[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4231 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4231

 To amend the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 to 
   reduce the rate of occurrence of homicides and violent crimes in 
                     violent and drug crime zones.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            December 8, 2009

   Mr. Cao introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 to 
   reduce the rate of occurrence of homicides and violent crimes in 
                     violent and drug crime zones.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Safe Cities Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. CREATION OF AND ASSISTANCE FOR VIOLENT AND DRUG CRIME ZONES.

    Title XXI of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 
1994 (42 U.S.C. 14061 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new subtitle:

 ``Subtitle E--Coordination With Federal Agencies to Curb Violent Crime

``SEC. 21501. CREATION OF AND ASSISTANCE FOR VIOLENT AND DRUG CRIME 
              ZONES.

    ``(a) Definitions.--In this section the following definitions shall 
apply:
            ``(1) Governor.--The term `Governor' means a Governor or 
        other chief executive officer of a State or the Mayor of the 
        District of Columbia.
            ``(2) Violent and drug crime zone.--The term `Violent and 
        Drug Crime Zone' means a metropolitan area within a State or 
        multiple States that is designated as having rates of 
        homicides, violent felonies, sex offenses, drug and gang-
        related crimes that are high in proportion to the national 
        average rates of such crimes, as determined by the most recent 
        available data of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the 
        National Incident Based Reporting System maintained by the 
        uniform crime reporting program of the Federal Bureau of 
        Investigation. For purposes of the previous sentence, rates of 
        a crime for an area shall be treated as high in proportion to 
        the national average rates of such crime if such rates for the 
        area are greater than 5 times the national average rates.
            ``(3) State.--The term `State' means a State of the United 
        States, the District of Columbia, and any commonwealth, 
        territory, or possession of the United States.
    ``(b) Violent and Drug Crime Zones.--
            ``(1) Designation.--The Attorney General, after 
        consultation with the Governor of each appropriate State and 
        with relevant Federal agencies, may designate as a Violent and 
        Drug Crime Zone, any specified area that is located within 1 or 
        more States, based on the criteria for designation under 
        paragraph (4).
            ``(2) Assistance and coordination.--In order to provide 
        Federal assistance to Violent and Drug Crime Zones, the 
        Attorney General shall, upon consultation with appropriate 
        State and relevant local and Federal law enforcement agencies--
                    ``(A) establish a drug and violent crime 
                intervention team in each Violent and Drug Crime Zone, 
                which will consist of local, State, and relevant 
                Federal law enforcement authorities, for the 
                coordinated investigation, apprehension, and 
                prosecution of criminal activity in such zone;
                    ``(B) ensure the establishment of a Safe Cities 
                Task Force described in subsection (c) for each Violent 
                and Drug Crime Zone;
                    ``(C) coordinate with appropriate Federal agencies 
                the temporary reassignment of personnel to the 
                intervention team established under subparagraph (A);
                    ``(D) provide funding or create funding partnership 
                opportunities with one or more States for the operation 
                of such intervention teams; and
                    ``(E) require reporting from such intervention 
                teams to share intelligence and best practices.
            ``(3) Composition of drug and violent crime intervention 
        teams.--Each drug and violent crime intervention team 
        established pursuant to paragraph (2)(A) shall consist of 
        agents and officers, where feasible, from--
                    ``(A) the Federal Bureau of Investigation;
                    ``(B) the Drug Enforcement Administration;
                    ``(C) the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and 
                Explosives; and
                    ``(D) other relevant Federal agencies, as 
                determined by the Attorney General in consultation with 
                local law enforcement agencies in the relevant area 
                designated under paragraph (1).
            ``(4) Criteria for designation.--In considering an area for 
        designation as a Drug and Violent Crime Zone under this 
        section, the Attorney General shall consider--
                    ``(A) the current levels of homicides, violent 
                crimes, sex crimes, and drug-related and gang-related 
                crimes in the zone;
                    ``(B) the extent to which State and local law 
                enforcement agencies have committed and need additional 
                resources to respond to the crimes described in 
                subparagraph (A);
                    ``(C) the extent to which a significant increase in 
                the allocation of Federal resources would enhance local 
                response to the crimes described in subparagraph (A); 
                and
                    ``(D) any other criteria deemed appropriate by the 
                Attorney General.
            ``(5) Training and transfer of best practices.--Federal 
        agency personnel who participate in a drug and violent crime 
        intervention team under this subsection shall, as a condition 
        of such participation, develop and submit to the Attorney 
        General best practice reports. The Attorney General shall 
        provide for such best practice reports, as well as other 
        intelligence and knowledge-transfer opportunities, to be shared 
        with State and local law enforcement agencies to enable such 
        agencies to replicate the best practices of the intervention 
        teams.
    ``(c) Safe Cities Task Forces.--
            ``(1) In general.--There shall be established, for each 
        Violent and Drug Crimes Zone, a Safe Cities Task Force.
            ``(2) Membership.--Each Safe Cities Task Force, with 
        respect to a Violent and Drug Crimes Zone, shall consist of not 
        more than 8 members, including the Mayor involved, Chief of 
        Police or equivalent, Governor of the applicable State, the 
        city attorney (or equivalent) involved, and representatives 
        from Federal law enforcement agencies as determined appropriate 
        by the Attorney General.
            ``(3) Duties.--The duties of each Safe Cities Task Force 
        shall include the following:
                    ``(A) Oversight of funding expenditures related to 
                the creation and work of the drug and violent crime 
                intervention team for the zone involved.
                    ``(B) Assistance with coordination of such 
                intervention team.
                    ``(C) Outreach to affected communities within the 
                zone served by such intervention team, as needed.
    ``(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated from the Violent Crime Reduction Trust Fund such sums as 
may be necessary to carry out this section.''.

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR COMMUNITY-BASED JUSTICE 
              GRANTS FOR PROSECUTORS.

    (a) In General.--Section 31707 of the Violent Crime Control and Law 
Enforcement Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 13867) is amended to read as 
follows:

``SEC. 31707. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    ``There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this 
subtitle $15,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2010 through 2013 
.''.
    (b) Increase in Prosecutors for Intervention Team Efforts.--Section 
31702 of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (42 
U.S.C. 14211) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (4), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in paragraph (5), by striking the period at the end and 
        inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(6) to fund programs that would increase the number of 
        prosecutors available to work with efforts of drug and violent 
        crime intervention teams under section 21501, as determined 
        necessary by the Attorney General in consultation with 
        appropriate Federal agencies and local law enforcement.''.

SEC. 4. GRANTS TO STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT TO ESTABLISH STATE-
              WIDE CRIME PREVENTION DATABASES.

    Subtitle I of title XXXII of the Violent Crime Control and Law 
Enforcement Act of 1994 is amended by adding at the end the following 
new section:

``SEC. 320936. GRANTS TO STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT TO ESTABLISH 
              STATE-WIDE CRIME PREVENTION DATABASES.

    ``(a) Authority To Make Grants.--The Office of Justice Programs of 
the Department of Justice shall award grants, in accordance with such 
regulations as the Attorney General may prescribe, to State and local 
programs designed to establish and maintain a State-wide database to 
track criminals, arrests, prosecutions, and convictions.
    ``(b) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out this 
section.''.
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