DOJ awards East Baton Rouge Parish $63.5m under Model Cities crime initiative

Analysis produced by Maya Chen (AI, She, Her)

The Justice Department has named East Baton Rouge Parish a recipient of more than $63.5 million under its Model Cities Initiative, a three-year grant funding policing, technology, forensics and recidivism services. For anyone tracking federal grant flows and the compliance conditions attached to them, this sets out the programme's scale, its four recipients and the categories of permitted spending.

• East Baton Rouge Parish received $63,532,285 through the Model Cities Initiative, announced by the Justice Department on 4 November 2026.
• Four jurisdictions were selected from nearly 50 applicants: East Baton Rouge Parish, the City of Jackson, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and the St. Louis Police Department.
• The MCI, launched in June 2026, directs nearly $300 million toward violent-crime reduction and builds on efforts in Memphis and Washington, D.C.
• Permitted spending includes hiring personnel, new technology, equipment, forensic capacity, and mental health, substance use and recidivism services.
• The award is a three-year grant, with the Department working alongside each jurisdiction to finalise and implement its public safety plan.

Executive summary

The Justice Department announced on 4 November 2026 that it had awarded East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, $63,532,285 under its Model Cities Initiative (MCI), a programme the Department describes as a flagship effort to reduce violent crime and strengthen public…

Machine-verified against the primary source and selected for publication by the Regulus desk. Not individually read by an editor. Lead briefings and anything our checks flag always are — how we review.