FFY2022/23 - JAG Crisis Intervention - State of Tennessee

The Office of Criminal Justice Programs (OCJP), which is located within the Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration, will serve as the State Administrative Agency (SAA) for the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Crisis Intervention Grant (JAG-CI) Program in Tennessee. OCJP’s many federal programs place our office in a firm position to coordinate JAG-funded programs with other federally funded programs in Tennessee.

According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s (TBI) Crime Insight database, there were 41,060 crimes which involved a firearm, over 15,000 weapons violations, and over 78,000 crimes categorized as drug related in 2021. In 2020-2021 the TBI Instant Check System processed 733,423 firearm transactions and just shy of 3 million dosages of prescription drugs were seized during criminal investigations. In fiscal year 2022, OCJP funded 634 contracts to law enforcement and victim services agencies across 31 fund sources. As such, OCJP is well positioned to leverage those connections into the creation of the Crisis Intervention Advisory Board.

OCJP developed a charter for the creation of the Crisis Intervention Advisory Board. The Advisory Board will be comprised of experts from the justice system and community from across the State of Tennessee and shall include the following persons to be selected by the Commissioner of Finance and Administration (F &A) or the Commissioner’s Designee, from a list provided by the Director of the Office of Criminal Justice Programs (OCJP). Additionally, OCJP has identified four areas of priority for the FY 2022 - 2023 Byrne SCIP funds as follows: Behavioral Health Deflection for Those at Risk to Themselves or Others, Specialized Court-based Programs Such as Drug, Mental Health, and Veterans’ Treatment Courts, including those that Specifically Accept Clients with Firearm Violations, Law Enforcement-based Programs, Training and Technology, Local Government Applications for partnerships to implement Community Violence Intervention Programs.

OCJP will work alongside the Crisis Advisory Board to identify specific priority areas within the aforementioned, as well as fund projects which incorporate evidenced-based programming within the allocations specified in the application to reduce violent crime. OCJP will utilize its own division of research and evaluation to create data collection tools which incorporate required PMT reporting with program-level implementation data to determine whether or not the stated goals and objectives are being met. This data will be validated, aggregated, and analyzed to ensure project success.