Summary: Crime technology assistance provided by the Departments of Justice and the Treasury as well as the Office of National Drug Control Policy to state and local law enforcement between 1996 and 1998 totaled an estimated $1.2 billion. This figure is conservative because--given that these federal agencies are not required to, and do not, specifically track crime technology assistance separately in their accounting systems--GAO included only amounts that could be identified or reasonably estimated by agency officials or GAO. The primary type of crime technology assistance that GAO identified as going to state and local law enforcement--$1 billion, or about 85 percent of the estimated $1.2 billion total--was grants, all of which were administered by Justice. Support service and systems was estimated to be the second largest category of crime technology assistance provided to state and local law enforcement agencies. Regarding in-kind transfers, GAO found that only the Office of National Drug Control Policy had an established, relevant program.
