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NARRATIVE (ATTACHMENT 1)
JAG RECOVERY ACT
SOLICITATION # 2009-G-140-TX-SB
EQUIPMENT GRANT
CITY OF HUMBLE, TEXAS: POLICE DEPARTMENT
PROBLEM STATEMENT:
The City of Humble, Texas needs equipment for their police department that will help reduce crime and increase training without increasing local taxes in order to purchase this equipment.
OBJECTIVE:
The objective for the use of this Recovery Act Grant Money is to assist The City of Humble, Texas in purchasing needed equipment for the police department. This equipment will assist in reducing crime (see purchase #A) and will improve the functioning of the policing branch of the criminal justice system through training as noted below and through the operations of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) (see purchase #B).
GOALS:
The goals of the City of Humble are to use these JAG funds under BJA purpose area number one (law enforcement) to purchase equipment that will provide system improvements by purchasing equipment to address crime (see purchase #A) and by acquiring equipment for the training of police officers to improve the effectiveness of the criminal justice system. In addition, this equipment will be used by police officers and city officials as an Emergency Operations Center to provide information in instances of emergencies to the residents of the City of Humble.
TYPE OF PROGRAM TO BE FUNDED:
The City of Humble, Texas is eligible to receive $58,241.00. The type of program to be funded by the JAG award will be a program for the city to purchase two different types of equipment for its Police Department. The first piece of equipment (Identified as Item #A) that we wish to purchase is 1 Mobile 4-camera ALRP (Automatic License Plate Recognition) system. The other equipment (Identified as Item #B) we wish to purchase is Fixed Training Tables and Seating Forum Chairs for the training room facility.
ANALYSIS OF THE NEED FOR THE PROGRAM:
Analysis of Equipment # A:
Although the 2007 census shows a population of 14,977, the population during the day time/evening hours swells to approximately 200,000. Statistics for 2008 show that 78 % of the 3553 people arrested (for all crimes) in the city in 2008 did not reside in the city limits.
Analysis of Equipment #B:
The City’s Police Department provides the location for the city’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) along with a wide range of training to both area law enforcement and emergency services personnel and to non-commissioned personnel from numerous area agencies each year. These trainings consist of TCLEOSE mandated trainings that each law enforcement officer is required to attend every twenty-four (24) months. The trainings provided through this department are the TCLEOSE Core Courses, Investigative courses, Patrol related courses and Computer related courses along with some elective training used to increase professionalism. The Communication Division is also provided with training for their dispatchers from our agency and other area police departments throughout the year. In addition to this the City of Humble Municipal Court mandates classes for juveniles charged with Class “C” shoplifting offenses and these classes are held monthly. These educational/ trainings are a necessary component of law enforcement and prosecution.
In addition to training, The Emergency Operations Command (EOC) is the major command center for the city during times of disaster. The EOC is located in the police department’s training room, when needed, involves police officials, department administrators from the fire department, emergency medical services, public works staff from the city street department, water department, and numerous other city officials. These disasters can involve major criminal situations such as Swat incidents, or natural disasters such as hurricanes, train derailments, or airplane accidents including terroristic acts. The City of Humble is located two (2) miles from Houston Intercontinental Airport, which is the 8th busiest airport in the nation with almost 42,000,000 passengers passing through in 2008 and is a five (5)-runway airport with approach runways crossing over the City of Humble. The city also has the Missouri Pacific Railroad which runs directly through the center of town. These railcars regularly transport hazardous materials, and heavy freight daily. Due to these rail hazards being transported through the center of the city every day, the potential for an accident becoming a disaster cannot be underestimated. Combined with the U.S. Hwy. 59 (I-69 NAFTA Corridor) this is a major heavy truck artery, with many of these trucks carrying dangerous and volatile cargo. Many of these trucks begin their destinations at or near the chemical plants or the port of Houston, and travel through the city to other destinations north. Any accident could easily turn into a disaster in any of these afore mentioned venues which would create the need for the activation of the City’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in order to preserve and save lives, and to assist in containment of any disaster by exercising control in order to minimize any damage to the city’s infrastructure, by the proper management and coordination of all of the city’s emergency services along with enhanced ability to coordinate with county, state, and federal agencies when and if needed.
Equipment Purchase #A:
The ALRP system continually scans license plates and compares them to databases searching for “vehicles of interest” such as stolen vehicles traveling through our jurisdiction, those with offenders with felony warrants from our and surrounding jurisdictions, parking violations, and/or Amber Alerts, gang activity, narcotics activity, NCIC, or BOLOS. This equipment will be installed in one patrol vehicle to be used at intersections, on freeways, in parking facilities at fixed locations. If a “vehicle of interest” is observed by the system an audible warning is sounded, the vehicle is imaged, time and GPS stamped and registered. This system can read license plates from 4 cameras simultaneously on a single processor. It can read from any combination of color or Infrared cameras and will read oxidized or non-reflective plates.
