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HomeMy WebLinkAboutS3- Police ON CITY OF SAN BERN " RDINO - REQUEST FIR COUNCIL ACTION Wayne Harp Subject: United States Department of Justice From: Assistant Chief of Police Police Hiring Supplement Program Dept: Police Date: September 14, 1993 Synopsis of Previous Council action: N/A Recommended motion: 1 . Adopt Resolution. Signature Contact person: Wayne Harp, Assistant Chief of Police Phone: 384-5603 Supporting data attached: Yes Ward: FUNDING REQUIREMENTS: Amount: Source: Finance: Council Notes: 75-0262 Agenda Item No. �� CITY OF SAN BERW RDINO - REQUEST F^R COUNCIL ACTION t STAFF REPORT The United States Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, is soliciting grant applications. These applications are for the new „Police Hiring Supplement Program” which is designed to fulfill President Clinton's promise to put more police officers on the street and to make America's neighborhoods safe. The goals of the program are to: increase the number of sworn law enforcement officers serving areas where they are needed most, improve the long-term ability of law enforcement agencies to engage in community policing by deploying additional law enforcement officers, and improve public safety through innovative crime prevention, including community policing. The objectives are to: hire additional law enforcement officers to increase sworn officer deployment and expand community policing designed to prevent crime, promote problem solving, and enhance public safety, rehire law enforcement officers that have been laid off, and to increase sworn deployment and expand community policing. The San Bernardino Police Department is eligible to apply for this grant in the category of jurisdictions serving populations of 150, 000 and above. There is a total of 150 million dollars available nationwide. Fifty percent of the funds (75 million) will be awarded to applicants in our category. The funds may be used to help pay salaries and fringe benefits of newly sworn officers, excluding overtime, for a three-year period. For each officer funded under this program, the federal share may not exceed 50 percent of the total salary and benefits over the life of the grant. The maximum award amount for applicants in our category is 2 million dollars over the life of the grant. In order to apply for this grant, the grant applicant also needs to describe how they intend to continue this project and retain positions created with the project funds following the conclusion of the grant. The Police Department proposes to submit a grant application. Based on our initial analysis, the Department can apply for funding for 24 police officers for three years. The total costs, including salaries and fringe benefits, would be $3 ,769,704 . The federal grant would reimburse the City 50 percent ($1, 884, 852) of this amount. There would be other City costs associated with adding 24 additional police officers to the Department. These costs would be: Six fully equipped black-and-white police cars (including all associated equipment) $37 , 172 each . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Total: $223 , 032 . Miscellaneous equipment including leather gear and bullet proof vests, for 24 police officers, $933 each . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Total: $22 , 392 . Overtime for 24 police officers for three years $6, 000 each . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Total: $144 , 000. GRAND TOTAL . . . . . . . . . . . . $389 , 424 . 75-0264 The total cost for this program would be $4, 159, 128 . The federal grant would provide $1, 884 , 852 . Total City funds needed, over the three years of the grant would be $2 , 274, 276 or approximately $758, 000 per year. A number of options have been considered relative to sources of matching City funds, including: 1. A public hearing will be scheduled in Spring 1994 to discuss the extension of the city-wide street lighting and street sweeping assessment district beyond the initial five year period. This district could be expanded next year to include other programs such as graffiti removal or tree trimming which would "free up" additional funds which could be used to match this grant. 2 . A statewide election is scheduled for November 1993 which would extend the one half cent sales tax and require cities to dedicate those funds for "public safety" purposes. Although this revenue has been included in the FY 93/94 budget, and was used to balance the budget, the Mayor and Council could pledge these funds for subsequent fiscal years as a match for this grant. 3 . The Shandin Hills Golf Course generates approximately $300, 000/year in revenues through the RDA which could also be pledged for this grant match. 4 . Certificate of Participation financing was recently approved for the new police facility with the City General Fund paying the debt service over a 25-year period. A sharing of the debt service payments could be made jointly between the City and EDA which would also "free up" general fund monies for this grant match. It is anticipated the notification of grant awards will be made by December/January 1994 . A final recommendation will be made relative to matching funds after the City has been notified as to the amount of the grant. The exact amount of funding which would be required from the City for FY 93/94 is difficult to anticipate. Grant funding commences at the time that a hired or rehired officer is sworn in. I would anticipate that the Department would, if the grant is approved, schedule hiring in blocks of 12 . Thus, probably no more than 12 of the new hires would come on in this current fiscal year. That would require an expenditure of $89, 778, to pay for 50 percent of the officers' salaries and fringe benefits for six months. This would represent the majority of the City's expense for this time period. As can be clearly seen, applying for this grant will require a substantial commitment of City funds to meet our 50 percent match and to pay for other associated costs. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that, if we apply, the City will be awarded the grant. Nevertheless, the Department feels that applying for the grant is an appropriate course of action. The addition of 24 sworn police officers to our table of organization will greatly enhance the ability of the Police Department to serve the community. These officers will be assigned to: 1. Augment our community-oriented policing program. 2 . Street patrol duties. I would expect that these additional personnel will: 1. Improve the Department's ability to identify and solve community problems. 2 . Reduce response times. 3 . Increase apprehensions of criminal suspects. 4 . Increase preventive patrol time. As noted earlier, this grant will require a substantial expenditure of funds. Nevertheless, it is the only vehicle on the horizon which will allow the Department to expand its sworn ranks. Currently, the Police Department has 1. 456 police officers per thousand. Considering the number of part-one crimes and calls for service in the City, we are able to provide very little time for directed patrol. Our estimate is that each officer has less than one hour per shift available for this purpose. Adding these 24 additional personnel will bring us up to 1. 58 police per thousand. This number of police, while still not enough to bring us up to our goal of 33 percent availability for patrol time, will nevertheless help. I recommend that the City Council authorize the Police Department to proceed with this grant application. 1 RESOLUTION NO. 2 RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF SAN BERNARDINO AUTHORIZING THE CHIEF 3 OF POLICE TO FILE A GRANT APPLICATION WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE FOR ADDITIONAL POLICE OFFICERS PURSUANT TO THE POLICE 4 HIRING SUPPLEMENT PROGRAM AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY'S CONTRIBUTION OF MATCHING FUNDS OVER THE LIFETIME OF THE GRANT. 5 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MAYOR AND COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF 6 SAN BERNARDINO AS FOLLOWS: 7 SECTION 1. The Chief of Police of the City of San Bernardino 8 is hereby authorized and directed to submit an application to 9 accept on behalf of City a grant from the Department of Justice for 10 additional police officers pursuant to the Police Hiring Supplement 11 Program. 12 SECTION 2 . The Mayor and Common Council of the City of San 13 Bernardino hereby commit to provide matching funds for the three 14 year lifetime of the grant and to make every reasonable effort to 15 retain the police officers once the grant period has expired. 16 I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing resolution was duly 17 adopted by the Mayor and Common Council of the City of San 18 Bernardino at a meeting thereof, held on the day 19 of 1993 , by the following vote, to wit: 20 Councilmembers AYES NAYS ABSTAIN ABSENT 21 NEGRETE 22 CURLIN 23 HERNANDEZ 24 OBERHELMAN 25 DEVLIN 26 POPE-LUDLAM 27 MILLER 28 nrrrrr� RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING FILING OF GRANT APPLICATION FOR ADDITIONAL POLICE OFFIC: ;. 1 2 3 City Clerk 4 The foregoing resolution is hereby approved this day of 5 1993 . 6 7 Tom Minor, Mayor City of San Bernardino 8 Approved as to form 9 and legal content: 10 JAMES F. PENMAN City Attorney 11 By: 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 -2-