PHILADELPHIA, PA — Pennsylvania launched a $3.5 million grant initiative Tuesday to help local police departments solve homicides, cold cases and other violent crimes by expanding investigative capacity, technology and data-reporting compliance.
The new Violent Incident Clearance and Technological Investigative Methods, or VICTIM, Program combines $2.5 million from the state’s 2026-27 budget with $1 million from Arnold Ventures. The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency will administer the grants.
Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, who chairs the commission, presented the program alongside Democratic and Republican lawmakers in Philadelphia.
“We’re funding this new program with $2.5 million for grants to local law enforcement, with the intention of helping them solve homicides and other violent crimes,” Davis stated.
The funding is expected to support detective training and retention, investigative technology and services for people affected by unsolved violence.
Arnold Ventures’ contribution will also help police departments meet federal crime-reporting requirements needed to qualify for VICTIM grants. Some agencies, particularly those with limited administrative or technical capacity, do not yet satisfy those standards.
“Our support will help more local agencies step up their data reporting, making them eligible for VICTIM Act funding,” Kevin Ring, vice president of criminal justice advocacy at Arnold Ventures, stated.
The bipartisan initiative was sponsored in the House by Rep. Tim Briggs, D-Montgomery, and in the Senate by Sen. Joe Picozzi, R-Philadelphia.
Briggs framed the program as a way to give departments the resources and technology needed to improve violent-crime clearance rates. Picozzi emphasized the effect of unresolved homicides on victims’ families and surrounding communities.
The administration reported a 16% statewide decline in violent crime and a 39% reduction in homicides since Gov. Josh Shapiro and Davis took office. It also cited an unspecified recent analysis showing improved homicide and violent-crime clearance rates.
Those figures were presented by the administration and were not accompanied in the release by the underlying data, comparison period or methodology.
The 2026-27 budget also allocates $4.5 million to the Victims Compensation Assistance Program and increases funding for rape crisis centers by $12 million.
Separate public-safety funding includes $16.2 million for four additional Pennsylvania State Police cadet classes. The administration reported securing funding for 16 cadet classes expected to train more than 1,600 troopers, along with grants supporting the recruitment and retention of nearly 700 municipal officers.
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