REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
May 18, 2017
FROM: JERRY P. DYER, Chief of Police
Police Department
BY: ROBERT NEVAREZ, Deputy Chief
Administrative Services Division
SUBJECT
Title
Actions pertaining to accepting funds from the California Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) and Addendum No. 4 to the Agreement with partner cities and Fresno County:
1. Accept funding of $460,328 from the BSCC; and
2. Approve Addendum No. 4 to the Memorandum of Understanding between the City of Fresno, Cities of Clovis, Coalinga, Firebaugh, Fowler, Huron, Kerman, Kingsburg, Mendota, Orange Cove, Parlier, Reedley, Sanger, Selma and the County of Fresno
Body
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that Council authorize the Chief of Police to enter into Addendum No. 4 to the joint Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the City of Fresno, Cities of Clovis, Coalinga, Firebaugh, Fowler, Huron, Kerman, Kingsburg, Mendota, Orange Cove, Parlier, Reedley, Sanger, Selma, and the County of Fresno, to accept funding in the amount of $460,328 from the BSCC.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
As a part of the 2012 State Budget and subsequent budget years, the Governor’s Office approved three years of state funding allocations to local law enforcement statewide for front-line law enforcement needs. The state charged the BSCC with developing a formula for disbursement. Fresno County as a whole was designated to receive $3,887,209 over a three year funding cycle, with the Fresno Police Department identified as the fiscal agent. An additional allocation of $849,662 was disbursed in September 2015 and approved by Council in May 2016. In December 2016, the Fresno Police Department was notified of the final allocation and revised focus for this program by the State of California. In January 2017, $460,328 was allocated to the Fresno Police Department as the program’s fiscal agent for municipal law enforcement agencies in Fresno County and a spending plan was recently finalized through the appointed committee consisting of Chiefs of Police from all law enforcement agencies in Fresno County.
BACKGROUND
Throughout the state, local law enforcement has faced budget reductions and staffing challenges. To mitigate these changes, the State’s FY 2013 budget included funding for municipal law enforcement agencies, which were legislatively identified for a period of three years; however funding beyond that period is possible.
BSCC voted to distribute the funding in grants based on a formula which divided funding among California’s counties, based on a number of factors including local budget cuts, crime trends, and the ability of the local agencies to use the funding effectively.
Fresno County received $1,019,600 in the first year, $1,168,285 in the second year, $1,699,324 in third year, $849,663 in year four, and most recently $460,328 in year five, for a total of $5,197,159. The City of Fresno was identified to be the fiscal agent for this funding and allocate the funds based on the collective decision of local law enforcement. The spending plan and county-wide allocation of funding was outlined in a Memorandum of Understanding, with an Amendment 1, Amendment 2, Amendment 3, and Amendment 4 for each funding year.
Funding provided by the BSCC is intended for front-line law enforcement needs throughout Fresno County. We have committed to using funds regionally, in partnership with other service providers; drawing upon data, and focusing on high-risk, serious, violent or habitually non-compliant offenders.
Fresno County’s Plan
Regional Data Sharing/Analytics
Public Engines, Inc., and PredPol Predictive Policing are centrally located hosted services which provide a combination of data visualization and predictive crime analytics. This software is made available to each participating police agency in Fresno County A total of $468,605 has been earmarked toward Regional data sharing capabilities and includes the projected costs for the Public Engines and PredPol Predictive Policing software packages to be paid for the partnering agencies identified in our existing MOU.
In conjunction with funding for analytics and predictive policing, we will be utilizing a total of $96,100 in grant funding to subscribe to CopLink, a data integration software package that will aid in integrating all county data into the system.
Countywide Crime Analysis
Crime analysis plays a critical role in devising solutions to crime problems and formulating crime prevention strategies. Crime Data Specialists positions will allow us to effectively implement a regional effort to track and monitor crime trends; and put solutions into place to impact these trends.
