Title
Staff Report for Discussion and Direction to Staff on Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Grant
Staffreport
SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Staff recommends that the City Council review and approve the proposed Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) federal grant shared funding proposal outlined below.
BACKGROUND
On January 6, 2014 the City Council authorized a list of projects for which federal funding opportunities were to be pursued in 2014. Among that list of proposals was a request for additional federal funding through the United States Department of Justice - COPS program. Based upon that direction, City staff and members of the City Council worked collaboratively with the offices of Senator Dianne Feinstein, Senator Barbara Boxer, and Congresswoman Barbara Lee, as well as the City's federal advocate Len Simon, the San Leandro Unified School District and the COPS Office to submit an application for a four-year, $500,000 grant to fund 4.0 FTE School Resource Officer positions. To facilitate this process and ensure a quality application, the City also retained the services of a professional grant writer. The application was ultimately successful with San Leandro being one of only a small number of California cities awarded funding.
DISCUSSION
On June 20, 2014 the San Leandro Police Department submitted a COPS grant application to secure a $500,000 grant to hire 4.0 FTE School Resource Officers. The decision to file this application was brought before the City Council in May, 2014 and approved for submission. Prior to submitting the application, City staff met with officials from the San Leandro Unified School District. During those discussions a partnership developed, and the School District agreed to fund any balance that was not covered by the COPS grant.
In September 2014, the COPS Office announced that San Leandro was selected to receive the requested $500,000 grant award. Some highlights from the grant appl...
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