I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4231 
To amend the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 
to reduce the rate of occurrence of homicides and violent crimes in 
violent and drug crime zones. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 8, 2009 
Mr. CAO introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To amend the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement 
Act of 1994 to reduce the rate of occurrence of homicides 
and violent crimes in violent and drug crime zones. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safe Cities Act of 
2009’’. 
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SEC. 2. CREATION OF AND ASSISTANCE FOR VIOLENT AND 
DRUG CRIME ZONES. 
Title XXI of the Violent Crime Control and Law En-
forcement Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 14061 et seq.) is 
amended by adding at the end the following new subtitle: 
‘‘Subtitle 
E—Coordination 
With 
Federal Agencies to Curb Vio-
lent Crime 
‘‘SEC. 21501. CREATION OF AND ASSISTANCE FOR VIOLENT 
AND DRUG CRIME ZONES. 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section the following 
definitions shall apply: 
‘‘(1) GOVERNOR.—The term ‘Governor’ means 
a Governor or other chief executive officer of a State 
or the Mayor of the District of Columbia. 
‘‘(2) VIOLENT AND DRUG CRIME ZONE.—The 
term ‘Violent and Drug Crime Zone’ means a metro-
politan area within a State or multiple States that 
is designated as having rates of homicides, violent 
felonies, sex offenses, drug and gang-related crimes 
that are high in proportion to the national average 
rates of such crimes, as determined by the most re-
cent available data of the Federal Bureau of Inves-
tigation and the National Incident Based Reporting 
System maintained by the uniform crime reporting 
program of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. For 
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purposes of the previous sentence, rates of a crime 
for an area shall be treated as high in proportion to 
the national average rates of such crime if such 
rates for the area are greater than 5 times the na-
tional average rates. 
‘‘(3) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means a State 
of the United States, the District of Columbia, and 
any commonwealth, territory, or possession of the 
United States. 
‘‘(b) VIOLENT AND DRUG CRIME ZONES.— 
‘‘(1) DESIGNATION.—The Attorney General, 
after consultation with the Governor of each appro-
priate State and with relevant Federal agencies, may 
designate as a Violent and Drug Crime Zone, any 
specified area that is located within 1 or more 
States, based on the criteria for designation under 
paragraph (4). 
‘‘(2) ASSISTANCE
AND
COORDINATION.—In 
order to provide Federal assistance to Violent and 
Drug Crime Zones, the Attorney General shall, upon 
consultation with appropriate State and relevant 
local and Federal law enforcement agencies— 
‘‘(A) establish a drug and violent crime 
intervention team in each Violent and Drug 
Crime Zone, which will consist of local, State, 
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and relevant Federal law enforcement authori-
ties, for the coordinated investigation, appre-
hension, and prosecution of criminal activity in 
such zone; 
‘‘(B) ensure the establishment of a Safe 
Cities Task Force described in subsection (c) 
for each Violent and Drug Crime Zone; 
‘‘(C) coordinate with appropriate Federal 
agencies the temporary reassignment of per-
sonnel to the intervention team established 
under subparagraph (A); 
‘‘(D) provide funding or create funding 
partnership opportunities with one or more 
States for the operation of such intervention 
teams; and 
‘‘(E) require reporting from such interven-
tion teams to share intelligence and best prac-
tices. 
‘‘(3) COMPOSITION
OF
DRUG
AND
VIOLENT 
CRIME INTERVENTION TEAMS.—Each drug and vio-
lent crime intervention team established pursuant to 
paragraph (2)(A) shall consist of agents and offi-
cers, where feasible, from— 
‘‘(A) the Federal Bureau of Investigation; 
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‘‘(B) the Drug Enforcement Administra-
tion; 
‘‘(C) the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Fire-
arms, and Explosives; and 
‘‘(D) other relevant Federal agencies, as 
determined by the Attorney General in con-
sultation with local law enforcement agencies in 
the relevant area designated under paragraph 
(1). 
