# DOJ Picks Jacksonville, Baton Rouge, Jackson and St. Louis to Share Nearly $300 Million in Its Model Cities Crime Contest

Fox News has the first details. Attorney General Todd Blanche will visit each city over the next 10 days to announce how much each gets. The money can pay for officers, technology, forensics and treatment programs.

- Section: [Politics](https://rightnewsrightnow.com/politics/)
- Published: 2026-10-30
- By: RightNewsRightNow Staff
- Canonical page: https://rightnewsrightnow.com/articles/doj-model-cities-initiative-300-million-jacksonville-baton-rouge-jackson-st-louis-blanche-crime-contest-fox-news/

Four cities won a Justice Department contest to fight violent crime, and they will split almost $300 million, Fox News reports in a "first on Fox" story.

The winners. Jacksonville, Florida; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Jackson, Mississippi; and St. Louis, Missouri, were chosen for the department's new Model Cities Initiative, according to details Fox News Digital obtained. The department launched the contest in June as part of President Trump's focus on cutting crime in cities. Cities sent in plans to reduce violent crime and improve public safety.

The rollout. Attorney General Todd Blanche and other department leaders will visit all four cities over the next 10 days to present the awards and reveal each city's share. The department has not said how the money will be split, so each award could run to tens of millions of dollars, Fox says. Instead of funding a single policing program, the department says it takes a "whole-of-city" approach, bringing together police, local government and community partners. The money can pay for sworn and civilian staff, technology and equipment, forensic capacity, and programs on mental health, substance abuse and repeat offending.

Why each city. The department says Jacksonville's murders fell 38% between 2023 and 2025, robberies fell 25% and aggravated assaults fell 21%. The city counted 59 murders in 2024, its lowest total since at least 1995. St. Louis had 263 homicides in 2020 and 150 in 2024, the lowest since 2013, and its plan calls for adding more than 300 officers and staff and updating police technology. Baton Rouge's police department was about 150 officers short earlier this year, and officials approved the largest pay raise in its history, lifting starting pay from $40,000 to $58,000. Jackson was picked for what the department calls an ambitious, technology-driven plan, building on its real-time command center and specialized units.

The quotes. Blanche said: "These cities are setting an example of proactive law enforcement that will strengthen the rule of law and improve public safety in their jurisdictions." Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. said: "President Trump and this Department of Justice have demonstrated that Americans need not accept unsafe streets as a fact of life."

Note for readers: the crime figures are the Justice Department's and local agencies', as reported by Fox. The final amounts per city were not yet public when Fox published.

## Source

Original reporting: [Fox News](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/4-us-cities-lucky-winners-trumps-300m-crime-crackdown-contest)