Award Amount: Each tribal and local law enforcement agency in the State of Wisconsin (referred to herein as “LEAs” or “Grantees”) has been allocated a certain sum (its “Allocation”) based on the size of the population it serves, with an add-on for LEAs serving communities where violent crime exceeds the state average. The Allocation for each LEA can be viewed here and incorporated by reference herein.
Program Duration: An LEA may use its Allocation to reimburse eligible expenditures incurred between March 15, 2022 and December 31, 2023. Expenditures incurred outside that time window are not eligible for reimbursement under this Program. For purposes of this Program, an expenditure is not “incurred” until the LEA or its affiliated Tribal or local government has paid it.
Payment Periods: Expense review cutoffs will be done on a quarterly basis. Future review periods are June 30, 2023, September 30, 2023, and January 15, 2024. Payments will only be made after these dates.
How it Works: During a quarterly Reporting Period, an LEA may draw down its Allocation and receive allocated funds by reporting eligible expenditures for reimbursement through the Program’s online reporting system. DOA will process these submissions and reimburse each LEA’s reported eligible expenditures from the remaining balance of its Allocation. The first Reporting Period is expected to occur during a two-week period in September 2022; they will occur on a quarterly basis thereafter until the completion of the Program.
Example: An LEA has a $20,000 allocation. During the September 2022 Reporting Period, it uses the online reporting system to report $8,000 in eligible expenditures incurred since March 15, 2022. DOA processes the reimbursement request and pays $8,000 to the LEA, leaving $12,000 in the LEA’s Allocation. In the next quarterly Reporting Period, the LEA submits another $7,000 in eligible expenditures. Those eligible expenditures are again processed and reimbursed, leaving the LEA with $5,000 of its Allocation remaining to reimburse expenditures reported in subsequent Reporting Periods.
Permitted Uses of Funds: The Program is intended to provide LEAs with additional resources to help offset certain costs associated with hiring, training, testing, and equipping law-enforcement officers, as well as updating certain technology and policies and implementing new crime-reduction initiatives. The following expenditures are eligible for reimbursement under the Program, subject to the limitations set forth in the MOU, this Program Schedule, and applicable state and federal law:
1. Recruitment Incentives
The Program will reimburse the costs of certain financial incentives to recruit new officers, jail personnel, and dispatchers (referred to collectively below as “new hires”), as follows:
- The costs of a new hire’s academy or other formal preparatory training, to the extent the new hire’s training costs are reimbursed by the LEA following acceptance of employment.
- A signing bonus of up to $2,000 for each new hire.
- For each new hire whose most recent employer was an out-of-state governmental agency, an additional bonus of up to $500 for each year of relevant out-of-state experience as a law enforcement officer, jailer, or dispatcher, up to an additional $2,000. Thus, for a new hire from an out-of-state law governmental agency with four or more years’ relevant experience, this Program will reimburse the cost of providing a signing bonus of up to $4,000.
Each new hire who receives recruitment incentives that are reimbursed through this Program must provide the LEA with a written statement affirming that the new hire intends to complete at least three years’ continuous employment with the LEA. The LEA is responsible for collecting and maintaining those statements; it does not need to provide copies of those statements when making reimbursement requests unless specifically requested by DOA.
Each LEA is responsible for conducting appropriate background checks on employment candidates. New hires with a record of misconduct are not eligible to receive recruitment incentives that are reimbursed through this Program.
2. Medical Testing
The Program will reimburse the costs of job-related medical testing of officers, including physical examinations, hearing tests, drug tests, pre-employment psychological examinations, and other medical testing.
3. Training
The Program will reimburse the costs of providing training to help reduce violence and improve community safety, including programs to train officers in any of the following subject areas:
- Crisis intervention, including training for interactions with individuals suffering from mental illness and addiction.
- Resiliency and suicide prevention.
- Use-of-force options and de-escalation tactics, including scenario-based training aimed at stabilizing potentially dangerous situations to allow more time and options for safe resolution.
- Implicit bias.
- “Active bystander” training.
- The emergency detention process.
- Homicide investigation.
- Any annual recertification training required by the Wisconsin Law Enforcement Standards Board.
5. Officer Equipment, Fuel, and Technology, Excluding Weapons
The Program will reimburse the costs of purchasing the following:
- Uniforms, duty belts, holsters, handcuffs, boots, bulletproof vests and other protective gear, radios, flashlights, and other equipment of a similar nature.
- License-plate readers, security cameras, and smart cameras, including thermal imaging cameras and vehicle-mounted cameras.
- Mobile data computers and equipment purchased for the purpose of improving wireless connectivity in LEA vehicles, such as mobile hot spots.
- Body cameras and body camera-activating holsters.
- Upgrades to public safety answering point (PSAP) systems or infrastructure.
- Any accessories, software, services (including installation), or specialized training needed to utilize items in categories 5.a to 5.e above.
- Up to 50 percent of the fuel and charging costs for LEA vehicles.
Weapons (including non-lethal weapons) and ammunition are not eligible for reimbursement through this Program.
6. Temporary Contract Personnel
The Program will reimburse the costs of retaining temporary contract personnel to assist with processing evidence, reducing backlogs, or other tasks that help LEAs conduct criminal investigations. When reporting these expenditures in the online reporting system, the LEA must identify the contractor used and the nature of the services performed.