‘‘(4) CRITERIA FOR DESIGNATION.—In consid-
ering an area for designation as a Drug and Violent 
Crime Zone under this section, the Attorney General 
shall consider— 
‘‘(A) the current levels of homicides, vio-
lent crimes, sex crimes, and drug-related and 
gang-related crimes in the zone; 
‘‘(B) the extent to which State and local 
law enforcement agencies have committed and 
need additional resources to respond to the 
crimes described in subparagraph (A); 
‘‘(C) the extent to which a significant in-
crease in the allocation of Federal resources 
would enhance local response to the crimes de-
scribed in subparagraph (A); and 
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‘‘(D) any other criteria deemed appropriate 
by the Attorney General. 
‘‘(5) TRAINING AND TRANSFER OF BEST PRAC-
TICES.—Federal agency personnel who participate in 
a drug and violent crime intervention team under 
this subsection shall, as a condition of such partici-
pation, develop and submit to the Attorney General 
best practice reports. The Attorney General shall 
provide for such best practice reports, as well as 
other intelligence and knowledge-transfer opportuni-
ties, to be shared with State and local law enforce-
ment agencies to enable such agencies to replicate 
the best practices of the intervention teams. 
‘‘(c) SAFE CITIES TASK FORCES.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There shall be established, 
for each Violent and Drug Crimes Zone, a Safe Cit-
ies Task Force. 
‘‘(2) MEMBERSHIP.—Each Safe Cities Task 
Force, with respect to a Violent and Drug Crimes 
Zone, shall consist of not more than 8 members, in-
cluding the Mayor involved, Chief of Police or equiv-
alent, Governor of the applicable State, the city at-
torney (or equivalent) involved, and representatives 
from Federal law enforcement agencies as deter-
mined appropriate by the Attorney General. 
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‘‘(3) DUTIES.—The duties of each Safe Cities 
Task Force shall include the following: 
‘‘(A) Oversight of funding expenditures re-
lated to the creation and work of the drug and 
violent crime intervention team for the zone in-
volved. 
‘‘(B) Assistance with coordination of such 
intervention team. 
‘‘(C) Outreach to affected communities 
within the zone served by such intervention 
team, as needed. 
‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated from the Violent Crime 
Reduction Trust Fund such sums as may be necessary to 
carry out this section.’’. 
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR COM-
MUNITY-BASED JUSTICE GRANTS FOR PROS-
ECUTORS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 31707 of the Violent 
Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (42 
U.S.C. 13867) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 31707. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 
this subtitle $15,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2010 
through 2013 .’’. 
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(b) INCREASE IN PROSECUTORS FOR INTERVENTION 
TEAM EFFORTS.—Section 31702 of the Violent Crime 
Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 
14211) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 
end; 
(2) in paragraph (5), by striking the period at 
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(3) adding at the end the following new para-
graph: 
‘‘(6) to fund programs that would increase the 
number of prosecutors available to work with efforts 
of drug and violent crime intervention teams under 
section 21501, as determined necessary by the At-
torney General in consultation with appropriate Fed-
eral agencies and local law enforcement.’’. 
SEC. 4. GRANTS TO STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT 
TO ESTABLISH STATE-WIDE CRIME PREVEN-
TION DATABASES. 
Subtitle I of title XXXII of the Violent Crime Control 
and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 is amended by adding 
at the end the following new section: 
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‘‘SEC. 320936. GRANTS TO STATE AND LOCAL LAW EN-
FORCEMENT 
TO 
ESTABLISH 
STATE-WIDE 
CRIME PREVENTION DATABASES. 
‘‘(a) AUTHORITY TO MAKE GRANTS.—The Office of 
Justice Programs of the Department of Justice shall 
award grants, in accordance with such regulations as the 
Attorney General may prescribe, to State and local pro-
grams designed to establish and maintain a State-wide 
database to track criminals, arrests, prosecutions, and 
convictions. 
‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 
necessary to carry out this section.’’. 
Æ 
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