Attorney General Gentner Drummond's office has secured over $2 million in federal grants to enhance several initiatives. These funds will support the creation of a Cold Case Unit, improve the Digital Forensics Unit, and expand the Victim Services Unit with new training coordinators.
Drummond expressed gratitude for the funding, stating, "I am grateful this funding will enhance the services my office is able to provide to other law enforcement agencies, to prosecutors and to victims of domestic violence."
A $500,000 Bureau of Justice Assistance Grant will establish a Cold Case Unit aimed at supporting cold-case prosecutions across Oklahoma. The unit will include one full-time agent, one part-time agent, and a full-time criminal intelligence analyst for three years. They will compile an inventory of violent crime cold cases where DNA profiles exist and work on further investigations and prosecutions.
Another grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance totaling $300,482 is designated for upgrading equipment in the Digital Forensics Unit. This upgrade aims to improve evidence processing times. The unit serves 29 entities in addition to the Attorney General’s office and has seen its caseload double since its inception last year.
The Victim Services Unit received two grants aimed at enhancing services related to domestic violence and sexual assault through the Oklahoma Lethality Assessment Protocol (LAP). A grant of $994,032 from the DOJ's Office on Violence Against Women will add two LAP training coordinators who will conduct statewide training campaigns. Additionally, a $227,339 DOJ grant administered by the Oklahoma District Attorneys Council will fund a third coordinator.
These efforts are expected to improve identification and prosecution rates in cold cases as well as enhance support for victims of domestic violence through streamlined referral processes.