HOUSE BILL NO. 5097
A bill to create a violent crime clearance program in the department of state police; to provide grants to certain law enforcement agencies; to provide for the powers and duties of certain state and local governmental officers and entities; and to create the violent crime clearance rate grant fund.
the people of the state of michigan enact:
Sec. 1. This act may be cited as the "violent crime clearance act".
(a) "Clearance by arrest" or "cleared by arrest" means 1 of the following occurred after a violent crime:
(i) An individual was arrested for committing and is charged with the violent crime.
(ii) An individual under 18 years of age had a verified petition provided to a court that lists the violent crime as an offense committed by the individual.
(b) "Clearance by exception" or "cleared by exception" means the law enforcement agency to which a violent crime was reported has clearly and definitively established the identity of 1 or more offenders of the violent crime, has sufficient probable cause to arrest an offender of the violent crime, and has sufficient information to effectuate the arrest, but has a reason outside the control of the law enforcement agency that prevents the law enforcement agency from making the arrest.
(c) "Clearance rate" means the quotient obtained by dividing the sum of the number of incidents of violent crime that have a clearance by arrest and the number of incidents of violent crime that have a clearance by exception by the total number of incidents of violent crime reported to the law enforcement agency.
(d) "Department" means the department of state police.
(e) "Fund" means the violent crime clearance rate grant fund created in section 11.
(f) "Grant program" means the violent crime clearance grant program created under section 5.
(g) "Law enforcement agency" means the police department of a municipality or the sheriff's office of a county.
(h) "Offense category" means the index of crimes that are categorized as a violent offense in the Michigan incident crime reporting system.
(i) "Violent crime" means that term as defined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting Program.
Sec. 5. (1) The violent crime clearance grant program is created in the department to improve clearance rates.
(2) A law enforcement agency may apply to the department for a grant under the grant program. A law enforcement agency may join with 1 or more law enforcement agencies to submit a joint application for a grant under the grant program.
(3) A grant awarded under the grant program may be used by a law enforcement agency for 1 or more of the following:
(a) Hiring, retaining, and training personnel to do any of the following:
(i) Investigate violent crime.
(ii) Collect, process, and forensically test evidence.
(iii) Analyze violent crime, including by monitoring temporal and geographic trends.
(b) Acquiring, upgrading, or replacing technology or equipment used for evidence collection or processing, or for forensic testing.
(c) Upgrading record management systems to comply with the reporting requirements under section 7.
(d) Ensuring compliance with reporting requirements under section 7.
(e) Supporting witnesses to help investigate violent crime.
(4) The department shall make awards under the grant program in a manner that complies with all of the following:
(a) The awards are to law enforcement agencies that are geographically dispersed throughout this state.
(b) An award to a law enforcement agency is not more than 20% of the money available for the grant program in a single year.
(c) If an award is to a law enforcement agency that previously received an award under this act, the department considers, in the determination of the subsequent award, whether the municipality or county decreased funding to the law enforcement agency because the law enforcement agency previously received an award under this act.
Sec. 7. A law enforcement agency that receives a grant under this act shall submit an annual report to the department and to the senate and the house of representatives appropriations committees that includes all of the following information pertaining to that year:
(a) The fraction of cases in each offense category that have a clearance by arrest and that have a clearance by exception.
(b) The year each offense identified under subdivision (a) was committed and the year each offense identified under subdivision (a) is cleared by arrest or cleared by exception.
(c) The number of personnel, including law enforcement officers and nonsworn civilian personnel, hired or assigned to investigate violent crime.
(d) The number of personnel hired or assigned to collect, process, and test forensic evidence.
(e) A description of any training developed or implemented.
(f) A description of any technology or record management system that was purchased, acquired, or upgraded.
(g) The percentage of the grant award that was utilized for each eligible use described under section 5(3).
Sec. 9. (1) The department shall identify practices, policies, or procedures that a grant recipient has deployed and that have successfully improved clearance rates. The department may contract with a third party to conduct an evaluation to identify the practices, policies, and procedures described under this subsection.
(2) The department shall submit a biennial report to the senate and the house of representatives appropriations committees with a detailed account of the results and performance of the grant program administered under this act.
Sec. 11. (1) The violent crime clearance rate grant fund is created within the state treasury.
(2) The state treasurer may receive money or other assets from any source for deposit into the fund. The state treasurer shall direct investment of money in the fund and credit to the fund interest and earnings from fund investments.
(3) The department is the administrator of the fund for audits of the fund.
(4) The department shall expend money from the fund, on appropriation, only as follows:
(a) For grants awarded under this act.
(b) Not more than 15% of the annual appropriations from the fund for the administrative costs of the department in implementing the grant program.