Title
Staff Report for a Resolution Accepting the Community Oriented Policing Services Hiring Program (COPS) Grant
Staffreport
SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Staff recommends that the City Council review and approve the revised Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) federal grant funding proposal outlined below, and adopt the attached resolution resulting in the City funding 2.0 FTE School Resource Officer positions at a cost of approximately $1.3 million in addition to the $250,000 provided by the COPS office.
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 (SRO) 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 one of only a small number of California cities awarded funding.
In order to receive the federal funding, the City Council must adopt a resolution accepting all or a portion of the grant award no later than December 24, 2014.
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 staf...
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