The modified spending plan incorporates six Crime Data Specialists for crime analysis purposes and are assigned to various geographical and crime focused roles within the Fresno Police Department. Currently, there are eight employees that focus on crime analysis throughout Fresno County. The Clovis Police Department employs one with BSCC funding to focus on crime trends and patterns in the City of Clovis. The Fresno Police Department employs seven; one housed at the Kingsburg Police Department for the east-side of Fresno County law enforcement agencies, one is housed at the Kerman Police Department assigned to the west-side of Fresno County law enforcement agencies, and five are housed at the Fresno Police Department assigned to the City of Fresno.
• City of Clovis - Funding allocated for the salary and fringe costs for one Crime Analyst and operational costs to include necessary training, and supplies will be fully expensed by the end of FY 2017 and the City of Clovis will be utilizing a different funding source to maintain Crime Analysis operations for the City of Clovis. Additional funding in year 5 was not allocated to the City of Clovis as the regulations for year 5 funding was modified through State legislation and Crime Analysis was not allowable;
• City of Fresno - Increased allocations of $200,268 in Year 3 will allow six Crime Data Specialists to continue to be funded through this grant through FY 2018 and were added to the FY 2018 budget through the budgeting process. The appropriated funds will pay for the salaries and fringe benefits of the six Crime Data Specialists performing crime analysis duties.
Mental Health Triage Services
Many police calls involve persons suffering from mental illness. When these persons do not receive proper treatment, they are more likely to generate future calls for service. As such, the importance of a field response to mental health issues by a trained clinician is essential. Triage services were provided, however Fresno County Behavioral Health notified the City of Fresno that they would like to forego the balance of their contract totaling $316,286.07 in a letter dated March 17, 2017.
• County of Fresno - the total cost reimbursed to the County of Fresno for Mental Health Triage Services is $33,713.93.
Mental Health Training
Funding for Mental Health Training is an important priority for law enforcement, therefore $58,000 was budgeted in FY 2016 and dedicated to bring Crisis Intervention Training and other Mental Health related training to local law enforcement in Fresno County. This allocation includes the cost of the training, facility costs and overtime for sworn officers to attend the training. By offering overtime to agencies we help agencies to offset the costs of losing an officer in the field due to training. Due to new provisions in year 5 funding, the committee decided that $223,090 would be allocated for a 40 hour Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST) certified training course for all patrol officers in each municipal law enforcement agency in Fresno County.
Video Policing
Technology can be a tremendous asset when attempting to solve and possibly prevent criminal activity. BSCC grant funding will be used to enhance each agency’s video policing program to include hardware, installation, software and services. These allocations will be incorporated into the FY 2017 budget.
• Small Law Enforcement Agencies - other than Fresno and Clovis, each municipal law enforcement agency in Fresno County will be allocated $10,000 each for their agency’s video policing needs totaling $120,000;
• City of Clovis - will be allocated $25,000 to enhance its video policing program;
• City of Fresno - will be allocated $131,000 to enhance its video policing program in the form of equipment and service.
Year 5 Focus
In this final year of funding, the State of California has placed new restrictions on this allocation. Provision 2 of Item 5227-102-0001 of the Budget Act of 2016 identifies the following as the focus for year 5 funding:
1. Homeless Outreach teams
2. Crisis Intervention Training for Officers
3. Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT)
4. Resources for drug endangered children
5. Outreach to high-risk youth
6. Youth diversion programs
7. Gang and violence prevention programs
• Small Law Enforcement Agencies - other than Fresno and Clovis, each municipal law enforcement agency in Fresno County will be allocated $19,770 each for their programs that related to the provision above totaling $237,238.
ENVIRONMENTAL FINDINGS
This is not a “project” for the purposes of CEQA, pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15378.
LOCAL PREFERENCE
Local Preference was not considered because accepting funding from the State does not include a bid or award of a construction or services contract.
FISCAL IMPACT
Funding for this program will have no impact on the City of Fresno’s General Fund. Funding for this project will be incorporated into the FY 2018 budget through the budgeting process.
Attachment:
Addendum No. 4 to the Memorandum of Understanding