The Acting Chief of Police of the Houston Police Department requests City Council approve the joint application for and acceptance of grant funds from the Bureau of Justice Assistance to fund the FY2016 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program. HPD further requests City Council approve an Interlocal Agreement between the City of Houston and Harris County as joint applicants for such grant.
HPD has been designated as the lead agency and jointly applies for the funding with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO), per the Interlocal Agreement between the City of Houston and Harris County. The grant is non-competitive and formula driven. This formula based amount will be split equally with HCSO, providing both entities with $1,194,882, for a total of $2,389,764. This grant does not require a cash match from the City.
The JAG funding provides HPD with flexibility to prioritize funding where it is most beneficial. HPD proposes to allocate this funding to civilian support personnel and classified overtime as a continuation of previous awards. The grant will continue to fund six positions in HPD’s Technology Services group and one in the Office of Budget and Finance. The Technology Services employees provide critical support in implementing and supporting computer systems across the Houston Police Department while the Office of Budget and Finance employee provides financial services and professional oversight of various grants administered by the Houston Police Department. Further, the grant will also provide funding for targeted law enforcement overtime for patrol and other high demand areas as law enforcement needs require.
HCSO will utilize their funding toward equipment, training, travel, overtime and consultant contracts.