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Bill Summary · HB 830

Quick overview

HB 830 would establish the Violent Crime Reduction Grant Program within the Ohio Department of Public Safety to fund police departments (municipal police or county sheriff’s offices) and their partnerships to reduce violent crime through proven or promising strategies. The program emphasizes evidence-based approaches, accountability, and evaluation to measure outcomes.

Main purpose and intent

  • Create the violent crime reduction grant program to award grants aimed at reducing and preventing violent crime.
  • Support law enforcement in implementing strategies shown to reduce violence, including place-based and data-driven approaches.
  • Promote rigorous evaluation of funded programs to demonstrate causal effects on violence.

Key provisions and changes

  • Establishment and administration

    • Creates the Violent Crime Reduction Grant Program in the Division of Criminal Justice Services (within the Department of Public Safety).
    • The Division of Criminal Justice Services administers the program; the Director of Public Safety approves final grant awards upon the Division’s recommendation.
    • Rules to implement the program (application procedures, scoring, reporting, performance metrics, and fiscal requirements) will be adopted under Ohio law (Chapter 119).

  • Eligible applicants

    • Defined as a police department of a municipal corporation or a county sheriff’s office.
    • Eligible applicants may jointly apply with other eligible applicants.

  • Authorized uses of grant funds

    • Implement or expand violent crime reduction strategies such as:
    • Place network investigations
    • Focused deterrence
    • Hot spot policing
    • Crime gun intelligence centers
    • Implement or expand the five core strategies from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s comprehensive gang model:
    • Community mobilization
    • Opportunity provision
    • Social intervention
    • Violent crime suppression
    • Organizational change and development
    • Purchase technology and equipment related to strategy implementation
    • Provide overtime for personnel involved in strategy development/implementation
    • Training on specific strategies or supporting technology
    • Technical assistance to create/expand strategies
    • Analytical tools and support to understand violence and assess effectiveness
    • Address violent crime by other means approved by the Division

  • Evaluation and accountability

    • An agreement with a qualified research partner to collect and analyze data, preferably using experimental or quasi-experimental designs.
    • Annual reporting and performance metrics will be developed and publicly posted.
    • The Division will monitor grantees for financial and programmatic compliance and may impose corrective actions, suspend/terminate grants, or recover funds for noncompliance.
    • Reports must be submitted to the Governor and General Assembly each year, and published publicly.

  • Grant terms and funding conditions

    • Each grant term cannot exceed 24 months.
    • Grants should supplement, not supplant, local ongoing services unless a fiscal hardship exception applies.

  • Special funding and target requirements

    • Not less than 20% of annual grant awards must fund clearance rate improvement projects, unless the Director waives this requirement if the statewide violent crime clearance rate is 75% or higher for the most recent year, as certified publicly by January 31 of the fiscal year.

  • Reporting requirements for grantees

    • For each grant year, agencies must report detailed information on violent offenses, including offense name, report date, location, weapon type, victim demographics (when available), and clearance status (with details on arrest vs. exception and justification for exceptional clearance).

  • Research partnership and reporting timeline

    • Division must enter into an agreement with a qualified research partner.
    • By December 31, 2026, the Division and partner must submit a report on outcomes to Senate/House crime committee chairs and make it public.

Who would be affected

  • Eligible law enforcement agencies: municipal police departments and county sheriff’s offices that apply for grants (including joint applications).
  • Communities served by these agencies: potential implementation of new violence-reduction strategies and technologies.
  • General public: through improved transparency, reporting, and outcomes related to violent crime reduction programs.

Procedural and timeline aspects

  • Rulemaking: Division to adopt implementing rules (application, scoring, reporting, performance metrics, fiscal rules).
  • Grant cycles: Each grant term limited to 24 months.
  • Reporting: Annual progress and a public report due Oct 1 of each year; grantee reports required during grant term.
  • Waiver option: A 20% minimum for clearance-rate improvement projects can be waived if statewide clearance rate meets 75% threshold (as certified publicly by Jan 31 of the fiscal year).
  • Evaluation timeline: A comprehensive evaluation plan with a qualified research partner; target report by December 31, 2026, with public posting.

Potential impact considerations

  • Emphasis on evidence-based, evaluated strategies may improve the effectiveness of violence-reduction efforts.
  • Requirement for rigorous external evaluation supports accountability and learning but may require significant data-sharing and collaboration with research partners.
  • Minimum funding allocation toward clearance-rate improvement programs aims to directly affect investigative outcomes.
  • Administrative and reporting demands on grantees and the administering agency are substantial, potentially affecting local workflows.

If you’d like, I can tailor this into an easily shareable one-page briefing or extract a stakeholder-focused summary for police departments, city/county leaders, or community organizations.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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