S 996: Directs the division of criminal justice services to establish the safer communities grant program making grants available to investigative or prosecutorial entities involved with cases of homicides, rapes, sexual assaults, kidnappings, and non-fatal shootings; requires a report to the legislature; makes an appropriation therefor.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 996 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE (Prefiled) January 8, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sens. ROLISON, BORRELLO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Finance AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to directing the division of criminal justice services to establish the safer communities grant program; and making an appropriation therefor The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 835 of the executive law is amended by adding five 2 new subdivisions 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 to read as follows: 3 12. "Clearance by arrest", with respect to an offense reported to a 4 law enforcement agency, means the law enforcement agency has arrested 5 not less than one person for the offense, charged said person with the 6 commission of the offense and referred said person for prosecution for 7 the offense; or has cited an individual under the age of eighteen to 8 appear in juvenile court or before another juvenile authority with 9 respect to the offense, regardless of whether a physical arrest 10 occurred. 11 13. "Clearance by exception", with respect to an offense reported to a 12 law enforcement agency, means the law enforcement agency has identified 13 not less than one person suspected of the offense, and with respect to 14 the suspect, has gathered enough evidence to support an arrest of the 15 suspect, make a charge against the suspect; and refer the suspect for 16 prosecution; identified the exact location of the suspect so that the 17 suspect could be taken into custody immediately; and encountered a 18 circumstance outside the control of the law enforcement agency that 19 prohibits the agency from arresting the suspect, charging the suspect, 20 or referring the suspect for prosecution, including the death of the 21 suspect, the refusal of the victim to cooperate with the prosecution 22 after the suspect has been identified, or the denial of extradition EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD01579-01-5 
 S. 996 2 1 because the suspect committed an offense in another jurisdiction and is 2 being prosecuted for that offense. 3 14. "Clearance rate", with respect to a law enforcement agency, means 4 the number of offenses cleared by the law enforcement agency, including 5 through clearance by arrest and clearance by exception, divided by the 6 total number of offenses reported to the law enforcement agency. 7 15. "Eligible entity" means a Tribal or municipal law enforcement 8 agency or prosecuting office, or a group of Tribal law enforcement agen- 9 cies or Tribal prosecuting offices. 10 16. "Program" means the grant program established under section eight 11 hundred forty-five-f of this article. 12 § 2. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 845-f to 13 read as follows: 14 § 845-f. Safer communities grant program. 1. As used in this section, 15 "specified offenses" includes homicides, rapes, sexual assaults, kidnap- 16 pings and non-fatal shootings. 17 2. Not later than one hundred eighty days after the effective date of 18 this section, the division of criminal justice services shall establish 19 the safer communities grant program to award grants to eligible entities 20 for investigative and/or prosecutorial activities with the specific 21 objective of improving clearance rates for cases involving one or more 22 specified offenses. Grants shall be in such amounts as determined 23 appropriate by the division of criminal justice services on a case-by- 24 case basis. 25 3. An eligible entity seeking a grant under the program shall submit 26 to the division of criminal justice services an application at such time 27 and in such manner as determined by the division of criminal justice 28 services containing or accompanied by: 29 (a) such information as the division of criminal justice services may 30 reasonably require; and 31 (b) a description of each eligible project, as described in subdivi- 32 sion five of this section, that the grant will fund. 33 4. The division of criminal justice services, in selecting a recipient 34 of a grant under the program, shall consider the specific plan and 35 activities proposed by the applicant to improve clearance rates for 36 specified offenses. Eligible applicants that do not receive funding 37 through the Gun Involved Violence Elimination (GIVE) Initiative adminis- 38 tered by the division of criminal justice services shall be given prior- 39 ity in the allocation of safer communities grant program awards. 40 5. A grant recipient shall use the grant for activities with the 41 specific objective of improving clearance rates for cases involving 42 specified offenses, including: 43 (a) ensuring the retention of detectives who are assigned to investi- 44 gate the specified offense or offenses as of the date of receipt of the 45 grant; 46 (b) hiring and training additional detectives who will be dedicated to 47 investigating specified offenses; 48 (c) developing policies, procedures, and training to improve the abil- 49 ity of detectives to effectively investigate and solve cases involving 50 specified offenses, including implementing best practices relating to: 51 (i) improving internal agency cooperation, organizational oversight 52 and accountability, and supervision of investigations; 53 (ii) developing specific goals and performance metrics for both inves- 54 tigators and investigative units; 55 (iii) establishing or improving relationships with the communities the 56 agency serves; and 
