LANSING, Mich., June 27, 2025 — State Reps. Jason Morgan (D-Ann Arbor) and Curt VanderWall (R-Ludington) introduced the Crime Victim Communication Modernization Act — a bipartisan package that modernizes how public safety agencies communicate with crime victims and individuals interacting with public safety officials.
“When someone is the victim of a crime, they deserve timely answers,” Morgan said. “This package will give public safety agencies more tools to improve responsiveness and allow them to best center their work on the people they serve.”
House Bills 4661 (VanderWall) and 4662 (Morgan) would create a grant program that is administered by the Office of the Michigan Public Safety Communications System within the Department of Technology, Management and Budget. Grants will be provided to state and local agencies to implement modern communication tools that provide timely updates through text and email for non-sensitive information, automate notifications to crime victims and other individuals, and facilitate information sharing between the public safety agency and its community.
“We need to harness this important technology to improve policing practices, facilitate positive community engagement, and enhance crime victims’ rights,” VanderWall said. “That is why this package also allows this technology to be used for notifications required under the William Van Regenmorter Crime Victim’s Rights Act.”
Existing pilot programs of this technology at the Marshall Michigan State Police Post and in Calhoun County have reportedly improved transparency, saved officers and emergency dispatch time, reduced costs and enabled survey tools to allow agencies track and compare what the public thinks. Calhoun County launched their pilot in 2023, and the City of Battle Creek has been utilizing this technology since 2022.
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