We are planning on purchasing this system through an Inter-local agreement with the City of Mesquite, Texas. They have informed us that we will be able to do this as a partnership between both agencies. The City of Mesquite purchases this equipment from PlateScan in Newport Beach, California. The cost of this system through the City of Mesquite will be $23,500.00. The purchase will include the mobile data computer, GPS receiver, cameras, a software package, a data analysis module, installation and training.
Equipment Purchase #B:
The equipment which consists of “fixed tables and seating chairs” the city wishes to purchase will be used in our Emergency Operations Center facility which when not in use as an (EOC) will be utilized as a police and emergency services educational/training facility. The equipment requested is a complete system of continuous work surfaces mounted to the floor with frames which also support self-returning swivel chairs. Additionally, this equipment (furniture) will provide security and order to the educational/teaching environment. The “fixed seating” refers to the lasting layout of seating within a space with a steel mechanism suspending the upper chair while securing the work surface to the floor. This equipment (furniture) and its specific design arrangement will provide ergonomic comfort and an adequate work surface area for all (EOC personnel) and when used for educational purposes all students will receive the same comfort benefit which is essential for a proper learning environment. Included in this equipment (furniture) design are built-in network connections which will provide power & data access for each of the thirty-eight available seating positions, this capability is essential during times of emergency. This system allows the department telephone lines and computers to be connected directly into them, which allows them to be put into service instantly. This type of capability is critical when seconds count. When used in an educational environment it provides capabilities in line with most major universities instructional setting by providing electrical and data/computer access at each seating position.
This equipment (furniture) which consists of tables and chairs and built-in power and data connections that the city wishes to obtain will be purchased through Theatre Solutions, Inc. in Quakertown, Pennsylvania. The total cost of the equipment (furniture) system is $39,422.00.
Anticipated coordination efforts involving JAG and related justice funds:
The City of Humble, Texas has an allocation of $58,241.00. After our initial expense of $23, 500.00 for the ALRP system, we will have $34,741.000 left to put towards the purchase of the above-mentioned furniture from our allocation of $58,241.00. The City of Humble will use funds from the police department budget to provide the additional funding needed for these purchases.
PROJECT OBJECTIVES:
The project objectives are:
a) To preserve jobs (required to state by Recovery Act)
b) To create jobs (required to state by Recovery Act)
c) To expend the amount of JAG funds during the grant period
d) To identify the types of equipment purchased with JAG funds
PERFORMANCE MEASURES:
As required by the Recovery Act, The City of Humble understands that it must provide data that measure their work. The City also understands that there are two (2) required measures related to jobs that will be measured:
a) The number of jobs saved
b) The number of jobs created
HOWEVER, according to the JAG Recovery Act “Job creation and retention are not mandatory usages of funds, but they are encouraged. These measures are OJP-wide and grantees and sub-grantees are required to answer them (even if the answer is 0) quarterly” (See separate attachment under BJA Recovery Act).
In addition the performance measures the City of Humble will measure for objectives “c” and “d” will be:
c) The purpose of this output measure is to document the extent and type of equipment and supplies purchased with JAG dollars. We will report the amount of JAG funds used to purchase equipment or supplies.
d) The purpose of this output indicator is to measure accountability. We will report the types of equipment purchased with JAG funds during the reporting period.
PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES:
a) We will have zero % of jobs preserved through this grant
b) We will have zero % of jobs created through this grant
c) We will report the number of CJ staff who rated purchase of equipment or supplies (paid for with JAG funds) as increasing program quality.
ORGANIZATION CAPABILITIES AND COMPETENCIES FOR EXPENDITURES AND DRAWDOWNS:
The City of Humble has a grant coordinator who will require all grant expenditures and draw downs related to this grant to be documented separately from any other federal funding. Additionally, the City of Humble has a Finance Director who tracks all expenditures for all city departments and tracks all funding types separately. The Finance Director is also the organization’s employee who requests draw downs for any funding.
ACTIVITIES THAT CAN BE STARTED AND COMPLETED EXPEDITIOUSLY AND IN A MANNER THAT MAXIMIZES JOB CREATION AND ECONOMIC BENEFITS:
In keeping with the Recovery Act, section 1605, of the “Buy American” provision the City of Humble will be purchasing the equipment asked for through the agencies listed in the first part of this narrative. Although this grant does not create jobs for the city, it does create economic benefits for the sellers of the equipment being asked for.
TIMELINE OR PROJECT PLAN IDENTIFYING WHEN GOALS AND OBJECTIVES WILL BE COMPLETED:
Although this grant starts March 1, 2009 and ends February 28, 2013, it is anticipated that the equipment identified in the goals and objectives of this grant will be ordered, installed and in use within the first twelve months of the awarding of the grant monies.
PUBLIC COMMENT:
The JAG grant will be made public at the next city council meeting on May 28, 2009. The application will be made public at that time.