The federal government is sending $63,532,285 to East Baton Rouge Parish to fight violent crime, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday. It is one of the largest public safety grants Louisiana’s capital has ever received.

The money comes through the department’s Model Cities Initiative, which it launched in June 2026 to spend nearly $300 million on local crime-fighting plans. Baton Rouge was picked from nearly 50 applicants, the department said, for its partnerships among police, local government and community groups and for its plans to add investigators and prosecutors and modernize crime data.

The other places chosen are Jacksonville, Fla.; Jackson, Miss.; and St. Louis.

Why Baton Rouge

The Justice Department said Baton Rouge’s homicide rate has run about triple the average for big American cities for two decades. From 2021 through 2025, it said, Baton Rouge police answered more than 1,300 shootings in which no one died, more than 12,000 shots-fired calls and more than 1,200 armed robberies.

What the money pays for

According to the release, the grant can be used to:

  • Hire sworn officers and civilian staff for enforcement, prosecution and related work
  • Buy or lease equipment and new technology
  • Expand forensic and crime lab capacity
  • Pay for mental health and substance use services aimed at keeping people from reoffending

The department says it will work with the parish to finalize the plan before the money is spent.

What leaders said

“This grant is one of the most historic and significant public safety investments in Baton Rouge’s history,” said Sid Edwards, mayor-president of East Baton Rouge Parish, who said the city wants to turn the three-year grant into “a 30-year return on investment.”

Gov. Jeff Landry said the award “will help us take more criminals off our streets.” U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy credited the mayor, the district attorney and others “for entering a winning application,” and Attorney General Liz Murrill said it shows federal and state partners are “fighting back against violent crime.”

U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said the selected cities “are setting an example of proactive law enforcement.”

What it means here

The money goes only to East Baton Rouge Parish; Vermilion Parish and its law enforcement agencies are not part of this award. The Justice Department said it hopes the four cities will serve as models for other communities.