Frequently Asked Questions

Information about the effectiveness of policing crime "hot spots" can be found on the CrimeSolutions.ojp.gov website. Once on the site, conduct a search for the term "hot spots". The CrimeSolutions.gov site uses rigorous research to inform practitioners and policy makers about what works in criminal justice, juvenile justice, and crime victim services and includes multiple program evaluations for hot spot policing initiatives.

Additional information on this topic is available on the Hot Spot Policing Can Reduce Crime section of the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) website.

The Law Enforcement Congressional Badge of Bravery (CBOB) Act (the Act) honors federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement officers for exceptional acts of bravery while in the line of duty. The Act establishes an award to honor exceptional acts of bravery in the line of duty by federal, state, and local law enforcement officers. The medals are awarded annually by the U.S. Attorney General and are presented by the recipients' Congressional representatives.

Each CBOB nomination submission period is tied to a specific calendar year. The opening date for nominations is on or around December 15 of each year. When December 15 occurs on a weekend, the opening date for nominations may occur one or two days earlier.

Visit the CBOB website for additional information.

Information about currently available grant opportunities is available on the Current Funding Opportunities section of our website. Also see Grants.gov for access to information about funding opportunities from agencies outside of the Office of Justice Programs (OJP).

If you would like to receive an email announcement capturing OJP grant release information, sign up for Funding News from NCJRS for weekly updates. Additionally, you can subscribe to JUSTINFO, our electronic newsletter which is sent out twice each month. In addition to providing funding announcements, this newsletter highlights recently released publications and resources from OJP and the OJP bureaus and program offices.

Information about benefits for children of fallen law enforcement officers can be found on the Public Safety Officers' Program (PSOB) website. Through PSOB, the Bureau of Justice Assistance provides death and education benefits to survivors of fallen law enforcement officers, firefighters, and other first responders, and disability benefits to officers catastrophically injured in the line of duty.

Visit the Financial Aid section of the Department of Education website for additional information about scholarships and aid for students.

City crime statistics are published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the annual report, Crime in the United States. Also visit the FBI's Crime Data Explorer, an interactive tool that presents charts and graphs that break down data in a variety of ways.

Information on the use of DNA to solve cold cases can be found in the following National Institute of Justice (NIJ) articles and resources:

• National Best Practices for Implementing and Sustaining a Cold Case Investigation Unit
• Solving Cold Cases with DNA: The Boston Strangler Case
• Using DNA to Solve Cold Cases: Special Report

Also watch the following NIJ videos:

• The Impact of National Institute of Justice's Solving Cold Cases with DNA Program
• The Importance and Impact of Cold Case Units

Additionally, with funding from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Training and Technical Assistance Program has produced the following materials:

• Utilizing DNA Evidence to Investigate Cold Case Sexual Assaults through CODIS
• Prioritizing Cold Case CODIS Hit Follow-up: Strategies for Sexual Assault Investigators

The Compstat process revolves around periodic meetings in which senior police officials and area commanders discuss crime trends and what police strategies and tactics are being used to address crime and other quality of life problems in particular localities. Further information about Compstat can be found in the following resources:

• Compstat: Its Origins, Evolution, and Future in Law Enforcement Agencies, Bureau of Justice Assistance-sponsored
• Reducing Crime Through Intelligence-Led Policing, Bureau of Justice Assistance
• Compstat Implementation, Federal Bureau of Investigation
• Compstat Process, Federal Bureau of Investigation

Additionally, Chapter 1 of the report, Information Systems Technology Enhancement Project: ISTEP II Case Studies from the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services provides further information.

Information about the effectiveness of law enforcement programs which utilize Compstat can be found on the CrimeSolutions website. Once on the site, conduct a search for the term "Compstat". The CrimeSolutions site uses rigorous research to inform practitioners and policy makers about what works in criminal justice, juvenile justice, and crime victim services and includes multiple program evaluations for policing initiatives which utilize Compstat.

To learn more, conduct a search of our National Criminal Justice Reference Service Abstracts Database using "Compstat" as your subject keyword.

The most recent edition of CrimeStat is CrimeStat IV. For additional information, see CrimeStat: Spatial Statistics Program for the Analysis of Crime Incident Locations, an article from the National Institute of Justice (NIJ).

Previously available only on CD-ROM, the two part training, What Every Law Enforcement Officer Should Know about DNA Evidence (Beginning Level CD-ROM - NCJ 182992 and Advanced Level CD-ROM - NCJ 184479), is now available as an Online Training through the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) website.

To obtain a copy of your Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) criminal record, please follow the Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act request procedures outlined on the Requesting FBI Records webpage. An FBI criminal record is confidential and can not be provided to anyone other than the subject of the fingerprint card.

To obtain a copy of your local arrest record, contact your local police department. In the event that arrests have occurred in several jurisdictions, contact your local police department to determine the appropriate state agency to contact.