Peoria Standard

City of Peoria issued the following announcement on Aug. 12.

Notice of City Review of JAG FY 2018 Grant Application

Opportunity for public comment relative to JAG FY 2018 Local Solicitation

-Please tender emails to any city council member or Captain Doug Theobald at dtheobald@peoriagov.org. Citizens may also comment at the next City Council meeting.

JAG FY 2018 Local Solicitation Program Narrative

Statement of the Problem

On July 23, 2018, the disparate jurisdictions of the City and the County of Peoria, Illinois were notified of their eligibility to receive $63,633.00 under the FY 2018 Local JAG Program. Peoria, Illinois is classified as a “zero-county” disparity and therefore the funds are split per a mutual agreement made between the City of Peoria and the County of Peoria. These funds are used by the law enforcement agency of each entity, the City of Peoria Police Department and the Peoria County Sheriff’s Office.

The City of Peoria is eligible for the direct award and therefore is the fiscal agent for the monies. The County of Peoria is the sub-grantee and receives its funds from the City of Peoria through an invoice and payment system. The City of Peoria has the greater share of the population and a greater share of the crime; however, the County of Peoria is responsible for the costs of providing criminal justice services such as prosecution and incarceration. Due to this disparity, through a long-standing mutual agreement, this year the City of Peoria will receive (58%) of the FY 2018 funds, $36,907.14; and the County of Peoria will receive forty-two per cent (42%) of the 2018 funds, $26,725.86.

With the award and distribution of prior JAG funds, the City and County have had the opportunity to improve their law enforcement capabilities with new technologies, projects and programs. This year, for JAG funding FY 2018, the two agencies have chosen individual projects to address their distinct needs and enhance their specific law enforcement functions within their respective jurisdictions.

The City of Peoria will be using JAG 2018 funds to purchase one of the following:

Special Response Team Bulletproof Vests

The Special Response Team (SRT) is a highly trained team who is deployed in high-risk situations including barricaded subjects, threats, hostage negotiation, active shooter, and other critical incidents in order to bring about a successful conclusion. The presence of such a team has been shown to substantially reduce the risk of injury or loss of life to citizens, police officers, and suspects during these critical incidents. This team participates in at least eighteen hours of specialized training per month and also has a forty-hour refresher training each year.

As this team operates in high-risk situations, its members have enhanced safety equipment to include bulletproof vests provide level 3+ protection. The current vests were purchased in 2012 and are past their warranty. Additionally, the material the vests are made of are beginning to deteriorate. The vests being past their warranty poses a liability to the department and risk of safety for the officers. The current bid to replace these vests is $38, 160.96.

RF Chip and Application for Property and Evidence Room

The City of Peoria Police Department Property and Evidence Room secures on average 28,738 pieces of tagged items of evidence and/or property a year. It is the responsibility of two clerks to manually enter each item into the records management system from a paper log. The implementation of RF technology will physically track incoming and outgoing property and evidence by regularly scanning all tagged items to determine if anything is missing. RF technology will automatically make ADSi entries of evidence or non-evidence entering or exiting the perimeter of the property room in real-time which will eliminate property room personnel from “forgetting” to make ADSi entries after making handwritten log entries. Chain of evidence is critical to all law enforcement activities for the processing of cases, and requires intense amounts of data entry on the part of staff to manage and audit these items. The technology would identify any missing pieces of property or evidence in real time/on a regular basis to help resolve any issues and identify the source faster—rather than waiting for an unannounced audit or the annual inspection.

Project Design and Implementation

The State of Illinois, and communities within Peoria County in particular, are facing difficult financial constraints. City of Peoria is suffering from budget deficits this year and is forced to reduce spending across the board, including limitation in Law Enforcement and Public Safety capital spending. A series of public forums and interactive online tools gave the community an opportunity to engage in the strategic planning process. While community policing and improved community are consistently top priority areas for local government, financial crises often relegate funding for those strategies temporarily to the side. Additionally, certain areas of improved technology and innovation are an investment the public has elected to forego.

Therefore, Peoria County and the City of Peoria intend to leverage the JAG opportunity to support those essential equipment and technology projects. Coupled with funds from local grants and other leveraged sources, the award of these JAG 2018 funds, these projects can become a reality for Peoria law enforcement. These two agencies have agreed that together and with these technologies and equipment, they can better utilize their resources for timely and accurate responses to their citizens. These projects will make the City of Peoria Police and the Peoria County Sheriff’s Office more efficient, more productive, and more responsive as law enforcement agencies.

Capabilities and Competencies

The City and County of Peoria law enforcement agencies regularly coordinate and strategize together around criminal justice in our community. Since 2013, the two jurisdictions have worked closely to implement a focused deterrence strategy; and more recently, the City and County have launched a data driven health and justice collaborative locally, to identify areas for improvement across the Sequential Intercept Model. These two initiatives are becoming intertwined as group and gun violence becomes more entangled with drug addiction, trauma, and overall behavioral health. These partnerships continually move our community forward in finding innovative and cost-saving approaches to reduce crime.

Data Collection

Both the County and City of Peoria have staff dedicated at least part-time to grant data collection and reporting. These staff have an established relationship to coordinate the timely reporting of performance data.

Original source can be found here.