7. Sworn Law Enforcement Officers, Jail Personnel, and Dispatchers
The Program will reimburse certain costs associated with sworn law enforcement officers, as follows:
- The additional payroll costs associated with increasing part-time officers, dispatchers, or jail personnel to full-time positions.
- For LEAs that adopt or engage in initiatives to reduce violent crime (including offenses involving firearms), the payroll costs of officers for time worked on such initiatives.
- The payroll costs of officers for time worked on Crisis Intervention Teams.
- For LEAs serving communities where the violent crime rate exceeds the state average, as identified in Appendix 1, the full payroll costs for new hires (as defined in paragraph 1 above) made on or after March 15, 2022.
8. K9 Units
The Program will reimburse the costs associated with purchasing canines to assist officers with law enforcement functions, including any related training costs.
9. Community Policing Initiatives
The Program will reimburse costs associated with designing and implementing community policing initiatives, including training, equipment and technology (excluding weapons), temporary contract personnel, community-based gun buyback programs, or other expenses associated with such initiatives. For purposes of this Program, “community policing initiatives” refer to place-based, community-oriented crime reduction strategies in targeted neighborhoods suffering from chronic crime issues.
10. Initiatives to Address Carjacking and Vehicle Theft
The Program will reimburse costs associated with designing and implementing initiatives to prevent and investigate incidents of carjacking and vehicle theft, including training, equipment and technology (excluding weapons), temporary contract personnel, or other expenses associated with such initiatives.
Expenditures not included in the above categories are not eligible for reimbursement through this Program.
Procurement limitations: All expenditures submitted for reimbursement through this Program must comply with Grantee’s local procurement procedures and must avoid conflicts of interest, acquisition of unnecessary or duplicative items, excessive costs, or other waste.
For Program FAQ and Help Resources, please visit the
LEA Grant Support FAQ (coming soon).
Program Updates:
October 21 |
October 3 |
September 14 |
July 1 |
June 24 |
March 15 |
Update: Governor Evers announced that this program has been expanded in three key respects:
First, the program has been expanded to include campus police departments. The
allocations spreadsheet for the program will be updated to include allocations for these campus police departments. If they have not already done so, those departments’ representatives should email
LEAGrant@wisconsin.gov for assistance in creating an account and obtaining a copy of the MOU for this program. Please include the name of your law enforcement agency in the email subject line.
Second, the categories of eligible expenditures for the program have been expanded to include reimbursement for the costs of implementing community-based gun buyback programs. DOA will waive the current program limitations on eligible expenditures to the extent that grantees seek reimbursement associated with implementing such programs. In the expense reporter, grantees may include the costs of community-based gun buyback programs in expense category 9 (“Community policing initiatives”).
Third, the eligibility window for expenditures has been expanded until the end of the calendar year 2023. DOA will waive the current program requirement that eligible expenditures must be incurred no later than June 30, 2023, provided such expenditures are incurred no later than December 31, 2023.
Update: Many departments have yet to upload the MOU into the expense reporter. This PDF gives detailed instructions on how to complete this task: Uploading your MOU to the Grant Expense Report.
Update: The Expense Reporter System is now live and ready for you to utilize. You will use this system to report expenditures that are eligible for reimbursement under the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for this grant program. As a reminder, to be eligible, an expenditure must be incurred by your agency between March 15, 2022 and June 30, 2023 and fit within one or more of the categories of eligible expenditures set forth in the MOU and this page.
Once your agency has reviewed and accepted the terms, it must be signed by a person with full authority to make binding agreements on behalf of your agency and uploaded into the Expense Reporter System. After the MOU has been signed and uploaded, you may begin entering expenses. Your agency will not be able to enter expenses in the Expense Reporter System until it has uploaded the signed MOU.
The first reporting period ends on September 30, 2022. There will be additional reporting periods in December 2022, March 2023, and July 2023. An eligible expenditure may be submitted for reimbursement during any reporting period, so long as it meets the eligibility requirements and has not already been reimbursed from DOA or another source.
The link to the Law Enforcement Grant Expense Report reporter is: https://wi.accessgov.com/doa-wi/Forms/Page/intergov/law-enforcement-grant-expenses.
You are encouraged to create a MyWisconsinID account, so you can log back in and see the status of your claims. The directions for MyWisconsinID account creation are here: Signing Up for a MyWisconsinID in AccessGov
If you did not receive an email with the MOU Document, please email
LEAGrant@wisconsin.gov and request the MOU. Include the name of your law enforcement agency in the email subject line.
Update: The list of expenditures eligible for reimbursement through this program has been expanded to include costs for upgrading public safety answering point (PSAP) infrastructure. This addition is included in expense category 5 below.
For questions please contact LEAGrant@wisconsin.gov. Include the name of your law enforcement agency in the email subject line.
Update: The list of expenditures eligible for reimbursement through this program has been expanded to include up to 50 percent of a law enforcement agency’s fuel or electrical charging costs for vehicles. Please review the changes in the updated expense category 5 below. The updated expense category 5 also includes additional clarifications regarding the eligibility of certain other items not specifically addressed in the original version.
Each LEA can use its allocated funds to reimburse eligible expenditures incurred between March 15, 2022 and June 30, 2023. The Department of Administration (DOA) currently anticipates that the first round of reimbursement payments will be made in September 2022. In the coming weeks, the DOA will provide details on the types of expenditures that are eligible for reimbursement through the program, how an LEA reports them to the DOA, and other terms and conditions. We will send an email notice to you once those details are finalized.
For questions please contact LEAGrant@wisconsin.gov.
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