Law Enforcement and Investigations - Reviews

Forest Service Law Enforcement and Investigations Review of Federal Financial Aid in Response to Executive Order 14074, Section 20 – Supporting Safe and Effective Policing Through Grantmaking.

On May 25, 2022, President Biden signed Executive Order 14074, Advancing Effective, Accountable Policy and Criminal Justice Practices to Enhance Public Trust and Public Safety. The EO requires the head of any federal agency that provides grants to state, local, and territorial law enforcement agencies to review its law enforcement-related grantmaking operations and the activities of its grant recipients for compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 200d et seq., and the nondiscrimination provisions of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, 34 U.S.C. § 10228. The EO also requires the head of any federal agency that provides grants to state, local, and territorial law enforcement agencies submit to the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice a report of the review conducted pursuant to the EO, including conclusions and recommendations. Cooperative agreements between federal agencies and state, local, and territorial law enforcement agencies are considered to be grants under federal law.

The USDA Forest Service provided its report of the review of its cooperative law enforcement program conducted pursuant to the EO to DOJ for review and approval. On March 29, 2023. As part of its review and approval, DOJ requested the Forest Service to reference additional USDA and DOJ Title VI regulations in the Forest Service’s OMB-approved form for cooperative law enforcement agreements, form FS-1500-8, and the Forest Service agreed to make those revisions to the form.

Specifically, the Forest Service has agreed to revise the approved form to reference USDA’s Title VI regulations at 7 C.F.R. § 15.5 (b)-(c), which authorize the Forest Service to ask cooperators, independent of an investigation or a compliance review, for records and other sources of information to determine if cooperators are compliant with Title VI, and DOJ Title VI regulations at 28 C.F.R. § 42.406(d), which require cooperators to provide the Forest Service notice of any Title VI or similar nondiscrimination complaint filed against the cooperator while performing work under the agreement.