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PUBLIC HEARING REGARDING ACCEPTANCE OF A GRANT IN THE AMOUNT OF $16,283 TO THE CITY OF NORMAN AND CLEVELAND COUNTY FROM THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE/BUREAU OF JUSTICE ASSISTANCE (DOJ/BJA) THROUGH THE EDWARD BYRNE MEMORIAL JUSTICE ASSISTANCE GRANT (JAG) PROGRAM WITH NORMAN’S PORTION OF $14,655 TO BE USED BY THE NORMAN POLICE DEPARTMENT FOR EQUIPMENT AND TRAINING (AND ASSOCIATED TRAVEL, APPROVAL OF CONTRACT K-1617-65 AND BUDGET APPROPRIATION FROM THE GRANT REVENUE ACCOUNT.
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BACKGROUND: The U.S. Department of Justice announced that the City of Norman and Cleveland County have been awarded the fiscal year 2016 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG, #2016-DJ-BX-0676) in the amount of $16,283. These entities are considered disparate jurisdictions and therefore are required to share grant funds based on a United States Department of Justice formula that includes population, crime statistics and other law enforcement related data. Norman’s share of the award is $14,655 with the remaining $1,628 passing through to Cleveland County.
DISCUSSION: It is the intention of the Norman Police Department to use their share of the award for three purposes:
1. Training for Forensic Technicians - The Norman Police Department’s Crime Lab is responsible for processing major crime scenes. It is staffed by two non-commissioned Forensic Technicians and requires specialized certifications, annual accreditation, and continuing education. With JAG funding our agency would be able to certify our single un-certified technician as an International Association of Identification (IAI) Crime Scene Investigator. Funding would also allow the agency to send both technicians to required continuing education courses that are geared toward subsequent (IAI) certifications.
2. Purchase of Tracking Transmitters - Since 2012, the Norman Police Department has received over 33 calls regarding missing persons over the age of 55 - those adults most likely to be at-risk from Alzheimer’s or Dementia. As a result, we have partnered with several community groups who have offered to help make a voluntary tracking transmitter (similar in size to a medical alert bracelet) available for the caregivers of those with Alzheimer’s, Dementia, Autism or Down’s Syndrome. Our agency, however, would have to purchase the receiver that would be used to track a missing at-risk person. The longer a person suffering from these medical conditions is separated from support and assistance, the greater the likelihood for serious injury or death. The Oklahoma City Police Department has already implemented this system and has offered their assistance with air support, and they have shared their success stories. Our intent is to fully train our Crisis Intervention Team and Bicycle Team to use the system as they will be the primary responders for the initial searches involving at-risk missing persons.
3. Purchase of eCitation Tools - In 2015 the City of Norman experienced 2,431 collisions - an increase of only 16 from the previous year. Of those collisions, 6 were fatalities (down from 8 in 2014), 643 were injury collisions (down from 675 in 2014) and 1,782 non-fatality/non-injury collisions. In 2015 our agency fielded 4 eCitation tools to our 4-person traffic unit to assist with enforcement operations. While our collision statistics increased, it was only a marginal increase and the injuries and fatalities decreased. At least a portion of that change may be attributed to our ability to take more substantial enforcement actions in specifically targeted areas. Our Traffic Officers increased their written citations an average of 187% over the past year after having eCitation tools assigned to them. We intend to make this additional tool available for sign-out for other officers to use with projects or during regular duty times.
The remainder of the award would pass through to the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office for the following purpose:
• Purchase of Metal Detector and Cameras - The Sheriff’s Office has extremely limited still and video capturing capability and the cameras listed would provide a rugged and mobile tool that could be used in any environment and for multiple purposes. The metal detector would replace an existing detector that has stopped working consistently and is used for crime scene processing. The IPEVO WebCam is used to capture data from personal device data extraction and is needed to record the retrieved content. Bushnell cameras are intended to be placed in areas for surveillance of possible marijuana-grow operations, registered offender investigations, and other surveillance tasks.
A public hearing is required prior to the disbursement of grant funds. The Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office made this application and corresponding Interlocal Agreement available for public review and comment at the regularly scheduled Commissioner’s meeting held on Monday, June 27, 2016. Each person in attendance received a copy of the agenda and attachments and was eligible to speak on any topic on that agenda. The County Commissioners subsequently voted to accept the grant award.
RECOMMENDATION NO. 1: Staff now recommends that a public hearing be conducted where each person in attendance receives a copy of the agenda and attachments and is eligible to speak about this topic as required prior to being allowed to draw-down funds.
RECOMMENDATION NO. 2: It is further recommended that funds be deposited into JAG Grant Revenue (account 022-0000-331.13-33) and appropriated into and expended from the following accounts:
Employee Training/Workshops & Seminars (account 022-6017-421.46-04; project GP0030), $5,614
Plant & Operating Equip/Other (account 022-6017-421.51-99; project GP0030), $9,041
Miscellaneous Services/Pass-Thru Refunds (account 022-6017-421.47-54; project GP0030), $1,628
for distribution to Cleveland County