R2001-135 AUTHORIZING SUBMISSION OF LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT BLOCK GRANT APPLICATION

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DECATUR POLICE DEPARTMENT � N�MORANDLJM #O1-55 Date: July 10, 2001 To: Mayor Terry Howley and City Council From: Steve Garm rty Manager � Mark Ba e y, Acting Chief of Police ��' Reference: 2001 Local Law Enforcement Block Grant Purpose: The purpose of this memorandum is to gain council acceptance for the 2001 Loca1 Law Enforcement Block Grant(LLEBG)offered through the Bureau of Justice Assistance. This grant is a repeat of the block grants the Police Department has been utilizing for the past five years. The 1999 grant expires in September of 2001 and the 2000 grant expires in September of 2002. LLEBGs run for a period of two years. The grant we a.re applying for will begin in October 2001 and run until September 2003. Background: The LLEBG was established within the Bureau of Justice Assistance(BJA)under the Omnibus Fiscal Year 2001 Appropriations Act. The level of funding for tlus grant is $196,893. However, The County of Macon has again applied as a Disparate Jurisdiction to the State of Illinois, Office of the Attorney General, and was granted Disparate status. An agreement between SherifF Roger Walker and Acting Chief of Police, Mark Barthelemy was reached and Macon County is receiving$41,348 in LLEBG funds, redirected from City of Decatur funding. Macon County must provide their own local cash match and will be required to make reports to the BJA regarding the disbursement of those funds. The rema.ining ' $155,545 for the City of Decatur would require a local cash match of$17,283, bringing the total grant � amount to$172,828. Funding may be used for any of the seven purpose areas, which range from ' purchasing equipment to funding hire back patrols, which are two of the purpose areas we intend to utilize. 'I The current grant has been used to provide computer upgrades including high speed Internet to the Department as well as hire-back patrols for traffic and drug enforcement. Without tlus grant money to augment the current police patrols and to cover the purchase of the computer.upgrades and Internet, funding �I would not be available to provide these functions. I Reference: The current offering of block grant funds through the BJA provides additional funds for continued hire back patrols to enhance the efforts of community policing ,police school liaison assistance, crime suppression, and crime prevention. Some overtime hire back funding will be used to implement a selective traffic enforcement program to ensure compliance with the traffic laws in targeted areas of high accident frequency and speed violations. In addition, we �vill study the feasibiliry of insta.11ing video camcorders in as many marked units as possible. The cameras would assist us in documenting both audio and video transactions on traffic stops and cro�vd situations, as well as during emergency and pursuit driving. Recommendation: It is the recommendation of the Decatur Police Department that the council approve the grant request and authorize the local cash match under the federal guidelines.