OVW Fiscal Year 2024 Local Law Enforcement Grants for Enforcement of Cybercrimes Program | O OVW 2024 171924

Opportunity Information: Apply for O OVW 2024 171924

The OVW Fiscal Year 2024 Local Law Enforcement Grants for Enforcement of Cybercrimes Program is a discretionary grant opportunity from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), authorized under 34 U.S.C. 30107 and listed under CFDA 16.060. Its core purpose is to strengthen how state, tribal, and local jurisdictions prevent, investigate, enforce, and prosecute cybercrimes that target individuals, with an emphasis on conduct that causes personal harm rather than economic or institutional damage. The program is designed to help jurisdictions respond more effectively to technology-facilitated harassment and abuse by improving capacity across the full justice-system response, from frontline law enforcement through prosecution and the courts, while also supporting victim-focused resources and public education.

For this program, "cybercrimes against individuals" means criminal offenses involving the use of a computer to harass, threaten, stalk, extort, coerce, cause fear to, or intimidate a person, or to distribute intimate images of an adult without consent. A key point in the statutory definition is that a computer does not have to be an element of the underlying criminal offense; in practice, this recognizes that many traditional crimes (like stalking or threats) are increasingly committed or escalated through digital means even if the statute does not explicitly mention technology. The term "computer" is interpreted broadly and includes computer networks and interactive electronic devices, reflecting the reality that these crimes often occur through phones, apps, social media platforms, messaging services, and other networked technologies. The program explicitly does not cover cyber activity aimed at harming commercial entities, government agencies, or other non-natural persons; the focus is squarely on crimes directed at individual victims.

Funding under this opportunity supports both people and infrastructure needed to address these offenses. Allowable activities include training for state, tribal, and local law enforcement personnel, prosecutors, judges, and other judicial personnel on cybercrimes against individuals, with the goal of improving investigative practice, charging decisions, court handling of digital evidence, and overall case outcomes. The program also supports direct assistance to law enforcement agencies to help them enforce laws that prohibit these offenses, including building or enhancing investigative capabilities. In addition, the grant can be used for public education efforts to raise awareness and prevention, support for victim assistants who help individuals navigate reporting and safety planning, and the establishment of task forces that bring together relevant partners to coordinate investigations and responses. Equipment purchases are also within scope when tied to investigative needs, such as acquiring computers and other tools necessary to conduct investigations and forensic analysis of evidence, which is often critical for collecting, preserving, and analyzing digital artifacts in a legally sound way.

Eligible applicants include state governments, county governments, city or township governments, and federally recognized Native American tribal governments. OVW anticipated making around 10 awards under this solicitation, with an award ceiling of up to $500,000 per award. The opportunity was posted with the funding opportunity number OVW-2024-171924, under the funding activity category of Law, Justice and Legal Services, and had an original application closing date of April 29, 2024. Overall, the solicitation is aimed at improving community safety and accountability by ensuring that jurisdictions have the training, coordination, victim support capacity, and technical tools needed to respond to technology-facilitated abuse and related cyber-enabled offenses that harm individuals.

• The Office on Violence Against Women in the law, justice and legal services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "OVW Fiscal Year 2024 Local Law Enforcement Grants for Enforcement of Cybercrimes Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.060.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-01-31.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-04-29. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $500,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 10 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized).

Apply for O OVW 2024 171924

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