On July 1, Governor Mike Kehoe announced that 350 Missouri counties, cities, towns, and a school district have received the Missouri Blue Shield designation in the program’s second year, marking a 74% increase in participation since its launch in 2025.

The Missouri Blue Shield Program recognizes communities for their dedication to enhancing public safety, strengthening support for law enforcement, and building sustainable public safety partnerships.

“The growth of the Missouri Blue Shield Program is proof that communities across our state are committed to working alongside law enforcement to improve public safety,” said Governor Kehoe. “Last year’s results speak for themselves, and we are proud to build on that momentum with another year of funding for even more communities.”

Since launching in 2025, Missouri Blue Shield grants have helped participating communities purchase more than 350 body cameras, 150 license plate readers, 50 patrol vehicles, more than 100 ballistic vests, and other critical law enforcement equipment. With the Governor’s approval of the Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) budget, designated Blue Shield communities are now able to tap into a $10 million fund for grants for law enforcement training and equipment.

A total of 95 counties, 252 cities, two towns, and one school district were approved as Blue Shield communities after applying by June 1 to the Department of Public Safety (DPS).

Locally, both Saline and Lafayette Counties are approved Blue Shield communities. Additionally, the cities and towns of Concordia, Higginsville, Lexington, Odessa, Sweet Springs and Waverly are also designated as Blue Shield communities.

A map of Blue Shield communities and the full list of approved jurisdictions is available online at https://dps.mo.gov/blue-shield/ Communities that earned the designation are now eligible to apply for FY27 Blue Shield grants, which opened July 1 and are administered by DPS. Communities may spend grant funds for any combination of training and equipment for their law enforcement agencies to strengthen public safety. Eligible expenditures include ballistic vests, body-worn cameras, security and surveillance systems, gunshot detection technology, and crime analytics software. The $10 million will be divided equally among approved Blue Shield Grant applicants.

Blue Shield counties, cities, towns, and school districts must maintain their commitments each year to retain the Blue Shield designation via annual reporting to DPS about ongoing efforts to support public safety.

Among the Blue Shield designation eligibility criteria are:

• Passage of a resolution demonstrating a commitment to public safety, including reducing violent crime within the jurisdiction;

• Extraordinary investments in public safety funding;

• Community policing initiatives or local partnerships to invest in and/or improve public safety;

• Law enforcement officer recruitment and retention program;

• Demonstrated effectiveness in reducing crime or innovative programs that attempt to reduce crime;

• Participates in regional anticrime task forces, or a commitment to be a willing partner with these in the future; and

• Compliance with Missouri crime reporting and traffic stop data requirements and other related statutes.

The Blue Shield Program, as outlined in Executive Order 2503, is part of the Governor’s Safer Missouri initiative announced on his first day in office, Jan. 13, 2025.