Law Enforcement Assistance Administration

Background

Notwithstanding the small staff and funding, many present-day programs owe their beginnings to LEAA. These programs benefit all states: police standards and training commissions, data collection and analysis, B.A. degree college programs, police executive training institutes, as well as planning and research units in many police departments.

In July 1965, President Johnson appointed a Presidential Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice, which met for 18 months and made many recommendations, some of which were incorporated into his proposed legislation, the Safe Streets and Crime Control Act of 1967, which evolved into the Law Enforcement [Page 268]Assistance Administration when finally enacted. These recommendations included the following:

• –
  State and local planning
• –
  Education and training
• –
  Surveys and advisory services
• –
  Coordinated national information systems
• –
  Demonstration programs
• –
  Research and development
• –
  Institutes for research and training
• –
  Grants-in-aid for innovations

LEAA Organization, Operation, and Evolution

Initially, LEAA was authorized 225 staff positions with a small budget of $63 million for the balance of the first year. LEAA was organized into central offices; an Office of Regional Programs, which consisted of 10 regional offices for block grants that administered most of the funds to the states; a discretionary office program for direct grants to agencies; and the National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice (NILECJ) for research, development, demonstration, training, and publication/ dissemination. Other programs were added in reauthorization bills: The National Criminal Justice Reference Service was created as a clearinghouse for the exchange of information; the Office of Criminal Justice Education and Training was established to train criminal justice personnel primarily through grants for college education under the Law Enforcement Education Program; the Public Safety Officers’ Benefit program was initiated, which gave grants to families of officers killed in the line of duty; and the Community Anti-Crime Program also saw its beginnings during this time. While the LEAA did serve to champion much of what we now think of as modern policing, it was not without its critics.

...