City Of Cape Coral

City of Cape Coral Police Department, a division of the City of Cape Coral municipality in Florida, is a federal grant recipient that receives funding from the Department of Justice to support forensic science improvement, community policing expansion, and school safety initiatives. The department operates as a prime recipient (74% of awards) on federal grants, with secondary participation as a sub-recipient on state pass-through awards from Florida agencies.

The Cape Coral Police Department's federal grant work centers on law enforcement capability building and public safety. The two largest recent prime awards are a $625,000 Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Program (COPS) Hiring grant awarded October 1, 2025, running through September 30, 2030, to hire and rehire career officers and expand community policing capacity; and a $500,000 Paul Coverdell Forensic Sciences Improvement Grant (CFDA 16.742) awarded May 1, 2026, running through April 30, 2029, to establish a latent print unit, hire forensic laboratory personnel and latent print examiners, eliminate forensic evidence backlog, and improve timeliness and quality of forensic analysis. An earlier Coverdell award (October 1, 2022, through September 30, 2025) provided $291,641 for forensic laboratory technology, ultraviolet and infrared equipment acquisition, and lab modifications to create a dedicated drug evidence processing room. The department also received a Bureau of Justice Assistance block grant (October 1, 2023, through September 30, 2025) for the School Resource Officer Preparedness Project, which pre-positioned school safety equipment, and a Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) block grant (October 1, 2022, through September 30, 2024) for specialized investigative equipment.

The Department of Justice accounts for the vast majority of the department's federal award footprint. The top five customer offices—the Bureau of Justice Assistance (15 awards), the Office of Justice Programs (10 awards), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (4 awards), the Community Oriented Policing Program (2 awards), and the Victims of Crime office (2 awards)—represent 94% of all awards. The department's sub-recipient awards flow through state pass-through agencies: the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Florida Department of Transportation (for traffic safety and impaired driving enforcement), the State of Florida Division of Emergency Management (hazard mitigation drainage work), and the Florida Department of Legal Affairs (victim services). Activity has accelerated in 2024 and 2025, with six and three awards respectively after a 2023 low of one award.