:

• Number of seizures of precursor chemicals

• Numbers of seizures of finished methamphetamine

• Number of seizures of methamphetamine laboratories

• Number of laboratory dump seizures
CAMP award methodology 3 

State methamphetamine seizure data for all applicants were scored and ranked within their respective 

recommendation rating categories. A methodology for scoring was established to analyze and rank the 

seizure data provided in each application. Each category is of equal value, and the data were scored 

based on the rate of change between each year and the most recent year’s data. The following is a 

classification of each item that was scored:

• Seizure data rates for the past three years 

• Seizure rates of precursor chemicals for the past three years 

• Seizure rates of finished methamphetamine rate the past three years

• Seizure rates of methamphetamine laboratories for the past three years 

• Laboratory dump seizure rates for the past three years

A methodology for the methamphetamine seizure rates was established to analyze and rank the seizure 

data provided in each application. A median, using the data for the states in which applications were 

received, was determined using the states’ multiple methamphetamine seizure numbers identified here. 

Applications were then ranked using the following criteria:

1. Applicants that received a “highly recommended” rating and had a number for the total 

methamphetamine seizures at or above the median for all applicants meeting the basic minimum 

requirements 

2. Applicants that received a “recommended” rating and had a number for the total 

methamphetamine seizures at or above the median for all applicants meeting the basic minimum 

requirements 

3. Applicants that received a “highly recommended” rating and had a number for the total 

methamphetamine seizures below the median for all applicants meeting the basic minimum 

requirements 

4. Applicants that received a “recommended” rating and had a number for the total 

methamphetamine seizures below the median for all applicants meeting the basic minimum 

requirements