By Lauren Burke

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott is urging the Trump administration to reverse sweeping cuts to public safety programs, warning that the decision could derail recent progress in reducing violent crime and leave victims of violence without critical support. 

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott emphasized that cuts to the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs and related agencies extend far beyond dollar amounts — jeopardizing technical assistance, training, and access to expertise that cities across the country rely on to combat crime and improve officer safety. Credit: Photo courtesy of the Office of the Mayor of Baltimore City/J.J. McQueen

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced April 23 that it would slash nearly $200 million across approximately 75 public safety grants nationwide — funds that cities like Baltimore rely on for law enforcement initiatives, community-based violence prevention and services for crime victims, including survivors of domestic and sexual violence. 

“For all their lip service about public safety, the Trump administration doesn’t give a damn about it,” Mayor Scott said at an April 24 press conference in Baltimore. “They say they support law enforcement, but they’re defunding programs that protect officers and communities. They say they care about victims, but they’re choking off the very resources victims depend on. This reckless decision threatens the progress we’ve made in reducing homicides and non-fatal shootings.” 

While Baltimore has not yet lost specific grant funding, the mayor emphasized that cuts to the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs and related agencies extend far beyond dollar amounts — jeopardizing technical assistance, training and access to expertise that cities across the country rely on to combat crime and improve officer safety.

Among the cuts announced:

  • $1.2 million slashed from a $2 million grant for LifeBridge Health’s Center for Hope, a local violence prevention initiative.
  • The removal of the VALOR Program’s website, the nation’s leading officer safety and wellness resource.
  • A $2 million reduction in funding for VictimConnect, a service linking victims with support and resources.
  • The cancellation of the Training and Technical Assistance Initiative, a national program connecting police departments with proven violence prevention models.
  • A $750,000 cut to Survivors.org, an online community supporting survivors of sexual and domestic violence.

Many of the cancelled grants were mid-cycle in their three-year funding periods. DOJ has yet to publicly clarify which additional programs may be at risk, raising concerns about transparency and long-term impacts on cities’ public safety strategies.

Lauren Victoria Burke is an independent journalist and writer for NNPA as well as a political analyst and communications strategist. She appears regularly on “Roland Martin Unfiltered” and can be contacted at LBurke007@gmail.com and on twitter at @LVBurke.