COPS Hiring Recovery Program FY 2009Dubuque
THE CITY OF
DUB E "'~'~'~~~
~ -
Masterpiece Qn the Mississippi
2007
TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
SUBJECT: FY2009 COPS Hiring Recovery Program
DATE: March 30, 2009
Chief of Police Kim Wadding recommends City Council approval to submit a FY2009
Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Hiring Recovery Program Grant for the
purpose of obtaining three-year grant funding for four police officer positions in the
amount of $808,356.
This includes the final three police officer positions be added in the multi-year plan to
add 15 positions. Two of these three positions were not scheduled to be added until
FY2011, and the third until FY2012. The fourth position is a new Community Oriented
Policing Corporal that will have an office at the new Multi-Cultural Center, would be
involved in activities there and at the Carnegie-Stout Public Library, and would have
crime victim assistance duties.
I concur with the recommendation and respectfully request Mayor and City Council
approval.
~ ~_
Mich el C. Van Milligen
MCVM/jh
Attachment
cc: Barry Lindahl, City Attorney
Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager
Kim B. Wadding, Police Chief
THE CrrY OF Dubuque
DUB E
Masterpiece on the Mississippi
2007
TO: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
FROM: Kim B. Wadding, Police Chief
SUBJECT: FY2009 COPS Hiring Recovery Program
DATE: March 27, 2009
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this memorandum is to seek City Council consideration to submit an on-
line FY2009 Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Hiring Recovery Grant for
the purpose of obtaining three-year grant funding for four police officer positions in the
amount of $808,356. The grant due date is April 14, 2009.
BACKGROUND
The COPS Hiring Recovery Program is funded through the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) of 2009 and directly provides funding to law
enforcement agencies to hire and/or rehire career law enforcement officers in an effort
to create and preserve jobs, and to increase their community policing capacity and
crime prevention efforts.
The COPS Hiring Recovery Program (CHRP) grant provides funding to state, local, and
tribal law enforcement agencies and other public and private entities to hire and train
community policing professionals, acquire and deploy cutting-edge crime-fighting
technologies, and develop and test innovative policing strategies. CHRP grants
provides 100 percent funding of the approved entry-level salary and benefits of each
newly hired and/or rehired, full-time sworn career law enforcement officer over three
years.
There is no local match or cap on the amount of funding that can be requested, but
CHRP grant funding will be based upon the agency's current entry-level salary and
fringe benefits for full-time sworn officers. Any additional costs higher than entry-level
salaries and fringe benefits will be the responsibility of the agency. CHRP grantees are
required to retain all full-time officer positions awarded for at least 12 months from the
time the 36 months of grant funding for each CHRP position expires.
DISCUSSION
Currently, the police department through City Council consideration has implemented
three years of a five-year sworn officer hiring plan. The plan includes the hiring of 15
new police officers. Of the 15 officers, 12 have received designated funding. Through
the availability of the COPS Hiring Recovery Program (CHRP), the funding opportunity
exists to complete the final three officers in the 15 officer hiring plan. The last three
positions will be for two patrol officers and a school resource officer as shown by the
following table.
FY2008 FY2009 FY2010 FY2011 FY2012 TOTAL
2 Patrol 1 Patrol 1 Patrol 1 Patrol 5
1 Patrol/Annex 1 Patrol/Annex 2 Patrol/Annex 1 SRO 1 Patrol/Annex 5
1 Traffic/
COP Unit
2 Traffic/
COP Unit
3
1 Section 8
Invest./Housin
2
5 4 3 2 1 15
Due to the availability of the CHRP funding coupled with the expansion of the City's
Multicultural Center project, we would propose consideration of an additional officer to
be added for the position of Community Policing Corporal. Similar to the current
Community Policing Corporals, this position seeks to improve community safety,
interagency communication, information sharing, collaboration, and cooperation and
outreach with community partners. This Community Policing Corporal works from an
established office at the Multicultural Center and participates in daily connectional
programming at the center as well as programming at the Carnegie-Stout Library.
This position assists the minority population with communication and resources; acts as
an information resource for crime victims and their families; including but not limited to,
working with families in cases of homicides, fatalities or domestic violence, and/or as a
victim advocate working with the Police Department providing support and explanation
of court and legal proceedings. This position establishes outreach to area colleges and
provides intervention and prevention services with emphasis toward minority citizens
and students and works closely with city personnel and the Police Department to recruit
minority police candidates in an effort to be more reflective of the community's cultural,
social and ethnic composition.
Because CHRP funding funds entry level salary and benefits, the cost difference
between an entry level officer and a new corporal for the first year is $9,093, second
year $9,358 and third year $8,292 for a total, over the three year grant, of $26,743. To
allow for this expense, the salary savings from my scheduled retirement in late May until
a replacement is appointed offsets the cost difference. With the Dubuque Community
Multicultural Center as centerpiece to community outreach, the partnership with the
police department enables full relational development of educational, social, and
network capabilities while continuing our proactive outreach to the community.
RECOMMENDATION:
Through the availability of the COPS Hiring Recovery Program (CHRP) grant, we
recommend the submission of the 2009 COPS Hiring Recovery grant in the amount of
$808,356 in support of four new police officer positions for the police department, three
from the 15 officer, five-year staffing plan and one Multicultural Community Outreach
Corporal.
ACTION REQUESTED:
Action requested is for City Council consideration to submit the COPS Hiring Recovery
Program (CHRP) grant in the amount of $808,356 by April 14, 2009 providing for the
hiring of four new police officer positions for the City of Dubuque, three from the 15
officer, five-year sworn officer plan and one for the Multicultural Community Outreach
Corporal.
Cc: Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager
Barry Lindahl, City Attorney
Jenny Larson, Budget Director
Jeanne Schneider, City Clerk