# US Department of Justice — Bureau of Justice Assistance A component of the **Office of Justice Programs (OJP)** at the **US Department of Justice**. BJA administers the federal **Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN)** grant program, the **Justice Assistance Grant (JAG)** program, and several other federal law-enforcement assistance and grant funding streams. BJA's grants typically pass through state grant administrators (in Arkansas, the [[Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration — Office of Intergovernmental Services|DFA-IGS]]) to local-government sub-recipients. For the surveillance investigation, BJA is the **federal grantor** of the Project Safe Neighborhoods Formula 18 (PSN18) grant that funded PCSO's pre-Flock Genetec ALPR system. **Federal Award Numbers `2018-GP-BX-0013` and `2018-GP-BX-0072`**, federal award date **October 2, 2018**, CFDA 16.609. The award amount sub-granted to Pulaski County was $75,500. ## Roles in this corpus - **Federal grantor of the PSN program.** PSN's stated purpose per the federal Award Document: *"Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is designed to create and foster safer neighborhoods through a sustained reduction in violent crime, including, but not limited to, addressing criminal gangs and the felonious possession and use of firearms. PSN provides critical funding, resources, and training for law enforcement, prosecutors, and their PSN teams to combat violent crime and make their communities safer through a comprehensive approach to public safety that marries targeted law enforcement efforts with community engagement, prevention, and reentry efforts."* - **Imposed 57 Special Conditions on PSN18 recipients.** The Award Continuation Sheets (Pages 1-16 of [[Pulaski County PSN18 Grant Award (Contract 6228)|the GrantAward file]]) impose 57 numbered special conditions covering compliance with: Part 200 Uniform Requirements, DOJ Grants Financial Guide, SAM registration, civil rights / nondiscrimination (28 CFR Parts 38, 42, 54), prohibition on lobbying (18 U.S.C. 1913, 31 U.S.C. 1352), FFATA subaward reporting, OJP training requirements, conflict-of-interest, **8 U.S.C. 1373 noninterference with federal LE** (sanctuary-cities-restriction; conditions 54-56), PSN-specific conferences-of-experts, conflict-of-interest certification, and others. - **The 8 U.S.C. 1373 conditions are notable.** PSN18's Special Conditions 54-56 require recipients to certify and continue compliance with the federal sanctuary-jurisdictions restriction regime. Recipients must execute the *"State or Local Government: FY 2018 Certification of Compliance with 8 U.S.C. 1373"* and maintain the underlying noninterference posture throughout the period of performance. The DHS/ICE Communications Addendum #1 (see [[Pulaski County PSN18 Grant Award (Contract 6228)]]) was part of this compliance regime — the recipient had to disclose any laws/policies/practices restricting DHS/ICE communication, and BJA evaluated for sanctuary-jurisdiction status. - **Reporting requirements.** PSN recipients must submit quarterly Federal Financial Reports (SF-425) through the GMS system (`https://grants.ojp.usdoj.gov`), semi-annual performance reports through GMS, and quarterly performance metrics through BJA's Performance Measurement Tool (`https://bjapmt.ojp.gov/`). The corpus does not contain PCSO's submitted reports — only the closeout-stage Year-End Financial Report sent to DFA-IGS. ## Notes - BJA is one of seven OJP components: BJA, Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Institute of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office for Victims of Crime, SMART Office, and OJP's Office of the Chief Financial Officer. - The **scope of allowable PSN-funded purchases** is established by the federal grant program's enabling statute (Public Law 115-141, 132 Stat. 348, 420; Title I of Public Law 90-351 codified at 34 USC ch. 101; 28 USC 530C(a)). PSN expressly contemplates *"funding, resources, and training for law enforcement"* — encompassing equipment, software, training, and personnel costs. PCSO's use of PSN18 funds for **ALPR equipment** falls within the grant's "comprehensive approach to public safety" scope but is the corpus's first documented federal-grant funding of Arkansas surveillance procurement. - BJA has multiple successor and related grant programs beyond PSN. JAG (Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant) is the largest federal LE-assistance funding stream and is similarly state-pass-through-administered. Whether Arkansas LE agencies have used JAG (or COPS Hiring Program funds, or Patrick Leahy Bulletproof Vest Partnership funds, etc.) for ALPR or surveillance procurement in the post-2021 period is not in the corpus. - A targeted FOIA to OJP's Performance Measurement Tool (PMT) for Arkansas PSN-grant performance data would surface state-wide PSN-grant activity in the years documented. Tier-2 web research via OJP's public grant-award database (`https://ojp.gov/funding/Implement/`) would identify the full Arkansas PSN-grant portfolio.