The Chief of Police for the Houston Police Department (HPD) recommends that City Council approve an ordinance authorizing the acceptance of grant funds through the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for the FY19 SPI - Human Trafficking and Violent Crime Social Network Analysis Project Grant. The grant period becomes effective October 1, 2019, and ends on September 30, 2022, for a total of 36 months. DOJ will provide $500,000 in grant funding. This grant does not require a cash or in-kind match.
The goal of the FY19 Human Trafficking and Violent Crime Social Network Analysis Grant is to assist with purchasing equipment that is necessary for HPD's Crime Suppression Teams and Human Trafficking Unit to improve information sharing capabilities. The grant will also fund overtime for HPD IT personnel to build programs to obtain data from a multitude of HPD databases.
The Houston Police Department also requests City Council to authorize the Chief of Police or his designee to act as the City’s representative in the application process with the authority to apply for, accept and expend the grant funds as awarded, and apply for, accept and expend all subsequent awards, if any, to extend the budget period, and to authorize the Mayor to execute all related agreements with the approval of the City Attorney in connection with the grant not to exceed five years.
Fiscal Note:
No Fiscal Note is required on grant items.
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Art Acevedo
Chief of Police