DETCOG Seeks Community Input to Update Criminal Justice Strategic Plan

Every five years, the Deep East Texas Council of Governments (DETCOG) Public Safety Programs staff puts together the region's Criminal Justice Strategic Plan. This is compiled by taking input from community members, law enforcement members, emergency management officials, elected officials, non-profit organizations, churches, and other stakeholders within the region, where they identify needs and priorities that need to be addressed. From there, the input is used by the DETCOG Criminal Justice Advisory Committee to determine how grant funding should be distributed to applicants.

2026-2031 Criminal Justice Planning Survey for DETCOG

The current Criminal Justice Strategic plan for the DETCOG region is coming to a close this year, and the new one will take its place until 2031. However, before it is published, new input is needed from regional stakeholders. Therefore, the DETCOG Public Safety Programs staff is asking for people in the Deep East Texas region to take a survey where they can give their opinions on multiple areas.

Those areas are:

• VOCA - Victims of Crime Act
• VAWA - Violence Against Women Act
• JJ - Juvenile Justice
• YDP - Youth Diversion Programs
• JAG - Justice Assistance Grants

Applicants for criminal justice grants that are awarded to the DETCOG region can submit them under these areas, depending on how their programs operate, and who their programs benefit. The criminal justice advisory committee will then score them and award them, based on need and funding availability.

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But, again, none of this can take place until DETCOG receives new input and can build the new strategic plan. This is an online survey and can be found at this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfnU3-EzX9LQVbgQU8vuCf8NXHJc9MK85vLSc48RkcxSzcjfQ/viewform?usp=header. All of the input from this survey is completely confidential.

The current Criminal Justice Strategic Plan can be found on the DETCOG website at www.detcog.gov/public-safety.