White House directs $60m to St. Louis and Jackson for policing
The Model Cities Initiative will distribute nearly $300m across four cities to expand law enforcement resources.
By Oliver Bennett ·
Federal funding for local crime reduction is shifting toward direct grants for major cities. The Trump administration announced on Tuesday that it will award more than $60m each to St. Louis, Missouri, and Jackson, Mississippi, to expand law enforcement resources.
The White House shared the news via a social media post, describing the effort as part of the Model Cities Initiative. The program aims to help these municipalities increase their capacity for prosecutions and policing activities. Attorney General Todd Blanche said the initiative reflects the administration's commitment to reducing crime and ensuring the safety of Americans.
The initiative plans to distribute nearly $300m in total. St. Louis and Jackson are the first recipients, but the funds will also go to Jacksonville, Florida, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. This move fits into a larger strategy that has included deploying the National Guard to several Democrat-led cities.
The administration has promoted a punitive approach to crime, a strategy that has drawn accusations of executive overreach and political intimidation from critics. Supporters credit these policies with a drop in violent crime, though that decline began before the current administration took office. Homicides in St. Louis have fallen for several years after a pandemic-era surge, reaching their lowest levels in more than a decade during the first half of 2026.
The administration points to the federal task force in Memphis, Tennessee, as a model for this new initiative. Memphis is governed by local Democrats but sits within a Republican-led state. While the government hails the Memphis deployment as a success, some residents and civil liberties groups have accused the task force of widespread civil rights violations and excessive force.
A video released earlier this month as part of an investigation into a shooting by a Tennessee National Guard member in Memphis showed soldiers aiming their guns at a man as he lay dying on the street. The man had been shot in the back. The administration has also cited Washington, DC, as another example of the approach it now seeks to replicate through the Model Cities Initiative.
The next step is the distribution of the remaining funds to Jacksonville and Baton Rouge. The White House has not specified a timeline for when those cities will receive their allocations.
