National Evaluation of the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant Program: Phase One Final Report

• NCJ Number: 187778
• Author(s): Robert K. Yin; Anthony M. Pate; Dawn Kim; David Sheppard; Emily Warner; Michael Cannon; Margaret Gwaltney; Elizabeth Linz; Pamela Schaal
• Date Published: March 2001
• Length: 203 pages
• Grant Number(s): 1997-LB-VX-0013
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation

Annotation

A national evaluation focused on the startup phases of the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant Program, with emphasis on how the grantees implemented the program’s procedures, the grantees’ reactions to the application and reporting process, the types of grantees and their uses of the funds, and the innovative practices that grantees used.

Abstract

The program placed few restrictions on the use of funds, awarded the funds directly to local jurisdictions, and supported law enforcement and public safety activities. The evaluation focused on grants made in fiscal years 1996 and 1997. Evaluation information came from a review of grant records, fax surveys and telephone interviews with grantees, and site visits to grantees that claimed innovative uses of the funds. Results revealed that 232 of the 236 participants in the telephone survey indicated that they believed that they were doing something innovative with the grant funds and that grantees receiving site visits were able to associate the expenditures to specific programs or practices. In addition, several projects had already begun to produce desired outputs such as enhanced crime information systems or desired outcomes such as reductions in recorded crime. Moreover, many jurisdictions had bundled the grant funds with those from other sources or had used the funds to leverage other available resources. The analysis concluded that further evaluations should focus on the extent and ways in which grant recipients are using the outcomes-oriented approach, the role of the grant funds in promoting an outcomes orientation, other organizational changes to produce results-oriented governments, and ways to share findings about these changes with local and Federal initiatives. Figures, tables, and appended methodological information, instrument, forms, and background information