 S. 996 3 1 (iv) collaboration with and among other law enforcement agencies and 2 criminal justice organizations; 3 (d) training personnel to address the needs of victims and family 4 members of victims of specified offenses or collaborating with trained 5 victim advocates and specialists to better meet victims' needs; 6 (e) acquiring, upgrading, or replacing investigative, evidence proc- 7 essing, or forensic testing technology or equipment; 8 (f) development and implementation of policies that safeguard civil 9 rights and civil liberties during the collection, processing, and foren- 10 sic testing of evidence; 11 (g) hiring or training personnel for collection, processing, and 12 forensic testing of evidence; 13 (h) hiring and training of personnel to analyze violent crime and the 14 temporal and geographic trends among specified offenses; 15 (i) retaining experts to conduct a detailed analysis of homicides and 16 shootings using Gun Violence Problem Analysis (commonly known as "GVPA") 17 or a similar research methodology; 18 (j) ensuring victims have appropriate access to emergency food, hous- 19 ing, clothing, travel, and transportation; 20 (k) developing competitive and evidence-based programs to improve 21 homicide and non-fatal shooting clearance rates; 22 (l) developing best practices for improving access to and acceptance 23 of victim services, including victim services that promote medical and 24 psychological wellness, ongoing counseling, legal advice, and financial 25 compensation; 26 (m) training investigators and detectives in trauma-informed interview 27 techniques; 28 (n) establishing programs to support officers who experience stress or 29 trauma as a result of responding to or investigating shootings or other 30 violent crime incidents; and/or 31 (o) ensuring language and disability access supports are provided to 32 victims, survivors, and their families so that victims can exercise 33 their rights and participate in the criminal justice process. 34 6. A grant made under the program shall not exceed one hundred percent 35 of the cost of the proposed activity if the grant is awarded on or 36 before March thirty-first, two thousand thirty-six or fifty percent of 37 the cost of the proposed activity if the grant is awarded after March 38 thirty-first, two thousand thirty-six. 39 7. Not later than one year after receiving a grant under the program, 40 and each year thereafter during which the activity funded by the grant 41 is carried out, a grant recipient shall submit to the division of crimi- 42 nal justice services a report on the activities carried out using the 43 grant, including, if applicable: the number of homicide and non-fatal 44 shooting detectives hired by the grant recipient; the number of 45 evidence-processing personnel hired by the grant recipient; a 46 description of any training that is provided to existing (as of the date 47 on which the grant was awarded) or newly hired homicide and non-fatal 48 shooting detectives and designed to assist in the solving of crimes and 49 improve clearance rates; any new evidence-processing technology or 50 equipment purchased or any upgrades made to existing (as of the date on 51 which the grant was awarded) evidence technology or equipment, and the 52 associated cost; any assessments of evidence-processing technology or 53 equipment purchased with grant funds to determine whether such technolo- 54 gy or equipment satisfies the objectives of the use of the technology or 55 equipment in increasing clearance rates, and any policies in place to 56 govern the use of the technology or equipment; the internal policies and 
 S. 996 4 1 oversight used to ensure that any technology purchased through the grant 2 for the purposes of improving clearance rates does not violate the civil 3 rights and civil liberties of individuals; data regarding clearance 4 rates for homicides, rapes, other aggravated felonies, and non-fatal 5 shootings, including the rate of clearances by arrest and clearances by 6 exception, and crime trends from within each jurisdiction in which the 7 grant recipient carried out activities supported by the grant; whether 8 the grant recipient has provided grant funds to any victim services 9 organizations, and if so, which organizations; the demographic informa- 10 tion for victims of homicides, rapes, other aggravated felonies, and 11 non-fatal shootings, and the length and outcomes of each investigation, 12 including whether the investigation was cleared by arrest or exception; 13 the demographic information for each victim or family member of a victim 14 who received victim-related services provided by the grant recipient; 15 and identification of the services most used by victims and their fami- 16 lies and identification of additional services needed. 17 8. No later than two years after the effective date of this section, 18 and every two years thereafter, the division of criminal justice 19 services shall conduct an evaluation of the practices deployed by grant 20 recipients to identify policies and procedures that have successfully 21 improved clearance rates for homicides, rapes, sexual assaults, kidnap- 22 pings, and non-fatal shootings; and the efficacy of any services 23 provided to victims and family members of victims of homicides, rapes, 24 sexual assaults, kidnappings, and non-fatal shootings. Not later than 25 thirty days after completion of an evaluation the division of criminal 26 justice services shall submit to the temporary president of the senate 27 and speaker of the assembly a report including the results of the evalu- 28 ation and information reported by each grant recipient under subdivision 29 seven of this section. 30 § 3. The sum of thirty million dollars ($30,000,000) is hereby appro- 31 priated to the division for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2036 out 32 of any moneys in the state treasury in the general fund to the credit of 33 the local assistance account, not otherwise appropriated, and made imme- 34 diately available, for the purpose of establishing safer communities 35 grant program to award grants to eligible entities for activities with 36 the specific objective of improving clearance rates for homicides, 37 rapes, sexual assaults, kidnappings, and non-fatal shootings. 38 § 4. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall 39 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or 40 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of 41 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed 42 on or before such effective date.