$115M Proposed Plan Would Give More Money to Michigan Police

What to know

Michigan's House passed bipartisan bills creating the $115 million Public Safety and Violence Prevention Trust Fund to combat violent crime, with funds going to local law enforcement and community initiatives.
The plan would distribute $72 million each year to communities based on their share of statewide violent crime. Another $40 million would go to county sheriff’s offices, with that money distributed based on the number of deputies.
Police departments would be penalized for failing to reduce violent crime rates by 5% from the highest average over the previous three years.

A plan aimed at making Michigan communities safer by giving local police departments more money every year has cleared the state House with nearly unanimous, bipartisan support.

Bills establishing the $115 million Public Safety and Violence Prevention Trust Fund passed the House on Tuesday, April 22, by a vote of 104 to 4. They will now be considered by the Senate.

“The Public Safety and Violence Prevention Trust Fund is a serious, targeted response to the violent crime crisis that is raging in Michigan communities,” said state Rep. Mike Harris, R- Waterford.

“Our bipartisan plan will dedicate funding every year to making our state safer. It will increase support for local law enforcement officers combating crime, and it will boost local teams of citizens working to intervene before situations ever turn violent.”

In the latest Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) data, Michigan’s violent crime rate was the 10th highest in the U.S. in 2023 based on the number of incidents per 100,000 residents, according to the Council of State Governments Justice Center. Violent crime includes homicide, aggravated assault, robbery and rape.

Harris put forward the plan with his Democratic colleague, state Rep. Alabas Farhat, D- Dearborn.

The plan would distribute $72 million each year to cities, villages and townships based on their share of statewide violent crime. Another $40 million would go to county sheriff’s offices, with those dollars distributed based on how many deputies they have.

Law enforcement agencies could use the dollars on public safety and violence prevention efforts. Uses include local public safety initiatives, officer recruitment and retention, equipment purchases and more.

Local governments would be prevented from using the dollars to replace existing police funding, as the funds are intended to expand public safety efforts. Money for the fund would come from capturing a portion of the state’s sales tax.

House Speaker Matt Hall, R- Richland Township, previously said the fund would be the first time in Michigan’s history where state money is dedicated specifically to local governments for law enforcement.

Local police departments would be penalized for failing to reduce violent crime rates by 5% from the highest average over the previous three years.

If they miss this target between 2026 and 2028, their share of dollars would reduce by 5%. After Sept. 30, 2028, missing the target would result in a 10% decrease.

Under the plan, another $1.5 million would be available each year as grants to local governments for community violence intervention initiatives. The last $1.5 million would go to the Crime Victim’s Rights Fund to support victims and their families.

“For far too long, we’ve looked at public safety through the lens of just more officers on the street or just the lens of intervening only after the fact,” Farhat said. “But in this package today, the package dubbed the Public Safety and Violence Prevention Trust Fund, we are going to be directing historic funding to the communities that need it the most. We’re not looking at property crime here. We’re looking at violent crime.”

Lawmakers considered creating the fund last session, though they proposed a smaller $75 million fund with no direct dollars for county law enforcement agencies.

That plan saw support across the aisle and from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer but ultimately never received a final vote due to the House ending in disarray during the lame duck session.

Whitmer has signaled continued support for the fund, setting aside $75 million for the creation of the fund in her budget proposal unveiled earlier this year.

The four representatives who voted against the bills creating the fund were state Reps. Steve Carra, R- Three Rivers, Carrie Rheingans, D-Ann Arbor, Phil Skaggs, D- East Grand Rapids, and Dylan Wegela, D- Garden City.

In a floor speech before the vote, Wegela said the current public safety system in America hasn’t made communities more safe.

Rather than putting more dollars toward police, he advocated for public safety investments toward violence prevention programs, public education, healthcare and childcare.

“We owe it to our communities to explore the crime reduction that comes from ending poverty, reforming criminal justice and reinventing our public safety institutions,” he said. “These bills do make a nod at that, trying to allocate new money to crime violence intervention programs, programs that have continuously shown a great return on investment and have helped with the goal of preventing crime.

“It needs to be pointed out though that just 2% of the funding in this bill is allocated in that way.”

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