Community Oriented Policing Services Hiring Recovery GrantMasterpiece on the Mississippi
TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
SUBJECT: COPS Grant Application
DATE: May 28, 2010
Chief of Police Mark Dalsing is recommending City Council approval to submit a
Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Hiring Recovery Grant for the purpose
of obtaining grant funding for four police officer positions.
Currently, the police department is in the third year of a five -year sworn officer hiring
plan. The plan includes the hiring of 15 additional police officers. Of the 15 officers, 12
of the 15 positions have received designated funding. Through the availability of the
COPS Hiring Recovery Program (CHRP), the funding opportunity exists to complete the
15 officer hiring plan in FY2011. The last three positions from the plan would be funded
through the CHRP and will be for two patrol officers and a school resource officer.
Due to the availability of the CHRP funding, coupled with the expansion of the City's
Multicultural Center project, Chief Mark Dalsing recommends consideration for a 16th
officer to be added through the grant funding for a Community Policing Outreach
Corporal. The Community Outreach Corporal would be staffed by a Police Corporal
assigned to the Community Policing Unit, with an office located in the City's Multicultural
Center. This position would establish an outreach program with area colleges, provide
intervention and prevention services with emphasis toward minority students, and act as
an information source for crime victims and their families.
The grant funding would pay 100% of entry level salary and benefits over three years.
The City would incur $26,758 in costs over this three -year period. The City would be
required to retain the positions for at least one additional year.
I concur with the recommendation and respectfully request Mayor and City Council
approval.
MCVM:jh
Michael C. Van Milligen
Dubuque
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2007
Attachment
cc: Barry Lindahl, City Attorney
Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager
Mark Dalsing, Chief of Police
Masterpiece on the Mississippi
TO: Michael C. Van Milligen
City Manger
FR: Mark M. Dalsi �n
Chief of Police
RE: COPS Grant Application
INTRODUCTION
MEMORANDUM
May 27, 2010
The purpose of this memorandum is to seek City Council consideration to submit a
Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Hiring Recovery Grant for the purpose
of obtaining grant funding for four police officer positions by the grant due date of June
16, 2010.
BACKGROUND
The COPS Hiring Recovery Program is funded through the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) 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 cover
100 percent 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.
The Dubuque Police Department did not receive CHRP funding when we applied in
April of 2009. However, the CHRP has had additional funds allocated to the program
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and only those agencies which applied for the funds in 2009 are eligible for the funds in
this round, making the Dubuque Police Department one of the agencies eligible for the
funds. With short notice and turnaround time, we are being asked to resubmit our
application with updated costs. With council approval, we will submit our application
using the same plan as the 2009 application with cost updates and as described below.
DISCUSSION
Currently, the police department is in the third year of a five -year sworn officer hiring
plan. The plan includes the hiring of 15 additional police officers. Of the 15 officers, 12
of the 15 positions have received designated funding. Through the availability of the
COPS Hiring Recovery Program (CHRP), the funding opportunity exists to complete the
15 officer hiring plan in FY2011. The last three positions from the plan would be funded
through the CHRP and will be for two patrol officers and a school resource officer as
shown by the following table.
FY2008
FY2009
FY2010
FY2011
FY2012 TOTAL
Due to the availability of the CHRP funding coupled with the expansion of the City's
Multicultural Center project, we would propose consideration for a 16 officer to be
added through the grant funding for a Community Policing Outreach Corporal. The
Community Outreach Corporal is staffed by a Police Corporal assigned to the
Community Policing Unit, with an office located in the City's Multicultural Center. This
position would establish an outreach program with area colleges and provide
intervention and prevention services with emphasis toward minority students.
The Community Policing Outreach Corporal assists the minority population with
communication and resources; also 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.
The addition of this position allows the city of provide direct citizen services and
assistance to victims of violent crimes, and assist diverse populations within the city.
Additionally, this position works closely with city personnel and the Police Department in
the retention and recruitment of new police officers focusing primarily toward diverse
students.
The SRO position was originally planned for one of the first years of the hiring plan but
has been shifted to the last year of the plan to accommodate budget shortfalls within the
Dubuque Community School District (DCSD). Two of the current SRO positions are
funded 50% by the City of Dubuque and 50% by the DCSD. The SRO corporal is
funded entirely by the City. This fourth SRO position would be on the same 50/50 split
with the DCSD. To date, the DCSD has been unable to confirm that funding for this
position would be in place for the required continued 12 month period at the end of the
grant. If the DCSD were unable to fund the position at that time, the City of Dubuque
would have to fund the entire position and would therefore be able to choose whether
the position remains assigned to the schools or is assigned elsewhere.
Because CHRP only funds entry level salary and benefits, the cost difference between
an entry level officer and a new corporal for the first year is $7,358, second year $9,557
and third year $9,843 for a total over the three year grant period of $26,758. 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 and 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
$883,872 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 by June 16, 2010 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.